Jelena Janković
Encyclopedia
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no. 13, being coached by the former ATP top-15 player, Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Romania. He is currently coaching former world No. 1 and the current world No. 15 of the WTA, Jelena Janković.-Career:...

.

Family and early life

Janković was born in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia, as the third child of Veselin (Веселин) and Snežana (Снежана), two economists.. She has two brothers, Marko (Марко) and Stefan (Стефан). She is a student at the Megatrend University
Megatrend University
The Megatrend University is a private university located in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in 1989 and is organized into 19 institutions....

 in Belgrade, studying economics; however, she has put her course of study on indefinite hold as she continues to pursue her tennis career. Janković learned her first tennis skills at the Tennis Club 'Red Star'. As a nine-and-a-half year old she was introduced to tennis by her elder brother and fitness coach Marko. With 11 years has won the national championship in the competition to 12 years. She was later trained at the Tennis Academy of Nick Bollettieri
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri is an American tennis coach who is credited with developing many world-class champions, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Mary Pierce. Recently, he has worked with 2006 U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova, Jelena Janković, Nicole Vaidišová and Sabine...

. As a junior she won the 2001 Australian Open
2001 Australian Open
The 2001 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts from 15 to 28 January.-Men's Singles: Andre Agassi def. Arnaud Clément, 6–4, 6–2, 6–2...

 and junior no. 1 in the world. In 2001, she started to play on the WTA Tour; she reached the second round at her first tournament at the Indian Wells Masters
Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....

.

Tennis career

In October 2003, Janković entered the top 100 at no. 90 for the first time, after winning her first ITF title in Dubai. Three months later, Janković garnered her first top-10 win against Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...

, 6–1, 6–4, in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open
2004 Australian Open
The 2004 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tournament held in Melbourne, Australia 19 January to 1 February, 2004.-Men's Singles: Roger Federer def. Marat Safin, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2...

. In May, Janković won her first WTA title, a Tier V event, in Budapest
Budapest Grand Prix
The Poli-Farbe Budapest Grand Prix, formerly Gaz de France Grand Prix, Budapest Grand Prix and GDF SUEZ Grand Prix, is a tennis tournament held in Budapest, Hungary. Held since 1993, this WTA Tour event is an International-level tournament and is played on outdoor clay...

, defeating Martina Suchá
Martina Suchá
Martina Suchá is a retired female tennis player from Slovakia.With a height of 1.70 m and a weight of 57 kg , she is right-handed, and plays with a two-handed backhand....

 in the final, 7–6, 6–3. Following her win in Budapest, she reached no. 51 in the world. Elsewhere in her 2004 season, she defeated top-20 players Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...

 (twice), Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

, Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No...

, and Paola Suárez
Paola Suárez
Paola Suárez was a top 10 tennis player in the early 2000s. She gained prominence in 2004 by reaching the finals of nine straight WTA doubles tournaments, and by reaching the singles semifinals of the French Open tournament, held in Paris."La Negra" Suárez began playing professional tennis at the...

. Janković finished 2004 ranked no. 28 in the world.

She was ranked world no. 1 for seventeen consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 on February 2, 2009. She was the year-end world no. 1 in 2008, the second player in the history of the WTA tour to do this without winning a Grand Slam title, after Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....

.

Janković has reached the singles final of the US Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

 and the singles semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open. In 2007, she became the first Serbian player to win a Grand Slam title when she won the Wimbledon
2007 Wimbledon Championships
The 2007 Wimbledon Championships were held between 25 June and 8 July 2007. For the first time there was equal prize money for the men's and women's singles champions. Reconstruction work on Centre Court was in progress and thus it had no roof....

 mixed doubles title with British partner Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray
Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...

.

She is one of only seven players who has defeated both Williams sisters
Williams sisters
The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams born 1980, seven-time Grand Slam title winner , and Serena Williams born 1981, thirteen-time Grand Slam title winner , both of whom were coached from an early age by their father Richard Williams...

 at the same tournament, and one of three players who were world no. 1 and as a junior and a senior. Janković is also known for being one of the most consistent top-10 players, entering it in early 2007 and the only one never falling out of top 10 ever since. However her remarkable streak ended at four years and three months of being in top 10.

2005

In March, at Dubai
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...

, she advanced to the final following Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

's retirement in the semifinal. Janković then lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...

, 4-6, 9-3, 4-6. She made her first Tier I semifinal in Berlin, losing to Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...

, 4-6, 6-7, 3-6. In June, she reached her first grass-court final at Birmingham
DFS Classic
The AEGON Classic, formerly known as the DFS Classic, is an International series tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tournament is played on outdoor grass courts...

, but lost to Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...

, 2-6, 6-4, 1-6. In October, Janković reached her third final of the year in Seoul
Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships
The Hansol Korea Open is a tennis tournament held in Seoul, South Korea. Held since 2004, this WTA Tour event is an International tournament and is played at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center on, outdoor hardcourts....

, ranked no. 17 in the world, her highest ranking at that time, losing to 16-year-old Nicole Vaidišová
Nicole Vaidišová
Nicole Vaidišová is a retired Czech tennis player.Vaidišová was an Australian Open and French Open semifinalist and also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Vaidišová started playing tennis when she was six years old, enrolling to train at Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy in Bradenton,...

