This time last year, Jelena traveled to San Diego where she hoped to put in a solid performance to prepare for the U.S. Open…she not only succeeded in doing that but exceeded everyone’s expectations by defeating the number 2 seed, Jennifer Capriati, and the red-hot Anna Kournikova on the way to a final finish. With such results, it is no wonder that she jumped to number 4 in the world just a few months later! This year, however, her draw is certainly more difficult and Jelena must play superb tennis if she has any chance to defend these points and knock off a few seeds in the process.

In 2002, Dokic was the number 6^th seed and was positioned in the 3^rd quarter as a result. This year, she has unfortunately dropped to the number 9^th seeding, but is still placed in the 3^rd quarter. She has played four out of the five players in her sub-quarter and has lost to three of them this year! These opponents include:

• Magui Serna: Dokic defeated this Spanish player this year on her favourite surface, clay, at Warsaw in straight sets which was an outstanding result considering the amount of clay-court tennis Serna had played and the amount of titles she had won already this season. Hardcourt tennis is completely different though and a straight sets victory for Dokic would not be surprising at all.

 

• Laura Granville: is always a dangerous player in her home country but Jelena can beat her if she doesn’t tense up on the important points, like against Vento-Kabchi last week at Stanford.

 

• Tina Pisnik: Jelena has played this person on a few occasions and usually won quite convincingly. However, Pisnik overcame Dokic in 3 sets at the French Open-but this can be blamed on low confidence levels and continued amounts of unforced errors. Just look at the stats!

 

• Paola Suarez: Surprisingly, Suarez has beaten Dokic already twice this ear and both times on clay. Suarez is a very consistent player but lacks in power and if Dokic can just grind the ball away at her, then she should have a chance of beating her.

 

• Chanda Rubin: this would ultimately be Jelena’s most dangerous opponent if they were to meet in the 3^rd round. She whipped Jelena in Los Angeles last year 6-0 6-2 where she said Dokic was in “semi-tank” mode that basically means Dokic gave up the match. She also defeated her in October as well but considering Dokic’s recurring leg injury and her low confidence levels at a shock US Open exit, it is not surprising she lost both times. Nevertheless, here’s hoping Dokic can pull through this one.

Now for the Quarterfinals! As far as seedings go and if Dokic is successful, she will most likely have to play her main enemy, Lindsay Davenport, who has defeated her convincingly in their last few meetings. However, considering Davenport was recently talking about retiring after her Wimbledon loss to Venus Williams, she might be low on confidence and in fact loss to Myskina in the World Team Tennis (WTT) even in the past few weeks so she might in fact fall early. In addition, Lindsay could play Silvia Farina Elia in the 3^rd round who has already defeated her this year so this could open the draw for Jelena considerably. But in any of these tournaments, it really is difficult to determine how the draw will fold out as the tournament progresses but hopefully Dokic will at least prevail to the Quarterfinals!

If Dokic did make it to the semifinals though, what a tournament this would be for her! Her confidence would be soaring and there would be no telling what damage she could inflict upon her opponents! And her semifinal opponent would most probably be the world number 2 Kim Clijsters. She will probably battle out Jennifer Capriati in the final of Stanford as that tournament concludes and could even win it, but by reaching the semi’s, she probably has already made a successful transition to the US hardcourts and will be well prepared for any of her opponents, including Dokic. They have battled each other on many occasions with Kim being victorious for the majority of them but in their last meeting, Dokic was slaughtered 6-2 6-0 but this could have been a blessing in disguise for Jelena as it allowed her to reassess her game to compete once more with the top 10 players.

As for the final, it is anyone’s bet who could make it there but it will ultimately be either Serena Williams or Jennifer Capriati. No matter what anyone says, Dokic does have the capability to defeat these players (after all, last year she did defeat Capriati and was leading 4-1 against Serena before her leg injury kicked in during their match at the end of year Championships)-it is just a matter of hitting the right shot at the right time and being confident enough to even battle the lower-ranked players. After her loss to Vento-Kabchi, she commented on her she was tight on the game points and if her coach can work with her on her mental strength over the next few days, then we might see a new, revitalized Dokic in San Diego this next coming week 

Predictions:

2^nd Round: Dokic d. Serna in 2 sets

3^rd Round: Dokic d. Rubin in 3 sets

QF: Davenport d. Dokic in 2 sets

Good luck Jelena and bring home the trophy!!!