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Article sent by Glyn James
Acura Classic:Welcome to sizzling San Diego - As expected, Jelena has entered the draw for the second event of the American hard-court season, and she doesn't have far to travel as she heads for San Diego for the Acura Classic, a Tier I event with $1,000,000 of prize money. The beautiful La Costa Resort and Spa once again is the location for the event, and without a doubt, it is a far more illustrious place to visit than the rain of Birmingham. Nevertheless, no-one will want to get too carried away by the luxurious facilities that the event boasts, as tennis will be the prime area of focus. Sponsorships are hardly a rarety in this event, as there are logos flying from every which way, representing the likes of ACURA, YONEX and ADIDAS. The tournament is co-directed by Raquel Giscafre and Jane Stratton, and they can be contacted at either Raquel@promotionsports.org or jane@promotionsports.org. I won't be patronising and explain to you which email address belongs to which person. I'm going to go on a hunch and suggest that this is something you're already aware of, or something that, given time, you'll be able to figure out by yourselves. For information on travel and tickets, visit the tournament's official website at www.acuraclassic.com, and I'd just like to add that this website is a big improvement on last week's joke of a tournament website. I feel like the following sentence is going to be something I've used quite a few times this year, but it's time to stop the lightheartedness and take yet another look at the troublesome game of a certain Miss Dokic. Just when you think you're getting somewhere ... - Much like the Wimbledon experience, Jelena's game seems to show some positive signs, and then is shattered by a Maria. So what exactly is going on? Two possible quick answers spring to mind, and such is life, you are faced with the option of taking the optimistic view that Vento-Kabchi was on fire last week and so we can easily excuse a loss to an extremely confident player considering Jelena's current confidence levels. Of course, the pessimistic side of the coin may argue that Jelena's game has not really improved a lot at all, and her second round victory over Alexandra Stevenson was merely the consequence of a Stevenson slump, mixed with a touch of injury. As is the case with most of life's little debacles, the truth lies somewhere within. Amongst the depths of the grey area we will find Jelena's current game, but the problem is that there is so much grey, we could never know. Next week will however shine a little more light into the mist of Jelena's game and enable us to grasp a little more information. Last year brought that fantastic 6-7 7-6 6-0 victory over Anna Kournikova in the semi final, where she fought her way out of a few match points down with sheer grit and determination. Unfortunately though, realistically speaking, Jelena is now faced with the prospect of losing a barrel load of ranking points, if and when she falls short of a final appearance. As the number nine seed, Jelena is not going to get a great draw that will provide a safe journey through to that phase. The Draw -
Conclusion - Jelena's draw could have been a lot worse, but considering recent performances she will really have to dig deep to reach a respectable phase of the tournament. Last week was far from the rescuing performance many had hoped for, and there's clearly work to be done. Jelena should overcome her first obstacle since neither Laura Granville nor Magui Serna have been producing the goods in recent weeks. Jelena will certainly come up against Chanda Rubin should she reach the 3rd round, but that would probably the least difficult top ten player to compete with at this current time (with the exception of Daniela Hantuchova). Should Jelena surprise many by progressing further, she would have to do something she has never done before in her life: beat Linday Davenport. I think it's fairly safe to say that the buck stops here, and this is a buck that's already being stretched to tearing point. I fear another dismal week lurks around the corner, and one which will probably not bring too much positive energy into the Dokic camp. Duck, cover, and fear the worst. ---------------------------------------- PREDICTIONS - 1rd - Bye 2rd - Dokic def. Granville in straight sets 3rd - Rubin def. Dokic in straight sets. ---------------------------------------- comments: glyn_james@jelena-dokic.com |