, 5-7, 3-6. Her ranking at the end of the season eclipsed her 2004 record at no. 22.

2006

Janković lost in the second round of the Australian Open
2006 Australian Open
The 2006 Australian Open was played between 16 and 29 January 2006.- Leadup :Several leading men's players declined to attend the Open due to injury, including Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and defending champion Marat Safin....

 to world no. 188 Olga Savchuk
Olga Savchuk
Olga Savchuk is a female tennis player. Her best accomplishment to date was reaching the third round of the 2006 Australian Open. Her career high ranking was #79, achieved on May 19, 2008....

. That was the first of ten straight losses, not winning a match from late January into early May. She later said this run caused her to consider quitting tennis. Janković ended her losing streak by beating world no. 17 Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva is a Russian tennis player, currently inactive. She turned professional in January 1992 at the age of 16.Likhovtseva's career best appearance in a Grand Slam was when she reached the semi finals of the French Open 2005 before she was defeated by Mary Pierce, 6–1 6–1...

 in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...

 in Rome, before eventually losing to Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 in three sets in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Janković reached the third round for the first time, where she lost to world no. 1 Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....

.

At Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

, Janković surprisingly defeated sixth-seeded and defending champion Venus Williams in the third round in three sets. Competing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time, she lost to ninth-seeded Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first...

, 4-6, 6-7(5). In August, Janković reached her fifth career final and first of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, defeating Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 (ranked world no. 108 at the time after a lengthy injury lay-off) in the semifinals, before losing to third-seeded Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...

 in the final. The US Open saw Janković defeat world no. 10 Vaidišová in the third round, world no. 7 and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...

 in the fourth round, and world no. 5 Dementieva, 6–2, 6–1, in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In the semifinals, Janković lost to world no. 2 Justine Henin, 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, after Janković had led 6–4, 4–2. Janković argued with the chair umpire, when the umpire refused to offer an opinion as to whether a service call had been correct, suggesting that Janković use one of her electronic challenges. Janković then lost ten consecutive games.

Janković continued her strong form in the aftermath of the US Open. Of the six tournaments she played during the remainder of the year, she reached the quarterfinals at five. This included a run to the semifinals at the China Open
China Open (tennis)
The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...

 in Beijing, defeating world no. 7 Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...

 in the quarterfinals, before losing to world no. 1 Mauresmo in a third set tiebreak. Janković finished the year at a career-high ranking of world no. 12.

2007

To begin the year, Janković won the second title of her career at the ASB Classic
ASB Classic
The ASB Classic is a tennis tournament held in Auckland, New Zealand. Held since 1986, this WTA Tour event is an International series tournament and is played on outdoor hardcourts during the first week of the year....

 in Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, defeating Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

 in the final. The following week, at the Medibank International in Sydney, Janković defeated world no. 7 and former no. 1 Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...

 and top-seeded Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....

 on the way to the final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....

 after serving for the match. Janković's strong start to the year meant that some considered her a title threat at the Australian Open
2007 Australian Open
The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007.The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competition each receiving A$1,281,000. Over 500 players...

; however, she was eliminated in the fourth round by the eventual champion Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

, 3-6, 2-6. Because of her results at these tournaments, her ranking rose to world no. 10, the first time she had been included in the top 10.
Janković reached two semifinals in the Middle East in the spring, retiring against Mauresmo due to an ankle injury at the Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...

, and losing in three sets to Justine Henin at the Qatar Total Open
Qatar Total Open
The Qatar Ladies Open , known as the Qatar Total Open for sponsorship reasons, is tennis tournament held in Doha, Qatar. Held since 2001, this WTA Tour event was a Tier I-tournament in 2008, and was played on outdoor hardcourts. Total S.A. was the main tournament sponsor...

 in Doha, Qatar
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

. However, she then failed to reach the semifinals at any of her next three tournaments. Janković rebounded in the clay-court season, defeating Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 on a third set tiebreak in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...

 in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....

 in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career. On European red clay, after losing to world no. 1 Henin in three sets both in the semifinals of the J&S Cup in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

 and the quarterfinals of the Qatar Telecom German Open (failing to hold a 4–0 lead in the third set in the latter), Janković won her second career Tier I title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...

 in Rome, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...

 in the final. This results meant she entered the top 5 in the world rankings for the first time. Janković was the fourth seed at the French Open
2007 French Open
The 2007 French Open was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Followed two weeks later, as usual, by Wimbledon in London, United Kingdom. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run...

 and one of the favorites for the title. After registering her third consecutive victory over Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 in the third round, she went on to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, but lost there to eventual champion Henin, 2-6, 2-6. This improved her ranking to a new career-high of world no. 3.

