I know it seems like kicking someone when they’re down, but
Jelena Jankovic’s upset at the hands of Russian Alisa Kleybanova Wednesday at the
San Diego Open means her name is in the news and gives me a chance to get something off my chest.
I hate seeing
Jankovic’s “glamour shots” all over the web. She looks totally unnatural, uncomfortable and out of place. That’s not to say I think she’s an unattractive woman. When she’s on court, she’s a
gorgeous, graceful athlete, and when she’s in her element, she seems easy going and friendly, with a beautiful smile.
But since she’s a top woman player, her management team feels the need to
dress her up like a doll for various photo shoots. It reduces a woman whose beauty runs way more than skin deep to a modern-day
Stepford Wife.
In hindsight,
Anna Kournikova might have been the best and worst thing that ever happened to women’s tennis. Her role as a
sex symbol brought the sport overwhelming attention in an era where it had significantly diminished. But it also turned the sport into a beauty pageant, with the invariable unspoken response from fans of, “This unknown player won a major tournament … I wonder if I can find shots of her in a bikini on the Internet?”
Kournikova took the ball and ran with it, ending up vastly more rich and famous for it.
Maria Sharapova followed suit after winning Wimbledon in 2004. Now she’s the richest female athlete in the world, despite winning just one Grand Slam title in the past four years.
At 5-feet, 9-1/2 inches tall with long legs and a exotic European look, Jankovic probably could have been a model if she wasn’t so damn good at tennis. And that’s sort of the point here.
She might be the least-known No. 2 player in the world of all time, sandwiched in a Top 4 with
Diva Serena in front of her, and blue-eyed blonde
Caroline Wozniacki and
Diva Venus right behind.
The need for
more exposure and more hype seems to drive players to build a
Web site, get a
Twitter account and pose in various
states of undress that have nothing to do with the game they play.
Can you imagine an advisor telling
Martina Navratilova she could make more money if she posed in a cocktail dress or a two piece between tournaments? That would have been a good way to get a Yonex RQ-180 shoved where the sun don’t shine.
Be yourself, Jelena - a bad-ass woman who rocks at tennis and stop letting your handlers turn you into the Barbie from Belgrade.
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