Aleksandar Kovacevic (tennis)

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Aleksandar Kovacevic
Kovacevic at the 2023 French Open
Country (sports) United States
Born (1998-08-29) August 29, 1998 (age 25)
New York City, U.S.
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Turned pro2021
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
CollegeIllinois
CoachDante Bottini (2024-)[1]
Prize money$742,662
Singles
Career record11–20 (35.5%) (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 85 (29 January 2024)
Current rankingNo. 97 (15 April 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2024)
French Open1R (2023)
WimbledonQ3 (2023)
US OpenQ3 (2021)
Doubles
Career record1–2 (33.3%) (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 254 (3 April 2023)
Current rankingNo. 497 (19 February 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
US Open1R (2023)
Last updated on: 27 February 2024.

Aleksandar Kovacevic (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Ковачевић, romanized: Aleksandar Kovačević; born August 29, 1998) is an American professional tennis player.[2]

Kovacevic has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 85, achieved on 29 January 2024. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 254, achieved on 3 April 2023.[3]

Early life and background[edit]

Born in New York, Kovacevic is of Serbian descent. His mother Milanka is from Travnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and his father Milan Kovačević is from Belgrade, Serbia. Both his parents played table tennis and met during a tournament on the junior circuit. Later before Aleksandar was born, they emigrated to the United States in 1998, where Milan studied computer science at UCLA and then worked at Columbia University in New York.[4] When Kovacevic was younger, the family visited Serbia every year.[5] He cites the 2005 US Open match between Novak Djokovic and Gaël Monfils, which he watched on TV when he was age 6, as the reason why he began playing tennis.[6]

Career[edit]

2021: Turned Pro, Grand Slam qualifying debut[edit]

Kovacevic made his Grand Slam qualifying debut at the US Open, where he advanced to the final round before falling to Argentine Marco Trungelliti.

2022: ATP debut, first win and semifinal, Top 200[edit]

Kovacevic made his Top 250 debut on July 25, 2022, as world No. 227 following a final showing at the 2022 Indy Challenger.

Kovacevic made his ATP main draw debut at the 2022 Korea Open, where he entered as a lucky loser. He recorded his first ATP tour level win by defeating Miomir Kecmanović in the first round.[7] Next he defeated Tseng Chun-hsin to reach his first ATP quarterfinal and Mackenzie McDonald to reach his first ATP semifinal.[8][9] As a result, he climbed 55 positions and reached No. 167 on October 3, 2022.[10]

2023: First Challenger win, Major and Masters debuts, top 125[edit]

He reached the top 125 on 6 February 2023, following his first Challenger title at the 2023 Cleveland Open. At the 2023 Delray Beach Open, he received a wildcard for his second ATP tour event, losing in the first round to Michael Mmoh.[11]

In March, he won his second Challenger title at the 2023 Texas Tennis Classic in Waco, Texas as a wildcard.[12] He made his Masters 1000 debut at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open as a wildcard. He reached the main draw at the 2023 Miami Open as a lucky loser and recorded his first Masters win against Jaume Munar.[13][14]

He entered the 2023 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships as a direct entry. He was accepted as a direct entry at the 2023 French Open, making his Grand Slam debut where he played Novak Djokovic.[15] He defeated qualifier Omni Kumar and then world No. 13 Cameron Norrie in the second round of the 2023 Los Cabos Open for the biggest win of his career,[16] to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to Dominik Koepfer.[17]

He qualified at the Masters 1000 at the 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters on his debut but lost to Cristian Garín. He won his third Challenger title at the 2023 Shenzhen Longhua Open, defeating Nuno Borges. He also reached the semifinals at the new 2023 Shenzhen Luohu Challenger but lost after a walkover.

2024: Australian Open debut and first Major win, top 85[edit]

He qualified for the 2024 Australian Open making his debut at this Major and recorded his first win in five sets over Alejandro Tabilo. As a result he moved into the top 85 in the rankings.[18]

He entered the 2024 Delray Beach Open as a wildcard and the following week qualified for the 2024 Los Cabos Open[19] where in the latter, he reached back-to-back quarterfinals at this tournament.[20][1] He also qualified for his first ATP 500 tournament, the 2024 Abierto Mexicano Telcel and defeated Los Cabos champion, Australian Jordan Thompson.

He also received a wildcard for the 2024 BNP Paribas Open.[21][22] At the next Masters, the 2024 Miami Open, he reached the main draw after qualifying.

At the 2024 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, he recorded his first victory on clay in 3 hours and 16 minutes, the longest first round and tied for second-longest recorded match in the Houston tournament history, over another Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis.[23][24][25] In the next round he lost in three sets to another Australian, sixth seed Jordan Thompson in the longest recorded match in the tournament history lasting 3 hours and 34 minutes, with two tiebreaks in the last two sets.[26][27]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals[edit]

Singles: 6 (4–2)[edit]

