[Break My Rapture]

See, Masha doesn't *diss* Vika all the time, The *is her last name Jankovic* was meant towards Jelena and not Vika
And she's right that Victoria is the best out of that pack of players the reporter mentioned.

[hellas719]

Thanks for the article

[Nina.]

Tennis-Gloomy Jankovic says she is a shadow of herself
Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:44pm GMT

By Martyn Herman

DOHA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Jelena Jankovic admitted her game needed a drastic overhaul after an error-strewn 6-2 6-3 defeat by Victoria Azarenka in the opening match of the WTA Championships on Tuesday.

The gritty Serb, who began the year ranked number one in the world but only crept back into the top eight last week in Moscow, struggled to keep her groundstrokes inside the lines as she handed 20-year-old Azarenka a surprisingly easy victory.

"I basically gave her everything. I beat myself. That was really unfortunately the case. My game was completely off," said the 24-year-old after launching 33 unforced errors at the Khalifa Tennis Centre.

"I would hit one or two balls and then the third one would go everywhere except in the court. I was a shadow of myself."

Jankovic will have to improve drastically in her remaining White Group matches, starting with world number one Dinara Safina on Wednesday, if she is to match her performance last year here when she reached the semi-finals.

QUICK FIX

However, she hinted that there might not be a quick fix for the problems that have afflicted her game for most of the year, admitting that pretty much everything needed fixing.

"I just have to try to clean my game," she said. "I need to get back to playing good points, hitting the ball, being aggressive, really cutting down all the errors, serve much better, return much better.

"I kept pushing myself to play better and I wanted to play better, but I just couldn't get into the match. I just hope that tomorrow I can play better.

"I will have to do a lot of work in the off-season to get back to my level and get to the top. That's all I know. There is really a lot of work to be done.

"I know that I have to make some changes and I have to improve my game because what you have seen today, really I gave the match away."

Azarenka, making her debut at the WTA's glittering showpiece after rising to sixth in the rankings this year, was more than happy to profit from Jankovic's woes, firing back at the Serb's opinion that she had been gifted a victory.

"I'm glad she gave me the match and she was not in the mood. It worked out pretty well for me," she told reporters.

The Belarussian will face fellow debutant and close friend Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday when another victory could all but seal her place in the semi-finals.

"I expect a good match from her," she said "She's a great fighter, a good girl, and I'm sure we're going to have fun." (Editing by Sonia Oxley; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLR...=11564&sp=true

Classy JJ, really I like her but seriously...she was obviously not playing awesome but still...Love Vika's response to it
Antonio twittered about it.

[Break My Rapture]

JJ Please stop trying to get attention with these lame remarks. Draw our attention with some strokes of you going IN for once, instead of whining to the umpire that there's a machine somewhere that makes *annoying* noises Seriously Jelena, deal with it. Vika didn't complain about *a machine* for one second

[hellas719]

JJ

[allrounder]

Here's an article confirming it was just cramp what Vika suffered

Wozniacki through after Azarenka cramp

Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire injured from her clash with second alternate Agnieszka Radwanska whilst trailing 4-6 7-5 4-1 at the WTA Championships in Doha.

Azarenka became the second player to reaquire treatment for cramp in as many days, after Caroline Wozniacki, and her withdrawal handed the Dane a place in the semi-finals of the tournament.
With both Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic having two wins and one loss to their name in the white group, it comes down to their head-to-head record to decide who goes through as winner, meaning Jankovic finishes top and will face maroon group runner-up Venus Williams, while Wozniacki will face Serena Williams in the semi-finals.
Azarenka appeared to be cruising to the straight sets win that would have seen her top the white group when she took a 6-4 5-2 lead over Radwanska, who was took up her place in the tournament after the withdrawal of Vera Zvonareva, herself a replacement for Dinara Safina.
But a bad case of nerves hit the Belarussian and Radwanska hit back with five games on the bounce to take the second set and level the match before cramp hit Azarenka.
The 20-year-old, making her debut at the tournament, battled on gamely for the next five games but was eventually forced to retire after two hour and 32 minutes and two injury timeouts, hobbling to the net in tears to concede the match.
The early signs from Azarenka were good as she broke in the opening game with a couple of huge forehand winners down the line.
And, although Radwanska broke back in the second game when Azarenka sent a smash wide across court, the opening game set the tone for much of the first set as the Belarussian broke again in the fifth and seventh games to race out to a 5-2 lead.
Azarenka did suffer a minor blip in concentration towards the end of the second set as she allowed Radwanska get one of the breaks back, with a forehand winner down the line, it was only a temporary lapse as the Belarussian served it out at the second attempt with a forehand winner close to the net.
Azarenka then ran away with the early stages of the second set, breaking in the first and third games as Radwanska struggled to cope with the power of her opponent.
But the Pole, who will undergo surgery to her hand in Krakow on Monday, refused to give up and was rewarded for her patience when she broke back in the sixth game when Azarenka sent a backhand down the line wide and long.
Azarenka looked like she had recovered her composure once again by immediately breaking back and setting up a chance to serve out the match, but the Belarussian undid all her good work with consecutive double faults to hand all the momentum back to Radwanska.
This time the Pole was not going to let the opportunity slip and raced through the next five games to seal the second set and level the match, much to Azarenka's consternation.
The match was just one game into the third set when Azarenka was forced to take a medical timeout to have her left thigh heavily strapped, although appeared that the Belarussian would be able to cope with the injury and finish the match as she held to level up at one game apiece.
But just two games later Azarenka was left break points down and in tears after trying to race up the court to a drop shot.
The Belarussian did save the first break point, somehow managing to get up the court to lash a drop shot down the line for a forehand winner, but again she was left sobbing and kneeling on the ground next to the side hoardings before going on to double fault and hand her opponent the break.
One more medical timeout (this time for cramp) and one and a half games later and Azarenka decided she could not continue, conceding the match just after Radwanska had sent another drop shot over the net, albeit with a spot of help from the net itself.

[Break My Rapture]

Oh thank god

[allrounder]

It does make it a little more gutting though to know she'd have been absolutely fine to play the SF's if she'd closed it out because it wasn't a real injury and just cramp

[hellas719]

At least it was nothing serious

[Nina.]

What an unlucky end to the year. But still it's good that it is not a serious injury.

[Nina.]

Just stumbled across that on twitter

MiguelSeabra: I'll ask António @vangrichen to comment about it later on through his twitter account; he's ok and quite busy at the moment, it seems...

MiguelSeabra: exclusive: my mate António Van Grichen @vangrichen no longer the coach of world nº7 Victoria Azarenka after 4 years that took her to the top
24 minutes ago from TweetDeck

http://twitter.com/MiguelSeabra

[Break My Rapture]

whut ?! no way..

[allrounder]

Very strange if that's true There must have been a big falling out between Vika and Antonio to split halfway into her pre-season preparations.

[Nina.]

Originally Posted by allrounder

Very strange if that's true There must have been a big falling out between Vika and Antonio to split halfway into her pre-season preparations.

This.
I mean, both of their messages on twitter sounded like they were doing fine

[Break My Rapture]

No this shouldn't be happening, antonio is the best coach for Vika. I bet Mark set them up against each other