Latest / Bleacher Report / 17-Year-Old Tennis Star Iva Jović on Sports Prodigies, Takes Pop Culture Quiz _ 2025 Roland-Garros

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17-Year-Old Tennis Star Iva Jović on Sports Prodigies, Takes Pop Culture Quiz _ 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 3: Welcome everyone.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'm John Isner with the Nothing Major podcast here at
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Bleacher Report set at Roland Garros here in twenty
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: twenty five, and we are joined with a very special guest,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Eva Jovich. If you don't know this name right now,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: you will in some years time, a young American from Torrance, California,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: who won her very first French Open match and she's
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: now into the second round. How are you enjoying your
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: time in Paris so far, Eva, and how are you
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: liking the red clay.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: I'm loving it so far. Paris has been really cool
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: on and off the court. I've got to I got
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: here really early, so I got to go around the
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  Speaker 2: city a little bit. I did a little boat cruise
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  Speaker 2: as we were talking about yesterday, and I'm liking the
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: clay more and more, getting used to it, so it's
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: it's been positive so far now.
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  Speaker 3: That boat cruise was that one of those that you
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: had dinner.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: On or no, No, it was. It was one of
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: those where we were just looking at the sites and
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: part of it was in French, so we didn't really
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: get the full explanations, but we saw with our and
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: then a little dinner afterwards with my family, so that's
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: all sweet.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well you speak fluent Serbian. Yes, growing up as
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a young girl in California. How inspirational were some of
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the great Serbian players to you? And namely, let's say
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Annie Vadovich from the women's side, and of course Novak
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Djokovic from the men's side.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty cool because at the time that I
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: was growing up, there were so many like dominant players
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  Speaker 2: at that specific period, so there were so many, so
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: many players to look up to, and I watched Anna
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: a lot, and obviously Djokovic. I'm still hoping to meet him,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: hopefully maybe get a picture and stuff. So I'm waiting
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: for my moment with that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: He would love to meet you. He's a good dude,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you know. Hopefully he's around for more years to come.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I know, but I know you have a longer career
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: ahead of you than he does at thirty eight years old.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Your sister Mia is currently a tennis player at UCLA
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  Speaker 1: and she is not much older than you. Yeah, you're
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: just seventeen right now, which is crazy. How hard was
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: that decision for you to go pro? And do you
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: consider maybe joining your sister? Wanting to join your sister
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  Speaker 1: on the UCLA tennis team.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, I definitely considered it because it's just a fun
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: atmosphere and I know all the girls on the team.
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  Speaker 2: I'm so close with all of them because of my sister.
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  Speaker 2: So it was difficult, and you know, academics and all,
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  Speaker 2: it's still very important to me. But I think this
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  Speaker 2: is just what I want to do right now. And
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: I've been having some good results too, So the team
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: with my sister is going to have to is gonna
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: have to be put on hold.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: I think you made the right choice. You're seventeen years
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: old into the second round at the French Open.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Very very impressive. All right, I'm gonna quiz you a
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: little bit right here.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: So I'm gonna name some athletes that turn pro at
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: a very young age.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: You're gonna have to try to tell me which age
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: they turned pro at official turn.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, So Michael Phelps qualified for the two thousand Summer
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Olympics at what age?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm not good with this. Okay, I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to take a wild guess and go sixteen.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Good guess fifteen?
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, bad, all right, you might get Wait that's crazy.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Actually, what it's crazy for the Olympics.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, all right, you might get this one, Okay.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Lebron James was drafted number one overall at what age?
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  Speaker 2: Seventeen eighteen?
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  Speaker 3: You're doing well though.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: You're doing time when it's fine, it's like average.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: All right. Do you know who Wayne Gretzky is?
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Yes? Okay, sorry, fun fact, I actually met his daughter.
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  Speaker 2: She plays tennis.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, she played.
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  Speaker 1: At Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
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  Speaker 2: My sister played her in a tournament. We were like,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: oh my god, this is so cool. So we have
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  Speaker 2: a picture with him.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Well, that's awesome that you know who Wayne is. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: and he is. You know, his kids played tennis, which
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: is awesome too. So he signed his first professional contract
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  Speaker 1: at what age?
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  Speaker 3: This is the greatest hockey player of all time.
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  Speaker 2: I mean he's the greatest. So it's got to be
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  Speaker 2: pretty early. I'm gonna go fifteen seventeen. I still think
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: you're doing well. I'm giving you like a B plus.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I think you're being really nice.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Now, you're doing great.
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  Speaker 1: I have one more for you, right, you definitely know,
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  Speaker 1: please an easy one.
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  Speaker 3: Athletes Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Venus and Serena Williams both turned pro at the same age.
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  Speaker 3: What age was that she.
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  Speaker 2: Want to slam at? Seventeen? So like I want to
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  Speaker 2: say fourteen?
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  Speaker 3: Boom? She got it? You got it.
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  Speaker 2: I think you've been bumped up to an as. No,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: thank you, I take an a.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: If i'm your professor, I take that. Well done, well done. Okay,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: all right, I got another game for you. Okay, we're
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: gonna do a generation's pop culture quiz. Don't you look
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: at the screen. So it's myself versus you. Oh god,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I was born I'm gonna aige myself in nineteen eighty five.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: You were born, as you know, in two thousand and seven. Yes, okay,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: what is that? What when we need the specific name
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of that device?
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  Speaker 2: It's a flip phone, yes.
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  Speaker 3: But do you know what it's called like the I mean.
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  Speaker 2: It's his motorola.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, but it had like a famous name.
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  Speaker 2: No, that one's got me. I don't know what the
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: specific name is for this thing, flip phone, specific the razor,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the R A Z R No, No, no, I don't remember.
