Jovana Stevanovic will be back on the Serbian national team after not playing for her country for three seasons. The 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship gold medallist and Rio 2016 silver medallist accepted new head coach Daniele Santarelli’s invitation to return to the squad ahead of the 2022 season, when Serbia’s most important goal will be to defend their world title from September 23 through October 15 in the Netherlands and Poland.
Women's World Championship 2022
Stevanovic can’t say no to Serbia
The 2018 world champ will return to the national team after a call from new coach Santarelli
Published 01:00, 14 Feb 2022
Jovana Stevanovic triumphs as a world champ
The 29-year-old athlete had not been called up to the national team since Japan 2018, when she achieved the greatest success of her career. But this has now changed with the change at the helm of the Serbian selection. As soon as Italian coach Santarelli took over from Zoran Terzic, he made sure to give Stevanovic a call.
Jovana Stevanovic in action
“I am returning to the national team after a few years,” Stevanovic said in a novosti.rs interview. “It was a difficult period for me. It was not easy for me not to play for the national team, not to wear our jersey and our flag. Daniele Santarelli called me and said that he needed me and he could not have the best team without me, so I replied that I was ready to return and I would not reject the invitation. I would leave the past to the past. I would not return to bad memories. Now is a new period, something nice happened to me, and that is that the new coach invited me.”
Jovana’s success story representing Serbia started at the youth level. She was on the squad that claimed silver medals at the 2009 FIVB Volleyball Girls' Youth World Championship, the 2009 CEV Youth European Championship and the 2010 CEV Junior European Championship.
She started playing with the senior national team in 2012, when they took a CEV European League bronze, and gradually grew along with her teammates as Serbia grew to be a team of the world’s highest level. 2015 was the first big year for that generation of Serbian players. They won bronze medals at the European Games and the CEV European Championship and went on to celebrate with an FIVB Volleyball World Cup silver. In the next three seasons, the 1.92m-tall middle blocker added a 2016 Olympic silver, a 2017 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix bronze, a 2017 EuroVolley title and a 2018 World Championship trophy to her collection of national team honours.
“We will have a difficult task to defend the title of a world champion. But god is with us, so we shouldn’t worry. We have a good selection, good young players and a good head coach who knows volleyball well, so it is up to us to enjoy ourselves and play,” said Stevanovic. “In the national team, I found lifelong friends, above all Tijana Malesevic, Bojana Zivkovic, Milena Rasic and Brankica Mihajlovic, but I'm great with the other girls too. After all, we have always tried to be one body and there has never been any jealousy or a bad atmosphere... Everything in the national team is spontaneous, the girls are great and everyone has a good soul.”
Stevanovic started her professional club career with Crvena Zvezda Belgrade when she was 16 years old. After winning a CEV Cup silver and four domestic golden doubles in a row, she made her first international transfer and has been playing for Italian clubs ever since.
With Pomi Casalmaggiore, she won the 2016 CEV Champions League and was named on the Dream Team of the competition, following that up with a 2016 FIVB Volleyball Club World Championship silver. The club also won the national title and the national super cup in 2015. Stevanovic played with Savino Del Bene Scandicci for two seasons and has been with Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio since 2020, reaching the Champions League semifinals in 2021.
“The Italian league is the strongest in the world, and every year you have to be at your best to survive,” said the Serbian star. “It's great to play here, because you have to constantly get the best out of yourself, and you have no time to slow down, because younger and better ones are always coming in. Playing in Serie A for ten years is no small thing. Rarely can anyone withstand that constant pressure.”
While she played for the club from Casalmaggiore, Daniele Santarelli was an assistant coach of the team.
“In those years he was an assistant to Davide Mazzanti. I have a high opinion of Mazzanti and I am sure that Santarelli learned a lot from him,” Stevanovic said. “After all, Daniele proved himself at the helm of Conegliano. He mixed and fitted the stars of the team perfectly, which is not easy for any coach in the world. His successes say a lot about him. Now I will have the opportunity to work with him in the national team and I’m sure that he will be able to achieve great results with the players he has in the selection.”
“I am already mentally ready. I am counting the days until the beginning of the preparations.” Stevanovic concluded.
