JELENA-DOKIC.com
JELENA CORNER
July 16, 2004
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JELENA IN
WONDERLAND
by Todd Spiker
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The last few seasons, the period of time after
Wimbledon has been reserved for JD.com's "State of
Jelena's Game" report. Obviously, since almost every
week of the Corner this year has been a postmortem about
the generally bad form that the Fair One has shown in
2004, continuing with the tradition at the end this past
2nd Quarter seemed a bit unnecessary. As everyone
knows, the "state" of Jelena's game is pretty bad.
With a seven-match losing streak greeting her when
she returns to action, this recent break in the action
wasn't the time to rehash bad memories and recapitulate
the trail of tears. Hopefully, the time will be right
at some point in 2004 for a proper "State Of" report
(say, after the US Open or at the end of the season).
But, as with so many things Jelena of late, only time
will tell.
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"I cannot
get much lower than I am at the moment. Whether
I go down or not, we'll just have to wait and
see." - Jelena, after losing in the 1st Round of
Wimbledon
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With EuroJelena over, Jelena finally (at least
temporarily) lifted the curtain on her life to allow a
small hint of what's been going on inside her head,
conservatively, the past few months. Her public
acknowledgement of her already very public personal
difficulties, and the need to take care of them, might
ultimately be looked back on as the moment when she
finally began to "grow up" and become her own woman
rather than be forced to live her life, as well as
answer for all her father's wild commentary and
rantings.
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Of Damir,
she said, "If he's trying to, sorry for the
language, screw [JD.com note -- I'm assuming she
used a word a bit more salty than that, but for
the moment the Corner will keep it as clean as
possible] me up I think that's pretty sad... I
don't know why you say you want to talk to
somebody when you are trying to mentally ruin
them... It has an influence on my tennis. I
know why I'm losing, I have some personal issues
to solve... I think someone telling you that you
need a pyschiatrist and a drug test is much more
serious than deciding whether you're going to go
to a grand slam at the moment... In an ideal
world everybody would like to have a family
that's all together, and whether it's a brother
or sister, have a real relationship. I think
this is asking for too much in my situation. I
don't talk to him and I have nothing to do with
him anymore."
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The stern and calm demeanor of the 16-year old Jelena
has, in early adulthood, given way to the more natural
fragility under her skin's surface. The current
off-court storyline is but another example of the drama
inherent in her life for so long. To be honest, it's
always been part of the formula that's made her such a
fascinating personality on the WTA tour. But the Dokic
story used to be one of success in the face of
tribulation. Now, though, the trials are overshadowing
the cheers and preventing the success from seeing the
light of day. The court used to be the Fair One's
salvation, a place to hide from other encroaching
realities. That's no longer the case. The "little girl
lost" headlines that once seemed out of place are,
today, not nearly so much so.
Now's the moment that Jelena requires time, patience
and understanding... lest she face a frenzied and
reckless trip down the rabbit-hole that is even more
harrowing than the one she's currently unduring.
Quick! Who was the last person Jelena defeated in a
WTA tour match? Give up? It was Tatiana Panova in the
1st Round of Charleston.
Unfortunately, one result of this past 2nd Quarter
was that (at least for the moment) Jelena's "special"
relationship with the grass at Wimbledon was
de-mystified. Before play began, she said, "I feel like
if I'm not in good form coming into Wimbledon I can
always lift there." But the truth turned out to be that
even SW19 doesn't have the magical power to lift her up
when her body and mind aren't willing and working in
conjunction toward the same goal. For the record,
Jelena's pre-2Q career 72% winning percentage on grass
did her no good as she recorded zero grasscourt
victories in 2004... and, actually, didn't even win a
single set. In fact, she's lost thirteen straight sets
during this career-worst seven-match losing streak.
That being the case, how does the Corner give
"awards" for the 2nd Quarter? That win over Panova was
the only one Jelena got on tour the entire quarter, and
it was all the way back in April. Sure, she went 2-0 in
Fed Cup play (with wins over Lina Stanciute & Sofia
Arvidsson), but that experience went so "well" that,
after one international team event as a representative
of Serbia & Montenegro, Jelena's already brought up the
idea of returning to Australia. Her commitment to the
event in Cincinnati in mid-August, held the same week as
the Olympics, means that Jelena won't be stepping foot
in Greece this summer.
So, rather than the usual Jelena Awards section, this
recap of the 2nd Quarter is a little pared down (but,
hopefully, it'll still be at least somewhat
interesting).
**2Q AT A GLANCE**
-April (1-2 WTA)-
A.Island - 1r Frazier
Charleston - 2r Mandula
-April (2-0 FC)-
Fed Cup World Group Playoff Qualifying - Bulgaria d.
