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JELENA-DOKIC.com - July 3, 2003

**THE JELENA AWARDS, VERSION 03.2**

**QUARTERLY REPORT CARD**
1st Qtr........C- singles, C+ doubles
2nd Qtr/Clay...C- singles, C doubles
2nd Qtr/Grass..C singles, D+ doubles
=====================================
--2nd Quarter--
SINGLES
Sarasota....1r/Suarez.......0-1....F
Charleston..QF/S.Williams...2-1....B
A.Island....3r/Raymond......1-1....C
Warsaw......SF/Mauresmo.....2-1....B+
Berlin......3r/Tulyaganova..1-1....C-
Rome........1r/Martinez.....0-1....D-
Strasbourg..2r/Sprem........0-1....F
R.GARROS....2r/Pisnik.......1-1....D-
Vienna......2r/Suarez.......1-1....D
Eastbourne..1r/Obata........0-1....F
WIMBLEDON...3r/Sharapova....2-1....C+
DOUBLES
Sarasota....QF (Petrova)....1-1....D
Charleston..2r (Hantuchova).0-1....F
A.Island....QF (Stubbs).....1-1....F
Berlin......QF (Petrova)....1-1....D
Rome........RU (Petrova)....3-1....A
R.GARROS....3r (Petrova)....2-1....C+
Eastbourne..QF (Stubbs).....1-1....C
WIMBLEDON...2r (Petrova)....1-1....D


 

BEST WIN (GOLD MEDAL): Charleston 3r def. Elena Dementieva 4-6,6-4,7-5 (April). Jelena had easier wins in the 2nd Quarter, but her victory over Dementieva stands out in several ways.  At #21, Dementieva is the highest-ranked player Jelena's beaten this season, and the win ended streaks of six straight defeats in three-setters and fifteen consecutive losses when she drops the opening set going back to last year.  As the 2nd Quarter ends, this comeback provides the "1" in Jelena's horrendous 1-15 mark this season after losing the 1st set.


THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES:  Last year, Jelena played in the inaugural WTA event in Sarasota and was never better, claiming both singles (without dropping a set) and doubles titles.  This year, she returned to defend -- and lost in the 1r in singles, then had to pull out of a 2r doubles match when partner Nadia Petrova was injured in singles.


DUMBEST DECISION:  The defense of 2002's other title, in Birmingham, wasn't even given the chance by Jelena to crash and burn ala Sarasota.  Rather than defend her crown and/or prepare on the grasscourts, she made the mindnumbing decision to go to Vienna and extend her woeful claycourt season an additional week.  She won just one match in Austria, then finally arrived on the grass in Eastbourne, only to lose her first match there.  With so little grass prep, she barely survived a battle with #149 Elena Baltacha to escape the 1r of Wimbledon.


"WONDER" DOUBLES?:  In Charleston, Jelena and Daniela Hantuchova thrilled the fans by teaming up in doubles for the first time.  Unfortunately, they lost in the 1r.


 

BEST WIN (SILVER MEDAL): Warsaw QF def. Magui Serna 7-5,6-2 (May).  Facing Serna, the hottest WTA player of the claycourt season as she was riding a 13-match, 2-title winning streak, Jelena dispatched the Spaniard in maybe her most impressive win of 2003.  She went on to make the SF, her best result of the season.


THE HEX IS OVER:  It took until April in Sarasota for one of Jelena's 2003 doubles partners to finally get a main draw singles victory in the same tournament as Nadia Petrova pulled off the feat.  Of course, Petrova had to retire from her 2r match.


ALL IS FORGIVEN?:  For the first time since she left Australia, Jelena teamed up with an Aussie woman in doubles.  Unfortunately, her results with vet Rennae Stubbs in Amelia Island (1-1, with the victory coming in a walkover and the loss after blowing a 4-0 3rd set lead) and Eastbourne (1-1) left much to be desired.


 

WORST LOSS (PART ONE): Eastbourne 1r to Saori Obata 3-6,1-6 (June).  What happens when you skip out on a grasscourt title defense then go to England with your game out of sorts and your confidence low?  You get throttled by the world #89 on your best surface, that's what.


MANY VOICES, FEW ANSWERS:  Rumors were rampant throughout the 2nd Quarter that Jelena might return to Australia not only for the Open next January but also to once again represent her ex-homeland at the Olympics in Athens.  Of course, no comments in the affirmative have come from Jelena herself, who's stressed that her focus is on her CURRENT tennis rather than on what MIGHT happen a year from now.


