Archive for: Jelena Jankovic
And so both Serbian “sisters” go out in the first round. But while there was nothing particularly shocking about Ivanovic’s loss – since it came to Petrova, last year’s finalist and possessor of the kind of power serve you expect to be successful on grass – Jankovic’s loss is pretty shocking. Although Chakvetadze is a former top-five player (in 2007, her best year, she reached the US Open semifinal and won several titles) she has barely won a match all year and her ranking is down to 31. Jankovic finished last year number one, and has dropped to 6 after an overtraining left her muscle-bound in the first part of the year.
Jankovic returns a shot from Chakvetadze on her way to a first-round loss
Jankovic, who said yesterday she’s been working to improve her serve, learn to volley, and shorten the points on grass, nonetheless looked uncomfortable in the first set, starting with a string of errors while Chakvetadze barely put a foot wrong for six games. Until 5-1, when Chakvetadze was serving for the set and stopped being able to find her first serve. Five games later, Chakvetadze had to serve to save the set, succeeded, and then dropped a tightly-fought tiebreak.
At that point, it seemed obvious that Chakvetadze was going to melt down further and Jankovic would win in straight sets. Still, the pair stayed level until 3-3, when Chakvetadze saved five break points to go 4-3, then broke Jankovic for 5-3, and served out to love.
In the third set, Jankovic set afterwards, her legs gave out from the strain of having to bend so low to get back all those deep, skidding shots. Her quads started to hurt, and her legs were tired, and she didn’t have the ernergy to keep running.
When you have two slujmping players playing each other, one of them has to lose. Surprising that the one who lost was Jankovic. But Chakvetadze does have a long history of playing on grass – the first time I saw her was at Wimbledon in the juniors, playing Michaela Krajicek probably ten years ago.
Jankovic herself admits that grass is her weakest surface – she’s made the semis of all the other Slams but never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Svetlana Kuznetsova’s 6-4 6-2 drubbing of a tight Dinara Safina in the French Open final served as a particularly unfitting conclusion to what was one of the most enjoyable majors in recent years. Coming back from a relatively bland 2008 edition, where the story of choice was who wasn’t playing, the 2009 event was at times inspiring, at many times absurd, and always compelling. The drama began almost immediately as both Venus and Serena Williams, usually on cruise control through the first few rounds, were taken to three sets by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Klara Zakopalova, respectively. Even when we think they’ve drawn a tough first round opponent, they will often get through dropping less than five games. That was when the alarm bells started to go off: this one would be different.
And so it was, as seed after seed began to fall. This is always a tough situation for women’s tennis because, if the seeds all get through, then it is criticized for not having enough depth, but if the seeds lose, then it is criticized for not having enough dominance at the top. This time, when the seeds lost, it was because the opponent played exceptionally well. Victoria Azarenka completely outplayed Ana Ivanovic to eliminate her in the fourth round, and Agnes Szavay played tennis she hasn’t shown since 2007 to defeat Venus Williams easily. Sorana Cirstea finally showed what the tennis world knew she possessed as she outlasted Jelena Jankovic in an epic 9-7 in the third, and Sam Stosur served like a top-10 player to eliminate Dementieva. All of this was in direct contrast to this year’s Australian Open, where Ivanovic collapsed against Kleybanova and Jankovic barely showed up against Bartoli. This time, the underdog had to win it. Basically, the only seed who wasn’t challenged early on was Dinara Safina, who took advantage of a light draw to sprint into the second week.
Ultimately, the two biggest news items of the first week had little to do with anyone’s play. The first story was Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who was hit with a ball by Serena Williams, but refused to acknowledge it to the chair umpire. Martinez Sanchez should have lost the point, but she won it, which sparked a press conference war of words with Williams accusing and Martinez Sanchez denying. Williams went on to win that match, so there was at least some sense of justice. When people went discussing whether Martinez Sanchez cheated, they were all aflutter about the screeching grunt of Michelle Larcher de Brito. Larcher de Brito has been touted for years as the next big thing, and she had a mini-breakthough here, making the third round in her first major main draw. More than her promising play, she is known for her grunt, which is by far the loudest on tour. Her third round opponent Aravane Rezai had quite a problem with it, complaining to the chair and again in the press conference. Once again the voyeuristic press was more than happy to latch on to this relative non-story. The furor will likely cause the tour to once again revisit the question of how loud is too loud.
Back in the tennis, the Quarterfinal lineup was a delightful mix of the expected (Safina, S. Williams) and the completely surprising (Stosur, Cirstea, Cibulkova). Joining those women was Maria Sharapova, which could not have been too surprising as she came into this tournament as a complete question mark. With little match play, no one knew whether she was heading for a first round exit or for the title. The match of the tournament took place in this round as Svetlana Kuznetsova finally put it together when she needed to and eliminated Serena Williams. Kuznetsova went up a set and 5-3, just as she did in Australia against Williams, and just as she has done so many times in her career. And so, it came as a shock to absolutely no one that she blew the 5-3 lead and Williams went on to win the second set. The Svetlana Kuznetsova of October 2004-May 2009 would have collapsed at this point. maybe mustering a couple of games in the third set as she went out with a whimper. This time she fought and ultimately won 7-5 in a thrilling third set. Since winning the 2004 US Open, Kuznetsova hasn’t been that player. She hasn’t been the one who is able to fight off bad games and blown leads. She hasn’t been a champion.
