Jelena Jankovic will try to improve an
1-4 record aganist Ana Ivanovic.
Hottest rivalry:
Ivanovic vs. Jankovic a real treat, in and out of
Serbia
JJ: 'We are very, very different girls;'
Nadal busts Blake,
to face Djokovic
FROM THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN IN INDIAN WELLS –
Women's tennis greatest intra-country rivalry is no longer between Belgians
Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, or between Americans Serena and Venus Williams,
or between Russians Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva.
That designation goes to the Slugfest of Serbia: Ana Ivanovic vs. Jelena
Jankovic, version six of which will be held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden
in the semifinals on Friday.
The sweeter and more accomplished Ivanovic owns a 4-1 edge in the rivalry,
with the harder-edged yet more entraining Jankovic preening on the outside
looking in.
Ivanovic has slightly bigger weapons and has proven herself to be a mentally
tougher competitor than JJ, who is not her pal, but whom she maintains a
lukewarm peace with.
In February, for the first time, the two competed on the same Fed Cup team.
Neither woman said that they wined and dined each other, but it sounded
like they tolerated each other's presence and even won a doubles contest
together. When they speak of each other, it's never with enthusiasm or
warmth, but it is with respect, which in the rough-and-tumble world
of (Serbian) women's tennis, is all fans can ask for.
"We played doubles together and we work well on the court," Ivanovic
said. "We manage to win that match and we had fun out there. But
obviously we still have different interests and different personalities.
So I can't say that make us become best friends, but, we did the job
like we had to, and we played well in doubles."
Jankovic's experience was this: "We even played doubles together for
the first time, and it was actually the deciding match. It's different,
because we are both singles players and we had to play a doubles match.
We are very, very different girls. Ana is more quiet; I am a little bit
more open. I tend to speak my mind a lot. She's more kind of conservative.
She wouldn't say much, and if she would say, it would be very little.
That's what my opinion is about her. She's more of a shy girl. We're all
individuals and those things don't matter with the tennis game. When we
go on the court, we're opponents, we try our best to win those matches.
But whatever happens off the court doesn't matter."
Oh sure it does, because the personal interactions between two of the best
female players in Serbian history are a mirror of that small yet bold
nation's soul. Plus, it sure does matter on court, because as much as Jankovic
talks about Ivanovic's game not fitting into hers, AI has already
turned out to be a mentally tougher player, which is why she has gutted
out their extremely attractive, claws-bared-and-out-in-front, brutal and
often brilliant contests.
As genuinely good-natured as she is, AI's killer side comes out more against
JJ than it does against any other player. The No. 2 Ivanovic wants to
be the best player in Serbia. She wants to be the first of this generation
to reach No. 1 and the first woman to win a Slam title. Who wouldn't?
Its quite natural for an ultra-competitive athlete, as Anastasia Myskina
admitted after she came the first Russian woman to win a major at '04
Roland Garros.
Mal Taam/MALTphoto
Ana Ivanovic has the upper hand in the Serbian rivalry.
NOT AS BITTER AS THE BELGIANS What is clear is that their rivalry is
not as bitter has Henin vs. Clijsters … yet. It's certainly not as bizarre
as Venus vs. Serena. Three of Ivanovic and Jankovic's matches
are worth sticking in the DVR, especially last year's LA semi when Ivanovic
drop-kicked JJ 7-5 in the third. Their contests don't have a quality to
live up to Venus vs. Lindsay Davenport yet. It is a better rivalry than
the one between childhood friends Dementieva and Myskina, but does not
feature its delicious pizza party childhood back-stories, because they
spent little time around each other in Belgrade. Hell, JJ doesn't even
remember playing the cherubic-faced Ana as a kid, while Ivanovic remembers
the time and place. It is not as vicious as Myskina vs. Maria Sharapova
once was, and has more meat on its bones than Sveta Kuznetsova vs.
Sharapova, an interesting muscle vs. ferocity clash, but less emotional
than one would suspect. That by the way, is the other Indian Wells semi.
But as Serbia continues to launch itself higher on the world's stage,
this rivalry is growing by leaps and bounds because both women are
excellent players, attractive and are huge personalities. At Indian
Wells on Thursday, the Serbs ruled the day session on center court
with Ivanovic besting Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4; Novak Djokovic overcoming
Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 6-2 and Jankovic advancing when Davenport
retired down 6-2 with a back injury.
"It's just Serbia, Serbian tennis players on center court,"
Jankovic said with a proud Balkan smile.
But there will be only one Serbian woman who will reach the final and,
if Jankovic cannot figure out a way to shorten some points and dictate
with her backhand, Ivanovic will mute her with her ferocious forehand
and crisp volleys. JJ can own Ivanovic in crosscourt backhand rallies
and then open up down the line, but when Ivanovic is able to plant
firmly in the left-hand corner and dictate with her forehand, or feast
on JJ's second serve by cannoning forehands anywhere she wants out of
her odd yet effective 45-degree turn, the contest is on her capable
strings.
