ATP Houston: Who Is Aleksander Kovacevic? Everything to Know about This American Talent of Serbian Descent

Over the past few years, American tennis players have experienced a meteoric rise. We have seen several young stars from this country put on scintillating performances, with the likes of Coco Gauff and Ben Shelton being the prime examples. One such player is Aleksander Kovacevic, who is swiftly on the rise in the ATP rankings chart. As Kovacevic readied to participate in another tournament on home soil, some interesting details were revealed about him.

Earlier this year at the Australian Open, Kovacevic won his maiden main draw match at the Grand Slams. Additionally, he is playing consistently across the tournaments in 2024. As the American star sets his eyes to become the best, here’s what we know about him.

Aleksander Kovacevic: The Untold Story

Although born in New York, Kovacevic is of Serbian descent. While his mother is from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kovacevic’s father is from Serbia. Interestingly, the 25-year-old belonged to a family of athletes. Both his parents were table tennis players and had met at a tournament. Just before Kovacevic’s birth, they migrated to the United States.

After taking tennis at a young age, Kovacevic turned pro in 2021 and made his Grand Slam qualifying debut at the US Open. However, he couldn’t make it to the main draw, losing in the final qualifying round. The struggle continued until he received a direct entry into the 2023 French Open.

The previous season was a turning point in his career as Kovacevic recorded his first Challenger title and also made his Masters 1000 debut. Owing to his good performances, Kovacevic entered the top 125 of the ATP rankings for the first time.

Aleksander Kovacevic has been inspired by the likes of Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils. Interestingly, he played Djokovic in his first Grand Slam main draw match at the 2023 French Open, where he lost in straight sets. Nonetheless, he’ll be forever indebted to Djokovic in his tennis career.

Novak Djokovic was the reason Kovacevic took to tennis

At the age of just 6, Kovacevic watched the 2005 US Open match between Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils. It was a thrilling first-round match which the Serb narrowly won in five epic sets. This sporting spectacle inspired Kovacevic to take up tennis and he began to train in this sport.

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He’ll be seen in action at the ATP Houston. Kovacevic will look to dig deep in the tournament with the home crowd’s support. He will face Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis and it promises to be a thrilling contest between them.

Kovacevic is ranked 98th in the world. With a strong performance in Houston, Kovacevic can realize his dreams of being among the best players in the world.