*JELENA CORNER*
**US OPEN POINTS BREAKDOWN**
32...2r
8...1r: Greta Arn (#84) - 6-2,6-2
0...2r: Elena Bovina (#61) - 3-6,2-6
40...TOTAL POINTS
480...N.AMERICAN HARDCOURT POINTS 2001
682...N.AMERICAN HARDCOURT POINTS 2002
+202...FINAL POINTS DIFFERENTIAL
Well, I'll bet not too many thought the US Open
postmortem was going to be coming quite this soon, huh?
Yes, my dreams about Great Mandula's Ghost dancing in
my head proved to be a little TOO prophetic as it turned
out. Really, what happened to Jelena on Wednesday in
Flushing Meadows was hardly a shock. If you looked
closely beforehand, you could see this truck barrelling
down the highway with Jelena directly in its path. It was
just a matter of what the name of the driver of the
vehicle was going to be. As it turned out, it was Elena
Bovina who was the first legitimate opponent on the
schedule... so she got the honors of claiming Jelena's
scalp for her trophy case.
Too many matches, an injury to nurse, a
less-than-forgiving draw, off-court crying fits, a
regretful "semi-tank" in L.A., continued nationality
questions, a letter of support for a controversial
political figure... was there any doubt that this
multi-pronged stink bomb was going to explode in an ugly,
public fashion? Thankfully, it was restricted to the
court this time. For now, at least. With luck, for
Jelena's sake, a lackluster early-round flame-out loss in
a grand slam is as big a red flag that will be waved in
the coming weeks and months. She seems to be due one of
these every season, considering it's now occurred three
years running. First, it was Rita Kuti Kis in Oz's 1r in
2000, then Petra Mandula in the Roland Garros 3r in 2001,
and now Bovina in the 2r at the U.S. Open. (Hmmm... could
SW19 be next on the list in 2003?)
It might be too much to hope for to think that the
uncommon drama that overflows this teenager's life will be
left behind anytime soon. If anything, things seem to get
more complex and sticky as the years go by The on-court
highs & lows routinely butt heads and share the headlines
with the latest ever-more-odd off-court controversies.
It's all a bit troubling. In the last four years, this
unusual high drama -- even in the highly overdramatic
world of young tennis stars -- has come to characterize
her career as much as her talent and potential. At what
point is it all too much? Everyone has a breaking
point... and one fears that Jelena's might come with a
higher emotional price than she's willing to acknowledge
is possible at the moment.
She needs to go home (wherever that may happen to be...
this week), rest and recharge. Physically, emotionally and
in whatever other way she deems necessary. Maybe it will
entail her finally getting a moment to relax, as well as
going through with playing doubles with Eleni Daniilidou
(and enjoying herself in New York), or maybe not. In the
end, losing to Bovina so early and in such a brutal
fashion might be the best thing that could have happened,
even if it wasn't something anyone (especially Jelena
herself) would have outwardly wished for. Maybe she'll
open her eyes and realize that she's currently on a course
that has a potentially uncomfortable end. One can only
hope.
Staying true to her tennis self, though, means
preparing for the work she has in front of her over the
closing months of 2002. She needs a moment to breath in
order to be able to get through it intact. Could be,
she'll get it now.
--RANKING THE BOVINA LOSS--
Viewed solely in tennis terms, was the 2r loss to
Bovina on par with Jelena's worst loss ever? Was it
Mandula, Part Deux? That's easy. The answer is no.
Unlike the 2001 RG stunner, this one didn't come out of
nowhere. Still, it does earn a mention on the "best of
the Jelena's worst" list (see below).
That this loss wasn't her absolute worst moment,
though, doesn't forgive it's horrendous nature. Anyone
who saw a portion of this match saw IT, or the lack of
IT. "IT" being the passion that's probably
single-handedly won over many of her fans over the years.
That desire was never in attendance against Bovina.
Jelena said her hamstring injury played no part in her
performance, so one can only surmise that her generally
disinterested appearance and inability to right herself
after a touch of adversity has deeper origins. Only she
knows whether or not she needlessly sold herself short in
this match, or whether she was fooling herself into
thinking she was physically or mentally ready to even
begin to perform at her peak at this tournament. And that
it came so soon after the sleepwalking act she put on
against Chanda Rubin in Los Angeles is not a good sign,
either.
Even when Jelena managed to put together a fine point,
she showed no hint of joy. No excitement. No smile. No
clenched fist. No fight. No passion. Jelena without
passion is just a teenager who hits the ball hard. She
didn't get to #4 in the world that way.
Before this loss, her three previous Opens had been
ended by former champions. So now we add another name to
the list:
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1999...Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
2000...Serena Williams
2001...Martina Hingis
2002...Elena Bovina
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Something isn't right there...and Jelena shouldn't have to
see it in writing to know it.
