Riddle Me This

By Todd Spiker
Date: 30/10/2001

Linz turned out to be one more addition to the lengthening list of successes for Jelena, but the look of yet another loss to Lindsay Davenport shows that she's yet to solve the frustrating riddle that is "Big Babe Tennis."

*Linz Point Breakdown*
140 = Runner-Up
15 = 2r: Majoli (#34)
4 = QF: Stevenson (#76)
15 = SF: Tulyaganova (#26)
0 = F: Davenport (#3)
174 = TOTAL
-1 = 2000 points off
-35 = 17-best tournaments
+138 = TOTAL POINTS FOR WEEK

"BBT" is what tennis legend Billie Jean King dubs the dominating on-court force that has revolutionized the women's game. The charter members of the BBT Club are obvious: Davenport and the Williams sisters. Strength and power are important prerequisites but, really, "size matters."

With the likes of Davenport and the Williamses, the imposing sight of them on the other side of the net often seems to be half the battle. Many opponents crumble just at the thought of them, and crawl away without a fight. Others can hit with BB's for a while and generally put a valiant effort... but ultimately the pressure becomes too much and they walk away on the short end, as well. Jelena, unfortunately, has usually been one of these players. After losing to Davenport in Linz, Jelena said, "It was tough to break her serve and that put pressure on me." It wasn't the first time. Just look at her results against the Big Three BB's:

Davenport -- 0-5 career, 0-4 in 2001
S.Williams -- 0-2 career
V.Williams -- 1-2 career*, 0-2 in 2001
*-win came on slow clay surface

There are a small contingent of women, though, whose game's have something of the look of a BB... but who physically can't quite measure up to attain full BB status. Although their power can control 98% of the women's field, they too can be easily dispatched by a BB at the top of her game. They're in the 5-9 to 5-10, 135-145 lb. range, and have the groundstrokes to defeat BB's at their own game if the variables are right (in other words, if a BB is just slightly "off" that day). In King's language, they're "Mini-Babes." Amongst them: Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles, Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce. Their career success is apparent. Capriati is #1, Seles has been, Pierce has 2 slam titles and Mauresmo has made a slam final. Here's Jelena's record against them:

Seles -- 0-4 career, 0-1 in 2001
Capriati -- 0-3 in 2001
Mauresmo -- 1-1 career, 1-0 in 2001

At 5-9 and in the 130-lb. range, Jelena can't ever hope to become a BB... but becoming a Mini-Babe is certainly within her grasp. She's not as muscled as Mauresmo or the new-look Capriati, but her fitness and strength have shown impressive gains in the past year and should continue to do so in 2002. At just 18, she has room to grow in those areas (in turn, transforming her serve into more than only an occasional weapon) and make up the slight ground that separates her from the Mini-Babe field that she can aspire to in the coming year.

Jelena's already had success versus Mauresmo, and has regularly challenged Capriati and Seles while never defeating them. Whenever Jelena reaches Mini-Babe status, she'll be able to change that... and will have the ability to challenge the Big Three on any and neary every occasion, as well.

While the "Drive for #5" in 2002 begins in Germany this week, the lessons of 2001 still ring inside Jelena's head. The good news is that she appears to hear them loud and clear. Advancing to five finals in six events and compiling an 18-4 post-US Open match record hasn't quieted the noisy fact that "the riddle" remains unsolved. "I know I have to keep working," Jelena said on Sunday, "but there will be a time when I will beat her (Davenport). I just have to be patient and ready to take my chances." Linz brought her success and a dash of failure, but Jelena admits that she can only "learn from it." It's a sure sign that she hasn't allowed "the riddle" to get the best of her. Instead, she recognizes that it's a matter of time before she'll be ready to solve the mystery. Time and patience.

It's not as easy one to master, either. Martina Hingis has yet to figure it out, but she'll forever be at a bigger physical disadvantage versus the BB's than the likes of a Jelena or Kim Clijsters. Those two have the hard-hitting goods to play with the BB's, but neither has found a way to consistently solve the mystery. Jelena could get her third shot in less than two weeks to do so against Davenport in a QF match in Munich... and if she fails to crack the secret code, then Clijsters will probably get to take a whack in the SF. The same combo went for Davenport at Wimbledon this summer, and both went away disappointed. Will either find the answer now?

One never knows what will happen this week, but it's hard to shake the feeling that "The Riddle of the Big Babes" will remain unsolved... for now.


*Top 20* -- Oct.29, 2001
1.Capriati = 4962
2.Davenport = 4901
3.Hingis = 4586
4.V.Williams = 4128
5.Clijsters = 3456
6.Henin = 2899
7.Mauresmo = 2711
8.JELENA = 2704
9.Seles = 2672
10.S.Williams = 2501
11.Tauziat = 2058
12.Dementieva = 1817
13.Shaughnessy = 1813
14.Testud = 1794
15.Farina Elia = 1729
16.Coetzer = 1608
17.Maleeva = 1590
18.Sanchez Vicario = 1470
19.Huber 1442
20.Tulyaganova = 1204


*Doubles Top 15*
1.Raymond = 3894
2.Stubbs = 3576
3.Tauziat = 2453
4.Suarez = 2426
5.Black = 2385
6.Likhovtseva = 2376
7.Po-Messerli = 2280
8.Ruano-Pascual = 2258
9.Arendt = 2155
10.Sugiyama = 2125
11.Sanchez Vicario = 1939
12.Kournikova = 1890
13.Hingis = 1837
14.JELENA = 1710
15.Callens = 1607


*Top 15 Doubles Teams*
1.Raymond/Stubbs = 3319
2.Black/Likhovtseva = 2330
3.Ruano-Pascual/Suarez = 1978
4.Po-Messerli/Tauziat = 1765
5.Krizan/Srebotnik = 1132
6.Fusai/Grande = 1131
7.Testud/Vinci = 1046
8.Coetzer/McNeil = 1037
9.Garbin/Husarova = 1028
10.Navratilova/Sanchez Vic. = 940
11.JELENA/C.Martinez = 926
12.Arendt/Sugiyama = 876
13.Lee/Prakusya = 874
14.MJ Martinez/Garrigues = 839
15.S.Williams/V.Williams = 815



THIS WEEK...

