*** Jelena-Dokic.com was
visited by Jelena and her agent ***
A
Blessing in Disguise?
By Todd Spiker
Date: 1/10/2001
Stop the presses! Don't send out that e-mail! Check the date
on those fancy announcement cards, too. Jelena is NOT a Top 10
player. At least not yet.
*Leipzig - Points
Breakdown*
1 = 2nd Round (*)
0 = Hantuchova (#58)
1 = TOTAL
0 = 2000 Points off
-1 = 17-best tour.pts.off
0 = TOTAL FOR WEEK
(*)---by WTA ranking rules, Jelena lost in the 2r but only
gets 1r (1) rather than 2r (26) loser's points because she had
a bye in the 1r before losing her only match in the
tournament.
As things stand today, Jelena is still ranked #11 on the WTA
computer, only now she's 75 points behind #10 Nathalie Tauziat
instead of the tiny 13 she trailed by a week ago. She's still
just a hop, skip and a jump away... but, with both she and
Tauziat playing in Moscow this week, she's going to have to
expend a bit more energy (and time) than it recently appeared
she would have to before she finally takes the next big step
in her career.
I'm of two minds about what happened to Jelena in Leipzig last
week. Sure, her incredible momentum following the back-to-back
finals and win in Tokyo was ferociously stopped cold by the
6-4, 6-7, 0-6 loss to Daniela Hantuchova. But, good things
come to those who wait. Right? Nothing good comes easy,
either. Maybe this was another of those
character-building learning experiences that Jel-
(SOUND of the internet connection to your computer being
interrupted)
Finally, a TENTATIVE VOICE.
ALLISON: Hello, can everyone out there hear me?
GRACE: How 'bout me?
ALLISON: I think we're all right.
GRACE: Good. We barely gained control in time. You see,
everyone at Jelena-Dokic.com, we're HUGE fans of Jelena.
ALLISON: And we wanted to get to the truth. Do you all believe
this Spiker guy? He was actually going to say that Jelena
losing to another teenager -- 0-6 in the 3rd, no less -- was
actually a blessing in disguise.
GRACE: Maybe Pierre only wants him to put whatever happens to
Jelena in a GOOD light, not a bad one.
ALLISON: Pierre's not like that, Grace.
GRACE: I guess you're right. Sorry, Pierre.
ALLISON: Where was I? Oh, yeah. All those cliches...
"good things come to those who wait?" Give me a
break! It wasn't a "good" loss, no matter how great
Hantuchova turns out to be in a few years. Jelena shouldn't
lose to the #58-ranked player in the world when she's up 6-4,
6-5 and serving. Let alone not winning another game after
having her serve broken and losing the tie-break 6-8. It was
just like the Hingis loss in New York, only this time she lost
the last eight games instead of the
final seven. She had similar problems losing to lesser-ranked
players after she won the title in Rome. Remember, Jelena had
won 14 straight against lesser-rankeds before last week.
GRACE: Ooh, I hope this doesn't snowball. Jelena only has a
few more tournaments left this year, and she doesn't want to
miss out on a chance to get into the Top 10 before the end of
the season.
ALLISON: Jelena even said after the match that she couldn't
get her concentration in the tie-break, just like against
Hingis. And another love set was the result. That she lost
wasn't as disappointing as the way it happened. She said
afterward that she was "physically down" in the 3rd
set. Frankly, it's hard to find anything bright in that.
GRACE: Hmmm... hold it, Allie. Jelena said she was
"physically" down? You know, she HAS been playing an
awful lot lately. She didn't take a break after the Open, then
made it all the way to two straight finals. That's a lot of
tennis in a short period of time. Plus, she WAS making the
move to another surface... and she's never done all that well
indoors on the carpet, anyway.
ALLISON: What are you saying?
GRACE: I'm just wondering if the loss might help Jelena
re-focus for the season's final month. After so much success
lately, it might not be a bad thing for her to take a step
back after being brought down to earth a bit by Hantuchova.
