Just a quick comment that surely Jelena Jankovic needs to stop this insane schedule of hers!

So far this year she has played

Auckland
Sydney
AO
Pan Pacific
Week Off
Week Off
Dubai
Doha
Indian Wells
Miami
Amelia Island
Charleston
Fed Cup
Week Off
Warsaw
Berlin
Rome - and still to come
Strasbourg
RG
Birmingham

No idea at the moment if she'll play another tournament before Wimbledon but either way surely she can't keep this up! It's one thing for the lower ranked players to play this schedule because they only win one or two matches each time - Jelena is getting to at least the QF's every time and that should only get worse now that she's going to start being seeded high enough to avoid Justine until the semis!

The last top 10 player I can remember who played this kind of schedule was Jelena Dokic and we all know what hapened to her. I'd hate to see Jelena's career slump once again.

And Petrova who is the female Davydenko....

Actually Petrova has calmed down her schedule a bit this year. She didn't play Pan Pacific, Dubai, Doha or Charleston.

She's played 9 tournaments which is the same as Kuznetsova & Hingis. Less than Safina, Hantuchova & Ivanovic.

Ok it's more than Mauresmo, Henin, Maria & Serena but they've all had injury and/or time out so far this year.

Yeah true,but she used to do the rounds heavily.She was everywhere at one stage.One time I thought she was playing two tourneys at once roflmao

I know it's ridiculous, if she keeps this up she will be number one by the end of the year :rolleyes:

It makes you wonder what the motivation is.

But maybe she is making up for lost time because I think she took some time out to concentrate on her studies in 2005 and she was afraid she would be left behind. That's what the commentators were discussing in the 2006 Los Angeles final against Dementieva.

But she is risking injury and mental burn out eventually.

she risks lacklustre results as well. it's not like she steamrolls to every title.

We can't make sweeping generalisations and comparisons though - she obviously loves her tennis!

So did Dokic - it didn't stop her crashing & burning.

To be fair I have no idea if she will end up down the same path as Dokic - just pointing out the rarity of top players following this kind of schedule.

I'd hate to see Jelena burn out - she has such an exciting game & is a real contender to win slams (if she can get her head sorted out!)

Earlier this year she injured her ankle in Dubai but still played Doha the following week even though she wasn't fully fit - that's just dangerous.

I know we get annoyed with all the injury withdrawals but I think Jankovic needs to start being a bit more careful.

Heh, I was thinking about posting something similar.in the Top 20 schedule thread.

It's Strasbourg (a Tier III!) that really set me off. Granted she may have committed to it quite some time ago. I can see why she may have set a full schedule for herself; she might (despite having clearly transcended another level since the primrose path she took at the start of last season) still not have confidence in her tennis and wants to make sure she has a good buffer of points to guard against any slump. But her clay season so far has been positive; only countrywoman Ivanovic (who just picked up the Berlin title) and the reigning RG champion and No 1 have been able to beat her (and even there a mental block seems to play at least a small factor). She also picked up a title along the way.

I think she'd be better served by taking some rest after Rome so she'll be fresh but still reasonably match tough for the second Slam of the year. And having done enough to consolidate her Top 10 status I hope she starts to pick and choose her events more like the top players once Wimbledon is past.

Yes Strasbourg is the one that really sticks out

Birmingham is also a Tier III but you have to get grass court practice somewhere so it's ok to play there despite it coming straight after RG but really why play Strasbourg when you've already played 5 clay warm up events & Fed Cup on clay.

I know sometimes it takes a while for players who suddenly leap up the rankings and start reaching the later stages of tournaments on a regular basis to adjust their schedule but Jelena has played 30 tournaments in the last 12 months - only 5 or 6 other women in the top 100 have played 30+ tournaments!

We don't even know yet - she might end up playing Eastbourne or the Ordina Open as well as Birmingham which would mean she'll only have had one week off from Dubai to Wimbledon!

Yeah, I didn't comment on Birmingham because there is such a scarcity of grass events to choose from leading up to Wimbledon that it's really just about getting match practice on the surface rather than racking up hundreds of points. I can see opting for it instead of Eastbourne as well since the latter looks to have such a jam-packed field this year that I wouldn't be surprised to see Navratilova decide to show up and contend for her umpteenth title there. Of course if she does play both then I can only smile and shrug.

I think it's important in particular for her to make a deep run at RG. She only has third round points to defend, and she's demonstrated that not many of the top women can beat her on her day. If she lands on the other side of the draw from Henin I think she's in with a shout, and even if not, as you say she will now be seeded to avoid her until the latter stages--in fact if Sharapova does indeed have to take a pass on RG as her camp was suggesting recently she'll be a Top 4 seed, and could only meet the Belgian in the semis if they share the same half. The other 'contenders' (Kuznetsova, Petrova, and such) would challenge the Serb but I think she could take them. I'm hoping to see a Serena v Jankovic semi in Rome as a gauge for how such a match-up would go in Paris; the American is a real threat if she finds her clay legs in time and can avoid injury.

Maybe she's going to become Miss indestructable! :D

I think Jelena is trying to take advantage of her poor form at this stage last year. It seems like a crazy tactic to me, but I can see the logic behind what she's doing HOWEVER I can't condone it as she could have played a lighter schedule and gotten deep in all of the tournaments and still taken advantage of this period. The pressure will be on next year as she'll have so many points to defend every week and I'm not sure her body will be able to hold up with all of this tennis. :unsure:

If she keeps this up she could rapidly be going the way of Kim Clijsters. Plays over 100 matches in 2003, overplayed when she didn't need to and then got injured and had to miss most of 2004.

Jelena needs to think about her 2008!

I dont understand this scheduling. She's still in top 20 minset IMO, feels like she has to play week in week out to get valuable. Reality check Jelena, you're top 5, you can afford to cut out tourny's :rolleyes:

Obviously she enjoys her tennis and she must be highly motivated to play as many tournaments as she does, but she's often playing 7 weeks in a row :o The problem as well is she's getting deeper into the draws now, reaching semis and finals. If she was ranked 45 losing first round every week it wouldnt be an issue, but she's going to get so fatigued. I was particulary puzzled as why she would play Strasbourg before RG. madness! :wacko:

Well, I wasn't going to believe it until she actually stepped onto court, but she's playing her first match in Strasbourg currently (against Tanasugarn). An early exit would be the best thing for her but it will more probably be a title run. If she keeps everything to straight sets maybe it won't take too much of a toll. :rolleyes:

She's also playing both Birmingham and the Ordina Open, rather than choosing one of them. I hope she and Davydenko (the ATP workhorse) have time for an exhibition against each other one of these days. ;)

Shut it - Jelena is fine, Nadia Petrova is the women's davydenko...

She did it so she could be capable of knocking out "top" players, such as your particular favourite... :P