Jelena Jankovic is a Serbian professional female tennis player born on February 28, 1985, who is currently ranked World No. 3. Jankovic has reached the singles semifinals of the Australian Open, the French Open, and the U.S. Open. In 2007, she won the mixed doubles title with British partner Jamie Murray at Wimbledon. Tennis career Early career Jankovic learned her first tennis skills in Tennis Club 'Red Star'. As a nine-and-a-half year old she was introduced to tennis by her elder brother and fitness coach Marko. She was later trained at the Tennis Academy of Nick Bollettieri. As a junior she won the 2001 Australian Open. In 2001, she started to play on the WTA Tour; she reached the second round at her first tournament at the Indian Wells Masters. In October 2003, Jelena Jankovic entered the top 100 at No. 90 for the first time after winning her first ITF title in Dubai. Three months later, Jankovic garnered her first top 10 win against Elena Dementieva 61, 64 in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open. She then lost to Jill Craybas in three sets in the second round. In May, Jankovic won her first WTA title, a Tier V event, in Budapest, defeating Martina Suchα in the final 76, 63. Following her win in Budapest, she reached No. 51 in the world. Elsewhere in her 2004 season, she defeated top 20 players Nadia Petrova (twice), Vera Zvonareva, Patty Schnyder and Paola Suarez. Jankovic finished 2004 ranked No. 28 in the world. 2005 2005 is considered Jankovic's breakthrough season. In March, at Dubai, she advanced to the final following Serena Williams's retirement in the semifinal. Jankovic then lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport 64, 36, 64. She made her first Tier I semifinal in Berlin, losing to Nadia Petrova 64, 67, 63. In June, she reached her first grass court final at Birmingham, but lost to Maria Sharapova 62, 46, 61. In October, Jelena 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 Vaidisova 75, 63. Her ranking at the end of the season eclipsed her 2004 record at No. 22. 2006 After winning her first round match at the Australian Open, Jankovic lost ten straight matches, not winning a match from late January into early May. She then reached the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome before losing to Venus Williams in three sets. The following week, she reached the semifinals in Strasbourg, retiring against Nicole Vaidisova in the second set. At the French Open, Jelena Jankovic upset 25th-seeded Marion Bartoli before losing to World No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the third round 63, 63. At Wimbledon, she upset sixth-seeded and defending champion Venus Williams in the third round 76(8), 46, 64. She then lost to ninth-seeded Anastasia Myskina in the fourth round 64, 76(5).
At Jankovic's first tournament following the U.S. Open, she reached the semifinals of the Tier II China Open, losing to Mauresmo 61, 36, 76 after Jelena Jankovic served for the match at 65 in the third set. The following week, Jankovic reached the Guangzhou semifinals, retiring against Anna Chakvetadze while trailing 7-5, 2-0. In her last four tournaments of the year, she lost to Kuznetsova, Vaidiovα and Olga Poutchkova in the quarterfinals of three of them and to Kuznetsova in the second round of the other one. Jankovic finished the year ranked World No. 12. 2007 To begin the year, Jelena Jankovic won her second title at the Tier IV ASB Classic in Auckland, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final. At the Tier II Medibank International in Sydney, Jankovic defeated World No. 7 Martina Hingis and top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo on the way to the final. There, she lost to Kim Clijsters after Jankovic served for the match in the second set. She then reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, where she was eliminated by the eventual champion Serena Williams 63, 62. Because of her results at these tournaments, her ranking rose to World No. 10, the first time she had been included in the top ten. At the first Tier I event of the year in Tokyo, Jankovic lost in the quarterfinals to countrywoman Ana Ivanovic 36, 64, 62. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, she retired from her semifinal match with Mauresmo because of an ankle injury. The following week in Doha, Jankovic again reached the semifinals, losing to Justine Henin in three sets. After that, she played at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California where she was eliminated by Na Li in the fourth round 63, 76(1). To complete the spring hard court season, Jelena Jankovic lost in the third round of the Tier I tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida to Italian Mara Santangelo 26, 76, 64, despite holding a 62, 52 lead. Jankovic then started her clay court season at Amelia Island, Florida, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Ivanovic 75, 63. She then won her first career Tier I title, at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, defeating Venus Williams in the semifinals 36, 63, 76 and Dinara Safina in the final. On European red clay, Jankovic then lost to Henin three times and won one tournament. At the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Jankovic lost to Henin in the semifinals 75, 26, 64. At the Qatar Telecom German Open, Jankovic lost to Henin in the quarterfinals 36, 64, 64 after failing to hold a 40 lead in the third set. Jelena Jankovic next won her second career Tier I title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. Jankovic was the fourth seed at the French Open. She defeated Venus Williams and Nicole Vaidisova, among others, before falling to Henin in the semifinals 62, 62. Her results at these six clay court tournaments increased her ranking to World No. 3.
