JELENA-DOKIC.com -
October 20, 2003
JELENA CORNER by Todd Spiker
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JELENA
DOKIC & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
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**ZURICH POINTS CHART**
1187..Oct.13 points (#25)
193...RU
43....1r: Rubin(#10)-6-1/5-7/6-4
10....2r: Stevenson(#39)-4-6/7-5/6-1
23....QF: Schnyder(#18)-6-0/6-4
100...SF: Clijsters(#1)-1-6/6-3/6-4
0.....F: Henin-H.(#2)-0-6/4-6
369...ZURICH TOTAL (JD.com GRADE: A)
-53...Zurich 2002
+316..POINTS FOR WEEK
1503..Oct.20 points (#14)
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"I feel
I have got my head together and my tennis
together." - Jelena
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I know I, for one, fully expected Jelena to have one
of the best weeks of her entire career in Zurich. In
case you missed all the fun, she was virtually dipped in
a vat of Swiss chocolate to produce the most delectable
confection imaginable.
Didn't you see it coming all along?
I mean, it was soooo obvious that a player with a
sub-.500 record for the season, coming off being dumped
out of yet another 1r match (ending with a 0-6 set!),
would walk into a Tier I as an unseeded player and waltz
away a week later with this litany of accomplishments to
her credit: two Top 10 victories, her first win over a
world #1 in four years, two set-down come-from-behind
wins (after going 2-24 in such cases beforehand), a
dominating win over the Zurich '02 champ in her home
country, her first singles final in fourteen months...
and now a return to the Top 15 after several months in
exile.
It was all a foregone conclusion before Jelena even
stepped foot off the plane in Zurich, and anyone who
says otherwise is a big fat liar.
Okay, now let's get serious. Who, Jelena included,
wasn't literally blown off their feet by what the Fair
One pulled off in Switzerland? Who could have foreseen
what would have sounded like a fairy tale scenario a
week ago? But it DID happen. It WAS real. If it'd
been a make-believe affair, Jelena would surely have
pulled off that one final victory that eluded her.
But...
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As
Jelena said, "I think it was one match too
many for me this week."
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As it was, we're left with the curious question of
how the same 20-year old could be so seemingly low one
moment and then so incredibly high so soon afterward.
Truth is, though, doesn't what happened in Zurich
perfectly define Jelena's wild rollercoaster of a
career? Suffice to say, last week -- and the
unsuspecting fourteen months that preceded -- is
precisely what has generally made JD.com's posterchild
the most interesting player on the WTA tour. It's
probably best not to look too much more deeply into it
than that, lest it spoil the brilliant shock of the
wizardry that took place in Jelena's personal chocolate
factory (and will surely occur again sometime down the
road, maybe when everyone least expects it).
SWEET TOOTH
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"I've
had a great time and it's shown me that the
work I've put in for the last couple of
months has been paying off."
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Quick! Someone hand Jelena a towel (or maybe a moist
towelette?). She's got chocolate smeared all over her
face and hands. What a delightful mess she made of what
seemed to be her path to the end of the 2003 season.
After such a long time experiencing how the other
half lives, the view from Jelena's window today must be
positively stunning. Call Zurich what you will. A
flashback to better times, or a preview of even better
times to come. The sudden righting of a wayward ship,
or a brief aberration. What happens next will tell the
true tale of last week.
On the brightest side, it seems unlikely that it was
but an odd coincidence that Jelena's recently stated
perspective that she'd written off '03 and was playing
for '04 came just before she pulled off her long overdue
breakout week. Was all the pressure of the last
fourteen months relieved with the shift in philosophy?
If so, maybe she's found one of the keys to unlocking
the clamps that have been holding back her psyche/game
for all this time.
Will it last, and carry over to next season? Maybe
Linz will provide an early clue. We'll see. But one
thing that's certain is that after entering the 4th
Quarter searching for (and in need of) something to
latch onto to provide evidence of progress and incentive
for the offseason (which could be briefer than in the
past, if Jelena reinstitues the Dorothy Tour down under
this January), Jelena has now found what she was looking
for. Just call it a late (and early) present to
herself.
JELENA'S BOX OF CHOCOLATES
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"There
is the possibility of me starting next year
in Australia. I want to do well in those
early tournaments and hopefully be back in
the Top 10 by March."
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Jelena's chin is up and she's finally looking
forward. Now she needs to keep it that way.