On grass, Janković captured the DFS Classic
DFS Classic
The AEGON Classic, formerly known as the DFS Classic, is an International series tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tournament is played on outdoor grass courts...

 title in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...

 in the final. Sharapova led 3–0 in the third set, before Janković rallied to win the match. This was her first career victory over Sharapova. The next week, Janković reached the final of the Ordina Open
Ordina Open
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, now sponsored by UNICEF and called the UNICEF Open, is a tennis tournament on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour held in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.-Singles:-Doubles:-Singles:-Doubles:-External links:*...

 in the Netherlands and became the first player since Chris Evert
Chris Evert
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...

 in 1974 to win 50 matches in the first half of a year. Janković, suffering from a hamstring injury, lost the final to Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambulilovna Chakvetadze is a Russian professional tennis player . On September 10, 2007, she reached her career-high professional singles ranking of World No. 5. She has won eight WTA Singles Titles and appeared in the 2007 US Open semifinals. As of July 4, 2011, Chakvetadze is ranked World...

. At Wimbledon
2007 Wimbledon Championships
The 2007 Wimbledon Championships were held between 25 June and 8 July 2007. For the first time there was equal prize money for the men's and women's singles champions. Reconstruction work on Centre Court was in progress and thus it had no roof....

, Janković was the third seed, but lost in the fourth round to the surprise eventual finalist Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....

, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6. In the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, Janković teamed with doubles specialist Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray
Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...

 to win the title by beating the fifth-seeded team, Jonas Björkman
Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships....

 and Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik is a Australian professional female tennis player. She reached a career high singles rank of number 8 and also won a bronze medal for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Molik also reached a career high doubles ranking of number 6, and won two grand slam doubles titles, at the...

, 6–4, 3–6, 6–1.

During the North American summer hard-court season, Janković reached the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....

, but lost there to fellow Serb Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

, having held a match point. The following week, Janković reached the final of the Tier I Rogers Cup
Canada Masters
The Canada Masters , currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada. The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association tour...

 in Toronto, where she lost to Henin on Henin's sixth match point. Janković had led 4–1 in the first set and 4–2 in the second set, but was unable to maintain her lead. At the US Open
2007 U.S. Open (tennis)
The 2007 US Open was held from 27 August to 9 September 2007, at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City....

, Janković lost to Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 1-6, 6-7(4).
Janković's form tailed off following the US Open. At the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic
2007 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic
The 2007 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 13th edition of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, and was part of the Tier III Series of the 2007 WTA Tour...

 in Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...

, Janković was upset in the quarterfinals by former world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...

, in Davenport's first singles tournament since giving birth. The following week at the China Open
China Open (tennis)
The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...

 in Beijing, Janković defeated Davenport, but lost in the final to Hungarian teenager Ágnes Szávay
Ágnes Szávay
Ágnes Szávay is a professional tennis player from Hungary. She is the country's highest ranked tennis player. She was the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2007. She achieved her career high ranking of World No. 13 on April 14, 2008.- Background :...

, after Janković had a match point in the second set. Janković finished the year on a six-match losing streak, losing all three of her round-robin matches on her debut at the year-end WTA Tour Championships
2007 WTA Tour Championships
The 2007 WTA Tour Championships, officially Sony Ericsson Championships, is the thirty seventh season-ending WTA Tour Championships, the annual tennis tournament for the eight best female tennis players in singles, and four teams in doubles, on the 2007 WTA Tour...

 in Madrid, including her seventh loss of the year to Henin. She finished the year ranked world no. 3.

Janković had successful nose surgery immediately after Madrid to correct a breathing problem. The surgery prevented her from practicing for three weeks.

Olympic Committee of Serbia
Olympic Committee of Serbia
Olympic Committee of Serbia is the National Olympic Committee representing Serbia. It organizes the country's representatives at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as well as at smaller events such as the Mediterranean Games.-History :...

 declared her the sportswoman of the year.

2008

Janković lost in the semifinals of the Australian Open
2008 Australian Open
The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 through 27 January 2008.After twenty years of playing on...

 to Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...

, 3-6, 1-6. In March at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley , in between Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,958....

, Janković lost in the semifinals to Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

, 6-7(3), 3-6. The following fortnight, Janković reached her first final of the year at the Miami Masters
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...

, losing to Serena Williams, 1-6, 7-5, 3-6, after Williams was unable to convert on seven match points in the third set.

Janković started the clay-court season by losing in the quarterfinals of both the Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...

 in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

 and the Qatar Telecom German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...

 in Berlin. Janković then successfully defended her Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia title in Rome, after defeating Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 in three sets in the quarterfinals, receiving a walkover from the injured Sharapova in the semifinals, and defeating French teenager Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet is a French professional tennis player and the current French number three . She was born in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, and has a career-high ranking of No. 11, achieved on 16 February 2009; as of 4 July 2011 she is ranked World No. 69...

 in the final. This was Janković's first singles title of the year. She went into the French Open among the favorites, following the sudden retirement of four-time champion Justine Henin. However, she lost to eventual champion Ivanović, 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, after leading by a break in the third set. This marked Janković's fourth defeat in four career Grand Slam semifinals. She would have become the world no. 1 had she reached the final. However, she did reach a new career-high of world no. 2 in the week following the tournament.

At Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

, Janković injured her knee during her third-round match against Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...

. Although she won that match, it visibly hindered her during her fourth-round loss to Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn is a professional Thai tennis player. She was born in Los Angeles, United States, and turned professional in 1994. She has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubles....