On grass, Jelena Jankovic captured the DFS Classic title in Birmingham, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the final. Sharapova led 30 in the third set before Jankovic rallied to win the match. This was her first career victory over Sharapova. The next week, Jankovic reached the final of the Ordina Open in the Netherlands and became the first player since Chris Evert in 1974 to win 50 matches in the first half of a year. Jelena Jankovic, suffering from a hamstring injury, lost the final to Anna Chakvetadze. At Wimbledon, Jankovic was the third-seed but lost in the fourth round to Marion Bartoli of France 36, 75, 63. 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 Bjorkman and Alicia Molik, in the final 64, 36, 61. During the North American summer hard court season, Jankovic lost in the third round of the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego. Jankovic blamed her loss on the flu. In spite of her illness, she reached the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California the next week, falling to Ivanovic 46, 63, 75 after Jankovic led 41 in the third set and had two match points at 54 in that set. Jankovic said, "I cannot expect myself to play my best tennis when I am still blowing my nose on each changeover with paper towels." In August, Jankovic reached the final of the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she lost to Justine Henin on Henin's sixth match point. Jankovic had led 41 in the first set and 42 in the second set but was unable to maintain her lead. At the U.S. Open, Jelena Jankovic lost to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals 46, 61, 76(4). To complete her hectic playing year, Jankovic traveled to Asia for two tournaments, Europe for one tournament, back to Asia for one tournament, and finally back to Europe for two tournaments. At the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Jankovic was upset in the quarterfinals by former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 64, 26, 62. This was Davenport's first singles tournament since giving birth. The following week at the China Open in Beijing, Jankovic received a wildcard into the tournament after top-ranked Henin withdrew due to illness. In the second round, Jankovic defeated Virginia Ruano Pascual 60, 60, the third time in her career she had won a match without losing a game. Jelena Jankovic lost only four points during the second set, all on her own serve. In the semifinals, Jankovic beat Davenport 63, 75 but lost in the final to Hungarian teenager Αgnes Szαvay after Jankovic had a match point in the second set. After a two week break, Jankovic then played three consecutive weeks but won only two matches. At the Tier II tournament in Stuttgart, Jankovic lost to Henin in the semifinals 76(2), 75. Jankovic then retired from her first round match in Bangkok with Yan Zi. After a first round bye at the Zόrich Open, Jankovic lost to Vaidiovα 64, 64. Jelena Jankovic took a three week break before playing the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid. However, Jankovic lost all three of her round robin matches, to Henin, Anna Chakvetadze, and Bartoli (retiring in the second set after losing the first set). Jankovic had successful nose surgery immediately after Madrid to correct a breathing problem. The surgery prevented her from practicing for three weeks. 2008 Jankovic stated that she would cut back on her schedule during 2008 and focus on Grand Slam and Tier I events. Instead of defending her title in Auckland, Jelena Jankovic joined Novak Djokovic in playing for Serbia in the Hopman Cup, an exhibition team event sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation. In the final, Jankovic and Πokovic lost to the American team of Serena Williams and Mardy Fish, with Jankovic unable to play her singles rubber because of injury. In her final preparation event for the Australian Open, the Medibank International in Sydney, Jankovic lost in the third round to Nicole Vaidisova. Her first match at the Australian Open was against Tamira Paszek, which Jankovic won 26, 62, 12-10 in three hours, fifteen minutes. Both players needed medical attention during the final set. Jankovic then reached the quarterfinals for the first time, defeating defending champion Serena Williams 63, 64. In her third career Grand Slam singles semifinal, Jankovic lost to Maria Sharapova 63, 61. Jankovic then played two tournaments in the Middle East. At the Tier I Qatar Total Open in Doha, Jankovic lost in the quarterfinals to Li Na 63, 64. The next week at the Tier II Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Jelena Jankovic lost in the semifinals to Svetlana Kuznetsova 57, 64, 63. Jankovic's next tournament was the Tier II Canara Bank Bangalore Open '08 in India. Although she was the top seeded player, she lost in the quarterfinals to Yan Zi of China 63, 36, 63. