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Article
by Todd Spiker
EURO-JELENA!: STAGE 2
by Todd Spiker
*MUSINGS FROM JELENA CORNER*
-THE BERLIN BOB-AND-WEAVE-
...While the prudence of Jelena going to Berlin last week
can still be debated long into the dark night, maybe the
best thing that happened there was that she was able to
escape without significantly worsening the hamstring injury
that put her out of Hamburg. Just for that, the early-May
highwire act must be considered something of a minor
success. The trip wasn't without a true highlight, though.
Before she fell rather meekly to Daniela Hantuchova in the
3r, she did manage to post one act with dramatic flair
before she left Germany behind. After losing the first set
of her 2r match with Mary Pierce by a 1-6 score, she righted
herself in time to pull out a slowly-ever-more-dominant
1-6,6-3,6-1 victory. Even if her body isn't yet up to par,
her stubborn tenacity remains undisturbed... and that
competitiveness makes her a contender in most matches even
when she's operating on damaged gams. But it's the question
those legs have created about her tournament-long endurance
in 2002 that's hampered her progress. The injuries,
directly or indirectly, have probably played a part in the
troubling slow starts that have begun to creep into the
Dokic game-day summaries. While her superior ability has
served to allow her to overcome several of the one-set-down
starts (vs. the likes of Pierce and Conchita Martinez), the
same hasn't been the case against the younger talents of a
Kim Clijsters or Hantuchova. Problem is, it's those latter
types of women she's going to have to get past if she's to
make her mark in Rome, Roland Garros, or even Wimbledon.
So, if the creeping injury menace doesn't let up soon, we
might still be waiting for Jelena's big breakout tournament
to finally come as the US Open rolls around (and maybe after
it goes away) this Fall.
-THE EVER-INCREASING RANKINGS GAP-
...Stage 2 of "Euro-Jelena!" begins this week in Rome,
before possibly extending to Strasbourg preceding the Roland
Garros finale. The 3r loss in Berlin ultimately proved to
be of little significance as far as Jelena's own ranking was
concerned. With 3074 points (the same as last week), she's
still #9. Only now, she's farther behind the players she's
chasing in her quest for a Top 5 ranking. That's due to the
Final runs in Berlin by #4 Serena Williams (up 535 points)
and Berlin champ, #8 Justine Henin (+261). At least the
early loss by #3 Clijsters (+625) and the absences of #5
Seles (+286), #6 Davenport (+276) and #7 Hingis (+264) kept
things from growing any worse. With the hopes of a pre-Rome
cushion now dashed, Jelena's new battleground moves to Italy
as she seeks to simply protect most of the points she still
has. With over 300 points to defend this week, it's an
important task that carries with it fairly high ranking
risk. A poor result (not unlikely, with the lingering
injury concerns, a dicey draw and poor 3-5 record in Tier
I's this season), while it won't knock her out of her #9
spot, will put a virtual universe between her and the women
ranked above her. Talk of the Top 5, already on the
backburner, will have to be shelved entirely, at least for a
while. Ah, but hope would still spring eternal even if
something resembling the worst case (but injury-free)
scenario takes place in Rome. Roland Garros awaits, and
Jelena only has 3r points to defend (and a Wimbledon 4r
finish from '01 that can surely be surpassed, as well). No
matter what occurs over the next six days, Jelena will still
have her highest-ever seed in Paris, and with both Waffles
(Clijsters a RU, Henin a SF) having big points defenses
there the chances of surpassing at least one of them in the
rankings will be a possibility before play begins on the
grass at Wimbledon (where Henin has an addition RU result to
defend).
-ROMAN HOLIDAY, PART II?-
...Well, everyone's been waiting for this moment all year.