. Janković would have become the world no. 1 had she reached the semifinals of the tournament. However, she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn is a professional Thai tennis player. She was born in Los Angeles, United States, and turned professional in 1994. She has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubles....

 in the fourth round, 3-6, 2-6. Janković squandered two further opportunities to immediately take the world no. 1 position with losses in the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles to Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....

 and the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, to Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková is a Slovak professional tennis player. She is also a former World Junior No. 3, achieving that ranking in May 2005. Her career-high ranking of World No. 12 was achieved on 6 July 2009...

. Janković did eventually replace Ivanović as the world no. 1 on August 11, 2008. She was the 18th woman to have been ranked world no. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...

, but the first woman to have done so without ever having reached a Grand Slam final and only the third woman (the others being Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....

 and Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....

) to have become world no. 1 without first winning a Grand Slam title.

Janković's reign as the world no. 1 lasted only one week, after she lost in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics to eventual silver-medalist Safina. This meant Ivanović reclaimed the world no. 1 position. Janković was the second seed at the US Open, where she defeated Olympic gold-medalist Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...

 in the semifinals to reach her first Grand Slam final. There, she lost to fourth-seeded Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

, 4-6, 5-7. Janković would have reclaimed the world no. 1 position if she won the event.
Janković became the world no. 1 again during the fall in the midst of winning three consecutive tournaments. At the China Open
2008 China Open (tennis)
The 2008 China Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 10th edition of the China Open, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour, and of the Tier II Series of the 2008 WTA Tour...

, Janković defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...

, 6–3, 6–2, to win the title. The following week, Janković played in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...

 in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, Germany, where she defeated Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 in the semifinals, 6–7(8), 7–5, 6–2, and Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...

 in the final, 6–4, 6–3. In the Kremlin Cup
Kremlin Cup
The Kremlin Cup is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and is a Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour...

 in Moscow, Janković defeated defending champion Dementieva in the semifinals, 0–6, 6–1, 6–0, before triumphing against Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

 in the final, 6–2, 6–4, for her third title in three weeks, the first time for a player on the WTA tour to do so since 2005. As the top seed at the year-end 2008 WTA Tour Championships
2008 WTA Tour Championships
The 2008 WTA Tour Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the year-end singles championships, the 33rd edition of the year-end doubles championships, and is part of the 2008 WTA Tour...

 held in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

, Qatar, Janković won two of her three round-robin matches, including only the second win of her career over Ivanović. However, she lost in the semifinals, to eventual champion 00Venus Williams--, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, and ended the year as world no. 1. Janković was later named the ITF World Champion for her performance in 2008. She won four titles during the season, the most of anyone on the tour along with Serena Williams and Safina.

The Olympic Committee of Serbia declared her the best sportswoman for the second year in a row.

2009

Janković started the year at the JB Group Classic, an exhibition prior to the Australian Open
2009 Australian Open
The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 January through 1 February 2009. The 2009 men's...

. She was the top seed of Team Europe. She started by winning a doubles match in which she was paired with Portuguese player Michelle Larcher de Brito
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Michelle Caroline Larcher de Brito, born Micaela Carolina Larcher de Brito, also known as Michelle Larcher de Brito or Michelle Brito is a Portuguese tennis player. Larcher de Brito's family moved to the United States when she was nine years old so she could attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis...

. The team defeated Team Americas world no. 6 Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

 and newcomer to the women's tour, Coco Vandeweghe
Coco Vandeweghe
Coco Vandeweghe is an American professional tennis player. She played on the junior circuit, where she reached a high ranking of junior world no. 15, but is gradually playing more senior tournaments. She won the 2008 US Open Girls' singles championship.She made her WTA debut in Los Angeles, and...

, 6–4, 7–5. Janković then lost to Williams in singles, 2-6, 2-6. Janković later withdrew from the remainder of the tournament because of illness.

Janković was seeded first at the Australian Open in Melbourne. She shockingly lost to 16th-seeded Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....

 in the fourth round, 1-6, 4-6. Bartoli hit 34 winners, compared to Janković's 17 and won 81 percent of her first serve points, compared to Janković's 56 percent. Janković lost her World No. 1 ranking to Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 as a result.

Her next Women's Tennis Association
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...

 event was the Open GDF SUEZ
2009 Open GDF Suez
The 2009 Open GDF Suez was a women's professional tennis tournament played on indoor hardcourts. It was the 17th edition of the Open GDF Suez and was a Premier tournament on the 2009 WTA Tour...

 tournament in Paris, where she entered as a wildcard and was the second-seeded player. In the first round, Janković beat Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...

, and in the second round, she beat Li Na
Li Na (tennis)
Li Na , goes first before the equivalent of a first name in some other nations. Her name off court in China is Li Na. When listed on the , she is known as Na Li. However, in the match, the commentators call her Li Na, and when her full name is listed in text on court, it is also written as Li Na.;...

. In the quarterfinals, she beat fifth-seeded Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet is a French professional tennis player and the current French number three . She was born in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, and has a career-high ranking of No. 11, achieved on 16 February 2009; as of 4 July 2011 she is ranked World No. 69...

, 5–7, 6–4, 6–4, but then lost to Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....

 in the semifinals, 2-6, -6-0, 1-6.

