Ajla Tomljanović

Fast Facts

Sport: Tennis
Event: Women's Singles
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: 3 Grand Slam Singles Quarter Finals
Club: Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida
Year Born: 1993
State Born: Zagreb, Croatia

About Ajla

Born in Zagreb, Croatia, Ajla Tomljanovic now represents Australia after earning her citizenship in 2018.

Ajla started playing tennis at six-years-old at a club in Metalac, Croatia, following in the footsteps of her older sisters, who also played tennis. 

By thirteen-years-old, Ajla had moved to Florida to undergo more extensive training at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton.   

The talented tennis player showed promise early in her career, winning the 2009 Australian Open Girls' Doubles title with American Christina McHale, at just sixteen-years-old. She also upset 3rd seed Agnieszka Radswanka in the third round of the French Open in 2014. Tomljanovic reached her maiden WTA final in Pattaya City, Thailand in 2015 but was defeated by Daniela Hantuchova.

Ajla struggled with a shoulder injury throughout the beginning of the 2016 season, having been defeated in the first two tournaments in the year. She underwent surgery at the conclusion of her Australian campaign, and would not return to competition for another twelve months. 

Although she managed to make it into the late stages of minor tournaments for the next six months post-op, her shoulder injury did not completely subside, retiring in a match a year and a half after her surgery, citing pain in the same shoulder.

Ajla represented her birth country, Croatia, in all competitions until January of 2018 when she received her citizenship and was able to compete under the Australian flag. 

She proved to be in much stronger form from then on, making it to back-to-back semifinals on the WTA 125k Series in early 2018. She seemed unaffected by her previous injury, maintaining form to make it to another final at the Korea Open, in September. She finished the year at number 43 on the WTA rankings. 

Ajla represented Australia in the Fed Cup Tournament for the first time in 2019, where the team finished as finalists, defeated by France in the final, 3-2. She also reached a career high ranking that year of number 39 in the world.

At Tokyo 2020, Ajla went down in the second round to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. The Aussie was hot off the starting blocks taking the first set, but was pushed to three and conceded defeat to the eventual bronze medallist, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. 

In 2022, Ajla reached back to back quarter finals at the final two grand slams of the calendar year. Ajla dropped only two sets by the time she reached the quarter finals at Wimbledon, where she was bested by seventeenth-seed and eventual champion Elena Rybakina. 

On her way to a consecutive slam semi final, Ajla handed the great Serena Williams a defeat in the third round of the 2022 US Open. Gracious in victory, the Aussie allowed Williams the moment to celebrate her career coming to an end in front of crowd on their feet at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows. 

Ajla fired up and passed through the fourth round to meet Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in the quarter finals, unfortunately going down to her in straight sets. She finished the 2022 season with a career high singles ranking of 33.