Jelena Jankovic works to regain No. 1 ranking

By Jeff Williams | Newsday • Published August 25, 2008

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NEW YORK — There’s this great tussle going on in the women’s tennis world to determine who is No. 1. With Justine Henin, the 2007 U.S. Open champion, suddenly retired in the spring, and Maria Sharapova sidelined by a shoulder injury, the No. 1 ranking has been fluctuating more than the average commodity.

Right now, Ana Ivanovic holds that No. 1 ranking and is the Open’s No. 1 seed. At No. 2 in the world and in the Open is Jelena Jankovic, a seriously hard tryer who is trying hard to win her first major tournament. She started off with a 6-3, 6-1 victory Monday night over Coco Vandeweghe.

Through the bizarre mathematics of the WTA world ranking system, Jankovic became the No. 1 player in the world for a week in August, taking over from countrywoman Ivanovic, who had held the No. 1 spot after winning the French Open.

Jankovic had never reached the final of a major, the first player to be No. 1 without having done so. She twice had the chance to take the top spot with tournament victories in the summer but failed to make the final in either. Then she went to the Olympics and made it to the quarterfinals, while Ivanovic didn’t play in Beijing, pulling out with a thumb injury. But because Jankovic did not defend points from the same period last year, Ivanovic again became No. 1 without swinging a racket.

Her ascent was anything but regal. Rafael Nadal had taken over from Roger Federer after beating him in a thrilling Wimbledon final. Before that, he had destroyed Federer in the French Open final. You didn’t have to do the math to know who the new No. 1 was.

When Jankovic reached No. 1, she seemed as dumbfounded as everyone else. "The No. 1 spot doesn’t matter at the moment," she said after a loss in Montreal. "I don’t deserve that spot. I’m not in the best of shape. I am not at my highest level."

But in retrospect, she will take that notation in her biography. "It’s amazing, with the struggles I have had this season," she said Monday night. "It will stay in my biography forever. No can take that away from me."

Though the ranking system can be called into question, Jankovic’s effort to become a top five player cannot. She has fought through a series of injuries, the most recent a calf injury suffered just before the Olympics that required a series of painkilling injections in order for her to play. When she took the court Monday night, she didn’t have a wrapped thigh or a braced knee or a taped ankle. A relatively easy night against Vandeweghe spared her the rigors of hard-court tennis.

"Well, at the moment, I’m healthy," she said. "I had so many injuries and when I started with one, and it was like a chain, my whole body was compensating. I got all these injuries I have never had before ... But now I am finally healthy."

And she’s No. 2, with a chance to be No. 1 if she wins the Open. If the math works out.