Players Under The Microscope / Barry Millns / 12 November 2008 /

Barry Millns looks at the two sides of the player they call JJ: the world number one who gives her all week in week out and the trainer-calling, gamesmanship-embracing drama queen that gets under her opponent's skin.

At the end of a career-best season for world No.1 Jelena Jankovic, there is much she can look back on with pride. But there is also a sense that the Serb still has something to prove without a major singles title to her name.

As at this year's Australian and French Opens, Jankovic came up short in the semi-finals of last week's Tour Championships. On each occasion she lost to the eventual champion and although she made the US Open final in New York, Serena Williams like her sister Venus in Doha, proved the stronger when it counted the most.

Yet it was not for the want of trying and you cannot fault Jankovic for lack of effort or consistency in 2008. She made the quarterfinals or better in 19 of the 21 tournaments she entered and played more singles matches than anyone else (won 65 - lost 19), bar Vera Zvonoreva (65 - 22).

Compare that with the rest of the Top 10: Serena Williams (44 - 8), Dinara Safina (55 - 20), Elena Dementieva (56 - 17), Ana Ivanovic (38 - 15), Venus Williams (40 - 11), Svetlana Kuznetsova (44 - 21), Maria Sharapova (32 - 4) and Agneszka Radwanska (54 - 20).

Through Jankovic's toils came titles in Rome, Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow, the last three in succession. But you only have to look at message-boards around the world to see how widely she is regarded first and foremost as a 'drama-queen'.

Last summer JJ's flirtation with mixed doubles (and Jamie Murray) at Wimbledon made her a media darling like never before and she loved it. But back in the much more pressurised and precious world of women's singles she now does diva with the best of them.

All smiles one minute and a breath of fresh air, all cries and histrionics the next, she certainly makes her presence felt. There is no official record of the number of times she has called for a trainer mid-match but rather like her compatriot Novak Djokovic, it has become a bit of joke which has worn thin with opponents who view it as 'gamesmanship'.

Take this year's US Open and her second round battle with Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson which Jankovic eventually won 7-5 in the final set. At one point during the match Jankovic spent nearly a minute sprawled face-down on the main show-court after chasing a drop shot and on another she served through a stop sign by Arvidsson who was less than impressed.

"I know how she is, she just likes the drama," said the Swede. "She's always complaining about something, but she only starts to complain when she's down.

"It's not like I don't like her. It just gets a little (tiresome). I've heard other players say things. She saying she can't feel her leg, but then she's running. If you can't feel your leg, you can't run. It's just the way she is.''

Yet others like former player Pam Shriver give Jankovic the benefit of the doubt.

"Even though there's drama with some of her injuries, you have to give her credit for how often she puts herself on the line in all events," said the American. "She plays without being perfectly fit. Some players are afraid to go out there at anything less than their best. "

Just ask Serena Williams following yet another mid-tournament withdrawal from the Tour Championships!

Only 23, there is still plenty of time for Jankovic to become a grand slam singles champion. But physically and mentally, as yet, she is not quite there and while she certainly has the game for it, supreme fitness allied to a less arduous schedule may be the keys to her doing so in the long run.

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