There is no red on the stoplight at the corner of Jelena &
5th (as in 5th career singles title, that is). For Jelena
Dokic, everything had a decidedly green tint last week.
--HOW TO MAKE A CERTAIN SOMEONE FEEL SLIGHTLY ASHAMED OF
HIMSELF--
I admit it. I underestimated our dear Jelena in
Birmingham. Looking at her past history, I assumed that
she'd start her 2002 grasscourt season as she had the
previous three... with an earlier-than-hoped-for loss as she
made the jarring transition from the slow red clay to the
fast grass surface. Boy, was I ever wrong.
Sure, Jelena had some tight early matches (such as the
7-6,6-4 escape against world #180 Lucie Ahl in the 2r, or
the 6-4 3rd set win over Eleni Daniilidou in the QF) that
she might have lost in years past, but the opposite result
occurred this time around. She fought through the rough
patches to live up to her #1 seed (reaching her third final
in the three instances of her being an event's top-ranked
player), then destroyed Anastasia Myskina in the Final for
her fifth career WTA singles title. Not only did the
victory avenge her Italian Open loss to Myskina (her only
defeat against any of the vast contingent of Russian women
in the last 17 matchups since 2000), but it has given Jelena
yet another accomplishment to boast about: she's now won
singles crowns on all four surfaces (hardcourt, clay, carpet
and grass), and done so in just a short 13-month period of
time. Very impressive.
All of which begs the question...
--HOW IMPORTANT IS EASTBOURNE NOW?--
One gets the feeling that Jelena had been targeting
Eastbourne as her true Wimbledon preparatory tournament, not
Birmingham. She committed to this week's event early, while
Birmingham was but a late addition... sort of a tune-up for
the real tune-up, if you will. And then she goes out and
wins the thing. So, what now?
The Eastbourne field of players is certainly a step up from
that of last week, so Jelena's test will be greater. Being
a Tier II (Birmingham was a III), more ranking points are
available for the taking, as well. But might not another
trip deep into the tournament (a second straight Final would
mean 9 matches in two weeks, with a 7-round grand slam
coming immediately on the heels of that) tire Jelena as much
as fine tune her game? She wouldn't want her grasscourt
form to peak too soon and then cause her to get tripped up
at Wimbledon (ala Justine Henin, whose recently stellar clay
court form ran out of steam a week BEFORE Roland Garros,
where she was upset in the 1r), especially since among those
sitting out will be Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport,
the latter of which being the woman who has knocked Jelena
out of the tournament the past two years, including ending
her quest of a first grand slam final in their 2000 SF
matchup.
I guess we'll soon find out if too much of a good thing
could turn out to be a bad thing for Jelena. But, remember,
momentum and the raging confidence it breeds are especially
great for a go-for-it game like Jelena's. After all, she
put together runs of finals in consecutive weeks twice late
last season:
BACK-TO-BACK FINALS IN CONSECUTIVE WEEKS
September 01 - Bahia & Tokyo PC
October 01 - Zurich & Linz
FINALS IN THREE STRAIGHT EVENTS
October 01 - Moscow, Zurich & Linz*
(*-week off between Moscow and Zurich)
She advanced to five finals in six events around that time.
She loves to play as often as possible, and her health
finally seems to be allowing her to do so again after taking
her out of her desired rhythm throughout the early months of
2002. Sounds like a good combination.
--AROUND THE CORNER AND NOT SO FAR AWAY--
The goal of a #5 ranking is starting to come into focus. As
of now, Jelena is still ranked #8, but that could change
dramatically over the next month. In fact, there's even a
small chance of major movement following Eastbourne.
Over the next three weeks, #6 Davenport loses all her
Eastbourne title points and those for a Wimbledon SF after
that, #7 Henin must defend a Netherlands title this week and
a Wimbledon RU, and #5 Kim Clijsters has to match a
Netherlands RU and Wimbledon QF. Jelena, even with a SF in
that same Dutch event last year and a Wimbledon 4r result,
still sports a decided advantage in terms of potential
rankings gains. #5 is clearly within sight.
In fact, it might be possible (if highly unlikely) tht
Jelena could be #5 before Wimbledon even begins if she wins
Eastbourne, while both Waffles lose their first matches in
's-Hertogenbosch. Of course, this won't help her Wimbledon
seeding since those seeds will be based on this week's
rankings (Jelena will be #7 in London, barring any last
minute withdraws). But even if the goal isn't accomplished
that soon, there's a better than average chance it will be
once Wimbledon is over.
The view from The Corner is great, but I get the feeling
it's about to get even better.
