Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic is set to become the eighteenth woman in the history of women’s professional tennis to assume the No. 1 ranking.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced on Saturday that Jankovic will overtake Ana Ivanovic by only eight points on August 11, 2008.
The two are projected to be in close competition the next few weeks for the illustrious top ranking, with eight points separating them come August 11 – Jankovic owning 3,620 points and Ivanovic with 3,612 points.
Jankovic ascends to the pinnacle of women’s professional tennis after capping a 12 month display of impressive and consistently successful results. Over the course of the past year, Jankovic has won the Tier I 2008 Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and has reached the finals of the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, the 2007 Rogers Cup in Toronto and the 2007 China Open in Beijing.
“Since I was a young girl it’s been my dream to become No.1 in the world,” Jankovic said. “When you get older, at least one day you can say you were No.1 and no one can take that away from you. You are in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour history books and it’s a great achievement.”
At 23 years, 5 months and 13 days, Jankovic will become the 18th top-ranked player in women’s tennis history, joining a distinguished list that includes Chris Evert, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Jennifer Capriati, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Amélie Mauresmo, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic.
“Jelena has had a fantastic year and displayed incredible grit and determination,” stated Sony Ericsson WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott.
“In addition to her tremendous talent and skill on the tennis court, Jelena also finds a special way to entertain and engage her fans, adding a unique spark and personality to our sport that is appreciated worldwide. Jelena’s success adds another amazing milestone for Serbian tennis and I am sure we will continue to witness great achievements by her.”
Jankovic began defining herself as a potential Sony Ericsson WTA Tour World No.1 approximately two years ago, when she labored past a string of ten consecutive opening round losses and a ranking drop to No.38 in the middle of the year. She successfully turned the season around and vaulted to No.12 by year end.
Since then, the Serbian has been a consistent figure in the Top 10, securely staying inside the top elite since February 26, 2007. Her season-ending ranking has improved from No. 194 (in 2002), to No. 85 (in 2003), to No. 28 (in 2004), to No. 22 (in 2005), to No. 12 (2006) and to No. 3 (in 2007).
She isn’t deserving considering the amount of tournaments she’s played and the, what, 1 victory this season? Hope my facts are right?
Regardless, nobody has stepped up to the plate – except apparently Safina, who is climbing fast – so well done to JJ anyway.
Oh and just to add that my sister and I played with Jelena at Bolletieri in 2001 and even back then people were making a fuss about her; so it’s been a long time coming I guess… there was also the time I saw her at Wimbledon in 2004 and I was the only person watching her match…
She has come a long way, but not long enough in my opinion. Not enough Tour Wins.
Ridiculous. Someone who has never won a Grand Slam championship, let alone be in a Grand Slam final is the number 1 female tennis player in the world? Ridiculous. I have nothing against JJ, but the WTA’s point system needs a major overhaul.
Jelena Jankovic will be #1 for one full week only.
Thats so cute!
Unique position in WTA history.
Ms. Tennis Elegance never ceases to amase!
And, by the way, winning Gran Slam should not represent everything in this world to die for.
[...] Congrats JJ! However, you still need to win a Grand Slam to feel complete, and you feel that too. (source: Reuters, photo via On the Baseline) [...]
Being world #1 means you’re the best player but i think JJ is no way deserving to be crowned as the queen of tennis (and maybe she realized that too). I’ve got nothing against her but this is a total blunder! She has only won one among the numerous tourneys she competed so far this season (the only good thing is, it’s a Tier I). But she never won a GS and yet to reach the final. Weird huh?
It doesn’t matter if she holds the #1 spot for only one week. It goes down in history. I guess we can blame Justine for this tragedy!
Haha! I’m not a fan of Justine, but now I realized, she should come back for good (as the rankings’ guard).