HIGH WIRE ACTS:  Jelena's pressure wins have been few and far between this season, but she did manage a couple in the 2nd Quarter.  Against Tina Pisnik in Amelia Island, she led 7-5,5-2 and blew a match point before avoiding a big choke and finally surging back to win 7-5,5-7,6-1.  In Warsaw, Jelena won the longest tie-break of her career (14-12) over Myriam Casanova in a 7-5,7-6 match.


BUT, OF COURSE:  A week after the Casanova win, Jelena lost a tie-break at love to Iroda Tulyaganova in Berlin.  It was the first time since October 2002 (vs. Tatiana Panova) that she'd won the 1st set but went on to lose the match.  In 2003, she's 14-2 in such circumstances.


BEST WIN (BRONZE MEDAL):  Wimbledon 2r def. Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-1,6-3.  Jelena had wins over better players than #64 Gagliardi (0-5 vs. Jelena, and 0-2 vs. her at Wimbledon), but before this win Jelena had gone six straight events without back-to-back victories.  Plus, the confidence she displayed here (racing to a 4-0 1st set lead) provided a glimpse of the Jelena that hopefully makes a few more appearances in the 3rd Quarter.


 

MEMORIES OF GOOD TIMES PAST:  Jelena defeated Amelie Mauresmo 7-6,6-1 in the 2001 Rome final to claim her first career singles title.  The two met for the first time since then in the Warsaw SF.  This time, Mauresmo won 7-5,6-2.


IS SOMETHING MISSING?:  After winning two titles and advancing to five finals in their previous eight tournaments in 2001-02, the Dokic-Petrova doubles team has been a less-than-remarkable 13-8 with just a single finals appearance in their eight teamings in 2003.


NO RIDICULOUS MATCH THIS TIME:  For the first time since seeming to refer to the 2002 Eastbourne singles meeting between Martina Navratilova & Daniela Hantuchova as a "ridiculous" match that pushed #1-seed Jelena to a side court, Miss Dokic met up with The Legend on the doubles court.  Alas, in the Rome final, Jelena & Nadia lost to Navratilova/Kuznetsova as the 46-year old broke her own record as the oldest-ever WTA titleist.


SAME TIME, DIFFERENT FACES:  Once again, Jelena found a veteran who had her number in the season's early going.  After dropping two early-season matches to Conchita Martinez (2000), Amanda Coetzer (2001) and Anne Kremer (2002), it was Lisa Raymond who managed a 2-0 mark against Jelena this year.


DEJA VU:  Jelena made her slam breakthrough as a 16-year old playing at her first Wimbledon in 1999, upsetting Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce en route to the QF.  Four years later, Jelena found herself on the other side of the equation as it was 16-year old Maria Sharapova who played her first Wimbledon, making her 3r win over Jelena her biggest career victory so far.  In the end, though, Jelena was still able to trump the Russian on one front -- Shaprapova only made it to the Round of 16.


WORST LOSS (PART TWO): Strasbourg 2r to Karolina Sprem 5-7,6-1,3-6 (May).  Jelena made the final in Strasbourg in 2002.  So no matter that teenager Sprem made the Strasbourg final this year and then did so again in Vienna after Roland Garros, the world #4 of less than a year ago shouldn't lose to the world #163, the lowest-ranked player to defeat Jelena since she became a full-time pro.


WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?:  If going into Roland Garros everyone had known that a member of the Dokic/Petrova doubles combo would make the singles SF, Jelena fans would have been ecstatic.  Who knew it'd be Jelena losing in the 2r, while Petrova made the surprising, unwavering SF run?


 

CONSISTENCY FOUND, ALBEIT NEGATIVE:  Jelena's claycourt season ended in Vienna just as it had begun in Sarasota -- with the #1-seeded Jelena losing to Paola Suarez.


SMARTEST DECISION/THE NEXT SAVIOR?: Ex-Graf coach Heinz Gunthardt tried to incorporate a more attacking, forward-moving, varied style into Jelena's game.  She maintained it was working in practice, but results failed to materialize on the court and her confidence was at an all-time low.  So following the 2r loss at RG, Gunthardt was shown the door and another hoped-for savior was allowed inside.  This time it's Borna Bikic who is Jelena's new coach.  Or is it Barna Bikic?  Or maybe Borna Bykic?  Hopefully, by the end of the 3rd Quarter, everyone will know how to correctly spell his name and want to shake his hand for a job well done.  Based on Jelena's heart-hitting move following her win over Baltacha at Wimbledon (and her more upbeat post-match comments -- none of that self-defeating "I'm not expecting much"  junk was in evidence), maybe there's some reason to believe the old, fire-in-her-eyes Jelena is close to showing up on tour again.