Could this fast finish prove to be a catalyst to not
just good, but great, things? Kim Clijsters' late-year
surge last season led to amazing gains in 2003. No
one's saying Jelena is in line for a run at #1 in
2004... but she's certainly already placed herself in
the race for Comeback Player of the Year.
To paraphrase Forrest Gump, what Jelena gets when she
opens her next box of chocolates is anyone's guess, but
it should be noted that when she made the Zurich final
two years ago she followed it up with another final in
Linz a week later. Streaky is as streaky does, and
Jelena is certainly in the middle of her best aura of
the year at the moment. She very well could take
advantage of it before 2004 even gets here (more on that
later).
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"I'm not
always the easiest person to put up with.
I'm very difficult sometimes. It hasn't
been easy."
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Finally, after turning blue from a lack of oxygen,
the denizens of Jelena's kingdom can take a breath (and
then have a sigh of relief)... the Fair One should be a
little more agreeable on a daily basis, too. All hope
is no longer lost. It might not be totally and
permanently found, either. But it's a hell of a lot
closer to it now than it was a week ago. Who knew seven
days could single-handedly "save" an entire season, and
maybe christen a whole new voyage of epic proportions?
The Fair One is the star again. It's been a long
time coming.
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4th
Qtr.Pts.Chart
2002********2003
118..Wk.37.....1
104..Wk.38....27
1....Wk.39....29
1....Wk.40.....1
1....Wk.41.....1
53...Wk.42...369
57...Wk.43......
0....Wk.44......
156..Wk.45......
================
2002 4Q Pts: 491
2003 4Q Pts: 429
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**JELENA IN WTA SINGLES FINALS**
01 Rome - def. Mauresmo
01 Bahia - lost to Seles
01 Tokyo PC - def. Sanchez Vicario
01 Moscow - def. Dementieva
01 Zurich - lost to Davenport
01 Linz - lost to Davenport
02 Paris - walkover to V.Williams
02 Sarasota - def. Panova
02 Strasbourg - lost to Farina Elia
02 Birmingham - def. Myskina
02 San Diego - lost to V.Williams
03 Zurich - lost to Henin-Hardenne
**JELENA vs. WORLD #1**
--WINS--
June 22, 1999 - Hingis (Wimbledon)
October 18, 2003 - Clijsters (Zurich)
--LOSSES--
2000 Zurich - Hingis
2001 US Open - Hingis
2002 Roland Garros - Capriati
2002 WTA Chsp. - S.Williams
2003 Charleston - S.Williams
2003 Leipzig - Clijsters
Linz, Austria
Generali Ladies Linz
Tier II; Indoor Hardcourt
Unseeded; 1r vs. Hantuchova (#17)
2002 Linz: QF (Rubin)
==============================
Jelena certainly has history on her side in Linz this
week. Consider this: the last time she made a Tier I
singles final (Zurich '01), she followed it up with a
run to the final in this very tournament.
A repeat is certainly possible. But Zurich has left
such a good taste in everyone's mouth, I figure why not
go for broke and say the sky's the limit in what could
be Jelena's 2003 finale?
Yes, I'm going to go with the flow and maybe go out
of the season on a wildly optimistic note and predict
Jelena's sixth WTA singles crown for her trophy case.
As usual, her unseeded standing presents tough
opening match in "Wonder Girl" Hantuchova. But this
Hantuchova, despite her late summer improvement, is not
the Hantuchova with the 3-0 career WTA record vs.
Jelena; and if Zurich is any indication, this might not
be the same Jelena who's still sporting a 26-29 record
for 2003 even after her 4-1 run in Switzerland.
Amazingly, this will be their first meeting on
hardcourts.
After Hantuchova, Jelena's road would certainly be
less strenuous than Zurich: Mandula/Schett, Sugiyama,
Pistolesi/Zvonareva, etc. As for a potential finalist
from the top half of the draw, expect one of the
Russians (either Myskina, Bovina or Petrova) or,
possibly, Jelena's victim of last week, Patty Schnyder.
If this is indeed Jelena's final event of 2003 (and a
great week would likely make it so), a run to the final
and a loss would still level her season record at
30-30. A title would remarkably get her over .500 at
31-29.
Why not hope for the best again? After Zurich, it
might even be possible.
================================
ON THIS WEEK's TENNISRULZ BACKSPIN:
Le Petit Taureau is the Queen... Justine Henin-Hardenne
is finally #1 (even if it's for just a week)
