Drama and Jelena Jankovic win over Serena at JPMorgan Chase Open
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Aug 12, 2006 | Print |
Jelena Jankovic upset Serena Williams 6-4, 6-3 tonight at the JPMorgan Chase Open and claimed a spot against Elena Dementieva in the final round tomorrow afternoon.
It is not often that testy matches happen on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour as most of the women prefer to save their snide comments for the post-match press conferences, but not tonight at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Carson, California. Fans got more than their money’s worth as tonight’s match took on some characteristics resemblant of the ATP Tour during the heyday of John McEnroe. Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic headed onto the court with rumors swirling about this being a “grudge match” to redeem Venus’ honor from Wimbledon, but no one predicted the drama that would capture the fans attention on Center Court throughout the match.
It all began before the match started with Serena taking her time before heading out onto the court, but whether it was gamesmanship or just a unexplained delay remains to be seen. Regardless, she left Jankovic to cool her heels before making an entrance onto the court. Serena had a slow start and because of her tentativeness, Jankovic was able to break her serve twice to take the opening set 6-4. Serena was not a happy tennis player by this point and received a racquet abuse warning from the chair umpire for smashing her racquet.
The plot got thicker when as Serena was walking to her chair during the opening changeover, Jankovic tossed off her spare balls, and one of them came close to beaning Serena. In my opinion, it appeared to be an accident, but Queen Serena halted in her tracks and stared Jelena down, as if to say, “how dare you try to hit me”. It was not long before Serena had a chance to repay the favor, as she slammed an overhead smash just feet from Jankovic’s head and sent the twenty-year old ducking to the ground.
Despite the drama, it was Jankovic, not Serena that kept her cool. She took advantage of Serena’s unforced errors and tiredness to continue her momentum into second set. She held serve for 5-3 and only needed one match point, which she got when Serena mis-hit an overhead smash and slammed it into the net. The players exchanged a few more controversial words at the net when Serena wanted to discuss the possibility of Jelena having it in for her, only to have Jankovic state that it was completely an accident. I cannot wait for the post-match press conference to be posted, and you better believe that neither player will be mincing words about the incident.
Jelena Jankovic will face a much-less controversial opponent, Elena Dementieva, in the final tomorrow afternoon at the Home Depot Center. Elena Dementieva would not hit a fly in the head with an overhead smash if she could help it, although I do wonder why players and fans have not accidentally been hit by her sometimes erratic serves.
If you enjoyed this tennis article, please sign up for a free subscription!
momofan | Aug 13, 2006 | Reply
Actually, I thought they were quite civil about it. Serena was smiling and saying, “I know you’re a nice girl, but don’t hit me next time,” and Jelena looked really apologetic and said, “I’m so sorry, it was an accident!” Also, my own dear MoMo has come close to being hit by Elena’s serve, BELIEVE me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45gvXKtVZYo
Aaress | Aug 13, 2006 | Reply
Momofan - thanks for the link! Yeah - Elena can be a little dangerous at times!
#1tennisfan | Aug 13, 2006 | Reply
I don’t like your assessment of the “drama” that went on during this match. You seem to be very biased toward Jankovic. You forgot to mention that in response to Serena having “made her wait” to enter the court, during the warm up, Jankovic displayed her own “gamesmanship” and made Serena wait on the court for a least a minute before she decided to get up and hit. I also believe that it was purely an accident that Jelena hit Serena with the ball. And the words that were exchanged between the two players at the end of the match were civil and diplomatic. All in all, it was a great match. I beg of you, please do not try to sensationalize any match in the future, because in the process of making things seems as they weren’t, you portrayed Serena as argumentative and diva-like (a far cry from the demeanor she exhibited during the match). It’s not fair and all I’m asking is that you report FAIRLY!
Aaress | Aug 14, 2006 | Reply
1#tennisfan,
Did you happen to see the looks Serena sent Jankovic’s way after Jankovic tossed off the tennis ball during the changeover?
Also, the whole court was open when Serena slammed that overhead at Jankovic’s head, so I just wonder why she chose to go up the midddle and straight for her opponent.
#1tennisfan | Aug 14, 2006 | Reply
Serena didn’t see what we saw. We saw Jelena walking to her chair and inadvertently hit Serena with the ball. All Serena felt was a ball hit her from Jelena’s direction. She was not staring her down; she was waiting for some type of apology of acknowledgement from Jelena. I believe it was an accident that Jelena hit her with the ball but I also think Jelena knew that the ball hit Serena.
The overhead that I remember landed at Jelena’s feet but we may be talking about a different point. Look, you can read into this all you want and make Serena look like a bad guy, but the truth is that the match wasn’t as nearly as controversial as you made it seemed. You know, as an avid follower of tennis, I deal a lot with biased opinions from the commentators on television. What was refreshing about your blog until this weekend is that you reported the score in a nonjudgmental way, and from now on I have question everything you write.