Article written by Glyn James

Scottsdale State Farm Tennis:

Welcome to Arizona:

This week Jelena travels to Scottsdale, Arizona for the State Farm Tennis Classic.  It is a Tier II event with $585,000 at stake for prize money and will be played on the outdoors hardcourt.  The tournament is directed by one Peter Tatum, and can be contacted at ptatum@imgworld.com .  The main sponsor is, as the title suggests, State Farm insurance, whilst the other big sponsors of the event include Pepsi and Mercedes, and American sports brand PENN will supply sporting equipment such as tennis balls.  At the other end of the spectrum, tennisweek.com will also get a plug  this week in Scottsdale.  As uninterested as you may be by details of sponsors and such, it is important to recognise that these tournaments wouldn't be the same without them.  If anyone is still interested in attending the event, you'd better own a fat wallet, since the cheapest packages available now are $200 or so.  Alternatively, you can catch the action on ESPN, but unfortunately, there is no coverage on Eurosport this week.  The weather has been a talking point, with some forecasts predicting a chill in the air, but at the moment, the weather is staying warm with about 70 degrees.

Will she, won't she?:

The past few days have been somewhat of a mystery as to what is going on with Jelena.  It was understood that Jelena was to take the week off, gather her thoughts, and prepare for the upcoming Tier I tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.  To quote a certain Todd Spiker, the fact that Jelena has taken the option of playing this week displays that maybe she is frustrated and feeling quite impatient, and believes that the only way out of this hole is through hitting her way out of it on the court.  Points wise, Jelena has nothing to lose since she didn't play here last year, but if she's to consolidate her top ten position, then surely Jelena needs to produce something better than she has done in the last few weeks.  There is hope that last week's break may have given her just enough time to consider what she has to do to get back on track.  Last year's tournament was somewhat predictable with Serena Williams taking the singles title, and the infamous pairing of Rennae and Stubbs crossing the finishing line victorious in the doubles event.

The Draw:

Jelena is the fourth seed this week and so usually, you'd expect her to be in the same half as the number one seed, but for some strange reason this week is different, as Jelena sees herself in the same half as the number two seed, Kim Clijsters.  I won't attempt to explain the reasoning behind this, maybe it has something to do with Jelena's late decision to play.  Anyway, here's how the draw looks:

As you can see, Jelena faces an uneasy early stage of the tournament.  Naturally, if Jelena was firing on all cylindres, there would hardly be any voice for concern, but it now seems that any relatively known player can cause some trouble.  After a first round bye, Jelena will face either Meghann Shaughnessy or Daja Bedanova, neither of which have really started the season in the way they would have hoped.  After this potential stumbling block comes the more daunting task of Elena Bovina.  To look optimistic (someone has to!), this type of match could be what Jelena needs.  If she can overcome someone like Bovina, it could do her the world of good, but if she were to get out-hit by the big Russian, it could leave her confidence in further ruin.  Jelena faces a potential make or break match in the QF.  Next up comes the impressive Kim Clijsters, before a probable meeting with Serena Williams in the final. (It is probable in the sense that Serena will be there, not Jelena).

Conclusion:

I'm sure we're all having that feeling in the pit of our stomache which is dragging us away from anything resembling optimism this week, but I for one am not giving up on our Yugoslav starlet (sorry, Serbian & Montenegran starlet).  I'm not saying I'm going to be an extreme revolutionary who inspirationally drags every Jelena fan out of their pessimism and raises the support and confidence in the camp, but as fans, we shouldn't shoot Jelena down.  We have to trust that Jelena is feeling a whole lot better after her week out, and is ready to hit the courts again.  Okay, so maybe Jelena is breaking her promises of cutting down her schedule somewhat, but I for one am going to stick my neck out and predict a massive improvement this week.  I sure hope I'm not forced to eat my words.

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Prediction:

1rd - Bye;

2rd - Jelena def. Bedanova in straights;

QF - Jelena def Bovina in three;

SF - Clijsters def. Jelena in three;