“I bumped into Novak Djokovic after my match, he congratulated me on my title win” - Liv Hovde after becoming 2nd American to win Wimbledon girls' singles title in 30 years

Junior World No. 4 Liv Hovde won the Wimbledon girls’ singles title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Hungary’s Luca Udvardy in the final on Saturday.

She continues American success at SW19 for the second year running, following Samir Banerjee’s boy’s singles triumph 12 months ago.

With a career-high junior ranking, Hovde became the 14th American to win the girls' singles title at Wimbledon. Claire Liu won the title in 2017, and before her, the last American girl to win it was Chanda Rubin in 1992.

Soon after her win, she ran into World No. 3 and 2022 Wimbledon finalist Novak Djokovic, who congratulated her on her victory. The youngster shared the experience while speaking to the ITF website following her win.

“I bumped into Novak Djokovic after my match, we had a conversation and he was really nice. He congratulated me on my title win and we took a photo together. He also asked how I was feeling after winning, it was really cool," Hovde said.

Fellow Americans Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Sebastian Korda, Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul have all won Junior Grand Slams in recent years, with Hovde adding her name to that illustrious group.

“I am so happy to win a Junior Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, this means the world to me. So many Americans have won Junior Grand Slam titles and gone on to do some wonderful things in tennis,” Hovde said.

“To follow in their footsteps at junior level is amazing – I can’t quite believe it actually. It makes me really excited for the future. This is a great step, although I still have a little bit to go to get to the big stage. I cannot wait to see what the future brings,” she added.

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“Grass suits my game well, I like how it's fast-moving” - Liv Hovde on her Wimbledon girls' singles title win

Liv Hovde (R) and Luca Udvardy.

This is the 16-year-old’s second title in less than a month, having triumphed at J1 Roehampton, the traditional warm-up event for Wimbledon. She now has an impressive 12-0 win-loss record on grass over the last two weeks.

Hovde said that she enjoys playing on the surface since it suits her game well.

“I think [grass] suits my game well. It's my first two tournaments on grass, so it's really good to be able to win both. I like how it's fast-moving. It's just a great surface overall,” Hovde said.

Hovde dropped only one set en route to the final and kept up her commanding form to clinch the final in straight sets.

She has already tasted professional tennis this year, making the quarterfinals at the $60,000 ITF Challenger in Arcadia (USA), where she beat the likes of Harriet Dart and Kayla Day before losing to Alycia Parks.