Janice Tjen, the Indonesian Miracle

If a player starts the season ranked #578 in the world and ends the year as number #53, I imagine there will be no doubts when naming the biggest breakthrough of the year on the WTA circuit. Let's talk about Janice Tjen.

Janice Tjen has made it very easy for us this 2025 to designate the biggest breakthrough of the season within the WTA circuit. It is impossible to nominate anyone other than her, capable of jumping 525 positions in a period of ten months. Starting by competing in the ITF circuit and ending up victorious at the WTA 250 in Chennai, where she became the champion in both the singles and doubles draw this past weekend. Moreover, taking into account that this girl comes from Indonesia, a country with no tennis tradition, the merit multiplies to extreme levels. Where is the key, you ask? Just watch her on the court to understand: she is very good.

"I am very happy to have achieved victory this time, as the last time I was in a final, I suffered a heartbreaking defeat,” Tjen points out to WTA recalling the other professional final she played this summer, where she lost to Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah. “I reached the final in the WTA Sao Paulo, so fortunately it went much better for me this time […] There is no secret either, it is simply a matter of working, of improving all aspects of my game, week after week. Now I am also trying to learn from previous defeats and from the matches that I win,” adds the woman who closed the season with 77 victories.

“It's all very unexpected, that's for sure,” evaluates the 23-year-old tennis player born in Jakarta. "On paper, the most obvious can be seen through the ranking, although I try not to focus too much on the numbers. Now I just want to work and see what happens, I never discuss statistics or rankings with my coach. The only thing we look for is to keep improving, this is the question we asked ourselves from the first day we worked together, never talking about the rankings. Now is when we can look back and see where we stand,” states the pupil of Chris Bint.

Janice Tjen, the merit of a champion with humble origins

If we look at the current ranking, we will only find one other Indonesian player with a professional ranking: Prisca Nugroho (#284). If we look at history, we will only find one Indonesian player who has reached higher in the ranking: Yayuk Basuki, #19 in 1998. It is impossible to overlook her, starting because she never stood out as a junior and continuing with her decision to study at a college when she was a teenager. And yet, time has ended up placing Tjen in the elite, emphasizing a personal growth story where her origins did not always help her dream big.

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“Tennis is a very expensive sport in which you have to travel and then hire a coach, all these expenses were never easy for my family. Fortunately, the college route helped me a lot to continue developing my game and put me in a better position to turn professional. My message has always been the same: do not lose hope. This allowed me to compete at the highest level, always believing, opening up new opportunities for myself. I hope it helps other players to also compete at the highest level,” says Janice, the great revelation of this 2025.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Janice Tjen, el milagro indonesio