Maja Matevzic is Jelenas first opponent since our Princess is not in the Top10 anymore, and Maja is certainly the kind of opponent Jelena doesnt want to face. Her game is all slices and spins, and she is left-handed, as well!

And if that would not be enough, the weather forecast for Charleston says: Rain!!!!!! And i cant remember a single match Jelena has won, after a rain delay :-(

But back to her opponent: Maja is 22 years, like Jelena 1.75 meters tall and currently no 55 at the WTA rankings, which makes her to the no 2 of her home country Slovenia. She is born at Ljubljana, the capital of the former Yougoslavian province, which is actually more famous for its hockey team as for tennis, and loves everything about Italy. She names Rome as her favourite city, the ITF tourny at Ortisei as her favourite tournament, loves italian food and even supports Sampdoria Genoa, an italian football team.

Maja started tennis at the age of 10, which is pretty late for a top-player, and she also introduced herself to the world pretty late. Only last year, already being 19, she had her first decent results, winning her first WTA-tournament at Bratislava, reaching the final of Sopot and the semifinal of Porto. Further she got into the Quarters of Moscow, Bahia, Doha and
Estoril and reached the third round on her favourite surface, grass, at Wimbledon.

But this year did not nearly start, as the last year finished. She entered 7 WTA tournaments and never made it to the third round, and also at a 50K ITF tournament she lost at round 2. And so, instead of improving her rank with pretty less points to defend in the first three months of the year, she has now to defend her points she captured last year at Estoril and Porto, to stay at least where she is now.

I could write now about Majas game style, her strenghts and weeknesses, or her desasterous serve which comes with an average speed of only 80 miles per hour across the net (the first serve that is - Jelena has about 95 miles), or her even worse second serve (69 miles.... Jelena has 88!) but i guess that all wont count today as it will be again up to Jelena, if she can get her game and nerves together and blast Maja of the court, or if she will give free points to her opponent, like if it would be christmas, and she couldnt find a better present!

And so i post Majas favourite saying instead of a prediction, and hope Jelena will stick to that saying, too: "Never Give Up!"

The match is scheduled at the Club Court, which could be also named Court 1, for 10am local time, which equals with New York or Montreal, and means 7am in Los Angeles, 3pm in London, 4pm in Belgrade and midnight in Melbourne.

But as i said earlier on:

Its raining! (4 hours before the match)

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Gerhard
www.jelena-dokic.com