Janković had a first-round bye at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships
2009 Dubai Tennis Championships
The 2009 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships was a 500 Series event on the 2009 ATP World Tour and a Premier 5 event on the 2009 WTA Tour. Both of the events took place at The Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates...

, where she was seeded third. She was upset by Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi is an Estonian professional tennis player. Her career-high ranking is world no. 16 reached on 14 February 2011....

 in the third round, 2-6, 5-7, in what she called "the worst match of my career." She was the second-seeded player at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley , in between Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,958....

, a Premier Mandatory
WTA Premier tournaments
Premier Tournaments is a category of tennis tournaments in the Women's Tennis Association tour.Premier events include:*Four "Premier Mandatory" events in Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Madrid, and Beijing with prize money of $4.5 million....

 tournament. She received a bye in the first round, before losing in the second round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova is a Russian professional tennis player and a multiple junior Grand Slam champion. Her career-high rank of World No. 13 was achieved on 4 July 2011. From July 2007 to September 2009 she was coached at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France...

, 4-6, 4-6. After the match, she conceded that she has been struggling with her confidence, saying "I need a lot of work." Janković then lost in the second round of the next Premier Mandatory tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open
2009 Sony Ericsson Open - Women's Singles
Serena Williams was the defending champion, but lost in the final to Victoria Azarenka 6–3, 6–1.-Seeds:All seeds receive a bye into the second round.# Serena Williams # Dinara Safina # Jelena Janković ...

 in Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne, Florida
Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States on the island of Key Biscayne. The population was 10,507 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,324....

, to Gisela Dulko
Gisela Dulko
Gisela Dulko is an Argentine female tennis player, who will, as of 4 July 2011, be ranked World No. 51 in singles and No. 4 in doubles. Although she enjoyed a modest success in singles, reaching No. 26 on November 21, 2005, and winning four WTA Tour titles, her speciality has been doubles, where...

, 4-6, 6-7(5), after Janković failed to hold leads of 5–2 in the second set and 5–2 in the tiebreaker.

Beginning her spring clay-court season at the Andalucia Tennis Experience
2009 Andalucia Tennis Experience
The 2009 Andalucia Tennis Experience was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 1st edition of the Andalucia Tennis Experience, and was an International-level tournament of the 2009 WTA Tour. The event is took place at the Club de Tenis Puente Romano in Marbella, Spain, from...

 in Marbella
Marbella
Marbella is a town in Andalusia, Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, in the province of Málaga, beneath the La Concha mountain. In 2000 the city had 98,823 inhabitants, in 2004, 116,234, in 2010 approximately 135,000....

, Spain, Janković defeated fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suarez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro is a Spanish tennis player. She began playing for Spain in the 2008 Fed Cup. On May 18, 2009, she reached her career high ranking at World No. 22.-2008:...

 in three sets for her first title of 2009.

Jelena Janković won the third point for Serbia in the Fed Cup play-offs against Spain, which meant that the national team played in the 2010 edition of Fed Cup World Group. Jelena beat Anabel Medina Garrigues
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues , better known as Anabel Medina, is a Spanish female tennis player. She reached a career high WTA Tour ranking of No. 16 on 4 May 2009, and has won 11 singles titles and 14 doubles titles, including the 2008 French Open and 2009 French Open with Virginia Ruano Pascual...

, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, in Lleida to bring the Serbian team a first-ever chance to compete among the world's top-tier women's tennis teams next year. The previous day, Janković and Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

 had won their single matches.

Janković was the defending champion at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
2009 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix - Singles
Jelena Janković was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Flavia Pennetta.In the final, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dinara Safina, 6–4, 6–3.-Seeds:# Dinara Safina # Elena Dementieva ...

 in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

. Seeded third, she lost in the quarterfinals to Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta is an Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top 10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and also the first ever Italian Tennis player to be ranked No.1 in Doubles on 28 February 2011. As of 10 October 2011, Pennetta is ranked World No. 18 in singles and...

, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6. Janković was also the defending champion at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia
2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Women's Singles
Jelena Janković was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Svetlana Kuznetsova.Dinara Safina won in the final, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–2.-Seeds:The top eight seeds receive a bye into the second round....

 in Rome, but lost in the quarterfinals to eventual finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...

, 1-6, 6-7(3). Seeded fourth at the inaugural Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
2009 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open - Women's Singles
Dinara Safina defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6–2, 6–4 for the title.-Seeds:The four Rome semifinalists received a bye into the second round.# Dinara Safina # Serena Williams # Elena Dementieva ...

, she advanced to the quarterfinals once again, but was defeated by Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No...

, 6-7(6), 3-6.

Seeded fifth at the French Open, she lost to Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea, is a Romanian tennis player. Her career high rank was World No. 23, achieved on 17 August 2009, after she reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open and the semifinals of the 2009 Los Angeles Open.- Playing style :...

 of Romania in the fourth round, 6-3, 0-6, 7-9, despite serving for the match in the third set at 5–4.

