Iva Jovic shares kind words from Alex Eala right after her loss at the US Open
Iva Jovic had kind words for Alex Eala after beating her in the US Open third round and shared what happened right after the match.
The 21-year-old Eala lost a tough three-hour battle at Arthur Ashe Stadium, 5-7, 6-3, 5-7, as Jovic, who is ranked 14th in the world, came out on top. Right after the match, Eala hugged Jovic by the net—a gesture that almost moved Jovic to tears during her press conference.
“It says a lot about her as a person,” Jovic said, wiping her eyes. “I’m going to start crying. It really shows her amazing character to do that after such a close match.”
Before this, Jovic hadn’t lost a set at the US Open, winning smoothly against Magdalena Frech and Francesca Jones. Eala was also playing well, winning straight sets against Mary Stoiana and Oleksandra Oliynykova to reach this round.
When asked by a reporter how it felt to get a hug from Eala so soon after the match, Jovic shared a bit about the Filipina’s kindness off the court, too. She said Eala’s warm and respectful behavior in the locker room matches the way she plays on court.
“That just says so much about her. She still came to hug me and wish me the best,” Jovic said. “Even behind closed doors in the locker room, she’s just incredible.”
Next up for Jovic is a match against American Coco Gauff, who won the US Open in 2023.
Though the match was close, Jovic edged Eala by winning ten more points overall—112 to 102. She also managed to make fewer mistakes—27 unforced errors compared to Eala’s 34—and hit more winners, 41 to 34.
Eala showed great fight, even saving a match point while serving at 5-4 in the final set. She was ahead with a break in the last set and only needed to hold serve twice to win, but Jovic fought back and broke Eala twice to clinch the match.
Jovic was a bit better at converting break points too, winning nine out of seventeen chances compared to Eala’s eight.
Even though Eala just missed out this time, her strong play and dedicated fans made her US Open run memorable. She’ll surely take valuable lessons from this experience to her future Grand Slam matches.