Jelena Jankovic – Wimbledon Ladies’ Tennis Player

Serb, Jelena Jankovic, has the work ethic of a well-trained race horse. Although she is relatively new on the circuit, she has reached the number three berth in the world by pure hard work. In 2007 she became the only woman on the WTA Tour to have played 20 tournaments in a season.

Although she has never won a Grand Slam singles title and has only won two WTA Tier 1 tournaments in Charleston and Rome, the 22-year-old Jankovic has shown glimmers of genius. She has defeated players like Martini Hingis, Sam Stosur, Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams, and at Wimbledon 2007 she proved her on-court prowess with wonderful fluidity and shot selection.

JJ, as she is known in the press, turned professional in the year 2000. She had a slow start to her career, but in 2006 things started to look up for the amicable young woman. At the French Open she caused an upset by defeating Marion Bartoli, the number 25 seed, before being knocked out by the former world number one, Amelie Mauresmo.

At Wimbledon 2006 she got tongues wagging when she took out defending champion, Venus Williams in the third round. She went on to thump Serena Williams at the JPMorgan Chase Open, becoming the only player in 2006 to defeat both Williams sisters.

The 2007 season saw Jankovic claim her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Jelena Jankovic, Wimbledon ladies’ tennis player, and partner Jamie Murray were unseeded for the mixed doubles event, and they caused a huge upset when they defeated fifth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Alicia Molik in three sets to claim the crown.

Her singles campaign in 2007 was often marred by poor umpiring decisions which left her angry and unfocused. She made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open, defeated Venus Williams at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, and whacked world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-5 6-1, to claim the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

She reached the semi-finals at the French Open, taking out Venus Williams and Nicole Vaidisova, but Belgian, Justine Henin proved too strong for her. She continued her impressive run, beating Maria Sharapova in Birmingham, and became the first player since Chris Evert in 1974 to win 50 matches in a year!

In a rain-interrupted match at Wimbledon, Jankovic fell to Marion Bartoli in the fourth round, but she demonstrated great fluidity and scintillating shots which impressed all.

She has ended her 2007 season in rather a slump. She was invited to the elite WTA Tour championships but failed to win a match losing to Justine Henin, Anna Chakvetadze and Marion Bartoli.

Chances are that the young Serb will emulate her Eastern European compatriots and just get better and better. She has the ability, talent and skill to take a Grand Slam in the very near future, and it may even be Wimbledon 2008 – watch this space!