Maybe losing WAS a blessing in disguise. Moscow IS a Tier I
event, you know. The added rest might actually help her this
week.
ALLISON: Grace, you're making me uncomfortable.
GRACE: Jelena's only 18. She had a bad day. Give her a break.
In fact...
ALLISON: Don't say it.
GRACE: I see your point, but maybe this Spiker guy was onto
something. He DID say he was of TWO minds on it. Maybe we
should have let him finish what he was going to say.
ALLISON: I don't believe this! I thought you and I agreed! If
we're not together on this, he's going to be able to regain
contr-
(GARBLED SOUND, then the connection returns to normal)
A familiar voice.
...so, you see, it really wasn't as bad as it seemed at the
time. Jelena will be fine after this, maybe even better for
it. It could
actually be a good thing. I hope I didn't go on too long. I
know that when I compared Jelena to Mother Teresa it was a bit
of a stretch, but I think I pulled it off, don't you? I just
wanted to cover things as thoroughly as possible.
#6 Mauresmo = leads Jelena by 772
#7 S.Williams = leads Jelena by 683
#8 Henin = leads Jelena by 672
#9 Seles = leads Jelena by 344
#10 Tauziat = leads Jelena by 75
#11 JELENA = 2070
#12 Shaughnessy = trails by 165
#13 Dementieva = trails by 460
...There's not much news in Jelena's Top 10 quest this week,
other than the fact that her distance behind #10 Tauziat went
from 13 points to 75 with the combination of Jelena's 2r exit
and Tauziat SF result in Leipzig. Thanks to Maggie Maleeva's
win over Tauziat, Jelena's chances of rising to #10 this
coming week didn't go out the window with the Hantuchova loss.
Had Tauziat advanced to the final or, in the worst case
scenario, won the title over Kim Clijsters then the the
Frenchwoman
would have bolted to a lead of well over 100 points. Tauziat
is slated to retire after the Sanex Championships in Munich in
November, so Jelena should technically be a Top 10er as 2002
opens no matter what happens over the next month... but one
would think that she'd certainly rather get there by her own
accord rather than by another player's name dropping off the
computer. As she heads to Moscow to play (on a surface, by the
way, that has never been conducive to her having her
best results), she still has a better than even chance to do
so before the WTA season comes to a conclusion five weeks from
now.
*The Battle for #1*
...With Jennifer Capriati losing 139 points on the computer
last week after not competing in Leipzig, Martina Hingis
actually opened her small lead to 272 points heading into the
Kremlin Cup. Once again this week, Capriati will be idle (for
the fourth straight week) while Hingis is seeded #1 at the
Tier I event in Moscow and has a real shot at her biggest
title of the year (she last won in February in smallish events
in Doha and Dubai). Capriati still holds a healthy lead in
points calculated since January, but Hingis could even close
that gap to a managable one with a singles title this week. Is
it possible that Hingis might actually be able to hold onto
her #1 ranking up until the Sanex Championships, and then have
an opportunity to finish #1 for 2001 with a title in Munich?
Amazing. No matter what you say about her, give the girl
credit. No one has ever worked the computer ranking system to
their advantage better than the Swiss Miss has over the past
two-and-a-half years. Remember, Hingis hasn't won a grand slam
title in the past eleven majors, while the players ranked #2
through #4 have won multiple championships (#4 Venus has won
four, and #2 Capriati & #3 Davenport two apiece) over the
same span.
**THE NUMBERS**
*Jelena by surface in 2001*
Hard: 22-8
Clay: 16-8
Grass: 6-3
Carpet/Supreme Indoor: 0-3
*Jelena on Carpet/Supreme Indoor '01*
Japan (exhib.) = 0-2 vs. Coetzer
Leipzig = 2r (lost to Hantuchova)
Moscow = ??
This page was created in january 1999 by myself
Pierre Cantin and is still maintained by myself with the tremendous help of many
staff
members. Read the history of
Jelena-dokic.com here. Everything contained here may not be reproduced without our written consent. View our Privacy Policy
here.
