As Anastasija Cvetkovic was dissecting her run to the Roland Garros girls’ singles quarter-finals on Wednesday, the talented Serbian smiled when she spotted compatriots.

The 17-year-old, who hails from Serbia’s third largest city Nis, has performed admirably in Paris and handled tricky conditions including a gusting wind well in her 7-5 6-0 triumph over Paola Pinera Celorio.

Awaiting her afterwards were several Serbian journalists who, having covered the dazzling career of Novak Djokovic for a couple of decades, are delighted with Cvetkovic’s promise.

“It is good. It is a pleasure, really. It is great to have people tell your story,” said Cvetkovic, who has travelled to Roland Garros as part of the ITF-operated Grand Slam Player Development Programme Touring Team. 

When it comes to inspirations, Cvetkovic understandably cited the 24-time major champion as an idol, noting that Djokovic’s mental strength was something she tried to mirror on court.

She demonstrated considerable strength in that regard in the latter stages of a tight opening set against a Spaniard who possessed more power but struggled to match her consistency.

Cvetkovic, who made the final of J500 Offenbach in May and the quarter-finals at J500 Milan leading into Roland Garros, is yet to drop a set on the way to the last eight at Roland Garros.

After being broken when serving for the first set, she regained her focus and was able to close out the last eight games with her precise groundstrokes and quality defensive play.

“There were a lot of good points, but some stupid points, some stupid mistakes,” she said.

“But I told myself to stay calm and that's it. I'm really proud of that. And then in the second set I stayed the same without missing, while she was trying to do more than first set, so she started to miss more. It was a good set for me.”

The resilience, according to the Serbian journalists who have covered her run in Paris this week, stems from training at a good centre in Nis.

And with inspirations including Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka, Cvetkovic’s determination has been evident throughout her strong run so far, which has set up a quarter-final meeting with No.2 seed Xinran Sun, a 15-year-old from China.

Ekaterina Dotsenko, who ousted No.1 seed Ksenia Efremova in the first round, has carried that form through to a quarter-final against Alisa Oktiabreva, the No.12 seed.

Jana Kovackova, the fourth seed, will play Charo Esquiva Banuls, who is seeded 9, while No.3 seed Victoria Luiza Barros faces Ha Eum Lee in the other quarter-finals.

Away from the tennis courts Cvetkovic was a talented junior footballer but is now focusing firmly on more relaxing outings when not pushing herself from the baseline.

“I'm going to school so in my free time, I like listening to music and try to spend time with family, with friends, you know, because all my life I'm just pushing my tennis,” she said.

A full list of results from the 2026 Roland Garros Junior Championships is available here