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  Speaker 2: It was never. It was never in my memory.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: This one's for you, okay, okay. There are two dominant
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: like pop groups during this time?
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Which one is this?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: What time?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know who's in the middle and the yellow shirt.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: How about that right in the middle yellow shirt. No,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: you've got to know who that is.
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  Speaker 3: He's still super relevant.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Guys, the wrong person for that.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: I think this is I think this is refreshing.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, let me like really think for a second here.
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  Speaker 2: It's not One Direction.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: No, but no, definitely not.
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  Speaker 1: They were way after this, similar to Gen One Direction
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: was way after this.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I gotta go.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: This is in the yellow shirt led by Justin Timberlake.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, I love Justice. I love his music. I just don't.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I don't. I'm not here for the I don't know
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the face.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's JT. You love his music. He was
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: a big part of the band.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Was literally listening to him this morning. This is so
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: embarrassing in.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: The big part of the band in sync.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Oh okay, I've heard of that, all right, but it's
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: like it's just not well, that's where he got his start.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: When you meet Justin you'll know that.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Now, Okay, okay, okay, oh okay, this one finally, I.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Haven't It's like K pop. It's called right, but I
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: don't know the name.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Do you know what BTS?
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, I got one, all right, Well I don't yeah, okay,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: this is like a DVD player no, no, before like
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: a stereo or so. I don't know. Yeah, you're tracking,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: you're tracking, I'm tracking. I'm tracking somewhere.
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  Speaker 3: Okay. That is a VHS tape.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wasn't gonna get so, like I grew up in.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: The end the well born in the eighties, grew up
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: in the nineties.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Like all of my childhood stuff was recorded on these
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: VHS tapes. I think my parents still have them.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: So this is audio or is it audio and video? Yeah? Video,
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  Speaker 2: it's both.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Well I did Blockbuster when I was little, but it
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: was probably you remember Blockbuster, Yes, like in the grocery
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: store when you have yes, right, yeah, yea. Then you
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: go and you pick the movie and you get the disc.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: DVDs were cutting edge, but this was, uh you had
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: to rewind it.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: There was a rewind button.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: It was yeah, okay, that was that's my time.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Oh you know what I'm do? You know?
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, I like professional wrestling and he did this. His
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: name he's like his name's like the Wrizzler or something. Yes, yeah, yeah,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: they professional wrestling bit. Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm you do
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: you not enjoy the w W or a W Yeah, guys, no,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: this is really refreshing and it means you're focused on
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: all the right things. Okay, you shouldn't know who that is,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: but somehow I do.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: I just see like a smolder and that's that's all
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: that I'm registering right now. Yeah, you got to it's
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: like a music box.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: No, come on, what is.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: That's like the original device earbuds? Nope, what are those
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: little things?
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, sorry those are earbuds?
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I apologize, but all your all your music would be
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: stored on that little square shape deal music box, I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: pod ipop pod. Before there's iPhones, there was, you had
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: just a specific device only for your music.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Right. I'm just I'm learning so much right now.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, So the first no cap that means like like, uh,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: something making fun of you or something like no cap
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: or what does that even mean?
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: No, it's like the truth, like no cap, I'm being truthful.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: This is fact.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: It's giving. You know that. You know that I don't
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: know that.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Basically, Let's say someone your friend posts something on Instagram.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: You're like, oh, it's giving, like you look so good,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: this is amazing. It's like a compliment. It's like you're
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: doing it.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: So it's like a comment you would write on Instagram
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  Speaker 3: like that.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: You're giving like the hype up the hype Okay, I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: don't know this one either blow up like or you
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: look good. I'm gonna say right track, yeah, like yeah,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you're glowing today ish kind of.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: So it's like you can glow up or you can
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: glow down. So this is like to basically that, like, yeah,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: you want to glow up. You're looking good, like you're
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: looking better, something's going on. It's not like a specific
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Oh your hair looks good, You're just you've blown up
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: all in general, braces off is a glow up?
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, did you recently have braces and when did they
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: come off?
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: End of January? Recently, very recently. So I consider that
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: my personal glow up.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: There, that's your glow up right right there and there.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: That's awesome.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: I actually remember you at the US Open. You made
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: your debut last year.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Races.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, races when your first match.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: You might not ever.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Ever forget that, okay, Eva, I want you to build
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: your perfect player using these categories from the WT.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Serve sabal Anka, Yeah, can't argue that she might end
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: up here on this list twice. Forehand, can I go
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Jenny Brady even though she's not Jenny Brady has a
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: fierce forehand.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Jenny Brady Australian Open finalists, American Yes, girl.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, we went to a UCLA class together. Okay, backhand,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Coco has a nasty backhand.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: It's very good. I was hoping you'd say that. Okay, volley,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: this one could be a little.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Tricky, Okay, Mukoba, Yes, she's sneaky. At she's a really sneaky.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Best slice backhand too, right, Yes, okay, that's not on
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: here all right. Last one is creativity.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Creativity, it's a good one. Mira. Yeah, I think Mira
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: is pretty.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Mirah Andreva, Yeah, she's very young.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: Right, yes, she is eighteen eighteen, she's another younger.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Last one for you, which quality of yours do you
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: think will end up on this list when someone else?
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, eventually that is building their perfect player question.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I would love to see my return on there at
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: some point.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: I didn't start with this.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: You broke served ten times from fifteen opportunities in your
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: first round match. I would go entire months without breaking
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: serve ten times and you did it.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: When one match so well, you wouldn't get that's true.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: I would hope serve more than you.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: But ten of fifteen on breakpoint conversion yesterday in a
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: three set match, that's very impressive. So return to serve
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: you're going with yes, I'm going with that. I would
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: agree after seeing your your return stats, and we wish
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: you the best of luck. Thank you, thank you so
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: much for joining Bleacher Report here.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Jovich, You're the best.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.