Now, it arrives with an odd combination of excitement and
trepidation. Jelena's first-ever title defense is here, and
it doesn't look like it's going to be easy fashioning a
sequel to 2001's "Roman Holiday." In fact, it looks
downright impossible. The pressure of defending a Tier I
title would be more than enough to make the feat supremely
difficult, but throw in the injuries, slow starts and a draw
tougher as a #6-seed than last year's as the #14-seed and
it's apparent that this might be a very disappointing week
for Jelena. Just examining the draw shows what's stacked
against her. If she were to advance to the Rome Final for a
second straight year, facing the highest-ranked player
possible in each round, she'd have to go 5-0 against players
she has a 3-11 lifetime record against. Three of the
players she's never beaten as a pro:
Daniela Hantuchova (0-2) - 3r
Serena Williams (0-2) - QF
Jennifer Capriati (0-3) - SF
One she's beaten just once:
Venus Williams (1-3)- Final
And the other, while having beaten her twice, she lost
1-6,3-6 to the last time they met:
Anna Smashnova (2-1) - 2r
Don't lose hope, though. As always, there are areas where
closer inspection serves to cast a more favorable light on
Jelena's chances. For instance:
1)Jelena had a pair of 6-1,6-0 wins over Smashnova until
that recent loss. And how much a part her mounting injuries
played in that match is still open to question, despite
Smashnova's surprising success this season.
2)Hantuchova has been mighty inconsistent since winning her
single WTA title in Indian Wells. In Berlin, after
defeating Jelena, she lost to Smashnova herself. And
although Jelena is 0-2 against the Slovak, last week's
injury might have been key to her lack of competitiveness
there, and the other loss (in Leipzig last September) came
after Dokic held a 6-4,6-5 and serving lead before
admittedly hitting the wall physically and losing the final
8 games of the match. Hantuchova is a versatile
up-and-coming future Top 10er, but she's no Venus just yet.
3)Serena Williams just reached her first career claycourt
final last week in Berlin, so asking her to follow that up
with a SF result so soon after might be a lot to ask. Plus,
if Jelena is healthy and in form enough to get past her 2r
match AND possibly Hantuchova in the 3r then it would seem
to indicate that she might be on enough of a roll to be able
to take Williams out on her least favorable surface.
4)Upsets. The Tier I's have been rife with them this
season, so it's entirely possibly Dokic might not have to
face the highest-ranked player as the rounds go by.
Remember, Tier I semifinalists in 2002 have included Patty
Schnyder, Iva Majoli, Anna Smashnova, Anna Kournikova and
Emmanuelle Gagliardi. The highest-ranked in that group is
Schnyder at #20, so expecting all the highest seeds to
advance deep is not necessarily a good bet.
Jelena will need some breaks to even come close to matching
last season's Rome exploits, and the truth is that the
confluence of circumstances might just leave her FAR short
of doing so. If that happens, then RG's importance becomes
major indeed. If it wasn't already, it then becomes the key
to whether or not this clay season will be judged as a
success despite Jelena's Sarasota title, 2 SF and 12-4
record on the surface this Spring. All wounds could be
salved in Paris, but one wishes that she won't find herself
requiring such a remedy in two weeks time. So, as the
curtain is pulled back and the star of "Euro-Jelena!" steps
into the Roman spotlight this week, let's hope her recent
physical condition won't serve to make her a shadow of the
18-year old who ran rampant through the field last May.
Without further ado, here we go. Someone yell, "Action!"
Pronto.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
*BERLIN POINTS BREAKDOWN*
38...3r
2...2r: Pierce (#195) - 1-6,6-3,6-1
0...3r: Hantuchova (#14) - 2-6,3-6
40...TOTAL
-40...points off
0...TOTAL FOR WEEK
*THIS WEEK*
ITALIAN OPEN; ROME, ITALY (TIER I)
May 13-19
Red Clay, #6-seed
1st match: vs. Smashnova/Ad.Serra-Zanetti
POINTS TABLE
W=275
RU=193
SF=124
QF=69
3r=38
2r=23
1r=1
**THE DRIVE FOR #5**
#5 Seles...leads by 286
#6 Davenport...leads by 276
#7 Hingis...leads by 264
#8 Henin...leads by 261
#9 DOKIC...3074
*JELENA IN TIER I's*
Tokyo...2r (Kremer)
Indian Wells...3r (Kremer)
Miami...3r (Kremer)
Charleston...2r (Smashnova)
Berlin...3r (Hantuchova)
Rome...??
