Jelena Jankovic
Jelena Jankovic is probably the best player currently on the WTA Tour yet to win a Grand Slam title. Known for her defensive abilities and excellent footwork, she has climbed the rankings to the top spot (August 2008) and that illusive Grand Slam win is surely just around the corner. The 5 ft 91/2 in Serb set pulses racing at the 2008 French Open when she was caught on camera changing her panties on court. The video rapidly became a fans favourite all over the internet.
Early Life
Jelena Jankovic was born in Belgrade, then Yugoslavia, now Serbia, on February 28th, 1985. Her father, Veselin, is from Montenegro and her mother, Snezana is from Serbia. Both her parents are economists and she also has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. It was the elder brother Marko, who was working as a fitness coach at the time, who first introduced Jelena to tennis at the age of 9. Soon after she was practicing every day at the Tennis Club of Red Star Belgrade. Her first tournament was in 1995, age 10, when she entered the Yugoslavian National Championship for under 11’s where she managed to reach the semi-finals. The following year at the same tournament she took the title as well as winning the prestigious Lemon Bowl Tournament in Italy.
Shortly after Jelena decided to leave Serbia and moved to the United States. After several months of residing in Florida, Jelena received an invitation to be coached at the famous Nick Bolitieri tennis academy. At the age of 16 She won the Junior event at the 2001 Australian Open in Melbourne. She finished the season as the # 1 ranked junior player and also made the finals of the US Open and Orange Bowl.
WTA Career
Following her success in Melbourne Jankovic played her first WTA Tour main draw at the 2001 Indian Wells tournament where she reaching the second round as a wildcard entry. Jankovic spent most of the 2002 season playing on the ITF Circuit but did make it through qualifying in four WTA Tour events including at Budapest where she was defeated in the quarter finals. In October 2003 she entered the top 100 at No. 90 for the first time after winning her first ITF title in Dubai by beating Slovak Henrieta Nagyová 6-2, 7-5 in the final. At the 2004 Australian Open, Jankovic caused a massive upset by defeating # 7 seed Elena Dementieva 6–1, 6–4 in the first round but lost to Jill Craybas in three sets in the second round. She won her first WTA title, a Tier V event in Budapest in May defeating Martina Suchá in the final 7–6, 6–3. She finished the season with a overall win record of 36–27 and was ranked # 28 in the world. In 2005 at Dubai, Jankovic made the final of her first Tier II event before losing to Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. She made her first Tier I semi final in Berlin, losing to Nadia Petrova 6–4, 6–7, 6–3. In June, she reached her first grass court final at Birmingham, but lost to Maria Sharapova 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In October, Jankovic reached her third final of the year in Seoul, ranked No. 17 in the world, her highest ranking at that time, losing to 16-year-old Nicole Vaidišová 7–5, 6–3. Her ranking at the end of the season was at # 22. A poor start to the 2006 season saw Jankovic win only one match in her first 10 events, a first round victory at the Australian Open against Craybas. Jankovic had to wait until May for her next victories. They came at the Rome Masters where she made the quarterfinals before losing to Venus Williams in three sets. The following week, she reached the semi finals in Strasbourg, retiring against Nicole Vaidišová in the second set. At the French Open, Jankovic upset 25th-seeded Marion Bartoli before losing to World # 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the third round. At Wimbledon, she beat sixth-seeded and defending champion Venus Williams in the third round but went on to lose to ninth-seeded Anastasia Myskina in the fourth round 6–4, 7–6(5). The US Open saw Jankovic defeat World No.10 Vaidišová in the third round, World No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, and World No. 5 Dementieva in the quarterfinals. In the semi finals, Jankovic lost to Justine Henin 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. Jankovic finished the year ranked World # 12 with a overall record of 45–27.
Instead of defending her title in Auckland, Jankovic started 2008 playing for Serbia in the Hopman Cup. Jankovic and Novak Djokovic lost to the American team of Serena Williams and Mardy Fish in the final of the mixed doubles but she was forced to pull out of the singles due to injury. At the Australian open Jankovic made her third career Grand Slam singles semi final, where she lost to Maria Sharapova 6–3, 6–1. In May she defeated French teenager Alizé Cornet to retain her Rome Masters Title. At the French Open Jankovic again made the semis but a poor match saw her make 51 unforced errors in a three set defeat to Ivanovic. At Wimbledon, Jankovic was the second seeded player but lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round. At the US Open Jankovic was again the second-seeded player. She defeated fifth seed Elena Dementieva in the semi finals to reach her first Grand Slam final, where she lost to fourth seed Serena Williams 6–4, 7–5. Jankovic went on to finish the season in fine form picking up a further three singles title. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–3, 6–2 in the final of the China Open, Nadia Petrova in the final 6–4, 6–3 in Stuttgart and Vera Zvonareva 6–2, 6–4 at the Kremlin Cup. At 2008 WTA Tour Championships Jankovic made the semis before losing to eventual champion Venus Williams. She ended the season as the # 1 ranked player in the world. Off Court & Trivia She was the first woman to have attained the world # 1 ranking without ever having reached a Grand Slam final. Jankovic endorses Reebok sportswear and has her own line with them for her tournament wear. At Wimbledon 2007, she invited a ballboy to come and sit with her during a break between points, much to the crowd's amusement. In 2007 Jankovic was chosen as UNICEF national Ambassador for Serbia for their Children’s fund. In September 2008, Jankovic announced that she has been dating Montenegrin water polo player Mladan Janovic. Jelena Jankovic Links AskMen | BabeInvasion | Bestzilla | Celebrity Link | Chickipedia | Famous Hookups
The 2007 WTA Tour season would prove to be Jankovic’s most successful to date. She took the title in her first tournament at Auckland defeating Vera Zvonareva 7–6(9), 5–7, 6–3 in the final. She went onto to add three more titles at Charleston, Rome and Birmingham. Jankovic was also runner-up four times at Sydney, Hertogenbosch, Toronto and Beijing. She reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, semi finals at the French Open, fourth round at Wimbledon and the quarter finals at the US Open. In the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, Jankovic teamed with doubles specialist Jamie Murray to win the title by beating the fifth seed team, Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik, in the final 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. She finished the season ranked # 3 in the world. In the close season Jankovic announced she was to have surgery on her nose to correct a breathing problem.