================================
*BRITANNIC ASSET MANAGEMENT INT'L CHSP.*
June 17-23; Eastbourne, England
Tier II - Grass
#1 Seed - 2r vs. Daja Bedanova/qualifier
POINTS
W=195
RU=137
SF-88
QF=49
2r=25
1r=1
**THE DRIVE FOR #5**
#4 Seles...leads by 651 points
#5 Clijsters...leads by 381
#6 Davenport...leads by 257
#7 Henin...leads by 193
#8 JELENA...3093 POINTS
**JELENA 2002 SINGLES FINALS**
Paris (II)...walkover loss to V.Williams
Sarasota (IV)...def. Tatiana Panova
Strasbourg (III)...lost to S.Farina Elia
Birmingham (III)...def. Anastasia Myskina
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND (III-Grass)
S: JELENA DOKIC d. Anastasia Myskina
D: Asagoe/Callens d. Po-Messerli/Tauziat
VIENNA, AUSTRIA (III-Red Clay)
S: Anna Smashnova d. Iroda Tulyaganova
D: Mandula/Wartusch d. Schwartz/Woehr
TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN (IV-Hard)
S: Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian d. Tatiana Poutchek
D: Perebiynis/Poutchek d. Buric/Fokina
PLAYER AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jelena Dokic
...Closing in on the Top 5, she completed her career
all-surface titles crown with her first grasscourt win (and
she won them all in just 13 months)
RISERS: Anna Smashnova & Anastasia Myskina
...New #17 Smashnova became the highest-ranked Isreali ever
as she won her 3rd title of the year; while Myskina also
moved into the Top 20 for the first time with her Birmingham
RU
SURPRISE: Petra Mandula
...The Ghost of Roland Garros actually showed up in Vienna
last week, knocking off Gala Leon Garcia, Henrieta Nagyova
and Barbara Schett on her way to the SF. She won the
doubles crown, too
VETERAN: Nicole Pratt
...The 30-year old Aussie took out Anne Kremer and Sandrine
Testud as she made the SF in Birmingham
NEW FACE: Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian
...Mikaelian, in winning her first WTA singles title, became
the youngest champion thus far in 2002 at a little more than
18 years, 3 months of age
DOWNER: Marta Marrero
...After nearly bageling ASV in the 1r on the Roland Garros
red clay, she went to another red clay event and promptly
lost her first match
*MATCHES*
1.Birmingham Final - Dokic d. Myskina
...Dokic has now won 16 of her past 17 matches against the
Russian women, who seem to be growing in numbers
exponentially
2.Vienna Final - Smashnova d. Tulyaganova
...with 3 titles, Smashnova is 2002's winningest woman not
named Williams
3.Birmingham - Myskina's grasscourt run
...the 20-year old grasscourter beat Alexandra Stevenson(3r)
and vets Maleeva (QF) and Pratt (SF), then said after she
lost to Dokic in the Final that she really doesn't even like
to play on grass
4.Vienna QF - Mandula d. Schett
...maybe the Hungarian's best victory since knocking off
Dokic at RG '01
5.Birmingham 2r - Julie Pullin d. Serna
...Britain's #1 female player got a grasscourt win over a
former Wimbledon quarterfinalist
*QUOTES*
--Richard Williams, after Jennifer Capriati suggested he
worked his daughters' schedules so they could avoid each
other on the court and make it easier for both be ranked #1
& #2: "She's always making excuses. She should have come
to the French Open as a spectator this year. She was going
to lose anyway, so she should have just come and watched so
she could have figured out how to play Venus and Serena
instead of looking at the computer game."
*NOTES*
...Davenport pulled out of Eastbourne and Wimbledon, joining
Hingis and ASV as absentees at the All England Club
...Natasha Zvereva received a Wimbledon singles wild card
entry
...Martina Navratilova, 45, will play a WTA singles match
this week at Eastbourne after an 8-year absence (against
Tatiana Panova). She claims to have lost a bet to her
trainer, and she could only repay her debt by playing solo
WEEK 25 - June 17-23
PREDICTIONS
EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND (II-Grass)
SF
Dokic def. Rubin
Hantuchova def. Testud
F
Dokic def. Hantuchova
..Eastbourne offers a tougher field than Birmingham, but
Jelena's still the best overall player (and best grass court
player, since you can't really count Navratilova) in the
draw and has a less-than-frightening road to the final
(Bedanova, Shaughnessy, Rubin...or maybe even Kournikova).
She's carrying her momentum from last week, when her play
improved as the week went on. That might be enough for her
first back-to-back singles crowns even if she does have to
face someone such as Hantuchova (who Jelena's yet to beat as
a pro) in a Final that would pit maybe the two
fastest-rising teens on tour. After miscalulating Jelena's
ability to make the quick transition from clay to grass last
week, I'm not going to be guilty of underestimating her
again this time.
's-HERTOGENBOSCH, NETHERLANDS (III-Grass)
SF
Clijsters def. Maleeva
Henin def. Mauresmo
F
Clijsters def. Henin
...The same final pair as in 2001. Just flip the Waffles
over for a different result. Jelena might have to wait a
few extra weeks to climb over both for #5.
================================
*MOST WTA SINGLES TITLES IN 2002*
4...Venus Williams, Serena Williams
3...Anna Smashnova
2...Jelena Dokic, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis
*BEST WINNING PCT. IN FINALS (3 or more)*
1.000 - Anna Smashnova (3-0)
.800 - Serena Williams (4-1)
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