Article by Gerhard Grundhammer

Amy Frazier Preview

0 Aces, 7 Double Faults, 11 (out of 15) successful net approches, 37 Unforced Errors and only 17 Winners..... no, even some could imagine thats Jelenas stats, they are not. Thats what Jelenas first opponent at the hard court season 2002 produced at her first round match at the US-Open 2001 vs. Barbaba Rittner.

Her name? AMY FRAZIER The rusult of that match? 6-1 and 6-2 for the German, and the Hard Court Season for Amy was over.

The 1.73 (5`8") tall player had seen better days in her career which started in 1990! She has won 5 WTA-Tournaments - Oklakoma 1990, European Open 1992,
Los Angeles 1994, Japan Open 1995 and one more, i could not find out where and when it was - and reached twice in her career a Quarterfinal of a Grand Slam (Australia 1992 and US 1995).

She reached her career highest ranking (no 13) at the early 90s, at a time, where only 3 or 4 female players where dominating tennis. For the Girl from Rochester, Missouri that has not changed much. Though she is the no 60 of the World (amerikan no 11) she is light-years away from winning an important tournament. She has a weak service (first serve has an average speed of 85mph, thats what Jelenas second serve had at Wimbledon), produces to much unforced errors (but unlike Jelena certainly not because of her agressive playing) and shows far to much respect from the top ten players.

In 2002 she lost at Madrid to Seles, Rolland Garros to Capriati, Eastbourne to Hantuchova and Wimbledon to Farina Elia. Quite unlucky for her that she faced in four out of five tournaments she played top players in such early stages, but it doesnt seem to change, because she has to play the no 6 of the world in a first round again, tomorrow.

Jelena faced Amy Frazier, who plans to become a math-teacher after her tennis-career, once before. That was at Hilton Head in April 2000 and Jelena won 6-2 and 6-2.

Last I found an article from "associated press" about her match at Rolland Garros vs. Capriati, which might be interesting for you:

PARIS - Her serve a mess, her groundstrokes unhinged, Jennifer Capriati did what she`s done as well as any tennis player the past 1 1/2 years -- find a way to win. The defending champion overcame 16 break points and 39 unforced errors to beat even more error-prone Amy Frazier 6-4 and 6-3 thursday and reach the French Opens third round. If Capriati didn`t lool particalarly impressive, bla bla bla

My guess: Jelena has the perfect opponent to start her hard court season. A right-handed player she can beat even if shes playing poor if she is just believing in herself, putting Amy under pressure, and keeps going and going and going, even if the match doesnt work out as everyone expects, but that is Jelenas strengh anyway, isn`t it?