Article written by J.M.

Well as a top ten player, Jelena is definitely not playing to her potential. She has only won two matches this season and both of them were hard-fought matches against lower-ranked players that she really should have defeated easily! Nonetheless, there is a reason for this! After her shock loss last week to German veteran, Barbara Rittner, Jelena commented on how she was not that disappointed with the result because “Everyone has bad losses or matches where they don't play well," she said. "It will come." The question is though, will it come this week at the Nazdaq 100 event in Miami? If not, she is in great danger of falling out of the top 10 as players such as Chanda Rubin and Anastasia Myskina are not far behind!

This year’s Miami draw has been quite nice to Jelena. She is seeded 9^th and is in the bottom quarter of the top half where she might have to play the number 5^th seed, Daniela Hantuchova, in the fourth round. Both players are not at their best at the moment so it is difficult to determine if either of them will progress to the latter stages of the tournament. First up, Dokic will have to play one of the following players:

1.      Virginia Ruano Pascual: capable of upsetting many top players due to her experience on the court as a world-class doubles player who is more of a tactician rather than a power-hitter. She has only played three tournaments this year, including the Australian Open where she made an impressive Quarterfinals appearance, and the 3^rd round of Indian wells before bowing out to the number 14^th seed, Elena Dementieva.

2.      Svetlana Kuznetsova: known as the next Russian sensation. She hits with extreme amounts of power and has stretched top players already this year including Elena Bovina and Venus Williams. She also produced one of the biggest upsets in Indian wells where she defeated the 7^th seed, Myskina, in three tough sets so she will ultimately have high levels of confidence that could be disastrous to Dokic’s game.

Should she survive her second round encounter, Jelena is most likely to play one of the following players:

1.      Els Callens: is a very talented doubles player and, as she showed last year in Wimbledon, can handle power when she lost in two tiebreaker sets to eventual champion Serena Williams, despite having many chances to close out the sets. However, her game can be inconsistent at times in which Dokic will have a good chance to hit down-the-line winners of poor approach shots.

2.      Nathalie Dechy: has had a fantastic start to the year! She won the Gold Coast tournament, reached the 3^rd round of the Australian Open, the quarterfinals of Antwerp and Scottsdale, and the 4^th round at Indian Wells last week where she stretched eventual champion, Kim Clijsters. This will be Jelena’s toughest match and although Dokic has won both their previous meetings, she could have her hands full!

Wimbledon Revenge? Is it possible?

A 4^th round appearance in Miami will do the world of good for Dokic as she may still be trying to adapt to her new coach and as she has lost four consecutive matches, her motivation and confidence levels could be at an all-time low. Therefore, if Dokic and Hantuchova were to meet in the 4^th round, what a match would it be as the number 8 and 9 players in the world compete for a quarterfinal birth! As most people would no, Daniela has become Jelena’s new arch nemesis in tennis with Hantuchova leading their career meetings 3-0! Dokic really should have won their last encounter in Wimbledon last year as she was leading 4-1 in the second set before rain delayed their match and Jelena is the type of player to settle into her matches before taking the second or third sets with relative easy. Hanthuchova will also be hungry to capitalize on lost points from last year and seeing as though she slipped in the rankings, will be trying to attain her highest ranking of number 5.

Right now, if Dokic could even stretch Hantuchova, assuming they were to meet, would be a great effort considering her performances of late have not been the best.

Clijsters- the on going battle…

Supposing Dokic was having a surprise fantastic tournament, and Clijsters does not lose in the earlier rounds, these two players could meet in what would be undoubtedly the tournament’s best match of 2003! Their head-to-head record is as follows:

As is evident, each match has been of very high quality, especially in Hamburg where Jelena was forced to retire at 4-6 4-4 where she earned the crowd’s support for such an unfortunate ending to such a great tournament for her. Be prepared for short rallies with either winners or errors coming off each of the player’s racquets. Keep in mind though that this could be an easier match expected for Dokic as it is this time of the year that Clijsters tends to be fatigued and may not perform to the best of her ability so Dokic should be able to capitalize on this.

Williams’-no final?

Well considering Serena’s power was altered by the spins of Emelie Loit at the Australian Open, Serena could face a similar challenge in Italy’s Francesca Schiavone who plays with a very similar game and has beaten players such as Seles and Clijsters. If this won’t bring her down, perhaps Lindsay Davenport, Elena Bovina or Monica Seles will do the trick so it is very likely Serena will not make the final.

Venus, on the other hand, has a good chance of losing to Magdalena Maleeva, Meghannn Shaughnessy, Amelie Mauresmo and Chanda Rubin. So if either of them were to make the final, they will definitely have their work cut out for them. Nonetheless, Jelena has proven she can handle power and spins so she will have the experience to handle any player that progresses to the semi-finals and final. It is just a matter of gaining match practice and boosting confidence levels by beating top 15 players.

Predictions:

1^st round: bye

2^nd round: Dokic d. Virginia Ruano Pascual in 3

3^rd round: Dokic d. Dechy in 3