article by Madonna

''Mentally frustrating''


Jelena was waiting.We were waiting.We all were waiting for rain showers to stop.While we
were waiting,the Grandstand Court at Amelia Island was a lonely place.The court was empty,the stands were empty.Although the rain stopped in the late
afternoon,the courts were wet,so that our Jelena
just couldn't play until 8 pm,which was nearly an
hour after the night session's scheduled. ''I waited around all night yesterday to play,and then sat around all day today waiting to play.I was just glad to finally get the match in.''-Jelena said.''It's difficult,it's mentally frustrating.The courts were heavy and the balls were heavy,but you expect that after the weather we've had.''-said Jelena. The question was:What can Jelena do?On the other part of the court,she had Mary Pierce,1998 champion of this event.Was she injured that bad?It took us only 10 minutes to realise that Jelena is on fire,that she is one brave young lady.With good tactic,Jelena managed to hit some great passing shots and drop shots,and with not that good fitness,Mary just couldn't reach them.To tell the true,Mary didn't win a point on the net,while Jelena won 12 of 15.Jelena dominancy continued in the second set. Jelena was hitting the ball very hard and deep,tried to find some great angles.She moved her opponent very well,and won that second set 6:0 in just 16 minutes.''I felt like I wasn't hitting the ball that bad,but give Jelena a ot credit,she played well.I'm nowhere close to where I was before I got the injury.But that's O.K.I'm still working hard on a lot of things.I know it's going to take a couple months of tournament until I'm back to playing where I feel I can give myself a good chance out there.''-said Pierce. ''It's tough to come back from injuries like Mary has had.She made a lot of errors tonight,but I made her miss a lot of those shots.She couldn't play her game.''-finished Dokic. At the end,Jelena overwhelmed Pierce 6:2,6:0 in just 39 minutes.

         MATCH SUMMARY PIERCE DOKIC

1st serve % 63% 69%
aces           1      3
double faults 0     5
winning %-1st serve pts.7 of 25=28%  22of 27=81%
winning %-2nd serve pts.7 of 15=47%  6 of 12=86%
winners(including service) 7  25
unforced errors 17  12
break point conversion 1 of 1=100%  6 of 7=86%
net approaches 0 of 7=0%  12 of 15=80%
total points won 25  54
fastest match serve speed 102 mph  97 mph
average serve speed 92 mph  92 mph