Legend (Singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (4–1)
ITF Futures Tour (0–1)
Titles by Surface
Hard (4–1)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Oct 2019 M25 Fayetteville, USA World Tennis Tour Clay Dominican Republic Roberto Cid Subervi 2–6, 2–6
Loss 0–2 Jul 2022 Indianapolis, USA Challenger Hard (i) China Wu Yibing 7–6(12–10), 6–7(13–15), 3–6
Win 1–2 Jan 2023 Cleveland, USA Challenger Hard (i) China Wu Yibing 3–6, 7–5, 7–6(7–2)
Win 2–2 Feb 2023 Waco, USA Challenger Hard France Alexandre Müller 6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Win 3–2 Oct 2023 Shenzhen, China Challenger Hard Portugal Nuno Borges 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)
Win 4–2 Nov 2023 Temuco, Chile Challenger Hard Brazil Gilbert Klier Júnior 4–6, 6–3, 6–3

Doubles: 3 (0–3)[edit]

Legend
ATP Challenger (0–2)
ITF Futures (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–3)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Nov 2020 M15 Fayetteville, USA World Tennis Tour Hard Canada Liam Draxl United Kingdom Charles Broom
Chile Matías Soto 		6–2, 2–6, [5–10]
Loss 0–2 Oct 2022 Seoul, South Korea Challenger Hard South Korea Chung Yun-seong Japan Kaichi Uchida
Chinese Taipei Wu Tung-lin 		7–6(7–2), 5–7, [9–11]
Loss 0–3 Nov 2023 Temuco, Chile Challenger Hard United States Keegan Smith Brazil Mateus Alves
Chile Matías Soto 		2–6, 5–7

Performance timeline[edit]

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles[edit]

Current through the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open.

Tournament 2021 2022 2023 2024 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A Q1 2R 0 / 1 1–1
French Open A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1
Wimbledon A A Q3 0 / 0 0–0
US Open Q3 Q1 Q2 0 / 0 0–0
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–1 0 / 2 1–2
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters Q1 A 1R 1R 0 / 2 0–2
Miami Open A A 2R 1R 0 / 2 1–2
Madrid Open A A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1
Italian Open A A Q1 0 / 0 0–0
Canadian Open A A Q1 0 / 0 0–0
Shanghai Masters NH 1R 0 / 1 0–1
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–3 0 / 6 1–6
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 1 9 10 20
Overall win–loss 0–0 3–1 3–9 5–10 0 / 20 11–20
Year-end ranking 356 158 110

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Kovacevic's 'incomprehensible' journey from high school bench to Top 100 star". February 22, 2024.
  2. ^ "Aleksandar Kovacevic | Bio | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  3. ^ "Aleksandar Kovacevic | Overview | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour.
  4. ^ "Sitting down with Aleks Kovacevic - what it takes to get to the NCAA championships".
  5. ^ Saša Ozmo (May 28, 2023). ""Novak spends one hour before even hitting the ball" – Kovacevic's valuable takeaways before meeting his idol Djokovic on red clay". Tennismajors.com.
  6. ^ Ivana Salapura (September 25, 2023). "Brate! Ko je Aleks Kovačević, američki Srbin koji čeka Novaka u prvom kolu RG: Đoković ga zvao da dođe u zemlju svojih korena" [Oh, brother! Who is Alex Kovacevic, Serbian American facing Novak in the first round of Roland Garros: Djokovic invited him to the land of his ancestors]. Sportal.rs (in Serbian).
  7. ^ "Aleksandar Kovacevic Stuns Kecmanovic on Tour Debut in Seoul | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  8. ^ "Norrie Makes Fast Start In Seoul | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  9. ^ "Nishioka Stuns Ruud In Seoul | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  10. ^ "Kovacevic's Rise: Cold Showers, Skydiving and a Little Help from Novak | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  11. ^ "Tennis, ATP – Delray Beach Open 2023: Mmoh eliminates Kovacevic". February 14, 2023.
  12. ^ "Luca van Assche Saves 2 MPS to Win Longest Challenger Final; Purcell Completes Hat-Trick | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  13. ^ "Jiri Lehecka Defeats Federico Coria in Miami Opener | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  14. ^ "Lucky loser Kovacevic upsets Munar in Miami". March 23, 2023.
  15. ^ "Kovacevic's Full-Circle Moment: Watching, Meeting & Now Playing Djokovic | ATP Tour | Tennis".
  16. ^ "Cameron Norrie's hopes". eurosport.com. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  17. ^ "First semifinal ready in Los Cabos: Koepfer vs. De Miñaur".
  18. ^ "Kovacevic: Why I endured short-term pain for long-term gain". January 29, 2024.
  19. ^ "Cobolli, Nava, Holt y Kovacevic advance to the Main Draw".
  20. ^ "Michelsen stuns De Minaur, Tsitsipas starts title defence in Los Cabos". February 22, 2024.
  21. ^ "Mensik, Fognini among Indian Wells WCs". March 1, 2024.
  22. ^ "Emma Raducanu, Paula Badosa Headline Full List of 2024 Wild Cards". March 1, 2024.
  23. ^ "Kovacevic survives Kokkinakis in three-hour Houston thriller". April 3, 2024.
  24. ^ "American Aleksandar Kovacevic edges Thanasi Kokkinakis in over three hours to win Houston opener". April 3, 2024.
  25. ^ "Multiple "Longest" Tournament Records Broken on Tuesday". April 3, 2024.
  26. ^ "Tiafoe Kicks Off 2024 Title Defense with Deep Three-Set Win". April 4, 2024.
  27. ^ "Defending champ Tiafoe battles to 'huge' Houston win; Thompson saves 3 MPs, outlasts Kovacevic in record-setting marathon match". April 5, 2024.

External links[edit]

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