Jelena Jankovic Interview - French Open, May 29

Jelena Jankovic Interview
Thursday, May 29, 2008
French Open
After win over Marina Erakovic

Q. Can you explain us what happened with your arm and how it did affect your game today and maybe for the next match.

JELENA JANKOVIC: It happened I think somewhere in the beginning of the second set and gradually was getting worse and worse. Because for me the balls were a little bit heavier because the weather is humid and the court is wet, and the game is very much slower than usual.

And so from hitting a lot of balls, my arm got very at first tight, and I started to have pain in my arm. It's swollen now at the moment, and it got swollen in the match. It just ‑‑ you know, I received treatment from the trainer, and she helped me to finish the match, and I'm glad about that.

Q. Erakovic, did you know anything about her, and how would you assess her performance?

JELENA JANKOVIC: She played great. I thought that, you know, she's a very young player, and didn't have anything to lose. Of course, I was the favorite. She had a great performance. She was playing freely, serving unbelievably, you know. She has a great serve, and especially she was winning a lot of points on that part.

It was a great match overall. I couldn't really perform at my best, but I'm glad to get through. I didn't know her before we started the match. I never played against her. I know her as a girl. We speak Serbian together, but I never watched her play or I didn't know much about her game.

Q. So from what you saw of her, do you think she's a player who will be around for a long time to come, given that she's only just broken through into the top?

JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, I think so. She has a good serve, good groundstrokes. She can be up there. She has good game.

Q. We see in junior tournaments also many Serbian players coming up. Do you have contacts with them? Are you taking some juniors under your wing or what about it?

JELENA JANKOVIC: No. I'm very, very busy with myself. I cannot even take care of myself at the moment. I wish, you know, there will be many, many juniors to come. I think we are doing a great job so far, the professional ones. We have 3 or 5 top players in the world. We can motivate those younger ones to come our way and do the same like we did, and hopefully there will be many more.

I think if they receive some help and if they get good coaching, they can develop their games and become great professionals.

Q. You don't do any clinics in Serbia?

JELENA JANKOVIC: I did for very young kids. I never did for 15, 16, 17 years old. I mostly did for very young kids, like maybe 10 years old, 12, 13, 14, but not up, so...

Maybe in the future if I will have time and I will do it. I love kids, and I would love to help.