Jelena Jankovic
"What's going on?" someone called from the stands late this afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium, speaking for a crowd stunned by huge, back-to-back upsets. Directly after Melanie Oudin's win over Elena Dementieva, another of the stars of the women's game fell in the second round. Jelena Jankovic, the runner-up here last year who, like Dementieva, has never won a major, lost to 21-year-old Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 . It was a... READ MORE»
Was it just two years ago that we did a cover story on the Serbian tennis players who we predicted would take the city by storm? Because they... READ MORE»
Experience prevailed tonight. Serena Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic in an often nervous but ultimately riveting match 6-4, 7-5. It lasted over 2 hours, including a 1 hour, 17 minute second set that brought everything to the table: dramatic rallies, set points saved, a match point saved, key errors and stirring winners. For Serena, it was a coronation of a long road traveled back to the top spot (literally--she's now the no. 1 player in the world). With... READ MORE»
.jpg)
In less than an hour, Anita Baker will be on that red carpet singing "America the Beautiful," and shortly thereafter, it'll be time for Serena and Jelena. It is, also, bigger than a Saturday night match or a Sunday evening match--the traditional time for the women's and men's finals, respectively--and the biggest primetime slot ever dedicated for tennis: 9 p.m., CBS, Sunday night (the only other primetime Sunday night match was that ridiculous "Battle of... READ MORE»
Play for the rest of the day has been canceled. This means the Rafael Nadal-Andy Murray semifinal--which Murray currently leads 6-2, 7-6, 2-3--will resume tomorrow at 4pm, with coverage on CBS. Women's tennis will have its biggest stage ever, with a primetime 9pm final tomorrow night on CBS. The winner of the Nadal-Murray match will play Roger Federer in the men's final on Monday at 5pm.... READ MORE»
Everyone is saying that this is Serena's tournament to lose, but is that fair? Serena has lost to both Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic this year. She lost to Safina at the Qatar Telecom German Open, a match which ended in a third-set tiebreaker. And she lost to Jankovic at the Australian Open in straight sets (though Serena has also recently beaten her, at the Sony Ericsson Open). Safina and Serena are underway now at Ashe,... READ MORE»
The occasionally gloomy Jelena Jankovic is headed to her first Grand Slam final after defeating Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4, in a sloppy, nervous match. In total, there were 8 breaks of serve and 66 unforced errors. Jelena Jankovic calmly strolled to the locker room after the match--generally a moment heavy in emotions--like it was an easy third-round win. Dinara Safina, who is about to play Serena Williams for the other spot in the finals, was... READ MORE»
Novak Djokovic got his first test of the tournament this afternoon, and now it's Roger Federer's turn. Federer and Igor Andreev have nabbed a set each (at 7-6) and Federer is up a break in the third. At this point, we'll start the women's match at about 8:30, Roddick's match at 10:30, and we'll all be going home well after 1... READ MORE»
Is Jelena Jankovic brutally candid, or a bit depressive? In ancient Greek times, melancholia was thought to be caused by an excess of black bile in the blood. This has been more or less disproven by modern science. What ails Jankovic isn't entirely clear. Later tonight, she'll face off against Sybille Bammer in the Quarterfinals. We're wondering where her mind is, so consider the following quotes from press conferences she's given during the past week and... READ MORE»
The first of our questions for the day has been answered, as Jelena Jankovic not only stayed standing, but won in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5, over Jie Zheng. It wasn't easy, though, and those two sets took over two hours. Jankovic will play her first seeded player in the Round of 16; her opponent will be either Victoria Azarenka (14) or Caroline Wozniacki (21), who play later today.... READ MORE»
Jelena Jankovic has suffered from leg injuries for much of this year, and she had something of a scare in the third set of her second-round match against Sofia Arvidsson, when she was down on the court for about 30 seconds without sound or movement. But it didn't seem leg-related: "I was just tired, and I couldn't get up. I was so exhausted at that moment. I was breathing hard, and I... READ MORE»
In an all-American first-round matchup under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium, 9th-seeded James Blake had to slog through five dramatic sets against the promising 19-year-old Donald Young before finally prevailing, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Blake's serve held strong and his net game remained impressive, though the number of unforced errors from both of these hard-hitting players was high. Young was able to dictate play and move ahead at key intervals, but... READ MORE»
2007 was the year of the Serbian invasion of Flushing. Novak Djokovic became an overnight celebrity; we called Ana Ivanovic the savior of women's tennis thanks to her refreshingly grounded personality; Jelena Jankovic cemented a reputation as a tireless grinder whom the press adored. And then this year got off to such a great start! Djokovic won his first Grand Slam in Australia and Ana Ivanovic won her first major at Roland Garros. But since then, those beaming personalities and sparkly... READ MORE»
What's wrong with Venus Williams? "I just was feeling dizzy, a little sick to the stomach," she said. "Was just having some energy problems. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me." Neither does anyone else. After making 56 unforced errors in her agonizingly close quarterfinal match with Jelena Jankovic, Venus made 35 this afternoon—compared to 26 winners—in a straight-sets loss to Justine Henin. Williams said she's been feeling strange—dizzy, tired, depleted—since she got... READ MORE»
As Jelena Jankovic was picking up some final things at Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday after her loss to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, I asked her if Venus needed to pick up her level of play to beat Justine Henin later today, especially since she made 56 unforced errors in their... READ MORE»
