6 January 2026 | Tennis Victoria

Petar Jovic nearly didn’t make it on time.

After circling for parking around Fawkner Park, the Victorian State Final venue, he arrived flustered and late, one of the last players through the gate. Around him, more than a hundred hopefuls were already stretching, rallying and trying to settle nerves.

“It was quite overwhelming,” Jovic says. “At this sort of level, you’re not used to seeing 150 or 200 people there.”

There were 108 entries that day. No warm-ups. No easing into the contest. Just rock, paper, scissors, walk to your end and play one point.

“I didn’t have many expectations at the time,” Jovic says. “I thought, ‘It’s one point, anything can happen. I could go all the way through, or I could lose straight away.”

He went all the way through.

By the end of the afternoon, Jovic had won the Victorian State Final of the AO 1 Point Slam, earning his place at Rod Laver Arena for a shot at winning a million dollars against some of the best players in the world, including Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka.

Jovic strings and tests racquets at Tennis Lab at Melbourne Park and is no stranger to the professional environment. Last year, close friend Omar Jasika won the 1 Point Slam held on Kia Arena, beating Priscilla Hon in the final.

“I know a couple of the pros actually missed their serve and bombed out,” he says. “So truly, anything can happen. That’s the beauty of it.”

Still, the step up is immense.

“The tension is going to be amplified,” Jovic says. “A full stadium, let alone being on that court… that’s stuff you can only dream of. And then being in the presence of all these players. You’ve got world number ones, all the top players.”

If he wins the toss, his plan is simple.

“I’d go for my serve,” he says. “That’s one of my favourite shots, my serve and my forehand. You don’t want to attack too much and take risks because the margins – you could miss, and that’s it.”

A left-hander by trade, Jovic describes himself as an aggressive, versatile player.

“I like to come to the net,” he says. “Any chance I can come to the net, I’ll take it. If I do need to hang back and drag the rally out, I can do that as well.”

Jovic has competed on the Futures tour and knows first-hand the financial and mental grind of trying to make it on the professional circuit.

“There’s only a limited number of these Futures,” he says. “You have to make the most of it. We’re so far away from the rest of the world that if we travel overseas, we don’t have the luxury of just going home for a week or two. Air tickets are like two-and-a-half thousand dollars.”

Jovic hasn’t yet earned professional ranking points, but he’s stayed close to the elite game. For the past two years, he has been a hitting partner at the Australian Open and is in demand as a left-hander.

“There aren’t many of us,” he says. “When a left-hander makes a deep run (in the main draw), you know you’ll get an opportunity to hit with a really good player.”

Those opportunities have seen him share the court with Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, Holger Rune, and Coco Gauff.

“When I’m hitting with them, I can hold my own,” he says. “They don’t really fluctuate playing high or low tennis. They just do the better stuff for longer.”

Jovic’s story is also deeply shaped by family and heritage. He is Serbian by background, born in Australia to parents whose parents migrated from Serbia. The language, culture and love of sport have always been part of home, and not surprisingly, his favourite player is Novak Djokovic.

“My dad always loved tennis,” he says. “Watching Wimbledon, the Aussie Open.”

His father, Dragan, a builder by trade, introduced him to the game at Cranbourne Tennis Club when he was six. Jovic was a late developer, progressing significantly only in the past five years.

“I just thought if I keep showing up and doing the work, I’ll get recognised,” he says. “I like to feel like I’ve caught up to all of those guys at the top of the junior level.”

He plays State Grade for North Ringwood and now trains largely with his father, who has built a deep understanding of the game over years of watching, learning and supporting his son. “They’re over the moon about the 1 Point Slam,” Jovic says.

Now living in Malvern East, Jovic is preparing for an arena he knows, but not like this.

“It’s sort of a familiar setting, but then again it isn’t,” he says of the Melbourne Park environment. “When we’re training, it’s just the two of us compared to the thousands that will probably come and watch us.”

If the million dollars came his way, Jovic knows what he’d do.

“I might try and have a crack at the pro tour,” he says. “Travel, play and probably go on a nice holiday with the family.”

There are dream matchups, too.

“I’d love to have a crack at Sinner or Alcaraz,” he says. “They’re the two best players in the world. If it’s one point and I managed to win, I’d like to say I beat one of them! That’s just good for bragging.”

For now, the focus is narrower.

“I’ll just try to get through the first point, get the nerves out,” he says. “That’s what I felt at the state final. I was nervous before we even started, and then I started to feel better as the points went on.”