Article written by Todd Spiker

JELENA-DOKIC.com

 

by Todd Spiker

 

   As 2002 opened, Jelena Dokic was armed with such great promise it was difficult to contain the excitement.
   The reasons to believe that something great was on the immediate horizon were legitimate, too.  After all, she'd finished 2001 at a career-best #8, won three titles and reached the final in five of her last seven events.  With a vow to work on her inconsistent serve, everything looked encouraging.
   Eleven months later, the past WTA season was revealed to be one of unusually severe highs and lows for the 19-year old... not an easy task, considering the controversial nature of her early career to date.  Not only  was 2002 an emotional rollercoaster off the court for Jelena, but she often proved to be a frustrating enigma on it.
   But whether it was the "good Jelena" or "bad Jelena" that showed up any particular day, whatever transpired certainly allowed her to maintain her unofficial title as the most unpredictable and dramatic female tennis player on earth.


 

BEST WIN: Paris SF - Seles 6-3,3-6,6-4
WORST LOSS: I.Wells 3r - Kremer 3-6,0-6
and Miami 3r - Kremer 3-6,1-6
 

   Because of her decision to not return to her former home country for the Australian Open, Jelena's year started later than it ever had before.  Showing obvious rust, she opened her schedule with an immediate loss to veteran Anne Kremer in the Tokyo Tier I.  An understandable occurrence, but one that signalled the start of what would be an unsuccessful Tier I season (she would go 8-9, after sporting a 20-5 mark -- with two titles -- in 2001).
   She rebounded quickly, though, tearing through the Paris Indoors with a stronger serve that allowed her to upset Monica Seles for her first win over the former world #1.  But the leg injury she suffered in the match put a damper on the moment, forcing a walkover in the Final against Venus Williams and a retirement the following week in Antwerp.
   Rather than be cautious and rest, Jelena made the wrong-headed move to attempt to play through the injury.  It only made things worse, and her lack of health -- ever after two weeks off -- played a big part in her 2nd and 3rd '02 straight-set losses to Kremer in Indian Wells and Miami.

 

BEST WIN: Birm.Final - Myskina 6-2,6-3
WORST LOSS: Rome 3r - Myskina 7-5,4-6,3-6
 

   After a frustrating 1st Quarter, Jelena finally began to shine in the 2nd as "good Jelena" battled her way to the top.
   The claycourt season, as it had a year earlier, provided Jelena with a chance to grab some glory.  And that's just what she did, dominating the competition in Sarasota by taking the title (her fourth) without dropping a set (and winning the doubles, too).  But, once again, injuries prevented her from hitting stride as she was forced to retire in the SF of both Amelia Island and Hamburg, once each against both Waffles.
   She failed to defend her Rome title (losing to Anastasia Myskina in the 3r), but advanced to the Strasbourg Final and improved upon her Roland Garros performance for the third straight year by reaching a career-best QF.
   As has been the case thoughout her career, the level of Jelena's game rose on the grass.  She won her fifth career title by taking Birmingham, completing a career all-surface slam by claiming titles on hardcourt, clay, grass and carpet in just a 13-month span.
   But, again, she was unable to follow up her success in Birmingham.  She lost her opening match at Eastbourne after feuding with tournament officials for scheduling a Navratilova-Hantuchova match on the main court rather than doing the same for her, the #1 seed.  Then, at Wimbledon, she was out of sorts for the entire tournament.  With her game failing her, possibly because her nagging injuries had caused her to curtail her doubles play (effecting her volleying skills, making her net play and forward movement even more spotty than usual), she struggled through every match before finally being taken out by Daniela Hantuchova in the 4r.  It was Jelena's first Wimbledon loss to a player ranked below her at the time (Jelena was #7, Hantuchova #12).  It was a sore ending to an otherwise successful quarter.

