Unusually, Indonesia’s Janice Tjen is making her tour-level debut at the 2025 US Open. But what debut it has been. The 23-year-old played college tennis for University of Oregon (2020-21) and Pepperdine (2021-24) before turning pro at the start of last summer – since then, she’s put together an almost ridiculous 100-13 record, winning 13 titles on the ITF circuit. Her game evokes memories of former world #1 Ashleigh Barty and she could perhaps be as important for the development of tennis in Southeast Asia as Filipino Alexandra Eala is at the moment.
College Star Turns Pro, Wins 13 Titles in Less Than a Year
Tjen reached a career-high of #93 on the ITF Junior Circuit, featuring in only one Grand Slam qualifying draw at the 2019 Australian Open. She decided that continuing her tennis journey in college was the best way to go and was very successful at both programmes she was part of, earning ITA All-American honours in singles (2021, 2023) and doubles (2022-24). In the meantime, the 23-year-old wasn’t that active on the pro scene and by her graduation, she had only played in six ITF World Tennis Tour competitions. Despite her achievements on the college stage, the sociology student was undecided whether to give her pro dream a go.
But thankfully she did, supported by her coaches and Indonesia’s best player right now, Aldila Sutjiadi (currently ranked world #48 in doubles). Tjen entered the pro scene red-hot after college ventures, finishing her last season as the ITA #1 in doubles. From June 2024 to the end of that year, she went 41-3 on the ITF circuit, producing separate win streaks of 20 and 15, and clinching seven trophies. She won in very different settings as well, ranging from clay in Belgium to hard courts in New Zealand.
The next season came about and Tjen upped the quality of the tournaments she was competing in, featuring at some bigger ITF events before finally settling in on the W35 level. With a further six titles (including the biggest of her career, W50 Taizhou), she improved her ranking enough to secure a first Grand Slam qualifying appearance at the US Open and went for a tour of W75 and W100 events in the United States in preparation. While the trophy-capturing machine came up empty this time, she made two finals and produced a 10-3 record across three events, most importantly getting so much quality practice against better opposition (four Top 200 wins).
US Open Breakthrough Moment
One of the players to watch in US Open qualifying, Tjen produced a campaign that left no question as to whether she was a contender. She crushed former world #19 Varvara Lepchenko before coming up against two extremely crafty players that tend to make even the most powerful ball-strikers crumble – Maja Chwalinska and Aoi Ito. The latter win was particularly impressive Tjen only needing 49 minutes to breeze past the Japanese. That was the Indonesian’s first match against a top 100 opponent and it earned her a spot in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time, becoming only the seventh player from her country to compete at this level in the Open Era.
Tjen was playing with such confidence that even drawing 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova in the first round of the main draw (recent Cincinnati semifinalist as well) didn’t seem like too much. And indeed, Tjen earned her 100th win since turning pro (to just 13 losses) 6-4 4-6 6-4, ending a 22-year-old drought for Indonesian women at Grand Slam level. Her last compatriot to win a match at a Major was former world #55 Angelique Widjaja at Wimbledon 2003!
Barty Inspiration, New Market for Tennis?
You don’t need to watch Tjen long to know who her role model is. Ashleigh Barty retired from tennis as the world #1 after winning her third Grand Slam at the 2022 Australian Open and her style hasn’t really been replicated by anybody since. Until Tjen that is. The way she sets up for her forehand and uses an aggressive slice to find openings is so reminiscent of how the Australian played the game. On top of that, Tjen is at the net frequently and has incredible touch in the forecourt.
Some, maybe even most players use the slice principally to neutralise pace and extend the point. But what made Barty stand out is how she was always looking for an aggressive pivot to her run-around forehand. Tjen’s slice is the same, it doesn’t exist just to make sure that the rally continues. If she plays it, you know that her mind is already calculating whether she can make the big move and find her inside-in or inside-in forehand on the next shot. It’s vintage, old-school, and captivating to watch.
In the US Open second round on Wednesday, Tjen will play 2021 champion Emma Raducanu. It is a massive match for her development, but maybe also for the TV ratings? Raducanu remains one of the most marketable stars of the sport, while Tjen could be a sensation that develops tennis in Indonesia to previously unseen levels. We’ve just witnessed what Alexandra Eala’s success is doing for the popularity of the sport in the Philippines. Indonesia has a 248-million population but most don’t follow tennis right now. Badminton trumps it easily with a few other sports comfortably ahead as well. But if the 23-year-old can keep going and make it a successful pro career on the WTA Tour (which she clearly has the tools for), Janice Tjen could become a literal flagbearer of her country in the tennis world.
Main photo credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
