Article by Glyn James

Rome Preview

This week, Jelena returns to her favourite city, Rome, to play the Tennis Masters Series Roma, a Tier I tournament in which Jelena is the defending champion after she surprised everyone as the number 14 seed by beating the number 4 seed Amelie Mauresmo in a straight sets victory in the final.  The tournament has a healthy $1,224,000 for prize money, and yet again is played on the red clay.  This is Jelena's third consecutive appearence in a red clay court tournament and could prove decisive as a practice for Roland Garros since players such as Hingis have only played one tournament on the red clay.  But this week isn't about Roland Garros, this week is about Jelena's first title defence, and about showing physical fitness.  Full coverage of the tournament will be shown on Eurosport, starting from Monday, and going all the way through into the final on Sunday.


   After yet another week of "why didn't Jelena take a week off?" there is still suspicion over the troublesome injury which seems to haunt Jelena wherever she plays.  For this week, there is no argument.  There are points to defend, a title to defend, and a chance for Jelena to enjoy herself in a city she undoubtedly loves.  This is a tournament she has to play, which takes us back to "why on earth didn't Jelena take a week off last week?"  On the bright side, Jelena was knocked out of last week's Eurostar ladies open pretty early, so there should have been just enough time for that leg to heal itself up, but I still don't see Jelena being 100% fit.


   Even though Hingis and Seles have withdrawn, there is still extremely hard competition from the Williams sisters, Capriati, Henin, and Clijsters.  This makes the title defence extremely hard, but not impossible.  Here's how the draw looks:

WILLIAMS V(1)-BYE
MARRERO-KOURNIKOVA
MONTOLIO-RUANO
GARBIN-TULIAGANOVA(14)

SHAUGNESSY(10)-SVENSSON
SUAREZ-KREMER
SCHIAVONE-ZULUAGA
HENIN(5)-BYE

CLIJSTERS(3)-BYE
BLACK-LIKHOVTSEVA
ANT SERRA ZANETTI-NAGYOVA
HOPKINS-PANOVA(16)

FARINA ELIA(9)-CALLENS
TU-SCHETT
VAKULENKO-GAGLIARDI
TESTUD(8)

DOKIC(6)-BYE
SMASHNOVA-ADRIANA SERRA ZANETTI
SERNA-CAMERIN
MYSKINA-HANTUCHOVA(11)

TANASUGARN(11)-CHLADKOVA
LEON GARCIA-CONCHITA MARTINEZ
KOUKALOVA-GRANDE
S.WILLIAMS(4) - BYE

MAURESMO(7)-BYE
TORRENS VALERO-DECHY
SUCHA-MALEEVA
DEMENTIEVA-SUGYAMA

SCNYDER(13)-HUSAROVA
PIERCE-MIKAELIN
C.FERNANDEZ-MATEVZIC
CAPRIATI(2)-BYE

   The draw isn't an easy draw by any means, but in a Tier I tournament, no draw is going to be easy.  Jelena should pass through Smashnova / Zanetti without too much trouble if she's fit, but a third round match against Hantuchova will be a very big game that will definitely test Jelena.  Then comes the real top players.  Should Jelena defeat Hantuchova, she is likely to face Serena Williams, and Capriati before finally coming up against the best of them all - Venus Williams (assuming Venus doesn't trip up against either of the waffles.) If Jelena is to defend her title successfully then she'll have to proove that she is ready for the elite right now, and that she is not just 'one for the future.'


   As much as I'd like to see a title defence, it doesn't look likely this week, especially with Jelena still carrying an injury -

PREDICTION - Serena Williams def Dokic in straight sets in the quarters!