JELENA-DOKIC.com
May 3, 2004
JELENA CORNER
by Todd Spiker
On the eve of Jelena Dokic's return to WTA action in
Berlin (considering the lethal nature of her draw, don't
blink or you might miss her entire week's work), the
Corner returns from a brief respite with a few thoughts
on the generally less than inspiring happenings in the
Fair One's world since we last met.
Both wins and losses have been in evidence over the
last few weeks (putting this season's record at an
infinitely imperfect 8-8), but what any of them will
mean in the long (and short) run is anyone's guess.
EuroJelena arrived in low-key fashion in Athens, replete
with great hope that wasn't nearly upheld... then ended
prematurely with an injury. With two grand slams
approaching over the next two months, whether the Fair
One will be prepared to put on a good show in either is
severely in doubt. Having dropped to #23 in the singles
rankings, draws (such as this week's) will not be
Jelena's friends.
Obviously, the Corner can't wear rose-colored glasses
in this instance and paint every loss as an "encouraging
experience," nor can it take the flimsy stance that
every win -- especially the close ones against players
ranked in the 100's or 200's -- is potentially the
jumping off point for great things to come. Actually,
for the moment, the spectacles look pretty thorny on the
surface. There might be touches of silk in evidence if
you look closely... but at this point it's more
realistic to look at the tangible evidence that's been
provided so far in 2004 rather than the dubious
potential for a quick turnaround.
The Fair One is still far from a finished product
ready for the worldwide distribution.
**EUROJELENA HAS ARRIVED, BUT WHEN WILL "NEW JELENA?"**
Yes, that's right. It's the return of the waiting
game. No, not the one where we wait for Dorothy to be
released. I'm talking about the continually
exasperating search for "new" Jelena.
Remember her? She was the player who was supposed to
emerge from the Gunthardt Experiment sometime last
season. It never happened, and when Steffi Graf's
former coach was let go in what seems to have been an
irreconciliable clash of personalities, it seemed that
the Fair One's desire to change her style of game might
go with him. But Jelena's words in Athens resurrected
the thoughts of a more attacking player, one giving
special attention to strengthening a serve that
threatens to forever tie an anchor around her career's
progress.
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"Due to some
bad results, I want to enter smaller
tournaments, so I get some confidence by winning
in smaller events after Wimbledon. Now, I am
changing service because it's very important for
my tennis. I am coming to the net a lot more.
All this has to come to its place soon, and then
wins will come also." - Jelena, in Athens
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Apparently, we'll get to see if Borna Bikic can find
the formula for success that Gunthardt found so
elusive. At the very least, the Fair One is pleased
with her coaching setup. It would seem that that's at
least a large part of the battle to rediscover a
"comfort zone" for her game.
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"I am very
pleased with Borna. We had a few good wins, but
the best is we work well both on and off the
court. We already know each other and he helps
me, so I don't have to think on everything." -
Jelena
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With so many moments of disappointment and discord
over the last nearly two years, it's surely a good sign
when anything can make the dark clouds part and allow
the sun to shine down on the Fair One's world for a
change. Hopefully, the battleground is now confined to
the court and working through the transitions in certain
aspects of her game, then coming out through the other
end of that single-minded tunnel all the better for the
labor the journey required. Surely, there have been
times this year when completing that trek has seemed
like a losing proposition. The last few weeks haven't
exactly been exceptions, either.
**THE GHOSTS THAT WON'T DIE**
A few weeks back in Charleston, the biggest things we
learned were that Jelena still can't escape Great
Mandula's Ghost, and that the Hungarian isn't the most
haunting thing out there wreaking havoc on her game.
After an oh-so-Jelena rollercoaster win over Tatiana
Panova (she led 39-13 in winners, but still barely
scraped by with a victory), the Fair One's REAL ghost
appeared against Mandula.
Sure, Jelena didn't give up after quickly falling
down 1-5, as she did earlier in '04 against the veteran,
and pushed the match to three sets. But it's a
rose-colored glasses notion to disregard the fact that
Jelena withered away again in a 2-6 deciding set against
a player who's never even made a WTA singles final in
twelve years on tour. Is this what things have come to
-- celebrating not curling up in a ball in the corner
of the court after a slow start? Three years ago,
Jelena lost to Mandula and everyone was shocked. It
happens now and it's no surprise, and post-match
magnifying glasses are immediately armed to discover the
"bright spots" in another bad loss. Example: it wasn't
the worst defeat by Mandula this year. Now, there's
something to hang a hat on.
That said, maybe the showing of at least a modicum of
on-court focus IS an encouraging sign for EuroJelena.
But too many times Jeleniacs have told themselves that
they see progress, only to be slapped back to reality
soon afterward. Yes, Mandula also defeated Capriati in
Charleston. But whether Mandula was having a good week
wasn't the issue, the Jelena who now consistently loses
to (or struggles against) players she should flatten is.