In her first match on grass at the AEGON International
2009 AEGON International - Women's Singles
Agnieszka Radwańska was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Virginie Razzano.-Seeds:# Elena Dementieva # Svetlana Kuznetsova # Jelena Janković # Vera Zvonareva ...

 in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

, third-seeded Janković lost in the first round to Russian Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambulilovna Chakvetadze is a Russian professional tennis player . On September 10, 2007, she reached her career-high professional singles ranking of World No. 5. She has won eight WTA Singles Titles and appeared in the 2007 US Open semifinals. As of July 4, 2011, Chakvetadze is ranked World...

, 7-6(5), 3-6, 2-6. Janković was seeded sixth at Wimbeldon
2009 Wimbledon Championships
The 2009 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, from Monday 22 June through to Sunday 5 July 2009...

. She defeated Julia Görges
Julia Görges
Julia Görges is a professional tennis player from Germany. Görges reached career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 16 on 6 June 2011 and a doubles ranking of 31 on 6 June 2011...

, having trailed 5–2 in the first set. Janković then beat Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová is a professional tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of 7 and turned professional in 1998 in Prague. She has won two WTA Tour events and one Grand Slam in mixed doubles partnering with Jürgen Melzer at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships.-2006–2008:In the 2006 Australian...

 in the second round, but lost to qualifier Melanie Oudin
Melanie Oudin
Melanie Oudin is an American tennis player and former World Junior No. 2. Her career high rank is World No. 31, which she achieved on April 19, 2010...

 in the third round, 7-6, 5-7, 2-6.

At the Bank of the West Classic
2009 Bank of the West Classic - Singles
Aleksandra Wozniak was the defending champion, but lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the first round.Marion Bartoli won in the final 6–2, 5–7, 6–4 against Venus Williams.-Seeds:# Serena Williams # Venus Williams ...

 in California, Janković lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....

, despite having two match points. In her next tournament at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open
2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open - Singles
Nadia Petrova, the defending champion, lost in the first round to Alyona Bondarenko.Jelena Janković won in the final 6–4, 6–2 against Dinara Safina.-Seeds:The top eight seeds receive a bye into the second round.# Dinara Safina ...

 in Cincinnati, Janković defeated Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high and current ranking is world no. 3, which she first achieved on 12 September 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by two spots....

 to advance to the quarterfinals, where she disposed of Sybille Bammer
Sybille Bammer
Sybille Bammer is a former professional female tennis player from Austria. Her career high ranking is No. 19, achieved on 17 December 2007....

. In the semifinals, Janković defeated Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...

, 7–6, 0–6, 7–6, in a match that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes, saving four match points on her way to victory. In the final, Janković won her second title of the year, defeating world no. 1 Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....

, 6–4, 6–2. With the win, her ranking also went back to world no. 4.

Despite her good form leading up to the 2009 US Open
2009 US Open (tennis)
The 2009 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, held from August 31 to September 14, 2009 in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City, United States. Originally, it was scheduled to end with the mens' singles final match on Sunday,...

, Janković's inconsistency continued, as she suffered a shock second-round defeat to Yaroslava Shvedova
Yaroslava Shvedova
Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player of Russian descent. She has achieved a career high ranking of No. 29 as of 21 June 2010. She has won 1 WTA singles title, 3 ITF Women's Circuit singles titles and 3 doubles titles, including the 2010 Wimbledon and US...

, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(6), despite having match points in the third-set tie-break. Her ranking went down to world no. 8.

At the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open
2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open
The 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 26th edition of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, and was part of the Premier Series of the 2009 WTA Tour...

 seeded seventh, Janković defeated Sabine Lisicki
Sabine Lisicki
Sabine Lisicki is a German professional tennis player of Polish background.Lisicki has won three WTA singles tournaments in her career and one doubles tournament . She reached the semifinals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and also reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships...

 and Elena Vesnina
Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeevna Vesnina is a professional female tennis player from Russia. Her career high rank was #22, achieved on 12 October 2009...

 in the second and third round, respectively, after receiving a first-round bye. She defeated Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....

 in the quarterfinals, 6–4, 6–3 and Li Na
Li Na (tennis)
Li Na , goes first before the equivalent of a first name in some other nations. Her name off court in China is Li Na. When listed on the , she is known as Na Li. However, in the match, the commentators call her Li Na, and when her full name is listed in text on court, it is also written as Li Na.;...

, 6–4, 6–3, in the semifinals. She faced Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...

 in the final and retired while behind 5–2 because of an arm injury. Because of her semifinal appearance, Janković received a first-round bye in Beijing
2009 China Open - Women's Singles
Jelena Janković was the defending champion, but lost in the second round against Peng Shuai.Svetlana Kuznetsova won in the final 6–2, 6–4, against Agnieszka Radwańska....

. She lost her opening match to home favorite Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai is a Chinese professional female tennis player. She won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games, defeating Akgul Amanmuradova in the final...

, 6-4, 5-7, 2-6.

Her next tournament was Moscow, where she was seeded second. This tournament was her last chance to qualify for Doha
2009 WTA Tour Championships
The 2009 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 27 to November 1. It was the second time the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships.Women's Tennis Association rank No...

. She was in a battle for the last available spot at Doha, along with Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

 and Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Radwanska
Agnieszka Radwańska is a WTA Tour Polish tennis player.Her career high singles ranking is World No. 8, which she achieved on 22 February 2010. As of 24 October 2011, she is ranked World No. 8. In 2007, Radwańska became the first Polish player in history to claim a WTA Tour singles title when she...

