Family and early lifeJanković was born in Belgrade, Serbia, , Yugoslavia as the third child of Veselin and Snežana, two economists.[citation needed]. She has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. She is a student at the Megatrend University in Belgrade, studying economics; however, she has put her course of study on indefinite hold as she continues to pursue her tennis career. Janković learned her first tennis skills at the Tennis Club 'Red Star'.[2] As a nine-and-a-half year old she was introduced to tennis by her elder brother and fitness coach Marko.[3] With 11 years has won the national championship in the competition to 12 years. She was later trained at the Tennis Academy of Nick Bollettieri. As a junior she won the 2001 Australian Open[4] and junior No. 1 in the world.[5] In 2001, she started to play on the WTA Tour; she reached the second round at her first tournament at the Indian Wells Masters.
Tennis career
In October 2003, Janković entered the top 100 at No. 90 for the first time after winning her first ITF title in Dubai. Three months later, Janković garnered her first top 10 win against Elena Dementieva 6–1, 6–4 in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open. In May, Janković won her first WTA title, a Tier V event, in Budapest, defeating Martina Suchá in the final 7–6, 6–3. Following her win in Budapest, she reached No. 51 in the world. Elsewhere in her 2004 season, she defeated top 20 players Nadia Petrova (twice), Vera Zvonareva, Patty Schnyder and Paola Suárez. Janković finished 2004 ranked No. 28 in the world.
She was ranked World No. 1 for seventeen consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Serena Williams on February 2, 2009. She was the year-end World No. 1 in 2008, the second player in the history of the WTA tour to do this without winning a Grand Slam title, after Kim Clijsters.
Janković has reached the singles final of the US Open and the singles semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open. In 2007, she became the first Serbian player to win a Grand Slam Title when she won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with British partner Jamie Murray.
She is one of only seven players who has defeated both Williams sisters at the same tournament and one of three players who were World No.1 and as a junior and a senior. Janković is also known for being one of the most consistent Top 10 players, entering it in early 2007 and the only one never falling out of Top 10 ever since. However this ended, ending her remarkable streak at four years and three months of being in Top 10.
Janković lost in the second round of the Australian Open to World No. 188 Olga Savchuk. That was the first of ten straight losses, not winning a match from late January into early May. She later said this run caused her to consider quitting tennis. Janković ended her losing streak by beating World No. 17 Elena Likhovtseva in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, before eventually losing to Venus Williams in three sets in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Janković reached the third round for the first time, where she lost to World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo.
At Wimbledon, Janković surprisingly defeated sixth-seeded and defending champion Venus Williams in the third round in three sets. Competing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time, she lost to ninth-seeded Anastasia Myskina 6–4, 7–6(5). In August, Janković reached her fifth career final and first of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, defeating Serena Williams (ranked World No. 108 at the time after a lengthy injury lay-off) in the semifinals before losing to third-seeded Elena Dementieva in the final. The US Open saw Janković defeat World No. 10 Vaidišová in the third round, World No. 7 and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, and World No. 5 Dementieva 6–2, 6–1 in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In the semifinals, Janković lost to World No. 2 Justine Henin 4–6, 6–4, 6–0 after Janković had led 6–4, 4–2. Janković argued with the chair umpire when the umpire refused to offer an opinion as to whether a service call had been correct, suggesting that Janković use one of her electronic challenges. Janković then lost ten consecutive games.
Janković continued her strong form in the aftermath of the US Open. Of the six tournaments she played during the remainder of the year, she reached the quarterfinals at five. This included a run to the semifinals at the China Open in Beijing, defeating World No. 7 Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals before losing to World No. 1 Mauresmo on a third set tiebreak. Janković finished the year at a career-high ranking of World No. 12.
jelena jankovic trophy
jelena jankovic in hotelsTo begin the year, Janković won the second title of her career at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final. The following week, at the Medibank International in Sydney, Janković defeated World No. 7 and former No.1 Martina Hingis and top-seeded Amélie Mauresmo on the way to the final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters after serving for the match.[7] Janković's strong start to the year meant some considered her a title threat at the Australian Open; however, she was eliminated in the fourth round by the eventual champion Serena Williams 6–3, 6–2. Because of her results at these tournaments, her ranking rose to World No. 10, the first time she had been included in the top ten.
