The 2025 Season: A First for Janice Tjen

JINAN, SATURDAY — Indonesian female tennis player, Janice Tjen, is making her way in the professional tennis arena step by step. Her motivation and hard work have earned her the title of WTA 125 champion in Jinan, China.

Janice became the champion after defeating the second seed from Hungary, Anna Bondar, in the final held on Saturday (18/10/2025). Janice, who was the third seed, won with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

The victory of this 23-year-old Indonesian athlete was briefly delayed during the tenth game of the third set when she faced a match point. Bondar applied pressure by turning Janice's lead of 5-4 (40-0) into two deuces. Janice ultimately won the final on her fifth match point.

Although the WTA 125 is positioned below the structure of the WTA Tour, which includes WTA 250, 500, and 1000, the WTA Jinan championship title holds significant meaning in Janice's career. This marks her first title from a WTA tournament in the women's singles category.

Two weeks ago, Janice became the champion at the same level in another tournament in China, namely the WTA Suzhou, in the women's doubles category. She achieved this alongside her senior, Aldila Sutjiadi, who has already entered the WTA Tour competition.

The WTA Jinan championship title marks another phase in Janice's journey in the WTA tournament. Prior to her appearance in that eastern Chinese city, Janice achieved another milestone that was entirely first-time in 2025.

She made her debut in the Grand Slam arena by participating in the US Open in New York, from August 24 to September 7. Janice won three qualifying matches to advance to the main draw, then reached the second round before being defeated by Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion.

Janice received the opportunity to compete in the US Open after winning 13 ITF tournaments out of 22 finals since June 2024. Mid-2024 marked Janice's "comeback" to professional tournaments after completing her studies in sociology at Pepperdine University. She attended university as a means to develop her skills as a tennis player.

The challenges in the competition among universities, NCAA, brought Janice back to professional competition at the encouragement of her coach at the university. Janice also received various inputs from Aldila.

After the US Open, Janice received her first opportunity to compete in the WTA 250 tournament due to her world ranking rising from 149 to 130. She participated in the WTA Sao Paulo in Brazil and reached the final.

Another first experience gained this year was when she had the opportunity to compete in the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, China. Janice was able to pass the qualifying round and lost in the first round. After that, she played in Suzhou in both the women's singles and doubles events, and then appeared in Jinan.

This journey will elevate Janice into the top 80 in the world after starting 2025 in the 411th position. With her ranking continuously improving, the opportunity to participate in more WTA Tour tournaments is also increasing.

In her professional tennis career, Janice was accompanied by coach Chris Bint, an Englishman who serves as the national tennis coach for New Zealand. It was reported in The Athletic following the US Open that Bint accompanied Janice during four tournaments in South Korea in April and May 2025. Janice secured two titles from three finals.

Convinced by Janice's performance, Bint resigned from his job in New Zealand to train the athlete from Jakarta. His focus was on developing service accuracy and elevating skill levels in net play. They analyzed the games of prominent names, namely Ash Barty, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Carlos Alcaraz.

Another factor that received attention from Bint is Janice's nutrition and rest patterns. They also added a physical trainer from Pepperdine to the team, as well as a physiotherapist from Indonesia.