When the WTA Tour returns to the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., after a two-year hiatus in the form of the newly minted July 31-Aug. 8 Mercury Insurance Open, two former No. 1s from a tiny Balkan nation of 10 million will be trying to find themselves.
Call it an on-court identity crisis.
Outside of Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic‘s homeland of Serbia, their onetime No. 1 status and the fact that their bios ironically fall back-to-back in the WTA Media Guide, they have little in common. In fact, they don’t like each other all that much. Their dysfunctional relationship was on full display this past May in Madrid, when, following a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over her countrywoman, Jankovic mocked her foe’s trademark fist pump. The gesture was caught on camera for all to see and Ivanovic clearly wasn’t amused.
“You know how they say — sport doesn’t build character, it shows it,” she said.
Jankovic, never one to bridle her opinions, was quick to fire back: “Every player has their way of pumping themselves up. But I don’t think it’s nice to put the fist in their face. That’s what can be a little irritating, especially after your opponent missed an easy ball, especially when it comes to me and Ana. We’re two girls from the same country, and it’s nice to have a nice relationship. Somebody has to win, and that’s normal. We’re both professionals. We want to do our best on the court. We should play fair.”
Jelena’s mother even blasted Ivanovic, who had earlier opted to sit out Serbia’s Fed Cup loss to Slovakia, but was spotted relaxing with her boyfriend — Aussie golfer Adam Scott — at a Mallorcan cafe. Said Snezana Jankovic, “Jelena flew 48 hours across half the world to play, despite a serious wrist injury. At the same time, somebody else had coffee somewhere while my child played hurting for her country.”
Along with ATPers Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic, Jankovic and Ivanovic were part of an unlikely from-indoor-pool-to-center-court explosion of Serbian talent that seemed to come out of nowhere. Both players briefly rose to the top of the women’s game. But both subsequently suffered precipitous falls, struggling to regain their form. Jankovic rose to No. 1 in August ’08, reaching the U.S. Open final. But after 18 weeks in the top spot, the part-time Californian (she’s building a home in Rancho Santa Fe) began to crumble. By the fall of ’09, she was in danger of falling out of the top 10. Her Slamless rise to No. 1 began to look more like an aberration with each passing day.
JJ blamed her slide on, amongst other things, too much time in the weight room.
“I felt really awkward on court. I didn’t feel comfortable out there. Now I lost weight. I’m not as muscular as I was before,” she said. “I wasn’t used to that kind of body. I was never one of those girls who had those muscles. I play my best tennis when I’m light on my feet, when I’m dynamic, when I can move.”
Ivanovic proved she was more than just another pretty face when she pushed aside Jankovic in three sets in the semis before toppling Russian Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 to win Roland Garros in ’08, a title that brought her the No. 1 ranking. But she couldn’t hold it. Ironically, it was Jankovic who supplanted her just nine weeks into her reign. After a brief three-week return to No. 1 later that year, she’s been in a virtual tailspin ever since.
“It hurts, I must say, but it’s a process,” said Ivanovic, 22, who recently hired Steffi Graf‘s former coach, Heinz Gunthardt, to help pull her out of her funk.
Following a fourth-round showing at Wimbledon, Jankovic, 25, remains WOS (Without Slam) but has rediscovered some fire and is back at No. 2. But Brisbane and Rome semifinalist Ivanovic’s struggles continue, and she’s sunk to a six-year low of No. 65. Both players continue to search for some consistency. In the process, they just might find themselves.