This week, she was. She went on to face a resurgent Sam Stosur in the Semifinals. Sam missed a year of her career, out with viral meningitis and Lyme disease, so to make it to a major Semifinal on her worst surface was an amazing accomplishment. Stosur acquitted herself quite well in this match, coming back from a deficit in the second set to level the match. Kuznetsova had the chance to blow it again, giving up a second set lead and going to the third, but the Williams match changed something. Her body language was better, but more importantly, her shotmaking improved. She wasn’t going for insane crosscourt forehands like she used to. She played patient, composed, and mature points to win the third. In the final, she would meet Dinara Safina, who eliminated Cibulkova in the other Semifinal.
This match was Safina’s to take. She was the pre-tournament favorite, world #1, dominant performer of the clay season, but the pressure was too much. As she watched her opponent crumble and make uncharacteristic errors, Kuznetsova had clearly changed from uncertain challenger to confidant winner, from choker to champion. In a tournament that was full of stimulating three set matches, the routine two-set final seemed to be a bit of a letdown. Everyone wanted there to be another three set epic, but in the spirit of this tournament, where Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sam Stosur, Dominika Cibulkova, Michelle Larcher De Brito, Maria Sharapova, Agnes Szavay, Victoria Azarenka, and Sorana Cirstea taught us to expect the unexpected, maybe it was better this way.
Chinese brand ANTA has officially released their new dress which Jelena Jankovic will be wearing throughout the 2009 French Open starting in just over a day. It is going to be very interesting to see how this dress looks in real life away from all the special affects in this picture above.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has released the official 2008 season-ending tennis rankings.
Jelena Jankovic has ended the tennis year as the number one tennis player in the world, followed by Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, and Ana Ivanovic.
2007 POINTS DROPPED ON NOVEMBER 10: Madrid (SEC)
Top 20 Rankings (November 10, 2008)
1. Jelena Jankovic – Serbia – 4710
2. Serena Williams – United States – 3866
3. Dinara Safina – Russia – 3817
4. Elena Dementieva – Russia – 3663
5. Ana Ivanovic – Serbia – 3457
6. Venus Williams – United States – 3272
7. Vera Zvonareva – Russia – 2952
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Russia – 2726
9. Maria Sharapova – Russia – 2515
10. Agnieszka Radwanska – Poland – 2286
11. Nadia Petrova – Russia – 1976
12. Caroline Wozniacki – Denmark – 1678
13. Flavia Pennetta – Italy – 1670
14. Patty Schnyder – Switzerland – 1590
15. Victoria Azarenka – Belarus – 1494
16. Alize Cornet – France – 1492
17. Marion Bartoli – France – 1410
18. Anna Chakvetadze – Russia – 1363
19. Dominika Cibulkova – Slovakia – 1337
20. Katarina Srebotnik – Slovakia – 1272
SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR RANKINGS
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings is the worldwide computer ranking for women’s professional tennis.
The ranking system is a 52-week, cumulative system in which the number of Tournament results that comprise a player’s ranking is capped at 17 Tournament results for Singles and 11 Tournament results for Doubles.
The results used to determine a player’s ranking are the Tournaments yielding the player’s highest Ranking points over the past 52 weeks.
Serena Williams has lost in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, which will see Jelena Jankovic now be the number one player in the world. Li Na was the lady who beat Williams in the second round 0-6 6-1 6-4.
Previously, we wrote about Carlos Rodriguez and his thoughts on the state of womens tennis, and it seems he has a point with already four players holding the number 1 ranking this year: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Name: Jelena Jankovic
Country: Serbia
Birthdate: February 28, 1985
Birthplace: Belgrade, Serbia then SFR Yugoslavia
Residence: Bradenton, Florida
Plays: Right-handed with a double handed backhand
Height: 177 cm or 5ft 9.5in
Website: www.jelenajankovic.net
Scouting: Jelena is one of the best female tennis players in the world. Jelena has great ground strokes on both sites and likes to play straight across the baseline. Her fitness levels are also very good, so once you start a match you have to be ready for a long encounter. Jelena however doesnt really like to be stretched on either side. Her backhand slice isnt very strong and tends to land short. If you can keep her around the baseline but mix up your depths at the same time.
In terms of her serve Jelena has quite a strong first serve and the second serve likes to go fo the forehand of her opponent. Jelena doesnt really have a very strong kick serve in her bag, but neither do most female players.