Then the "shy" 20-year-old will hold a commanding 5-1 edge
over the extroverted 23-year-old and, although it may seem impossible
to some, the chatterbox will have push her own mute button and take
half a bow to the more modest Serbian who largely owns her.
It's up to Jankovic to yank herself back into the rivalry with speed,
heart and precision.
"She managed to play those important points very well," Jankovic
said. "She really hits that forehand really strong, and unfortunately
the balls were landing in. I will have to try to really take the initiative
from the beginning and try to move her around, not give her the chance
to hit the shots that she likes. Of course her forehand is her favorite
shot, so I'll try to move her around a bit and open up, my shots and try
to get the shots that I like to hit, which suits my game. It will be a
good match, and hopefully I'll play good tennis."
NADAL FINALLY TAKES DOWN ANGRY BLAKE; TO FACE
DJOKOVIC
As offensive as he can be on court, James Blake can be just as defensive
off court, even when he’s not being criticized. He played quite
well in his 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Rafael Nadal, but the Spaniard played
by far his best three games of the tournament in the closing games
of the final set. After two sets and a half of having to play standout
defense and watching Blake successfully swing away with verve
and delight, Rafa finally decided to end it. His remarkable speed and
love of digging out ball after ball kept him in the match, as did Blake's
bone-headed play at the end of the first set.
But by all appearances, it looked like that Blake would continue to zone
on him like he had three times in the past and send him out of Indian
Wells with his head down between his knees, as if he was huddling under
a desk during an earthquake. But then Nadal began to trust his forehand
– as he says "He’s touching it very good" – and
he went after Blake second serves with abandon. He stepped sideways
into the alley and unleashed three incredible inside-out forehand return
winners, the final one on his second break point that forced Blake into
a forehand error. And just like he did in the previous round against
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, he closed with ferocity, cranked up his serve and
in an un-Rafa like fashion, torching a 120-mph ace.
“I fought all the time,” he said. “If I have the chance
with the second serve in that game, I going to play aggressive. I going
to play the winner inside or outside, but I going to try to do the winner
with the forehand, no? Sometimes in the match is some moments you have
to do what you feel, no? And at this moment I feel like I'm playing good,
good tennis, very good tennis today. I feel very good the ball with the
forehand. So I think if I have to win this match, I have to win with
my forehand. Well, lucky for me the ball is on the line.”
Nadal
celebrated wildly in front of a near-sellout crowd that was at least
40 percent in his favor. His wins over Tsonga and Blake are huge confidence
boosts and victories he sorely needed.
“The thing is being in semifinal and beating against two big players
like Tsonga and Blake in quarterfinals. So for me it was very important
two matches. Because in the last months I didn't have bad results. Semifinal
in Australia, final in Chennai and semifinal in Shanghai and final in
Bercy. So it wasn't bad results. But the truth is I feel like I didn't
win against the best players the world, no? So when I have two consecutive
wins against these players, so that's very important for me.”
Blake
was furious because he let the match slip away and when asked about a
few unforced errors he threw in, immediately took it as a direct criticism
of his game plan, which is to go all out all the time.
“My game has to be aggressive to beat him,” he said. “I've
heard a million times so called tennis insiders telling me to be more
cautious. I've heard it on TV, I've heard it in papers, and it's almost
laughable to me, because they honestly would never be talking about me
if I played that game, because I'd be retired by now. I wouldn't have
had a career. It's laughable for people to think that I have to play this
aggressive way to be effective. If they think I haven't tried every single
thing to make myself better, they're crazy. I've tried playing more passive,
and [it] gets me beat by guys like this. Gets me beat by everyone, pretty much.
I have to play aggressive.”
Sure, but super-aggressive every single point against a primarily defensive
player? Maybe not. The defending champion is alive and more than ready
for tough tango No. 3 against Novak Djokovic in the semis.
The two played a remarkable seven times last year, with Nadal winning
five of them. On North American hardcourts however, Nadal took him in
the desert, but Djokovic won in Miami and Canada.
“Last year's finals here at Indian Wells was my first finals in
the Masters Series. I was still inexperienced, young,” Djokovic
said. “Even though he's only one year older than me he had much
more experience and many titles, so I think I was really nervous at
start of the match. Then I had some chances in the second set, but
I was a bit unlucky. We had a lot of tough matches on a lot of different
surfaces, so every time I play him I learn something new. I'm going
to try to figure out the way I have to play against him. He's a big
fighter. You know, he's a kind of player who doesn't give you any free
points, and he's going to play every point no matter what the result
is.
That is what makes him so special, and that's what drives his opponents
probably crazy. They don't get so much free points. This is human, and
hopefully if I play him I can be myself and aggressive and get the best
out the past matches I had.”
Mal Taam/MALTphoto
James Blake had a shot to extend his unbeaten
record over Rafael Nadal but succumbed.
TennisReporters.net
encourages e-mail comments on our stories.
Any e-mail sent to feedback@tennisreporters.net
will be considered for posting in our Feedback section. Please include your full name and hometown/state/country.
TennisReporters.net reserves the right to edit all feedback for content
and length.
Anne-Marie Stark
Mal Taam/MALTphoto