Serbia & Montenegro (Jelena 2-0, w/ walkover loss)
-May (0-3)-
Berlin - 1r Shaughnessy
Rome - 1r Camerin
Roland Garros - 1r Perebiynis
-June (0-3)-
Birmingham - 2r Perry
Eastbourne - 1r Pisnik
Wimbledon - 1r Dulko
BEST WIN: Charleston 1r def. Panova... 6-0/5-7/7-5. One
is the loneliest number. And even this was a struggle.
After winning 6-0 in the 1st, Jelena lost momentum in
the 2nd and then nearly blew a 3rd set lead (she was
serving at 5-3).
WORST LOSS: Eastbourne 1r to Pisnik... 2-6,2-6. The
postmortem: 9 DF in 8 serve games; she was down 0-5 at
one point in the 2nd set, with just four points to her
credit. For the match, Pisnik led 58-35 in total
points. And to think the score was actually 2-2 in the
1st set.
**(LACK OF) PROGRESS CHART**
=Zurich-to-Tokyo||Since
=======================
Won/Loss.....9-3...5-13
3-setters....6-1....3-4
Set down.....3-3...2-11
Set up.......6-0....3-2
TB/Ext.sets..4-2....4-8
QF+..........3/3...0/13
SF+..........2/3...0/13
**JELENA BY QUARTER**
============1st...2nd
W/L.........5-6...3-8
Walkovers...1-0...0-1
3-setters...3-3...2-1
Set up......3-2...2-0
Set down....2-4...1-8
TB..........2-2...0-2
Ext.sets....2-0...2-5
WTA Pts.....242....36
Qual.Pts.....34.....2
Avg.Pts....40.3...4.5
Doubles.....0-2...0-0
**2Q THROUGH THE YEARS**
=======2Q===EuroJelena
1999..14-7........10-4
2000..18-6........10-4
2001..19-8........17-7
2002..28-9........20-7
2003..10-11........7-8
2004...3-8.........2-6
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES:
Birmingham 2r vs. Shenay Perry...4-6/6-7. Down 4-6/2-4,
0-30 in her first grass match of the season, Jelena
climbed back. She gained a set point on Perry's serve
at 6-5 in the 2nd. She didn't convert it, though, and
the set went to a tie-break, which Jelena lost 4-7.
This could have been the match that might have begun to
change the Fair One's confidence-free fortunes, but
instead things only got worse from there.
======================
Amelia Island 1r vs. Amy Frazier... Jelena blows a 4-2
lead in the 1st and loses the set 4-6, then squanders a
5-3 advantage (and a set point) in the 2nd and loses it
5-7.
======================
Rome 1r vs. Maria Elena Camerin... striking a familiar
tone, Jelena blows 3-1 and 5-4 leads in the 1st set and
loses 5-7. In the 2nd, a 4-1 advantage turned into a
5-7 defeat.
**JELENA IN FED CUP PLAY**
9-2...for Australia
2-0...for Serbia & Mont. (w/ walkover loss)
REPERCUSSIONS: Fed Cup Playoff Qualifying, Serbia &
Montenegro vs. Bulgaria... Jelena takes a last minute
walkover loss to Sesil Karatancheva, fairly well
assuring Bulgaria's advancement. Just weeks later, the
Fair One gets a hankering for Vegamite?
PIN IN THE BALLOON: Wimbledon 1r loss to Gisela
Dulko...3-6/3-6. Winless on grass. Open season on
Damir.
Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense. In
tennis terms, if Jelena actually wins matches then
Damir's rants no longer have substance (not that they
particularly do anyway, but clear evidence in the "W"
column might even convince him of the futile nature of
waging familial war in the world's media).
It's good that Jelena finally chose to talk publicly
about the situation, but let's just hope that admitting
Damir's influence on her (bad) tennis of late doesn't
inadvertantly embolden him. For all the good the
opening up of even a little about a situation that's
been brewing since before the '99 Hingis upset might
have the capacity to do, it goes hand-in-hand with
letting the cat out of the bag and alerting the person
in question that his diatribes are having their intended
effect.
With the good always seems to come the bad... but the
Fair One knows all about that. She has for years. Now
she has to figure out a way to deal with it. She turned
21 during the course of this past 2nd Quarter.
The time has come.
As Jelena will soon be scheduled to get the 3rd
Quarter underway, what are the goals for 2004's third
stanza? Well, baby steps are in order at the moment.
How are these for "modest" goals:
--a single win... no, scratch that, how about getting a
single set in hand first? (it'd be a nice start)
--in fact, make it a DF-free set
If that works out, how about...
--a single win
--not to quibble, but let's even go so far as to make it
either an easy win or a come-from-behind victory to get
the competitive juices flowing again
--a quarterfinal (Jelena hasn't had one since February
in Tokyo, a stretch of thirteen tournaments)
--a Top 20 win (I know it's a big step -- Jelena's
highest-ranked victory in '04 is over #45 Nicole Pratt
-- but it's something to shoot for)
In the end, though, I guess Jelena's real goal is
some peace of mind. Once she has that, the rest will
likely develop naturally.
All for now.
