Jelena Jankovic Set To Announce Retirement From Tennis Soon?

Jelena Jankovic, who enjoyed the number one position in professional tennis for a long period of time, is all set to announce her retirement from tennis. This information is prevailing in the media and had come from some trusted sources. The tennis pro would make an announcement in this regard very soon according to many media reports.

The Serb has been out of action since long time was last seen in the last year’s US Open. During the tournament she got injured and because of that she was out of the game for such long time. She called a ‘special’ press conference on 13th of May. This is also the opening day’s play of the Italian Open in Rome. This is the tournament, which she has won two times in her fantastic career and revealed that because of injury, she would not be able to play for a few months.
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A trophy-less Jankovic

Jelena Jankovic has been beaten in the Round of 16 in Tianjin Open by the local girl Zheng Saisai.

The 20-year old youngster won in the straight sets against the Serbian player who was given the first seed in the tournament.

There is a gap of 98 places between the rankings of Jankovic and Zheng. So, this can be considered a huge upset.

Jankovic has been trophy less this season. She would have come to China hoping for silverware, but, it wasn’t to be.

Zheng pushed Jankovic on the back foot in the opening game itself as she broke her serve to lead by 1-0.

But, the Chinese player could not build on that advantage as in the second game, she also lost serve and things were levelled.

But, Jankovic kept making mistakes on her serve and kept giving her opponent the breakthrough opportunities. With two more breaks in the set, Zheng sealed the opener.

Both the players started the second set in a circumspect way, but, in the 4^th game, Zheng took charge.

With some aggressive hits, the youngster was able to draw the first blood in the set. She, then, held her serve and broke for the second consecutive time i.e. in the 6^th game to make the score 5-1.

Jankovic reduced the margin a little bit with a late breakthrough in the 8^th game, but, a serve hold immediately after that did the trick for Zheng and she managed to secure probably her biggest victory ever.

Zheng’s opponent in the quarters would be Sorana Cirstea, a 24-year old from Romania, who is also ranked quite low in the world rankings, not as low as Zheng (no. 112) though.

Cirstea is just inside top 100. She is ranked 93^rd.

Soderling And Nadal To Live In Memory

Whenever the list of the biggest upsets created in the history of the lawn tennis is made, the fourth round match between Robin Soderling and Richard Gasquet in the 2009 French Open would come in top 5. It’s a match which a keen follower of tennis would perhaps never forget in his life. Rafael Nadal had actually got defeated in that match. Yes, you read that right. Nadal got defeated at Roland Garros and the man to do that was a young man from the United States of America who all of a sudden became the most threatening player in the world after that day.

Although Soderling didn’t win that edition of the French Open but, in the next Grand Slam that he took part in, he was one of the hot favourites to lift the trophy. The support that he got in his first match that he played at Flushing Meadows that year was enormous and it was a sign that he had become the new superstar of the tennis world. But, as they say, nothing changes quicker than the fortunes. The same happened with Soderling. His fortunes took a complete U-turn.

During the middle of that US Open, Soderling was hit by a unique kind of illness because of which he had to get himself aside from the tournament. And most of the people would not believe, but, since then, he has not featured even once in the professional arena. Yes, not even once. It’s been 3 years now and he is still not fit enough to compete.

It’s hugely disappointing that a player of such calibre who could have made this modern era of tennis so much more competitive has to remain away from the game because of illness. It’s heartbreaking for the fans.

Jankovic To Face Keys

Jelena Jankovic will be locking horns with Madison Keys of USA tomorrow in the opening round of the AEGON International Tennis Tournament.

Jankovic is one of those players who are not comfortable playing on grass at all. Her overall record on the green surfaces is quite ordinary.

In her 14-year long professional career so far, the Serbian has not entered the Round of 8 in the Wimbledon Championships even once which is enough to suggest how she has performed on grass over the years.

Jankovic’s numbers in Eastbourne where the AEGON International is to be played are even poorer. The veteran player has not won even a single match at that venue. She’s been there in that tournament on a couple of occasions in the past and on both those occasions; she got knocked out from the first round. In 2005, she was defeated by the Belgian Kim Clijsters, while, in 2009, Anna Chakvetadze of Russia showed her the exit door.

While talking to the reporters yesterday, Jankovic admitted that she was a bit weak on the grassy surfaces.

The Serbian said, “My performance has been the worst on grass and I am fully aware of it. Things happen quickly on grass than any other court. You need to keep up with the pace of the surface which I haven’t done so far. But, whenever I play on grass, I try to enjoy myself. That’s very important for you to do as a player.”

As far as Keys is concerned, she is a rapidly rising player who has come a long way since turning professional back in 2009. She is presently at the 40^th position in the world rankings. She is quite capable of pulling off an upset against Jankovic especially on grass. So, it’s hard to pick a favourite here.

JANKOVIC PLAYS LEPCHENKO

Jelena Jankovic will play against Varvara Lepchenko of USA in the second round of the ongoing Sony Open tennis tournament. It would be the first match in the tournament for the Serbian as she had received a bye in the opening round.

The 2014 season has not proved to be a bad one for Jankovic so far. In almost all the major competitions in which she has taken part this season, she has done well unlike her opponent who has been struggling in the recent times.

Lepchenko had climbed the world rankings in 2012 with some fine performances, but, she lost that momentum in the following year and she has looked quite patchy this year too.

Lepchenko’s most impressive quality is that she never plays defensively. No matter what the conditions are and who the opponent is, she knows only one way and that is to attack. She is very strong at playing forehand shots.

Lepchenko would also like the surface at Miami. It would be quick and thus, the ball would come on quite nicely.

Inconsistency is a big drawback in Lepchenko’s game though. She plays brilliantly in one set and then, in the next set, she looks quite ordinary. It has happened with her a number of times in the past.

As far as Jankovic is concerned, she is a bit ahead in terms of skill if compared to Lepchenko, but, her overall record against the American is not encouraging.

Talking to the reporters yesterday about Miami, the Serbian said, “Everything about this place is so nice. The surface, the spectators, the environment, it’s amazing to be back here.”

Jankovic’s form this season certainly makes her the favourite to win the contest, but, Lepchenko can’t be written off completely; that’s for sure.

SURPRISES

In the 2013 season, Jelena Jankovic surprised a lot of people with her performances. There were not many expectations from her before the start of the season, but, she played some high quality tennis especially in the second half of the season and ended up making big strides in the world rankings. At the start of the season, she was not even in top 20, but, when the season got over, she was ranked 8^th in the world.

Although, Jankovic won only one singles title in the last season but, she looked in good touch in almost every tournament that she participated in. She reached the title round in a couple of tournaments and in the last tournament of the season i.e. WTA Championships, she had almost got the better of the no. 1 player in the world Serena Williams.

Jankovic is 28 years of age at the moment and this is the age at which the game of most of the tennis players starts to come down a little bit, but, with the Serbian player, it’s exactly the opposite. She seemed to have improved in the last season. She was definitely at her best in the later parts of the season.

Jankovic is one of those players who are comfortable playing on all sorts of surfaces. It’s not that she is a weaker player on a particular kind of surface, but, in the last season, her best performances had come on clay courts. At Roland Garros, she had made her way to the quarter final round where she was up against one of the world’s best players Maria Sharapova and she had gone very close to beating her.

After the way she played in the last season, Jankovic is definitely one of the players to watch out for next year. She would like to move further up in the WTA rankings.