Tennis Atlantic

FLUSHING, NY–After two three-set qualifying wins over the weekend, Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan rolled through her first round main draw match at the US Open on Monday like a beast, ousting favorite and 29 seed Elisabetto Cocciaretto, 6-2, 7-5. She had a little help from the experience of the mayhem of qualifying on Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day.

Never before in the 25 year history of Arthur Ashe Kids Day had actual matches been played. The final 18 qualifiers were set on Saturday, and it was a tough day for Juvan. It almost felt like a main draw match for her.

“Yeah, I mean, it was a little bit strange because right next to our court was a small mini-court for kids and the music was so loud that I could not hear anything,” she recalled. “So I had to ask the referee to turn it off because the problem was actually that I kept singing the songs in my head, and I could not turn it off in my head, so I was like ‘please be quiet’. I feel like there were almost more people on Saturday than today and I think that prepared me more for now because there were a lot of Japanese fans then, so I felt very calm going into today’s match with all of the conditions.”

When I spoke with Juvan on Saturday, she said she would be celebrating the win in New York by…going to bed early. It didn’t turn out that way. “Actually, on Saturday, I didn’t go to bed early,” she confessed. “I actually went pretty late. But yesterday, I had a more relaxing day which was different than the qualifiers and I had some treatment and I think my body’s also feeling much better today.”

She’s made the second round here three times, but it feels a little different this time. “I feel better this year than the years before,” Juvan said. “When I was in the second round the years before, I was sort of, ‘OK, this is the surface I feel most uncomfortable on’ and I was just trying to win a few rounds. Now, I feel like I’m getting stronger and actually, this year is the most matches I’ve had at the US Open (4). I think the qualifiers gave me that extra confidence that I do belong in the main draw and I do think that I can do more.”

Is an experienced qualifier the most dangerous player in the draw?

Juvan only took a small bite off of that. “I don’t know. We’ll see, I guess. I hope so!”

Next up for the Slovenian is American Lauren Davis tomorrow in Round 2.