Is Ajla Tomljanovic Coached by Her Athletic Father? Everything To Know About Family’s Rich Sporting History

Australian former number 1 Ajla Tomljanovic is finally back on track! After losing a year to a knee injury, Tomljanovic is all set to show her grass-court brilliance ahead of Wimbledon. Tomljanovic marked a great return with her quarterfinals victory against Leylah Fernandez 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Her current performances shed light on her incredible athletic gene, showing how Tomljanovic’s professional success is a family affair. She is coached by her father, who did not play tennis in his prime years.

The Australian player’s father Ratko Tomljanovic was a professional handball player. He bagged the Handball European Cup in 1992 and 1993 as the team’s captain and is the athletic coach for his daughter. Ajla started playing tennis when she was six, and by the time she turned 13, she had been mentored by Fernando Martinez and Rene Gomez.

In 2022, an Australian professional tennis player shared a photo on Instagram, which was from a training session of a WTA star. Tomljanovic was spotted with Alessandro Bega, who was her coach at that time. “Looking forward to resuming these deep changeover talks/venting sessions #soonsoon,” wrote Tomljanovic on Instagram, to which Bega responded, “We will be back soon.”

Tomljanovic was coached by Bega, a former Italian ATP player since 2021. Bega’s guidance proved well for her since she ran to the quarterfinal of Wimbledon in 2021 and 2022 before succumbing to an injury after the Billie Jean King Cup. 

While it is not confirmed when Tomljanovic parted ways with Bega, Netflix’s tennis docuseries Break Point revealed that the 31-year-old has been seeking mentorship from her father since last year. Following her recent performance at the WTA Birmingham Classic, the fraternity would approve of her father’s joining her team.

Ajla Tomljanovic’s victory against Leylah Fernandez proves that she is back and looking ahead to demolish player’s on London’s grass court. Her post-victory speech at Birmingham reminds people that Tomljanovic has worked hard a lot to get back to where she belongs.

Ajla Tomljanovic revealed she “really wanted to be back out here playing matches“

In an astounding match, this Australian player thrashed her Canadian opponent after being breadsticked in the first set. Despite slow to catch-up in the first set, Tomljanovic unleashed her A-game to step ahead to the semifinals. Her current form on grass shows that she is playing with a target in mind, but her strategy is a bit more simple at the moment.

After defeating Zhu Lin, this 31-year-old WTA star said, “I just really wanted to be back out here playing matches like this. And even when I was nervous and negative, I just tried to remind myself that this is what I worked for, and that I should kind of enjoy the moments even though it’s really tense.”

Ajla Tomljanovic’s recent performance has delighted the fraternity’s heart with a possible dashing return to Wimbledon 2024. It has also brought a lot of attention to Tomljanovic’s coach, who is her father. Coming from a sports family, with her older sister Hana, a collegiate tennis player, and her cousin dating Felix Auger-Aliassime, Tomljanovic has ample areas to receive coaching advice. Can she make even better use of it in the upcoming slam?