JELENA-DOKIC.com - January 14, 2004

 

JELENA CORNER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Todd Spiker

 

DOROTHY HELD HOSTAGE: YEAR 3

   Quite an ugly sight -- the impenetrable fence still erected around the yellow brick road.  For a while there, it looked like Jelena would leap over it with ease on her way to the Emerald City of Melbourne... a city, it should be noted, that is looking increasingly desolate with all the big name no-shows this year.
   From Serena to Monica, from Mary to Jennifer, many top names are absent.  Kim Clijsters is limping into town, and Venus and Lindsay Davenport are coming off surgeries with no clue whether or not their bodies will allow them to go at full force for an entire fortnight.  In fact, world #1 Justine Henin-Hardenne will be the only woman in the draw who's actually won a grand slam title over the last two years.  Now, it's official that Jelena will join this long list of absentees... again.
   Who could have guessed that just considering the possibility of clicking her heels would cause this much damage.

   (deep sigh)

   The Corner's 2004 debut wasn't supposed to be like this.  Not again.  It was supposed to be a triumphant return, win or lose.  But, instead of being gracefully retired, this now-annual column has been raised from the thought-dead article folder in Pierre's desk drawer.  Like Navratilova's career, no stake has yet been found that's sharp enough to be driven through its heart.
   I guess everyone can try to keep the girl away from the drama, but no one can take the drama out of the girl (or something like that... you get the idea).  Make no mistake, unresolved drama is still the Fair One's main business.  The always-fragile house of cards is never safe from a stiff, collapsing breeze.  The season already appears to be stuck in neutral (or maybe reverse) and Jelena still hasn't stepped onto the court.  Make up your own additional and appropriate cliche.  They'll all surely apply.
   2004's version of Dorothy Held Hostage is basically a case of "the domino theory of Jelena" being (at least temporarily) in full effect.  Once the last minute decision was made to not hop the plane to New Zealand, everything that followed was all but assured.  Auckland was more important than Sydney.  It was the prep event (Jelena would have been the #2 seed in NZ, but unseeded in the very crowded Sydney field) with the promise of many matches, while Sydney was the toe-in-the-water moment of this would-be Dorothy Tour, meant to be the site of the big Down Under return more than where the Fair One could make a true title run.
   Of course, a lack of matches didn't necessarily preclude a trip to Melbourne.  Whether Jelena truly needs more practice time in Barcelona with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is something only she truly knows.  It's only fair to be skeptical.  But one thing IS clear -- there will be no Dorothy sightings for the third straight year.


 

A PAUSE TO REMEMBER... Last Aussie match: January 15, 2001 (approx. 1100 days ago) ---------------------- Last Aussie win: Sydney Olympics, September 2000 (40 months ago) ---------------------- Last Australian Open victory: 1999 vs. Kristina Brandi (2r)...5 years ago, when Jelena was just 16 years old

   The sole good news here is that Jelena has no rankings points TO LOSE by not playing.  So, in a sense, it's a status quo situation.  Tennis-wise, nothing's changed... it just didn't get better, either.  And the timetable to return to the Top 10 in March will likely have to be pushed back a bit.
   But the bad, as always every January, outweighs the good.  Another Australian Open opportunity (and there WAS an opportunity here, with so many top names staying home) wasted.  Another future hurdle left to leap rather than put behind once and for all by simply moving forward.  More unfinished business to deal with down the road, or avoid yet again a year from now.
   But we've gone over all this so many times before.


 

SINCE JELENA WAS IN AUSTRALIA... ...she's played 213 matches ...won 134 times ...lost 79 times ...played in 84 tournaments ...claimed 5 singles titles ...and 4 more in doubles

   During this latest ordeal, an old familiar (but mostly unwanted) voice was heard calling out from Europe, too.  The bleating of the elder Dokic once again made headlines.  With them, did anyone else feel Jelena's world quake just a little, as if a rip in the fabric of time had taken us back to 2001?  Old ridiculous accusations were dredged up yet again, and new/old questions will now have to be asked and answered.  Thus far, whether the old, often-damaging link has been re-established is unclear... but Jelena will certainly be queried about it before long.  One hopes her answer -- if she's willing to give one -- won't make everyone shake their heads in worry all over again.
   Either way, Jelena's world keeps spinning.  Now, rather than face the prospect of stumbling Down Under she'll have to attempt to burst out of the gate a little farther North in Tokyo.  Everyone will be crossing their fingers.
   So, all the "Jeleniacs" will have to sit tight and hope for the best again.  By now, though, everyone has gotten used to this drill.  It's a disappointment, but shouldn't be an allegiance-turning moment.
   With luck, this ongoing hostage ordeal will finally end in 2005.  Place your "Surrender Dorothy" placards and banners away for safekeeping in your closet, attic or steamer chest.  There's still a whole year for Jelena to decide to release her "inner Dorothy" the next time around.  There shouldn't be too many cobwebs that form on such fine, hand-crafted masterpieces before they're be able to be brought out for this annual rite yet again next January.
   Of course, this time was different.  This time, Dorothy's freedom seemed oh-so-close.  Having the door slammed on her release once again has made cynics of us all.  In the future, if the decision is again announced to finally put this story to its merciful rest, will any one of us truly believe a word the would-be Dorothy says?
   Probably not.  And that's too bad.  Jelena shouldn't so often see her career defined by such chaos, real or imagined.  But, unfortunately, that's precisely what happens each and every year.