Homecoming: Jelena Jankovic Takes Court Tonight

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By Richard Pagliaro
© jj-jelenajankovic.com

(August 4, 2010) There's no place like home — particularly when home is typically a moveable means to an end: the rolling luggage and racquet bag Jelena Jankovic carts around from Tour stops ranging from Sydney to Slovenia to San Diego.

"When you are a professional tennis player you don’t have a home," Jankovic said. "You don’t have a home until you stop playing."

The top-seeded Serbian headlines a homecoming week of sorts in tonight's round of 16 schedule at the Mercury Insurance Open when she takes on 28th-ranked Russian Alisa Kleybanova for the third time this season. They have split four prior meetings with Jankovic winning both of their matches this season after Kleybanova collected wins in their two meetings last season.



It will be a test of Jankovic's twisted left ankle that forced her to retire from the Slovenia Open quarterfinals 13 days ago while holding a 6-1, 2-1 lead over qualifier Anastasia Yakimova of Belarus.

"I feel good," said Jankovic. "My ankle is still recovering. Hopefully it will be OK."

Movement has been a big part of Jankovic's game and her life.

Born in Belgrade, Jankovic spent recent years in Bradenton, lists Dubai as her official residence and is nearing completion of her family's dream home in the exclusive San Diego County enclave of Rancho Santa Fe. Bu to call the home a house would be as over simplistic as comparing the desert to a sand box.

This creation — a 20,000-square foot, three-level house — will come complete with a tennis court, swimming pool, 10-car garage prompting Jankovic to call her new digs "a castle." The only thing missing is the roof and some extensive interior decorating.

"They are close to putting the roof on. It's a huge house, 20,000 square feet. It's a castle," Jankovic said. "When you say 'still putting a roof on it,'  that is the reason it takes time to build that kind of house. It's a dream house. It will have everything — a tennis court and pool — and it's nice to have your own court especially when you are a tennis professional. I will get in there and I won't come out."

Family has always been central to Jankovic's life, mom Snezana is her constant travel companion, but the thought of the road warrior becoming a homebody at 25 is tough to imagine for a woman, who often seems most comfortable going mobile.

The World No. 2 remains one of the quickest and most agile players on the WTA Tour.

"Jelena is right up there with Venus and Serena and Clijsters as one of best pure athletes in the women's game," Nick Bolletteri said.

Her athleticism has been one reason why Jankovic is closing in on her fourth consecutive top 10 finish while fellow former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, who possesses more power but is not nearly as fluid and fleet around the court, continues to fall in the rankings.

Despite all the hype about how power rules modern tennis, tennis is still a game of legs where court coverage remains crucial to sustained success.

Don't believe it?

Scan the women's top 10 now and what is the common denominator you see? Every member of the top 10 is quick to close on the ball. In fact if you lined up the top 100 women in the world for a race, surely several of the top 10 — Venus, Serena, Jankovic, Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki — would be among the top finishers.

The challenge 2008 US Open finalist Jankovic faces is using her mobility to move forward in the court rather than relying on her speed to play the role of retriever. When Jankovic, who was a fine doubles player earlier in her career, is willing to play the angles and occasionally venture to net, she opens the court even more for her best shot, her two-handed backhand.

When Jankovic is proactive with her movement and moves up to the ball quickly she makes better use of her strengths — her court coverage, anticipation, athleticism and one of the best two-handed backhands in women's tennis — to play a bit more ambitious tennis.

"I want to play more aggressive, especially work on my serve and volleys just coming forward," Jankovic said. "That's what I really want to do."

Can she do it in major matches against tennis' top players?

Since her run to the US Open final two years ago, Jankovic has surpassed the quarterfinals just once in her last seven Grand Slam appearances, suffering losses to the likes of Sorana Cirstea (at the 2009 French Open), Melanie Oudin (at the 2009 Wimbledon) and Yaroslava Shvedova (in the second round of the 2009 US Open). Her lone Grand Slam semi appearance since that US Open final came at the French Open in June when Samantha Stosur crushed an overwhelmed Jankovic.

Still, while Jankovic can be a bit of a drama queen on court, she's a rhythm player and when she's playing with confidence she's capable of taking down top players in succession as she did last August in beating a trio of top 10 opponents — Victoria Azarenka, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina — to win Cincinnati or as did last May in Rome when she beat the Williams sisters in back-to-back matches before bowing in the final.

Jankovic may be settling down off the court, but she's got to keep moving forward on court if she's to win her first major.