Janković reached two semifinals in the Middle East in the spring, retiring against Mauresmo due to an ankle injury at the Dubai Tennis Championships and losing in three sets to Justine Henin at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar. However, she then failed to reach the semifinals at any of her next three tournaments. Janković rebounded in the clay court season, defeating Venus Williams on a third set tiebreak in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career. On European red clay, after losing to World No. 1 Henin in three sets in both the semifinals of the J&S Cup in Warsaw and the quarterfinals of the Qatar Telecom German Open (failing to hold a 4–0 lead in the third set in the latter), Janković won her second career Tier I title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. This results meant she entered the top five on the world rankings for the first time. Janković was the fourth seed at the French Open and one of the favorites for the title. After registering her third consecutive victory over Venus Williams in the third round, she went on to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, but lost there to eventual champion Henin 6–2, 6–2. This improved her ranking to a new career-high of World No. 3.
On grass, Janković captured the DFS Classic title in Birmingham, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the final. Sharapova led 3–0 in the third set before Janković rallied to win the match. This was her first career victory over Sharapova. The next week, Janković reached the final of the Ordina Open in the Netherlands and became the first player since Chris Evert in 1974 to win 50 matches in the first half of a year.[citation needed] Janković, suffering from a hamstring injury, lost the final to Anna Chakvetadze. At Wimbledon, Janković was the third seed but lost in the fourth round to the surprise eventual finalist Marion Bartoli, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3. In the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, Janković teamed with doubles specialist Jamie Murray to win the title by beating the fifth-seeded team, Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik, in the final 6–4, 3–6, 6–1.
During the North American summer hard court season, Janković reached the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, but lost there to fellow Serb Ana Ivanović having held a match point. The following week, Janković reached the final of the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she lost to Henin on Henin's sixth match point. Janković had led 4–1 in the first set and 4–2 in the second set but was unable to maintain her lead. At the US Open, Janković lost to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals 4–6, 6–1, 7–6(4).
jelena jankovic injury
jelena jankovic hot imagesJelena Janković is often regarded as a counterpuncher. Jelena is known for being able to slide effectively on all surfaces. Janković has very consistent ground strokes and prefers to go down the line more often than crosscourt. Her signature shot is her two-handed backhand. She also has a decent forehand and a fair net game, being able to hit effective drive, drop and swinging volleys. Her main weakness is her serve. She likes to spin it in on the first and second serve which can lead to her getting broken many times in matches. Her weakest surface is considered grass and her best surface is fast hard court where she can use her defense and speed to win matches.
Personal life
Janković was the subject of the 2008 autobiographical documentary, Jelenin svet (Jelena's World),[25] featuring Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanović, Elena Dementieva and other notable players.
On December 5, 2007, Janković became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, for Children's Fund. "I am happy to have become a UNICEF ambassador for Serbia. This is a great honour for me and I will try to justify the role that has been given to me", she said. Janković is the second Serbian tennis star to have volunteered to help promote the rights of children and collect funds for UNICEF after Ana Ivanović became an ambassador in September.
Leading Chinese sportswear brand, ANTA sports, announced it has secured one of the biggest deals in women's tennis by signing Janković to exclusively wear their sports apparel, shoes and accessories world-wide.The ANTA design team from the US and Japan has worked closely with Jelena to develop a Jelena Janković range of sports products under the JJ brand. The range reflects the style and fashion of Jelena Janković while offering the performance required by the number one tennis player in the world. The partnership with Janković marks a historic deal. ANTA is the first Chinese sports brand to align with a world number one female tennis player as part of their vision to grow its presence in tennis. Before Janković had endorsed Reebok sportswear, and had her own line with them for her tournament wear. Janković also has an endorsement with Prince Sports and now uses the Prince O3 Speedport Pro White Racquet after formerly using the Prince O3 Red Racquet. She now uses the Prince EXO3 Black. She is the face of the Serbian fashion design company Mona with her own line of clothing. Janković recently signed up to endorse Aqua Viva Hydroactive Water. Her picture will appear on the bottles for a limited time[26] and she will now feature in a TV advertisement. She is also Face of new Orbit endorsement.
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