by Hanlon Walsh
Among the many American stars through to this week’s quarterfinals, one has quietly made his mark under the lights. Aleksandar Kovacevic, River Oaks’ resident night owl, has won both of his matches in the evening session to reach his first US Clay quarterfinal in three attempts.
Last year, Kovacevic spent more than three hours on court in each of his two matches here, including a tournament record of 3 hours, 35 minutes in the second round against Jordan Thompson.
This year, Kovacevic has spent less time on court in his two matches (2 hours, 57 minutes) than he did in any single 2024 match. He opened with a straight sets upset of No. 7 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry, then recorded a clinically efficient win over qualifier Corentin Denolly.
Kovacevic has been a steady presence in the ATP top 100 since first breaking through in January 2024 and is poised to reach a career high inside the Top 70 with another win here this week. A two-time All-American at the University of Illinois, he has steadily climbed the rankings since turning pro in 2021, capturing six ATP Challenger titles in the past two years.
Nicknamed “Kova,” Kovacevic is fluent in both Serbian and English, thanks to his parents' Serbian and Bosnian roots. Born and raised in New York City, he first picked up a racket at age four on the Central Park tennis courts.
We caught up with the rising American star to discuss his tennis journey, preferred surface, 2025 goals, and more.
1) How does it feel to be back at River Oaks for the third straight year?
It’s always nice to be back in Houston. The tournament does so many generous things for the players and it’s a pleasure to be here again. The club is incredibly nice and all of the players enjoy their time here. I had a great experience last year playing some marathon matches under the lights, so I'm looking forward to more battles ahead this week.
2) What is your favorite surface to compete on?
Hard court is my favorite surface. I played college at Illinois for five years and we only played on hard courts. Some of the guys competing here have grown up playing on clay courts, whereas I grew up in New York City playing mostly on indoor hard courts. I enjoy playing on other surfaces as a fun activity, but my game style is best suited to hard courts. Houston usually has good opportunities in the draw because you have a lot of American guys here who don’t typically love playing on clay.
3) Tell us about your college experience at Illinois. How did it prepare you for the pro tour?
It was definitely important for me to go to college because I wasn’t that great of a junior player to be honest, so turning pro at a young age wasn’t even an option. Had I gone pro too early, I could’ve gotten stuck grinding through ITF futures events for several years and getting burnt out. College was fun being with friends while still developing my tennis game and myself as a person. When I turned pro, I felt more confident as a tennis player and a person.
4) How do you balance your schedule on the ATP Tour versus the ATP Challenger Circuit?
Challengers can give you opportunities to go deeper in events and get more match play. There’s no better practice in tennis than being in a real match scenario with the pressure of every point. I’ve dipped my toes back into Challengers occasionally, sometimes out of necessity when I was close to falling out of the top 100 earlier this year. Playing on the ATP Tour is always the goal, but sometimes the Challenger Tour is a great option when you need to build up confidence, match play, or ranking points. I’m now at a good ranking spot where I don’t think I’ll need to play any more Challenger events for the rest of the year, which feels good.
5) What are your tennis goals in 2025?
Finishing the year top 50 is my main goal right now. As of now, I think I’m on track to potentially do that. It’s a long season though and there’s still a lot of work left to do. I want to be consistent with my game and especially on the mental front because it can be really hard to stay engaged mentally and physically week to week on tour. Fortunately I’ve started the year out pretty hot and hope to keep it rolling.
Up Next
Kovacevic’s Friday quarterfinals match won’t be under the lights, so our resident River Oaks night owl fans will have to catch him earlier in the day session as he takes on fellow American Jenson Brooksby for a spot in the first clay semifinal for both players.
