Jankovic fatigued, but confident ahead of Wimbledon

Jelena: 'I feel like I’m the No. 2 player'

FROM THE ORDINA OPEN IN ROSMALEN – She used to be a bit of a mental roller coaster, but Jelena Jankovic says experience has helped her improve her focus and not to worry about having lost a point anymore. In her semifinal match against Dinara Safina at the Ordina Open, the Serb dropped the second set to the No. 12 after having won the first, only to retake control of the match in the third. She then went from 5-3 up to 5-6 down, but coolly held serve for a tiebreak. Jankovic took a 6-2 lead and wasted all four match points, but she won the next two to close it out 8-6 nonetheless.

You may point to the 22-year-old No.3 saying she lacked the killer’s instinct to finish Safina off, but when it comes to Jankovic and her history of mental lapses, one can only applaud the fact she notched the win after dropping dramatic leads twice.

“I think the experience definitely helped me,” Jankovic told TennisReporters.net, “I’ve played so many matches this year. I’ve been in the situation many times. I lose the point; I forget about it. I don’t think about it; just play the next point.”

Jankovic has by far the most wins of any player on tour this season. Her 51 matches won are followed by Anna Chakvetadze’s 34 victories. “It’s unbelievable to have 51 wins in half-a-year,” she says. “It gives me more confidence and it shows that I belong in the top of the game.“

Even though the Serb has moved up from No. 34 last year to her current No. 3 position, her self-assurance came popping out. “I feel like I’m the No. 2 player. I am number one in the race and I have beaten all the top players except Justine. But she is the better player and has more experience.”

Despite her excellent season so far, Jankovic has been criticised for how many tournaments she has played. It already started in January, when she entered two consecutive warm-up events for the Australian Open, reaching the final in both tournaments. She beat Vera Zvonareva for the title in Auckland, before she lost a three-set thriller the next week to Kim Clijsters in Sydney.

Jankovic admits the long two weeks before the first Grand Slam of the year drained her for the event in Melbourne.“I didn’t expect to do so well the first tournaments of the year. I prepared so well for the Australian Open, but when I played Serena in the fourth round I was just flat.” Jankovic lost the match against the future champion 6-3, 6-2.

JANKOVIC KEEPS PLAYING AND PLAYING

So how would one prepare for Roland Garros when you’ve overplayed yourself earlier in the year? When it comes to Jankovic, play more!

The Serb competed in four consecutive clay-court events leading straight into the Grand Slam event in Paris. She lost in the semifinals of Warsaw to Henin, fell to the Belgian again the next week in the quarterfinals of Berlin, and won the tournament in Rome the week after. Jankovic then retired in the semifinals of the small Tier III event in Strasbourg, just two days before the start of the French Open.

“I started to win everything,” she says. “I played sometimes thinking I want to lose so I can take some rest, but I just can’t lose because I want to go [rest]. If I lose, it has to be because the other player plays better than me. She has to earn the win.”

Jankovic says she normally would have skipped the tournament in Strasbourg, had she not committed to the event at the beginning of the year. “I wanted to take the week off but I had to play because I had the Gold Exempt.” Jankovic has had to sign up for three minor events at the start of the year and Strasbourg was one of them. Her early commitments also sent her to the Ordina Open in Rosmalen, even though she won the title in Birmingham over Maria Sharapova the week before. If she reaches the second week of Wimbledon, the Roland Garros semifinalist will have played for 10 straight weeks.

Jankovic knows she has been playing too many tournaments and says she will definitely not enter as many events next year. “This has been the busiest half a season of my life. It feels great to win so many matches but I also feel very tired.”

Jankovic was beaten in the final of the Ordina Open by No. 8 Chakvetadze in three sets, but the Serb was not too disappointed with the loss. “I only let her win to give her some confidence for Wimbledon,” she said with a smile.

She says the favorites for the third Grand Slam event of the year are Henin, “and probably the Williams sisters. They always do well on grass.”

Asked if she considers herself to be among the candidates for the title, she jokingly said, “All I have to do is beat Justine.” Jankovic has been drawn in the same half as Henin, and just like at Roland Garros, both players are scheduled to meet in the semifinals. She continues, “No, I don’t want to say I’m a favorite. It’s a long two weeks and I just want to take it one match at a time and see how it goes.”

She may not see herself as a favorite just yet, but one day Jankovic hopes she’ll be able to hold the winner’s trophy at SW19. “As a young girl I always dreamed about winning Wimbledon. It’s my favorite Grand Slam for sure. I like playing on grass, although it can be tough because you get a lot of bad bounces.”

She feels that if she is to defeat her big rival, Justine Henin, whom she hasn’t beaten once in six career meetings, her best chance to do so would be on grass. “For sure the best chances to beat her are on the faster surfaces.”

Jankovic will open her Wimbledon campaign against British wildcard Anne Keothavong. She is scheduled to meet Chakvetadze again in the quarterfinals, before a possible rematch with Henin in the semis.

The Serb may not want to look too far ahead in the draw, she can already see past the event in London. “I will have rest after Wimbledon. I think I deserve a vacation,” she smiles.