=====================================
**JELENA'S LOW-RANKED 2002 LOSSES**
#61...Elena Bovina (August, US Open)@
#42...Patty Schnyder (Feb., Antwerp)
#35...Anna Smashnova (April, Charleston)
#34...Anne Kremer (March, Indian Wells)
#32...Anne Kremer (January, Tokyo TPP)
@-in 2002, Jelena is 23-1 vs. players ranked #43 or below
====================================
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**THE BEST
OF JELENA'S WORST**
*THE 10 "WORST" LOSSES*
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1.2001
Roland Garros 3r
Petra Mandula...6-3,4-6,4-6
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..."Pulling a Mandula," the shorthand for a shocking Dokic
loss, was born with this upset at the hands of the
previously unheralded and unknown Hungarian. With the RG
draw opened up after a series of big-name upsets, Jelena
grabbed an early lead on Mandula, then lost her
concentration when she realized her golden opportunity to
reach a slam final (Clijsters & Henin ended up playing in
the SF for the right to play in THEIR first slam final).
The rest is history... and "Great Mandula's Ghost" will
always linger in the shadows, ready to be resurrected
whenever Jelena has another shockingly bad day.
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2.2002 Los
Angeles SF
Chanda Rubin...0-6,2-6
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...In the midst of a great summer hardcourt run, playing
for her second straight final, Jelena fell apart. Seen
crying before the match had even begun, she promptly went
on court and played as if she wanted to be anywhere else.
Her play brought boos from the crowd, and Rubin
characterized her lack of effort as an example of Jelena
being in "semi-tank mode."
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3.2000
Australian Open 1r
Rita Kuti Kis...1-6,6-2,3-6
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...The original Hungarian disaster, and one of the early
lowlights in the string of events that led to the
departure from Australia one year later. Jelena, still
just 16, showed her immaturity during a post-match press
conference in which she expressed her anger at losing to
someone "who's never been a player and probably never will
be."
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4.2002
U.S. Open 2r
Elena Bovina...3-6,2-6
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...Just weeks after a period in which she defeated both
Capriati and Hingis, but also failed to put up much of an
effort against Rubin in an L.A. SF and was forced to
retire in Montreal, Jelena followed up a fine 1r match by
laying an egg against the Russian. Whether she was
injured, emotionally troubled or exhausted it was apparent
that she was quickly disinterested in competing. She
couldn't even get excited when she put together a winning
point when the match's end was still in question. The
characteristic fight was no where to be found.
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5.2001
U.S. Open 4r
Martina Hingis...4-6,0-6
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...In Jelena's first featured night match on Arthur Ashe
Stadium, she battled Hingis throughout a tight opening
set. After blowing an early lead and then the set,
though, Jelena's game fell apart. By the end, she'd been
blown out of a second straight U.S. Open with a love set
(Serena Williams did it in a 6-7,0-6 4r match in 2000),
and left the court with tears in her eyes.
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6.2001
Leipzig 2r
Daniela Hantuchova...6-4,6-7,0-6
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...The Slovakian teenager was on the verge of becoming a
major threat late in 2001, but Dokic physically hit "the
wall" in mid-match after two many consecutive weeks of
playing deep into tournaments. Jelena led 6-4,6-5 and
served for the match, then lost the final eight games.
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7t.2002
Indian Wells 3r
Anne Kremer...3-6,0-6
7t.2002 Miami 3r
Anne Kremer...3-6,1-6
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...The pair of losses to the Luxembourg vet in
back-to-back events in the early months of 2002 stand as a
most odd combination in Jelena's career. Sure, Jelena was
battling injuries and Kremer's game forced her into
errors... but it's still hard to believe it all happened
quite like the final scores attest (or that Jelena had
lost to Kremer a 3rd time in Tokyo months before).
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8.1999
Wimbledon QF
Alexandra Stevenson...3-6,6-1,3-6
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...Four rounds after Jelena's headline-grabbing upset of
world #1 Hingis, she played the even-more-surprising
American for a berth in the SF in her Wimbledon debut.
The rain-interrupted nature of the match never let her
gain her rhythm. Jelena made up for the disappointment by
finally advancing to the SF in 2000.
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9.2000
Sydney Olympics SF
Elena Dementieva...6-2,4-6,4-6
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...In her then-home country, Jelena was the surprise of
the Olympic tournament. With a chance to play for the
Gold Medal in front of a partisan Aussie crowd, she blew a
one-set lead to the Russian (and then missed out on a
medal entirely by losing to Monica Seles in the Bronze
Match). Jelena's never missed an opportunity to get
revenge on Dementieva since, beating her in every way
imaginable. Four months after the Olympic experience --
which she called her greatest in tennis -- Jelena left
Australia behind in a hail of controversy at the
Australian Open.
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10.2000
Leipzig QF
Kim Clijsters...6-4,2-6,6-7
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...A great, well-contested match. Hardly a "bad" loss,
per se. But to this point in their careers, the teenagers
had had very similar results as pros. When Jelena lost
the 3rd set tie-break in this late-season tournament,
Clijsters moved past her in the WTA rankings and ended up
securing her debut berth in the year-ending tour
Championships. Jelena would have to wait another year to
do the same. Clijsters went on to make the RG final in
2001, a slam feat that Jelena has yet to accomplish.
Jelena finally surpassed the Waffle in the singles
rankings in July 2002.
THIS WEEKEND:
Mid-US Open Awards/Predictions
Article
by Todd Spiker