2002 RECORD: 3-5
CAREER RECORD: 33-18
*JELENA BY SURFACE IN 2002*
12-4...Clay
3-3...Carpet/Supreme
2-2...Hard
WEEK 19
FINALS
BERLIN (I-Red Clay)
S: Justine Henin d. Serena Williams
D: Dementieva/Husarova d. Hantuchova/ASV
WARSAW (III-Red Clay)
S: Elena Bovina d. Henrieta Nagyova
D: Kostanic/Nagyova d. Koulikovskaya/Talaja
PLAYER AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Justine Henin
...First, she came back from 5-7,2-2 and a rain delay to win
11 of the final 12 games in the SF against Capriati. Then,
she blew a 4-2 3rd set lead and 2 match points at 6-5 in the
Final against Serena Williams in a move that's become her
Achilles heel of late (especially the ugly loss after
leading Venus 6-2,4-0 a few weeks back). Then, something
remarkable happened -- Henin gritted out a win in a
concluding tie-break for her first title of the year. Could
this be the start of an entirely new trend?
RISER: Elena Bovina
...the 19-year old Russian (what else?) won her first WTA
title in Warsaw.
SURPRISE: Anna Smashnova
...Sure, she's won two titles this year. But it's still
surprising when she knocks off both Kim Clijsters and
Daniela Hantuchova in Berlin.
VETERAN: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
...She defeated Conchita Martinez in the 2r in a matchup
that used to not occur until at least the SF.
NEW FACE: Vera Zvonareva
...For the second straight week, the 17-year old Russian
(what else?) had a career-best result with a SF in Warsaw.
DOWNER: Kim Clijsters & Meghannn Shaughnessy
...the Waffle lost her first match, but she didn't really
care since she won in Hamburg the week before. Shaughnessy,
on the other hand, lost her first match, too. But it was
her 5th consecutive loss.
*MATCHES*
1.Berlin Final/SF - Henin d. Serena/Capriati
...she came back against Capriati, and avoided a collapse
against Serena. If she wins RG, she'll credit these wins
with giving her the confidence to do it
2.Berlin 2r/QF - Smashnova d. Clijsters/Hantuchova
...the two titles and win over Jelena are looking less like
flukes all the time
3.Berlin 1r - Roesch d. Dementieva
...one Russian's quiet disappointment
4.Warsaw 1r - Kuznetsova d. Kournikova
...another Russian's very loud disappointment. Hey, at
least she won the court case against Penthouse. (LATE
NOTE: Anna K. won her 1r match in Rome... now she'll get to
play Venus. Oh, well. So much for that.)
5.Berlin 2r - Dechy d. Shaughnessy
...5 consecutive losses. The REAL Sophomore Slump. (LATE
NOTE: After Rome, it's now SIX straight defeats.)
*QUOTES*
...Jennifer Capriati, on her chances of repeating her RG
title: "I'm playing better than last year. I'm going to try
to do it again. I don't know if people expect me to win
back-to-back, but I'm not putting pressure on myself.
There's too many good players out there."
...Justine Henin, on her Berlin title after going 0-3 in her
previous '02 finals: "Maybe it was a breakthrough. I've
always been too nervous in these kind of matches. I played
free in the head."
WEEK 20...May 13-19
PREDICTIONS
ROME, ITALY (I-Red Clay)
SF
Clijsters d. Venus
Capriati d. Hantuchova
FINAL
Capriati d. Clijsters
...rematch of 2001 RG Final, and maybe a preview of the 2002
Final, as well.
**MOST WTA FINALS**
5...Venus Williams (4-1)
4...Martina Hingis (2-2)
4...Justine Henin (1-3)
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Article
by Todd Spiker