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Jankovic was the third seed and defeated 24th-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals when Davenport retired from the match with a shoulder and back injury after losing the first set. Jankovic then lost to fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals 76(3), 63. The following fortnight, Jelena Jankovic was the runner-up at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, losing to Serena Williams 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 after Williams was unable to convert on seven match points in the third set. Jankovic was the defending champion at the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina but lost in the quarterfinals to Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Her next tournament was the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, where she again lost in the quarterfinals, this time to Elena Dementieva 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. At the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Jankovic defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. After Sharapova was unable to play their semifinal match due to injury, Jelena Jankovic defeated French teenager Alize Cornet in the final to win her first title of the year. At the French Open in Paris, Jankovic would have become the World No. 1 had she defeated Ivanovic in the semifinals. However, Ivanovic won the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Jankovic failed to hold leads of 3-0 in the first set and 3-1 in the third set, although she did win the second set after trailing 3-1. Jankovic committed 51 unforced errors compared to 28 winners during the match. Jelena Jankovic has withdrawn from the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom because of an arm injury sustained during the French Open. Her next scheduled tournament is Wimbledon. Records against other players The following is Jankovic's win-loss singles record against other players included in the top 10 of the Women's Tennis Association rankings as of June 9, 2008. * Ana Ivanovic 1-6 Record against other players (active and retired) The following is Jankovic's win-loss singles record against other selected players according to the Women's Tennis Association on June 9, 2008. * Justine Henin 0-9 Playing style Jelena Jankovic is often regarded as one of the fittest and toughest players in recent years of women's tennis for her great defensive abilities and footwork, which classifies her as a counterpuncher. Jelena is known for being one of the few players who can slide on all surfaces, further enhancing her defense. In 2007, she played more matches than any other player and maintained her third rank as well, which is the proof of her incredible stamina and well-balanced performance. Jankovic has very consistent ground strokes and likes to go down the line more often than crosscourt. Her signature shot is her two-handed backhanddown the line; she hits it with excellent pace and can drive it deep for an outright winner and also the fact that she can hit her backhand any angle from her court position. She also has a solid forehandand a decent net game, being able to hit effective drive, drop and swinging volleys. Her main weakness is the fact her serve is very attackable. She likes to spin it in on the first and second serve which can lead to her getting broken many times in matches against good baseline players. Personal life Jelena Jankovic was born in Belgrade, in then Yugoslavia, now Serbia, as the third child of Veselin and Sneana Jankovic, both economists. She also has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. She is a student at the Megatrend University in Belgrade, studying economics; however, she has put her course of study on indefinite hiatus as she continues to pursue her tennis career. She trained at tennis club "Crvena Zvezda". At Wimbledon 2007, in a mixed doubles match at the semi-final stage she invited a ballboy to come and sit with her and began asking him questions, much to the crowd's amusement. Though the boy was clearly enjoying himself, he swiftly jumped out of the chair when a riled Jamie Murray returned from his toilet break. The British press have linked Jankovic and Murray romantically but she has remained coy about their relationship, though she joked in interviews that she used kisses as a way of motivating the Scot. On December 5, 2007, Jelena Jankovic has become a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, for Children's Fund. "I am happy to have become a UNICEF ambassador for Serbia. This is a great honour for me and I will try to justify the role that has been given to me", she said. Jankovic is the second Serbian tennis star to have volunteered to help promote the rights of children and collect funds for UNICEF after Ana Ivanovic, the world's top-ranked player, became an ambassador in September. Endorsements Jankovic endorses Reebok sportswear and has her own line with them for her tournament wear. Jelena Jankovic also has an endorsement with Prince Sports and now uses the Prince O3 Speedport Pro White Racquet from formally using the Prince O3 Red Racquet.
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