The Mandula loss, and so many others over the last
two years, come down to two words: double faults.
There were 15 in the Mandula match alone.
The Fair One has been lugging around a defective
serve for years. Giving away so many free points is
symptomatic of a game without nuance. The typical
mindset is that if the serve isn't working, just hit it
harder... that way, at least the net can be punished and
the ball kids get a little additional excercise.
Jelena's matches have been littered with moments like
these, explaining how good she looks when her serving
isn't killing her momentum and how disasterous things
can turn out when it is. Momentum/slumps,
confidence/head-slouching, 6-0 sets/blown leads... sound
familiar? After all these years, the Fair One is still
trying to harness her game. She's still either a
pedal-to-the-metal player streaking over the finishline,
or one blowing out an engine around the final turn.
It's a spectacular, or hopeless, approach. At full
speed she can be a beautiful sight, but an
inability to
"gear down" into neutral, while oddly admirable, is
often foolhardy for a player with enough natural talent
to maintain a Top 20 ranking for a 23-month span during
which she's won no titles and has suffered through the
worst extended stretch of her career. A similar style
has helped Jennifer Capriati win three grand slam
titles, but Jelena is still a "junior version" of the
American and can't afford to rest on her laurels.
Jelena's go-for-the-lines mindset has served her well
enough, but it's become an overly (and outrageously)
necessary tactic she's been forced to employ too often
since she's always playing makeup because of her
inefficient serve. Sure, Elena Dementieva has shown how
high a player can rise in the rankings despite an
embarrassing clunker of a second serve, but that's no
excuse to Jelena to live with such a ticking timebomb
threatening to blow her own game off the court at a
moment's notice. Unforced groundstroke errors are
something that the Fair One has to live with in her
risky gameplans, but 10-15 DF a match are more difficult
to overcome. She has to constantly be in a "break-back"
mode, and any slip means a lost set... then the entire
match generally falls down around her feet. The refrain
has sounded like a broken record (hmmm, is that a
technologically obsolete phrase in 2004?) for a few
seasons now, but it all starts with the serve.
Thankfully, it looks like that fact hasn't been lost
on Jelena & Co. Remember:
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"I am making
some changes in my game. My game has more shots
now. I am changing service because it's very
important for my tennis." - Jelena
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**LAYING A FOUNDATION IN ATHENS... but for what?**
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"It's always
a great feeling to play for my country. I am
very pleased it finally got to happen." -
Jelena, in Athens
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Well, at least the Fair One accomplished that in
Greece. It was also officially announced (here on
JD.com, by the way -- so bravo for that) that she plans
to represent Serbia & Montenegro in the Olympics come
August. Otherwise, though, the lasting effects of
Athens will be minimal.
There was hope that the Fair One would be able to
gather some momentum in the Fed Cup team atmosphere
where she'd have no need to search for someone on her
side. And she did go 2-0 in her matches (making her
11-2 in Fed Cup play), even if she did have a noticable
2nd set slowdown versus world #244 Lina Stanciute (who's
that, you ask? -- your guess is as good as mine) and a
narrow escape against #116 Sofia Arvidsson. But with
her new Serbian team one win away from advancing to the
World Group Playoffs in July, Jelena's groin (the old
Tokyo injury?) flared again and she didn't even get to
face another of the rising teen stars, 14-year old Sesil
Karatancheva and her very big mouth.
Needless to say, despite Jankovic's
anyone-but-the-other-Jelena stellar results, Serbia's
goose was cooked when the Fair One was forced to bow
out. On the bright side, at least Jelena avoided a
confidence-puncturing upset by the kid who knocked off
Eleni Daniilidou in her home country just days before
and carried the entire Bulgarian team on her back.
How's that for rose-colored thinking?
**EUROJELENA RESUMES...**
A haunting headache in Charleston, mixed signals in
Athens, and now she's hurting again. As in Tokyo, just
when things have the chance to become positive the
entire board is muddled again. Case in point: a Berlin
draw that brings Meghannn Shaughnessy in the 1st Round,
with Kim Clijsters looming in the 3rd.
Okay, one more time...
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"All this
has to come to its place soon, and then wins
will come also." - Jelena
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Transition does take time, so the condition of
Jelena's game is understandable. And she seems to have
the patience to be willing to let greater success come
naturally as she attempts to build on better habits. If
things go according to schedule, things will be
straightened out in time for the US Open and beyond.
Of course, considering the hot-and-cold, ebb-and-flow
nature of Jelena's results, the Fair One might surprise
even herself in Germany. The last time Clijsters was in
her path, she did just that.
I'd never put any money, no matter what currency or
how much, on it happening again this week. But, boy,
it'd be oh-so-Jelena if it did, wouldn't it?
All for now.