*WTA Sanex Chsp. - Munich*
Points Table
TITLE--390
RU--273
SF--175
QF--97
1r--54

2000 WTA (Chase) Chsp.Finals
(at New York, NY)
SINGLES
Hingis def. Seles
DOUBLES
Hingis/Kournikova d. Arendt/Bollegraf


2001 WTA Chsp. Draws
SINGLES
#1 Capriati vs. #13 Maleeva
#8 Testud vs. #6 Mauresmo

#4 Henin vs. #14 Huber
#7 S.Williams vs. #10 Farina Elia

#3 Clijsters vs. #12 Dementieva
#15 Sanchez Vic. vs. #11 Tauziat

#5 DOKIC vs. #9 Shaughnessy
#2 Davenport vs. #16 Coetzer

DOUBLES
Raymond/Stubbs v. Krizan/Srebotnik
Ruano-P./Suarez v. Fusai/Grande

Black/Likhovtseva vs. Testud/Vinci
Po-Messerli/Tauziat v. Coetzer/McNeil



"DRIVE FOR 5" UPDATE...

#5 Clijsters -- leads by 752 points
#6 Henin -- leads by 195 points
#7 Mauresmo -- leads by 7 points
#8 JELENA -- 2704
#9 Seles -- trails by 32 points
#10 S.Williams -- trails by 203 points

...Jelena heads into the WTA Championships as the new #8 player in the world, and is just 7 points behind Amelie Mauresmo and 195 from Justine Henin. It's possible that she could exit Munich and start her season-ending event in Pattaya next week with just one player (Kim Clijsters)standing in her path in the "drive for 5" goal. Not that that will be an easy trick, since none of the three players involved participated in the Tour Championships in 2000 and don't have major points to defend there. Mauresmo would seem a likely target, though, with Jelena possibly only needing to win one match to surpass her since Mauresmo could quickly fall to fellow Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud in the opening round. Henin is another story. While Jelena is seeded to face nemesis Lindsay Davenport in the QF, Henin could meet Serena Williams there. Tough matches for both. Henin lost early in her most recent event, though, and Davenport has won 3 titles in 3 weeks after sitting out for a month. That's a lot of tennis in a short period of time for a player never known for her great fitness. Although Davenport's at the top of her game at the moment, there's a chance that fatigue could become a factor for her in Munich (especially if Jelena could push her to a 3rd set). That could be good news for Jelena, and might be the key to whether or not we'll be talking about a newly-minted #6 player in the world next week.


TOP 5 NEWS...
...With Venus Williams' season over (due to safety concerns, or is it an injured wrist? Who can tell with Venus, who only continues to make one question whether as seemingly physically fragile players as she and her sister can ever live up to their promise to become full-time players on the WTA tour in '02), her shot to become the #1 player for 2001 has been officially forfeited. We still might see a one-on-one face-off for #1 in the Munich final, though. While Capriati wasn't in the WTA event field in '00, it should be remembered that Davenport was upset by Elena Dementieva in the 1st Round and has few points to defend. Her win over Jelena in Linz moved her past Hingis to #2 and leaves her just 61 points behind #1 Capriati. A Capriati-Davenport contest would be quite an interesting (and headline-grabbing) matchup, considering the less-than-pleased tone that Capriati took when informed of Davenport's recent comments about her less-than-stellar play since finally becoming #1 a few weeks ago.


ALSO:
...Jelena's work in Linz, a singles RU result and her first career WTA doubles title (with Nadia Petrova), pushed her over the $1,000,000 mark in earnings for 2001. It's the first time she's done that in her career, and it helps her maintain her #7 spot on this years' women's money-winner list.


THE NUMBERS...

*Jelena's 2001 Finals*
SINGLES
Hong Kong (Ex) - def. Kournikova
Rome (I) - def. Mauresmo
Bahia (II) - lost to Seles
Tokyo (II) - def. Sanchez Vicario
Moscow (I) - def. Dementieva
Zurich (I) - lost to Davenport
Linz (II) - lost to Davenport

DOUBLES
Hong Kong (ex) - w/ Barabanschikova
...def. Kournikova/Raymond
Roland Garros - w/ C.Martinez
...lost ot Ruano-Pascual/Suarez
New Haven - w/ Petrova
...lost to Black/Likhovtseva
Linz - w/ Petrova
...def. Callens/Rubin


*Most WTA Finals in 2001*
10 Davenport (7-3)
7 Capriati (3-4)
6 V.Williams (6-0)
6 Seles (4-2)
6 DOKIC (3-3)
6 Hingis (3-3)
6 Henin (3-3)
6 Clijsters (3-3)

*Most WTA Semifinals in 2001*
15 Hingis (6-9)
13 Davenport (10-3)
12 Capriati (7-5)
10 Clijsters (6-4)
9 DOKIC (6-3)
9 V.Williams (6-3)
9 Seles (6-3)
9 Henin (6-3)


*Remaining 2001 Schedule*
Week of...
Oct.29 -- WTA Championships
Nov.5 -- Pattaya