A Victory for the Sport of Tennis

Mr. Chip & Charge

A Victory for the Sport of Tennis

2008-06-05 22:33:00

The stakes were very high in today’s Serbian duel between Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. They were not only battling for a place in Saturday’s Roland Garros final, but also for the World No. 1 position. What a relief that a struggling Ivanovic finally won the match. That was a true victory for the sport of tennis.

It’s hard to find a player looking more miserable on the court than Jelena Jankovic. Fair play doesn’t seem to mean anything to her, and it’s a rarity to find a match where she isn’t calling the trainer at least once. Sure, she can be smiling and laughing off court and is possibly a very nice girl if you get to know her. But what she’s shown the world of tennis, except a top level defensive game, has been a downward spiral of unsportsmanlike performances.

I’m watching tennis almost every week of the year and have probably seen Jankovic play close to 50 matches over the past three years. She has developed her game in a very impressive way after turning her career on its head after a 10-match losing streak heading into the Tier I event in Rome in May 2006. At that tournament, Jankovic began her way to the top and two years later nobody is arguing that she doesn’t belong in the Top 5. She’s literally been piling up good performances all over the world playing week in and week out. At many tournaments, though, she has shown up injured. This is not fair to herself or to her opponents. I just wish that she would take a long break and come back to the Tour again when her body is ready for it. If she isn’t wise enough to realize this herself, someone in her team should have told her a long time ago. But those guys are probably too busy thinking about how to keep the money rolling in. Well, in that case she might as well end up as Anastasia Myskina, who played through an injury because she “couldn’t afford to miss out on all the money being sidelined”.

Now, at the age of 26, Myskina is nowhere to be seen.

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Kommentarer

jelena is my favorite player in the wta besides kuznetsova. its just too bad she lost..her serve really needs work :-( Congrats to Ana though. Safina to win it all!!!!

RafaNadalGirl20 , 2008-06-06 17:46

I agree totally with Mr. C&C: Jankovic is constantly taped up and complaining of one ailment or another. I can't remember the last time I saw her smile, really smile, maybe last year after the French when their countrymen gave her, Djok and Ivanovic a homecoming party. It's very sad. Hopefully she will take some time off soon, rest her body and work on her serve.

annabanana , 2008-06-07 02:52

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Mr. Chip & Charge

Nobody really knows who he is, but he represents our eyes and ears on the tennis circuit. Every now and then he reports about the latest news, gossip ...