 

BEST WIN: S.D. QF -Capriati 2-6,6-2,6-4
WORST LOSS: L.A. SF - Rubin 0-6,2-6
 

   Returning to North America for the US Open preparatory season, Jelena looked on the verge of that elusive "something great."
   She couldn't solve the riddle of Lindsay Davenport in Stanford, but she got her first win over Jennifer Capriati in the San Diego QF (she called it her "best win" ever) and battled her way past two Anna Kournikova match points a round later.  Unfortunately, she was no match for Venus Williams in the Final.
   In the Los Angeles SF, Jelena was seen crying into a cell phone before meeting Chanda Rubin... then sleepwalked through her match (Rubin called in a "semi-tank mode," and the booing crowd agreed).  For the record, Jelena complained of having the flu after the match, but the general thought was that her off-court worries went deeper than that.
   Still, she rebounded with a Montreal win over Martina Hingis, her first since the 1999 Wimbledon upset.  But the win was to be her final big highlight of the season.
   The sign of the trouble to come  -- the rise to prominance of "bad Jelena" -- appeared in Flushing Meadows, as a tired Jelena washed out of the US Open with a 2r loss to Elena Bovina.  Such an early exit was to become a common thing in the 4th quarter.

 

BEST WIN: WTA 1r/QF - Myskina 6-3,6-4 plus S.Williams 6-6
WORST LOSS: Fild.2r Panova 6-1.4-6,1-6
 

   As her overly-long (29 tournaments) season wound down to a close, Jelena herself gradually broke down.
   She managed SF in Bahia and Tokyo, but it was only the calm before the storm.  Physically and mentally worn out, and dogged by still more controversy with stories about family squabbles, odd political endorsements and the threat of even more country-hopping barely a year after the move from Australia to Yugoslavia, Jelena's trials and tribulations finally ran her game off the road.
   In September and October, the slide that had begun shortly after San Diego degenerated into a full tailspin.

 

   Things came to a head with a career-worst four-match losing streak (and 5 losses in 6) in September/October.  But, with so many 2001 points to defend (remember the five finals in seven events?), Jelena had little choice but to play on.  Unfortunately, she appeared to be struggling to even play out the string.  The normal fire was extinguished, and the frustration was mounting.
   With her season reaching it's end, though, Jelena found the resources to avoid oblivion.  A QF in Linz was an encouraging sign, and her 1r win over Myskina (and tie-break 1st set against Serena Williams in the QF) in the WTA Championships -- while playing with an ankle injury that nearly forced her to withdraw -- at least allowed her to end her season on an up note.

 

   In the end, 2002 wasn't the year it was supposed to be.  Jelena's ranking only fell from #8 to #9 (her 53-23 and this year's 53-27 won/lost record are remarkably similar, as well), but that this season was a step back from 2001 is apparent.  Her serve never attained the consistency that was promised (and initially displayed in Paris), nor did her game's variety evolve beyond her go-for-broke-from-the-baseline style, injuries and her poor reaction to them were a continual nightmare, and overscheduling served to slowly tear her down both mentally and physically. Her Tier I and slam preparation was either poor or overdone (she played far too many weeks leading up to the US Open, for instance), and her results reflected it.  Even her two titles (a Tier III & IV) were a step down from her 2001 haul (two Tier I's and Tier II).
   But the past year was hardy a failure.  The four-match losing streak was countered with first-ever career wins over Capriati, Seles and Henin (plus Jelena's first over Hingis since 1999), the completion of an all-surface career slam after the grasscourt title in Birmingham, three doubles titles and a final, against-the-odds glimpse of "good Jelena" in the Tour Championships.  Over the course of  the year, too, she seemed to gradually learn the ropes when it comes to intelligently handling injuries, and vowed in November to cut her 2003 schedule and better prepare herself for grand slam competition.
   With two straight Top 10 seasons to her credit, there is still reason to think that that "something great" could come within the next year.  Everything that Jelena accomplished in 2002 was done in the face of great physical adversity.  She's proven herself able to handle the mental variety in the past, and will better learn how to do the same as far as her body's fitness/health is concerned largely because of the problems she encountered this season.
   Just call it the continued education of a tennis player.  With a little more thought, maybe this particular one will now seize the opportunity to improve the conditions for her own greater success.  Who knows what she could be capable of with something resembling peace off the court, and better preparation on it?  Hopefully, the tennis world will find out in 2003.
   Remember, Jelena is still the third youngest player in the Top 20 (just two months older than the youngest, Kim Clijsters)... there's still so much more room for her to improve.


