Iva Jović

Yes, she picked up the bronze medal, but I think really it was all about gold or nothing there for Alex in terms of I think the realistic target for that was the gold, but she didn't get it.

Anyway, in terms of the main tour, she lost to Jovic, Protsadova and she, all in three sets, all in a row on the main tour.

But she arrested that slide with a win over Deanne Parry, a comfortable win she had over Deanne in Ningbo before going down in two tight sets to Deanna Schneider.

And now she's had more wins as well in Tokyo, where she got to the quarterfinals before once again going down to Deanna Schneider in incredibly tight circumstances.

So I've been following him ever since.

Look at the year that Jovic had from 25 to 26, almost making the year in final.

Big leap from 25 to 26 for Shelton.

I think it's realistic for where fast learner is for him to think about cutting his ranking and a half for 27.

Iga Sviatek, she's number nine.

Marta Kosciak, number 10.

And Iva Jovic.

So that's my question.

But I think there's reasons for still thinking she's somewhere for best.

And I think that was exposed when she was comfortably beaten by Jovic and especially Sonny Cartel comprehensively beat her.

So for me, yes, she's showing signs, but I still think she's she's a way off the Jasmine Paolini.

We know who was making Grand Slam finals not that long ago.

But I would have liked to see the match to give you a more thorough answer, so to speak.

But I do believe that Iva Jovic... is one of the components of the future of women's tennis, for example, along with, I would say, Mboko also is another one.

And, you know, I'm going to wait a little bit more on other players, such as, you know, Iala, perhaps.

I'm a big fan of Alex's.

But I think Jovic and Boko, and maybe one other I'm forgetting because I thought about this the other day, are kind of the future of tennis.

And Schneider is a very awkward player to play against.

And very hard to find solutions against.

with our footwork at the same time to be able to hit every shot in the book or close to every shot in the book from all positions on the court.

You know, there's so many players breaking through.

Iva Jovic, I mean, at such a young age.

you know and then you have the stalwarts right the belinda bench which is the elena svitolina's those that are kind of going around the second time that are maybe the 2.0 versions are maybe even better than the first so there's such incredible depth and you know you have to continue to keep improving and i actually just kind of saw on um i saw on social media some great stats like for jess this year 19 three set matches one which was the highest on tour for 14 match wins at WTA 500 level, which is tied for most on tour.

And then this one is probably the one she's going to be most proud of.

This is the only chance you get to see the ascending women's talents.

And by the way, Jovic could still be in this field.

Taggart could still be in this field.

We're in a really good spot because the level across the board... really really high and the best like the base level of what it's going to take to win this event is at a minimum already top 200 top 150 and again throw the winner of these events a wild card into the next gen ATP field and the hypothetical next gen WTA field as well awesome event.

It's not anymore.

And Bojkova doing Bojkova things.

But of course, tomorrow we've got Rabakina, Jovic, Bencic, and then in action then of course the blockbuster schneider yalla spot in the quarterfinals on the line so As of this recording Thursday morning, some of that action in Ningbo has already played out.

I haven't watched a second of that action yet today, so it would just be disingenuous to offer you any updates.