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Article sent by Glyn James
Toray Pan Pacific,Tokyo.It all starts here - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Some billion years later tennis was thrown into the mix and along came a young starlet named Jelena Dokic. After many ups and downs in her career already, Jelena prepares herself for another gruelling season on the WTA tour. Still only twenty years of age, Jelena heads to Tokyo to kick start her 2004 season, a season which many hope will fire Jelena back into the top ten players of the world. The tournament is a Tier I event with $1,300,000 on offer as prize money. It is played indoors on a fast carpet surface, and is directed by a happy looking fellow named Toshio Noji. For information on tickets, a picture of the aforementioned happy looking tournament director, some weight to Bill Murray's scathing attack on the Japanese's English language skills and much more, visit the official tournament website at http://www.toray-ppo.co.jp/pc/english/. Sponsors and support comes from Toray Industries and SAISON card. Check local listings for coverage of the tournament since most major sports stations should be broadcasting some of the action. Eurosport have coverage from the semi-finals onwards. Jelena and Tokyo - Of all the types of birds Jelena may be accused of being, one would least expect her to be labelled an early bird. Despite her fantastic worm capturing abilities, Jelena has failed to make much of a mark on the start of the season when beginning in Tokyo. The reasons for this are fairly obvious. The first is Jelena's performances on this type of surface. Take away that fantastic Kremlin Cup title in 2002 and Jelena's win loss record is just 11-17. Hardly an inspiring record on carpet, however that title in Moscow does carry with it glimmers of hope regarding future tournaments. Asides from Jelena's record on carpet, it is always going to be difficult for Jelena to make a mark on a field of players who have already been playing competitive tennis for a month. It would take a while for Jelena to get back into the swing of things even on a clay court, but the fact that this tournament is on a fast carpet surface makes the task ahead of her twice as difficult. Putting pessimistic pan pacific ideas aside (and aliteration for that matter), there is another aspect of the tournament that brings about a little hope. Despite its status as a Tier I event, the field of players isn't half as strong as it could be. A range of top ten players are missing from the entry list, including Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Serena Williams, Amelie Mauresmo, Jennifer Capriati and Anastasia Myskina. With the right draw, Jelena should put in a solid performance in Tokyo with at least two successful matches. The Draw -
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V.Williams - Bye As you can see from the draw, Pierre has failed to put it up on the Tennisrulz website, so you're all left with this slap-dash version of it. Using the colour (English spelling) gold, and the font bold, I have successfully managed to make the draw stand out from the rest of the article. No congratulations needed. Jelena has been given a 'golden' opportunity to 'boldly' stamp her authority on the season. She couldn't have asked for a better draw. Cara Black is little more than a competent doubles player, and the prospect of facing either Tamarine Tanasugarn or a qualifier in the following round is hardly a daunting one. Next up would surely be Dementieva, a player that Jelena has a phenomenal record against. Sharapova or Davenport would be the prospective semi-final opponent. If it's Davenport then you can expect the week to end there, if it's Sharapova then you'd expect Jelena to topple the young pretender and advance to the final, where she would most likely meet Venus Williams. Keeping in fashion with last year, there is great hope from a rather kind draw, but Jelena will have to keep focused, or another disappointing early exit beckons. ---------------------------------------------------------- PREDICTION - 1st round - Jelena def. Black 7-5 6-2 2nd round - Jelena def. Tanasugarn 6-3 6-1 QF - Jelena def. Dementieva 6-7 6-4 6-4 SF - Davenport def. Jelena 6-3 6-3 ----------------------------------------------- comments: quigonglynjd@hotmail.com |
