Ajla Tomljanovic serves up new look – and a whack for the US Open

She won the respect of millions with her classy US Open win over Serena Williams last year, but tennis star Ajla Tomljanovic says she was ‘angry’ at her treatment before the match.

Ajla Tomljanovic in Vogue Australia’s January 2023 issue. Picture: Emma Summerton / Vogue Australia

She won the respect of millions with her classy US Open win over Serena Williams last year, but Australian tennis star Ajla Tomljanovic says she was “angry” at her treatment before the match.

Tomljanovic – currently Australia’s top-ranked female player – was unceremoniously asked to wait for a video to play in honour of Williams before the pair’s third-round match at the prestigious event in September.

“A few minutes before going on, the tournament supervisor came up to me and was like, ‘Ajla, you’re going out first. Please take the chair right from the umpire and then we’re going to do a two-minute video and then Serena’s going to walk out’,” she told fellow Croatian-Australian tennis champion Jelena Dokic in an ­interview for Vogue Australia’s January issue.

“I’m like, ‘What do you mean a video? What am I going to do there for two minutes?’ So there was a little bit of anger, good anger in a way. I understand the occasion, but come on. And that helped me be more of a, excuse my language, but more of a bitch. Like, OK, I’m here, I also want to win this.”

Tomljanovic said she did not think Williams expected to lose.

“I think she believed till the last moment that she would win, not just this match, maybe the whole thing. But it was her night whether she won or lost, and I just wanted that to be known.”

Tomljanovic with Serena Williams at the US Open last year. Picture: Getty Images

The Croatia-born athlete also opened up about her turbulent ­relationship with tennis in the issue, on sale next Monday, saying at this stage of her life the sport meant so much to her.

“I was hating tennis for a long time – a year for me is a very long time – and I didn’t know why, and I had to go deep with what was happening in my life,” she told Dokic, recalling her emotional state before her 2022 grand slam successes.

Vogue Australia executive editor Jessica Montague said the tennis star wanted to push her boundaries in the accompanying shoot for the magazine and the result was “not like how she’s ever been seen before”.

“Ajla really embraced the opportunity and let our creative team transform her,” she said. “She has really come into her own both as a woman and an athlete in the last year, and the shots absolutely reflect this.”

Following her success last year, when she become the first Australian woman since Dokic to reach back-to-back Wimbledon singles quarter finals, the 29-year-old will have all eyes on her at next week’s Australian Open.

Tomljanovic says she has “felt a lot of pressure … knowing the country’s following you”.

“ I can’t control what my result will be, but I want to come out without any regrets,” she said.