When Olga Danilovic stunned the field to win the Moscow River Cup last July as a 17-year-old ranked 187 in the world, she made waves as the first player born in the 2000s to clinch a WTA title.
That success helped her crack the top 100 for the first time, but as a talented Serbian junior still figuring out her transition to the pro ranks, she wouldn’t win back-to-back matches until March 2019.
"It’s a big boom, but in your head only,” Danilovic tells wimbledon.com of that title run in Moscow last year.
“It’s not a big boom really, three days and that’s it, someone else is going to win something bigger.
“It’s just… I don’t know. You get a better ranking but it’s the same, you go same tomorrow and practise, you go same tomorrow and play a match, you lose some matches, you win some matches, and that’s it.”
Following up on a big breakthrough is never easy and while Danilovic is still in the process of finding her way, she carries with her lots of wisdom from that experience in the Russian capital.
“I learned to be patient and to still keep working hard. It doesn’t matter if you win one match or lose one match,” said the left-handed sensation.
On Wednesday in Roehampton, Danilovic edged one step closer to reaching her first Grand Slam main draw by defeating Frenchwoman Amandine Hesse 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 6-2 to make the final round of Wimbledon Qualifying. She’ll take on Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia on Thursday for a coveted spot in the ladies' main draw.
“It was tough conditions actually, it was quite windy, and on grass to be quite windy, it’s not easy, but I think I did very good,” said Danilovic, who won three doubles slams as a junior, including one at Wimbledon.
“I haven’t played a lot on grass, I played two years ago two tournaments, and three years ago two tournaments, which was not so successful – actually I won doubles, but in singles, not so much,” she adds with a chuckle.
At first, I was ‘Sasha’s daughter’, but now I’m Olga, so that’s what I want, I don’t want to be ‘Sasha’s daughter’ all my life
The daughter of basketball legend Sasha Danilovic, who helped Serbia clinch Olympic silver in Atlanta 1996 and was considered one of the best European shooting guards in the ‘90s, Danilovic has grown accustomed to fielding questions about her dad. She prefers to be recognised for her own achievements rather than his.
“I always say it, I cannot change my father, that’s my dad, I don’t look at him like that. When I was young, I actually had no idea what he was. I was like, ‘Why do people keep staring at you?’ But now, it’s just so nice,” she says.
“Before it was like, ‘Oh, do you have pressure on you?’ I don’t have any pressure, like I said he’s my dad, I cannot delete my surname or anything. It’s just there. You get used to it.
“At first, I was ‘Sasha’s daughter’, but now I’m Olga, so that’s what I want, I don’t want to be ‘Sasha’s daughter’ all my life.”
In Roehampton, Danilovic is accompanied by Serbia’s Fed Cup captain Tatjana Jecmenica, who is serving as her coach, following her split with Spanish ex-world No.2 Alex Corretja, who coached her for a year, and was her mentor since 2016.
“I’m still on very good terms with him but he couldn’t travel, so I just had to have someone who can travel with me,” she says of Corretja. “I’m super happy for him, with everything he’s been doing. I have an amazing relationship with him, it wasn’t only about tennis, it was more life, he was like a best friend to me. He still is, but he’s just not there anymore.”
Danilovic idolises her compatriot, world No.1 Novak Djokovic, and is aware that Serbia is waiting for someone to take over the baton now that Ana Ivanovic is retired, and Jelena Jankovic is on an extended break from the sport.
“It’s motivation, not pressure,” she says of the big shoes she hopes to fill one day.
“I do get a lot of attention in Serbia, we all do, because it’s a very small country but we’re a sports country, not only tennis, also basketball, volleyball, whatever sport you pick we are actually good at it. It’s just so nice to be a part of that kind of media attention because that’s the best thing for the sport.”