ALL ENGLAND CLUB, London — As Iva Jović dismantled Tatjana Maria, the grass-court savant, to reach the Wimbledon third round, it would have been easy to wonder why the American looks like such a natural on a tennis court that is far from the norm in the U.S..Jović didn’t play on grass at all growing up in Los Angeles, but the way she stays so low, and sends groundstrokes that thud across the turf and out of her opponents’ reach, has made her very much at home on a surface that can drive even the most accomplished players crazy.Only 18, but ranked No. 16 and rising fast, Jović beat last year’s Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova on her way to the semifinals of Queen’s, a prestigious grass warm-up event, a few weeks ago. She thrashed Maria, the 2025 champion at Queen’s and a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2022, 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday.Her secret? A youth spent playing soccer, for her local team in LA.“It was so helpful,” Jović said during an interview at the All England Club.“Oh my god, yeah. If it was my way, I would have every young player that’s going into tennis play soccer. Absolutely. It’s one of the closest crossovers, I think, from a footwork perspective.“The mechanics of it, how you’re loading and unloading, how low you have to be, it’s a lot of small steps and it’s a lot a quick changes of direction, no matter what position you’re playing. Especially with the dribbling and the faking or trying to go around someone, it is very quick and that’s kind of like reacting on a return, for example.“Goalie is probably unreal (for preparing a player for tennis). I was never in goal, I’ve always played on the wing.”Jović was a left-winger, comfortable with both feet, whose game was about using her movement to find space and provide assists. “Nobody does training blocks on grass, but I move quite well on the grass and I really think that’s from playing soccer,” she said.Jović’s soccer pedigree got her so far that she listed it as her favorite surface on the women’s tour website even before this year’s short season, which takes place in early summer. She had never won a tour-level match on it prior to 2026, but in 2025 she won five in a row to win a WTA 125 event, one rung below the main tour, and to qualify for that year’s Wimbledon.Her overall record on the surface is now 13-2, which she’ll look to improve upon against Russia’s No. 18 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on FridayWhy are some players better on clay than grass?Tifo SportsJović switched her attention away from soccer to focus more on tennis when she was around 13. A combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the team she was playing for starting to play national and international matches, meant it had become too much of a commitment.But she always has a soccer ball in her bag to have a kick-about with her coach.“Even to this day, I would say the sport that I genuinely enjoy most just from a pure fun perspective is soccer,” she said.