. However, things worked in her favor, as both Zvonareva and Radwańska fell in their early rounds, making Janković the last player to qualify for Doha. Janković lost her first match to Azarenka, 2-6, 3-6, but bounced backm defeating Safinam 1–1, retm and Wozniackim 6–2, 6–2m to clinch the first berth in her group. In her second year-end championship semifinalm she lost to Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

, 5-7, 3-6, 4-6. She ended the year ranked no. 8 and with a 46–19 record.

2010

Janković started the 2010 season in Sydney. She lost in the first round to Ágnes Szávay
Ágnes Szávay
Ágnes Szávay is a professional tennis player from Hungary. She is the country's highest ranked tennis player. She was the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2007. She achieved her career high ranking of World No. 13 on April 14, 2008.- Background :...

, 7–5, 1–6, 5–7, having been seeded seventh for the tournament. During the Australian Open, Janković, seeded eighth, defeated opponents Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu is a Romanian tennis player. As of October 24, 2011 she is ranked No. 29 at the WTA Tour Singles Ranking. Her highest WTA ranking is currently her present ranking in singles, reached on 24 Oct 2011, and No. 24 in doubles, reached on June 7, 2010.Niculescu was born in Slatina,...

 and Katie O'Brien
Katie O'Brien
Katie Jill O'Brien is an English former professional tennis player from Beverley, Yorkshire. She was briefly the British No. 1 tennis player...

 in straight sets, before losing to 31st seed Alona Bondarenko in the third round.

Next, Janković represented Serbia in the 2010 Fed Cup
2010 Fed Cup
The 2010 Fed Cup was the 48th edition of the tournament between national teams in women's tennis. The final took place on 6–7 November in San Diego, United States. Italy successfully defended their title, in a rematch of the 2009 final against the United States...

. In her first match, she rallied from 4–6, 1–4 down to defeat Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Mikhaelovna Kleybanova is a Russian professional tennis player. Her highest WTA world ranking to date is No. 20, achieved on February 21, 2010...

, 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. In her next Fed Cup match, she defeated reigning French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...

, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3. In the deciding doubles match, she partnered with Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

. Ivanović and Janković fell to Kuznetsova and Kleybanova. Her next scheduled tournament was the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships
2010 Dubai Tennis Championships
The 2010 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships was a 500 Series event on the 2010 ATP World Tour and a Premier 5 event on the 2010 WTA Tour. Both of the events took place at The Aviation Club Tennis Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates...

. Having a first-round bye, she defeated Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...

, 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. She then lost to Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

 in the third round, causing her ranking to fall to no. 9 in the world.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Monterrey Open
2010 Monterrey Open
The 2010 Monterrey Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the second edition of the Monterrey Open and was categorized as an International tournament on the 2009 WTA Tour. It took place at the Sierra Madre Tennis Club in Monterrey, Mexico, from March 1 through March 7,...

, where she was the top seed. She fell in the first round. Next, she traveled to Indian Wells, California for the 2010 BNP Paribas Open
2010 BNP Paribas Open
The 2010 BNP Paribas Open was a tennis tournament played at Indian Wells, California in March 2010. It was the 36th edition of the event, known this year as the BNP Paribas Open, and is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2010 ATP World Tour and a Premier Mandatory event on...

. At the tournament, she was seeded sixth and defeated Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...

, 6–2, 6–4, to take her 12th title.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open
2010 Sony Ericsson Open
The 2010 Sony Ericsson Open , was a tennis tournament for men and women held from March 22 to April 4, 2010. It was the 26th edition of the Miami Masters event and is played on outdoor hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, located near Miami...

, where she was seeded seventh. In the fourth round, she lost to Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...

, 1–6, 6–7(9), ending her eight-match winning streak.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Family Circle Cup
2010 Family Circle Cup
The 2010 Family Circle Cup was a women's tennis event on the 2010 WTA Tour, which took place from April 12 to April 18. The event was hosted at the Family Circle Tennis Center, in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It was the second and last event of the clay court season played on green clay...

, where she was seeded second. She lost in the quarterfinals to Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...

.

At the Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...

 qualifying, Janković defeated Slovakia's Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková is a Slovak professional tennis player. On June 22, 2009, she achieved her career-high WTA singles ranking of 40th.-Biography:...

 in her first singles match, but fell to Hantuchová in her second. Janković and Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski is a Serbian tennis player. As of 24 October 2011, Jovanovski is ranked World No. 56 and is the third highest ranked Serbian player, after World No. 14 Jelena Janković and No. 26 Ana Ivanović...

 then fell to Rybáriková and Hantuchová in the deciding doubles match.

Janković was the fourth seed at the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix was a tennis tournament played on indoor clay courts. It was the 33rd edition of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and was part of the Premier tournaments of the 2010 WTA Tour. It took place at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Germany, from April 24 through May 2, 2010...

. She lost against Justine Henin in the quarterfinals, 6–3 6–7(4) 3–6, for the tenth time in a row.

Janković was the seventh seed at the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia
2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia
The 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia was a tennis tournament, being played on outdoor clay courts at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. It was the 67th edition of the event and was classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2010 ATP World Tour and a Premier 5 event on the 2010 WTA Tour...

