Tennis is quite a surprising sport, unlike other disciplines, it is not unusual for a country to dominate this sport worldwide before entirely disappearing from the landscape in the following decades.
Despite a long waiting period, American tennis seems to have regained its lost nobility in 2022.
If players such as Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe have finally met the demanding expectations of the American sports media, other americans athletes have shown up in a spectacular way.
Born in New York, Aleksandar Kovacevic is a young 25 year old player whose progression over the last two seasons can be described as breathtaking.
Ranked 650th in the world at the beginning of the 2022 season, the American climbed the ATP rankings at an astonishing speed.
Kovacevic playing the Monterrey Challenger,
Sources : Tennis Challenge
Like many American players in the recent years, Kovacevic chose to continue his studies and play on the American college circuit with the Illinois Athletics.
Having gained experiences on the university tour, the American then entered the ATP circuit through the future tournaments and challengers (3rd and 2nd division).
The young American will finally reveal himself to the tennis world, in September 2022 by reaching the semi-finals of the Seoul ATP 250.
By defeating top 100 opponents throughout his run, he demonstrated the extent of his potential, offering great hopes for the future of American tennis.
A highly elegant style of play
Kovacevic has a very clean game technically speaking.
On one side, he's one-handed backhand allows him to vary between slice for the defensive phases and flat shots for the offensive phases.
On the other hand, he is able to generate a lot of speed and power on his forehand side , which is the result of a quick execution of his gesture.
Aleksandar Kovacevic is then considered to be a particularly offensive player although his backhand allows him to prolong the rally in defensive situations.
"Aleksandar got the game, no doubt, to go far."
Novak Djokovic
The intriguing statistic concerns the number of aces the American player has scored in his matches despite his height of 1.83m (rather average for players on the ATP circuit).
It is not uncommon to observe that the New York native regularly exceeds 10 aces in his matches on the secondary and ATP circuit, making his serve his major weapon.
Kovacevic after his game against Djokovic during the french open, sources : Last Word on Sports
The efficiency of his serve, which allows him to have a particularly high rate of points won after his first ball, combined with the variation of his backhand and the power of his forehand, reminds us to some extent of a certain Roger Federer or even more recently Denis Shapovalov.
What to expect from Kovacevic ?
The transition from the challenger circuit to the ATP circuit is often very complex, and the excellent results of the young American in recent weeks do not assure us with certainty that the performances will follow in the ATP 250 or 500 tournaments.
At the moment, the 25 year old player has very little media exposure and this has the advantage of allowing him to evolve in the tennis world without the pressure that some of his compatriots of the same age carry.
The young American's game is highly explosive, certainly favoring results on fast surfaces such as grass and fast hardcourts. Kovascevic has the weapons to break into the top 100 very soon, the rest will depend on the evolution of his game...
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