=====================================

 

---TRT---W/L----PTS---QTY----AVG--W/RU
1Q...5...5-5....306..(111)...61.2..0/1
2Q..11..28-9...1241..(430)..112.8..2/1
3Q...5..13-5....682..(235)..136.4..0/1
4Q...8...7-8....491...(93)...61.4..0/0
F...29..53-27..2720..(869)...93.8..2/3


 

#4...Clijsters..........leads by 1051
#5...Henin-Hardenne......leads by 712
#6...Mauresmo............leads by 562
#7...Seles...............leads by 446
#8...Hantuchova.......leads by 161.75
#9...JELENA......................2506
#10..Hingis.............trails by 158


**VICTORY STAND 2002 - TOP 10 WINS**
 

...Jelena's first win over Capriati, and she did it from a set down.  After the match, Jelena dubbed it her "best" career win.
 

...With her strongest serve to date, Jelena got first win over Seles.  Unfortunately, the leg injury she suffered here (and the faulty decision to try to play through it) led to a walkover, three retirements and two losses to Anne Kremer over the next three months.
 

...Jelena's first win over the Waffle, and her career's only 7-6,7-6 match.
 

...In maybe her most exciting match of 2002, Jelena saved two match points.
 

...Jelena wins the 2nd set TB 9-7, then takes the match despite 96 unforced errors (!!) and 11 double faults (!!!) in the 2:22 match.
 

...Jelena's fifth career title completed her career surface slam (in a 13-month span) with her first on the grass.
 

...Jelena's maybe never been better than she was in Sarasota when she won title #4 while never dropping a set, AND taking the doubles title.  Against Smashnova, she won 17 of the final 22 points.
 

...Jelena put on one final show-stopping performance before wrapping up her season
 

...in 38 minutes!!
 

...when Good Jelena battles Bad Jelena for control in a match, you never know what the set scores are going to be.


**10 WORST LOSSES of 2002**
 

...the crying fit/"semi-tank" match
 

...maybe Jelena's worst full-match grand slam performance (at least against Mandula at RG 2001, she won a set).
 

...after the Paris injury wouldn't go away, Jelena shouldn't have been playing these matches to start with.
 

...Jelena blew a set lead to suffer her career-worst 4th straight loss.
 

...Farina Elia, at 30, was the oldest WTA singles champion in 2002.
 

...Jelena's first title defense didn't go very well.
 

...Jelena opened her 2002 season with a loss, and set the tone for her lack of success in Tier I's.  After going 20-5 in such events in 2001, she went 8-9 this year.
 

...it was Jelena's first Wimbledon loss to a player ranked below her.  Of course, at the end of the season Hantuchova was #8 and Jelena was #9.
 

...the more things change, the more they stay the same.


**JELENA vs. Top 20 in 2002**
 

WTA Championships QF - lost 6-7,0-6
 

Paris Final - walkover loss
San Diego Final - lost 2-6,2-6
 

Roland Garros QF - lost 4-6,6-4,1-6
San Diego QF - won 2-6,6-2,6-4
Montreal SF - lost 6-7,0-4 (ret.)
 

Hamburg SF - lost 4-6,4-4 (ret.)
Tokyo PC SF - lost 7-5,2-6,3-6
 

Amelia Island SF - lost 2-6,1-4 (ret.)
Hamburg QF - won 7-6,7-6
 

Did Not Play
 

Paris SF - won 6-3,3-6,6-4
 

Berlin 3r - lost 2-6,3-6
Wimbledon 4r - lost 5-7,4-6
 

Montreal QF - won 6-4,6-3
 

Hamburg 1r - won 6-3,0-6,6-2
Rome 3r - lost 7-5,4-6,3-6
Birmingham Final - won 6-2,6-3
San Diego 3r - won 6-4,6-3
Bahia SF - lost 2-6,4-6
WTA Championship 1r - won 6-3,6-4
 

Stanford QF - lost 2-6,2-6
 

Los Angeles SF - lost 0-6,2-6
Linz QF - lost 5-7,2-6
 

Did Not Play
 

Antwerp 2r - lost 6-4,4-6,1-1 (ret.)
Sarasota QF - won 6-1,7-5
 

Sarasota 2r - won 6-1,6-0
Charleston - lost 1-6,3-6
Rome 2r - won 6-3,3-6,6-1
 

Strasbourg Final - lost 4-6,6-3,3-6
 

Montreal 3r - won 1-6,7-5,6-1
Zurich 2r - lost 6-7,6-4,5-7
 

Paris QF - won 5-7,6-1,6-2
Amelia Island QF - won 0-6,7-6,6-1