Article by Glyn James

This week, Jelena travels to Strasbourg, France for a last minute preparation tournament before the French Open in Roland Garros.  The Internationaux de Strasbourg is a Tier III tournament with the winner picking up just $27,000 out of the $170,000 of total prize money.  But this tournament is definitely not about the money!  This tournament will give Jelena a little more practice on the red clay before her first Grand Slam of the year, next week at Roland Garros.  The tournament has been part of the WTA tour for 16 years, and usually draws in some 33,000 eager tennis fans each year.  Unfortunately, there is no coverage of the event on Eurosport, but those of you who receive France 3 should be able to catch some of the action.


   In a field such as this one, Jelena really must prove that she is worthy top ten player, and anything less than making the final would have to be considered to be a disappointment.  Jelena is the number one seed here, and her nearest competition comes from the likes of Meghannn Shaughnessy, Magdalena Maleeva, Iroda Tulyaganova and last years singles and doubles winner, Italian Silvia Farina Elia.  Despite Jelena being the number one seed, as per usual, the main headlines are taken up by the 68th ranked Anna Kournikova of Russia, but let's be fair, she does not stand a realistic chance of winning this tournament with the way she's been playing recently, so let's forget about media hype, and concentrate on the REAL contenders for this title.


   Shaughnessy, Maleeva and Farina Elia have all shown that they can play the game, and with the way that Jelena has been playing recently, no-one can know for sure what's going to happen, but these players' improvements have been rather serene. They haven't exactly taken 2002 by storm in the way that maybe Hanuchova or Smashnova have thus far. This situation is similar to the situation prior to the Sarasota Open.  Jelena was stricken with various injuries, and many people wrote her off, despite her being the number one seed.  There was not any real sign of danger in Rome, as far as fitness was concerned, and if Jelena can just keep her head and play her own game, I'm sure that a fifth title could be on its way into the Dokic trophy cabinet.


   The draw for this week's event is as follows:

DOKIC Jelena (YUG ) vs. BYE
OSTRELOH Lilia (USA) vs. PISNIK Tina (SLO)
MULLER Martina (GER) vs. Q.
KOSTANIC Jelena (CRO) vs. BEDANOVA Daja (CZE)

SHAUGHNESSY M (USA) vs. HOPKINS Jennifer (USA)
RAZZANO Virginie (FRA) vs. BARNA Anca (GER)
MATEVZIC Maja (SLO) vs. Q.
Q. vs. GAGLIARDI E (SUI)

MALEEVA Magdalena (BUL) vs. MIKAELIAN Marie-G (SUI)
FORETZ Stéphanie (FRA) vs. Q.
SCHWARTZ Barbara (AUT) vs. SERRA-ZANETTI Adriana (ITA)
DANIIDILOU Eleni (GRE) vs. TULYAGANOVA Iroda (UZB)

RAYMOND Lisa (USA) vs. BEIGBEDER Céline (FRA)
MANDULA Petra (HUN) vs. KOURNIKOVA Anna (RUS)
TU Meilen (USA) vs. PULLIN Julie (GBR)
BYE vs. FARINA Elia (ITA)


   The draw was never going to be in the same league as the draw in Rome, due to the roster of players and the fact that Jelena is the number one seed.  Without showing any disrespect towards the players involved in this tournament, Jelena really should reach the semis without great difficulty at all.  The only possible tricky match being with Daja Bedanova.  If Jelena can hold her nerve, and stay fit enough to get into the semis then you'd be a fool to bet against her taking her second title of the year.  When she gets to the latter stages of tournaments then it usually takes something spectacular (or an injury)to prevent her from achieving her goals.  A confident Jelena should breeze past Shaughnessy in the semis, and a classic encounter between the defending champion (Farina Elia) and the number one seed (Dokic) could well be on the cards.  This tournament could, and perhaps should put a smile back on the face of Jelena just in time for Roland Garros, and with most of the top ten not playing this week, it could also be a chance to put some fear into them.

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PREDICTION - Jelena def Farina Elia 7-5 6-2 to take the title.