BEIJING, China - Although she didn't walk away with the title, Jelena Jankovic left a lasting impression on her many, many fans with a run to the China Open semifinals this past week, pushing the world's top-ranked player, Amélie Mauresmo, to a third set tie-break before bowing out. One of the most in-form players at the moment, the 21-year-old also had time this week to explore some of the city. Read all about it in the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog.
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Saturday, September 23, 2006
Hey everyone,
It's been a long day. I don't know where to begin! I didn't do much this morning. After going to breakfast I just went back to the hotel room and slept again. Then, I watched a little bit of television. Miss World was on, and it was fun, I saw the girl from Serbia and the one from Montenegro which was nice. I'm not sure how they did, though, because it was still going on when I left.
Anyways, after that I came to the tournament, warmed up and went on court. The most exciting thing that happened today was my match! It's funny, I thought it was going to be over in 40 minutes or an hour, because Mauresmo was playing so well, up a set and 3-1 in the second, and she even had a lot of game points for 4-1; I don't know how I came back and won that set, but we ended up playing for close to three hours before I finally lost, 61 36 76(3).
Even though I'm disappointed, it was one of the most exciting matches I've ever played in my whole career. I gave my best today, and I just hope I'll recover for my next tournament, because right now I'm just in pain! One thing I think I need to work on is my physical condition. It's not as good as some other players. But I'm young, I have a lot of time. We'll see how everything will go in the future.
Tomorrow I'm going to Guangzhou. Hopefully I can get a ticket for tomorrow, because I want to get used to the weather over there. It's warmer and more humid, very different than here. Not much time to rest but I'll do my best.
I really enjoyed my time in Beijing. One thing I'll always remember is leaving the stadium for the last time today, because so many fans were waiting there more than two hours to see me; it was really touching. I tried to sign autographs for all of them. I'm happy what I did here. I'd be happier if I got to the finals but there's always next time.
The blog was really fun. This is my last entry, but I would like to get my own website soon so fans can hear a lot more from me. Thank you all for reading this, and I'll talk to you all soon!!
Sincerely,
Jelena
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Friday, September 22, 2006
Hello everyone,
Yesterday, I was telling you about how I was going to the embassy here with the ambassador who came to watch me play. I went, and it was a good time. I met a lot of people there. We had a bit of a cocktail, talked for a bit. The building was nice, sort of in between a Chinese building and one from the rest of the world. After that, I came back to the tournament, practiced, had a massage, then went back to the hotel. We didn't do anything special. It was tough to do anything because I was the first match up on the schedule today and needed to get my rest. I definitely didn't want to be tired for today.
This morning I woke up pretty early, around 8am, and had my usual breakfast; I usually have the same breakfast every day, especially during a tournament where I'm doing well! I eat a lot of fruit, cereal, egg whites, sometimes pancakes or scrambled eggs, and I drink green tea. I love the food at the hotel.
After eating, we came to the tournament, and before I went to do my warm-up, a fan gave me a really nice letter. It read:
Dearest Jelena,
You're one of the most incredible young talents, and my favorite tennis player. Your strength, your dedication, your elegance, your sweetness, and most important of all, your passion towards tennis and life, are such an inspiration to me. Good luck on your game, enjoy the field, and you're No.1.
Love, Aili
She gave me this letter and a bit of chocolate; because of my blog, everybody knows how much I love chocolate! It was really nice. I really appreciate my fans, especially these little things, they mean a lot to me. I really don't know how to explain it. Anyways, I think when I started to warm up the fan may have been a little embarassed, because I thought the letter was so cute that I showed it to my mom and a few of my friends. I wanted to share it, it was a really nice letter.
I have to tell you about something funny that happened today. Right before my match, I was getting ready, and I went to the bathroom. I had my mp3 player on, and I guess I was not really paying too much attention to anything, and when I came out, I had a whole roll of toilet paper in my hand. I got to the middle of the locker room, and Ai Sugiyama was there looking at me funny, and I said, "Why am I holding toilet paper in my hand?" We both just started cracking up. I just took it and didn't even notice. I probably would have gone to the court with it if she hadn't looked at me strangely. That would've been even more embarassing. Can you imagine walking out on the court with toilet paper in your hand, holding it like you would hold your gatorade or something?
So anyways, after the toilet paper incident, it was time for my match. I was almost late for it because I was laughing so much about the toilet paper. Nadia Petrova thought she was going to have a walkover! Just kidding. Anyways, it was a really tough, three set match, and I had some trouble breathing, but I beat Nadia, 64 46 62. Another Top 10 win. I don't know how I am doing this, but I'm enjoying it and I'd like to keep it up. I'm so happy to be in the semifinals. It's going to be another tough one. I'll try my best and we'll see what happens.
I have an autograph session to go to in a bit. I'm looking forward to signing millions of autographs! I'm probably gonna break the record. You can't even see where the line-ups end here. I'm really happy to sign as many as I can. I appreciate my fans. These are the people that come out and watch us play. I'm happy to do these. I hope I can sign them all. I will try to make them all happy.
I'll talk to you all after my match!
Jelena
