Wimbledon, 2011: Jelena Jankovic's New Philosophy On Tennis Is Worrisome

I'm very excited to announce that Tumaini Carayol, previously of Foot Fault (and still tearing it up on Twitter at @FootFault_), is going to be writing for SB Nation as we work to expand and improve our tennis coverage.  This is his first piece here:

This week marked a new low for former WTA No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, as she was ingloriously knocked out of the first round of Wimbledon 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, her first loss in the opening round of a Grand Slam in five years.

Following her loss, Jankovic was quick to play down her disappointment to Serbian press:

"Before my tennis was a priority, I was 100 percent focused on it, but the older you get, the interest for other things," she said.

"Now I want to spend more time with friends and family.  Of course, this does not mean that my career is over, I would love to be on top again."

Whether this new philosophy of Jankovic's is a cause or result of her recent poor form is unknown, but her lack of motivation is obvious for all to see.  Jankovic was once one of the most expressive and comedic personalities on the WTA Tour--glitter, lip gloss, splits and drama all synonymous with her name.  But recently her attitude on court matches her form, with the extrovert now seeming distant, quiet and often uninterested.

Sadly for Jankovic, in tennis there is no middle ground.  As evidenced by her recent results, it's impossible to compete at the highest level in tennis and not be fully applied to the game.  If she continues on this road, I suspect she will eventually be forced to choose between lounging around in her obscenely large, ten-car garage San Diego mansion and committing herself fully to the game that has made her.

I, for one, hope she chooses the latter.

It's so easy to brush Jankovic into the the same "slamless WTA No. 1" category that many do for Wozniacki and Safina, but during her time on top Jankovic contributed so much more to the WTA.  She was not only an entertaining personality, but her fluid counterpunching always kept her in the very best matches. She is one of the few recent players, (the others being Henin and Clijsters), who could call herself a true rival of the Williams Sisters, boasting a 6-5 record against Venus and a 4-4 mark against Serena.

The WTA would be much less interesting place without Jelena Jankovic.  Any place would.