FROM THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC AT STANFORD – After a restful vacation on the Montenegro beaches, Jelena Jankovic is joyful again and says that she has put her horrific first half of the year behind her.
It’s hard to know whether the bounce in her step will be getting a lot of air time by the end of the summer, but she said she was to forget about her poor Slam results and focus on the task at hand, which is regain a measure of respectability, and back up her claim that when she’s right in the head and sound of body, that’s she can be the world best.
“I was playing without enjoyment and I had no passion and if you aren’t passionate and having fun it’s not the same,” Jankovic told Tennisreporters.net. “You are too nervous and my game was breaking down and you not the same player anymore.”
Jankovic admits she isn’t back to her top level yet, but she was resourceful and gutsy against German teenager Sabine Lisicki and survived 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Bank of the West quarterfinals, where she will face the spunky Marion Bartoli, who said before JJ’s match that she’s rather face the Serb than Lisicki.
Jankovic’s game plunged to almost fathomless depths after 2008, when she snared the year’s end top spot by grinding away in the fall with a large amount of success. As all of her fans know, she blames a wrong-headed off-season training program for the results, where she put on 15 pounds, mostly muscle, as she hit the weight room and the track for short sprints.
“Every year I was making improvement and last year finished strong and I was beating all the top players and I was starting to dominate women’s tennis. Then I did all the running and lifting weights… Doing things not related to things that puts you off and can make you slower. I could hit harder but I lost explosiveness and in tennis that’s the most important thing.”
Instead of prospering, Jankovic lost her style base, as she was no longer able to tirelessly counterpunch foes to death from off the court, which at least partly explains her hair-pulling losses to Bartoli in Australia, to Sorana Cirstea at Roland Garros and to Melanie Oudin at Wimbledon.
But now she says she feel like dancing again and for the first time all year, when she goes to practice, is loving sprinting side to side.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I’m re-charged. I have a clear mind for the second part of the season. What’s done is done and I want to be in the moment and go forward and get back to my form. I know I can play and move well and compete with the top players as good as I was, if not better.”
The Serbian is nothing if not bold. On Sunday, when asked about who the tour’s real No.1 is, Jankovic said that in her mind, Dinara Safina is not the world’s best player. She said that it’s important to play well in between the Slams and credited with Safina for doing so, but wouldn’t buy into the Russian as the tour’s true dominator.
“I think I’m the best player and I should always think like that, but if I had to pick someone after me, I’d pick Serena,” she said. “Serena moves well, is strong and more complete. To be number one, you should be complete and if you are number one you have to be beating the Williams sisters. I’m one of the rare players who has a positive record against the Williams sisters (Jankovic is 5-4 against Venus and 3-4 against Serena). Safina has beaten both of them twice (she’s 2-9 combined against the sisters). If you want to be No. 1, you have to be up there with them.”
She got a bit of her own medicine when a coy Bartoli said that she preferred to face Jankovic rather than the German because “I always beat her.” Bartoli is 4-3 against Jankovic and has won their last three matches. JJ was a bit stunned to hear the comments.
“She talks like she’s just Serena Williams,” Jankovic said. “Everybody had a right to say what she wants. I’m not really focused on Bartoli. She’s not like my biggest rival or someone I look up to or I’m scared of. She’s just one of the players on tour, not a big name, or someone who is making the big results or headlines in the game.”
When she left the press conference to go for a doping test (something she wasn’t pleased about given that she might have to stay on site past midnight), Jankovic added with a smile, “Bartoli is going to get it tomorrow.”
Williams Sisters Move Ahead
In other action, Serena Williams powered into the quarters of the Stanford Classic, beating Hungary’s Melinda Czink 6-3, 7-6 (7) erena was joined in the final eight by her sister Venus, who bested Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1 7-5.
Serena, who has won nine straight matches, will play Australia’s Samantha Stosur. Stosur held match points against Serena earlier this year in Sydney and watched the Williams match from the stands on Thursday. “I saw her there. She should be very confident going into the match,” Serena said with a laugh. “Hopefully I’ll be playing a little better tomorrow.”
Venus will face Maria Sharapova. “My key is to execute my game as best I can,” Williams said. “I feel like it will be a good match-up for me. I always enjoy playing against Maria.” Elena Dementieva and Daniela Hantuchova will contest the other quarterfinal.
© TennisReporters.net 2009
