- 13 Okt 2008, 15:55
#1268740
Jankovic in Pole Position to End Year as No.1
ST PETERSBURG, FL - The No.1 ranking has changed hands several times since the May retirement of Justine Henin, as several players producing outstanding results on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. But the contest has crystallized in recent weeks, and it now appears Jelena Jankovic, who entered her third career week at the very top on October 13, has built enough of a lead on her rivals to all but guarantee she will ride out the year as No.1 - regardless of results to come.
The projection is based on a couple of assumptions, however. Chief among them is that Dinara Safina - who rose to a career high ranking of No.2 on October 13 after reaching the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup - doesn’t enter Tour events at Luxembourg, Linz or Québec City in the coming weeks. The 22-year-old Russian hasn’t formally signed up for any of these tournaments, and would need to be granted a wildcard to compete.
US Open champion Serena Williams is also mathematically in with a chance of snatching the No.1 spot at the finish line. But the American, who slipped to No.3 this week, is recuperating from an ankle injury sustained at Stuttgart. Like Safina, she is not expected to play before the Sony Ericsson Championships at Doha.
Jankovic is helped by the fact she didn’t win a match at the season-ending Championships in Madrid last year, so she isn’t defending big points. This year, of course, she has been tremendously consistent, and on Sunday became the first player since Nicole Vaidisova in 2005 to win three tournaments in three consecutive weeks, burnishing her Tier II triumphs at Beijing and Stuttgart with Tier I glory at Moscow. Jankovic also reached her first Grand Slam final at Flushing Meadows, falling to Serena, and earlier in the year defended her title at Rome.
In terms of her standing on the league table of all-time No.1s, Jankovic has already passed Evonne Goolagong, who made to No.1 on April 26, 1976 and was there for two weeks. All things being equal, by the end of calendar 2008 Jankovic will have been No.1 for a total of 14 weeks, leapfrogging Venus Williams (11 weeks), Ana Ivanovic (12 weeks) and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (12 weeks).
Next in Jankovic’s sights after that will be Maria Sharapova and Jennifer Capriati, who both sit on 17 weeks. To surpass them, Jankovic will need to do well enough during the summer swing Down Under to still be No.1 at the end of the Australian Open. Assuming she manages that, the Serb will be breathing down the necks of Kim Clijsters (19 weeks) and Tracy Austin (21 weeks). After that, the weeks at No.1 begin to spread out, with Amélie Mauresmo next on the ladder at 39 weeks.
Negooo, Petrova moze bit' zajebaTa... I "jagnjesce"...
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