. In the quarterfinals, she produced one of her most polished performances to thrash fourth seed Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

, 6–0, 6–1, with Williams suffering her heaviest loss in her career, having never won fewer than two games in a match. She then beat reigning world no. 1 Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 in the semifinals, after saving a match point and later being down 5–2 in the final set tie-breaker, 4–6, 6–3, 7–6(5), in 2 hour and 47 minutes. As a result of defeating these two opponents, she became one of the few women in the history of women's tennis to defeat both Williams sisters in the same tournament and the first player who beat both sisters in less than 24 hours in one tournament. However, she was then shocked by unseeded María José Martínez Sánchez
María José Martínez Sánchez
María José Martínez Sánchez is a Spanish professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, the 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, the 2009 Swedish Open, the Premier 5 event, 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, the 2011 Gastein Ladies and the 2011 Hansol Korea Open. She...

 and lost in the final, 6–7(5), 5–7. Nevertheless, her ranking increased to world no. 4.

Seeded seventh, Janković received a first-round bye at the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
The 2010 Madrid Masters was played on outdoor clay courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain from May 7 – May 16. It was the 9th edition of the event on the ATP and 2nd on the WTA...

 and defeated compatriot Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

, 4–6, 6–4, 6–1, in the second round, after being down 4–6, 0–2. She lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...

, 5–7, 4–6.

Janković's next tournament was 2010 French Open
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...

, where she was seeded fourth. In the first round, she defeated Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik is a Australian professional female tennis player. She reached a career high singles rank of number 8 and also won a bronze medal for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Molik also reached a career high doubles ranking of number 6, and won two grand slam doubles titles, at the...

, 6–0, 6–4, then Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi is an Estonian professional tennis player. Her career-high ranking is world no. 16 reached on 14 February 2011....

, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4, in the second round, and then Alona Bondarenko in the third round, 6–4, 7–6(3). In the fourth round, she defeated Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...

, 6–4, 6–2, who had already defeated Janković twice that year on clay. In the quarterfinals, Janković defeated Yaroslava Shvedova
Yaroslava Shvedova
Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova is a Kazakhstani professional tennis player of Russian descent. She has achieved a career high ranking of No. 29 as of 21 June 2010. She has won 1 WTA singles title, 3 ITF Women's Circuit singles titles and 3 doubles titles, including the 2010 Wimbledon and US...

, 7–5, 6–4, for a spot in her third semifinal at Roland Garros. Her run ended in the semifinals to Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...

, 1-6, 2-6. Two weeks later, her ranking increased to world no. 3.

Janković then played in the 2010 Wimbledon Championships
2010 Wimbledon Championships
The 2010 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament ran from Monday 21 June until Sunday 4 July 2010. It was the 124th staging of the Wimbledon Championships, and the third Grand...

, where she was seeded fourth. She defeated hometown favorite Laura Robson
Laura Robson
Laura Robson is a British tennis player. She debuted on the International Tennis Federation junior tour in 2007, and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls' Championship at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached the final of the Australian Open, in 2009 and 2010. She won her...

, 6–3, 7–6, in the first round and Aleksandra Wozniak
Aleksandra Wozniak
Aleksandra Wozniak is a Canadian professional tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005. Wozniak achieved a career-best ranking of no. 21 on June 22, 2009, making her the fourth-highest ranked Canadian singles player of all time. She has won one WTA and eight ITF tournaments...

 in the second round in three sets, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, after being down 0–2 in the final set. She then beat 28th seed Alona Bondarenko, 6–0, 6–3, in their third meeting at a Grand Slam that year. Struggling with injuries, Janković retired trailing 21st seed Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

 in the fourth round, 1-6, 0-3. Although she retired in the fourth round, her ranking increased to world no. 2.

Janković defeated fellow Serb Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski is a Serbian tennis player. As of 24 October 2011, Jovanovski is ranked World No. 56 and is the third highest ranked Serbian player, after World No. 14 Jelena Janković and No. 26 Ana Ivanović...

, 6–3, 6–3 in the first round of the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open
2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open
The 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 5th edition of the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, and was part of the WTA International tournaments of the 2010 WTA Tour...

, but had to retire in her next match against Anastasiya Yakimova
Anastasiya Yakimova
Anastasiya Yakimova is a female tennis player from Belarus. She made it to the third round of the 2007 Australian Open, defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan, a seeded player, on the way in the second round.-2009:...

 due to twisting her ankle while leading 6–1, 2–0, and ultimately retired at 6–1, 3–6, 0–1.

She then traveled to San Diego to play in the 2010 Southern California Open, where she was the top seed. Due to her seeding, she received a bye to the second round, but fell to Russia's Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Mikhaelovna Kleybanova is a Russian professional tennis player. Her highest WTA world ranking to date is No. 20, achieved on February 21, 2010...

, 5–7, 2–6, despite leading 4–0 in the first set and also having three set points in the first set.

Janković then traveled to Cincinnati for the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, where she was the top seed and defending champion. Due to her seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she defeated Vera Dushevina
Vera Dushevina
Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina is a Russian professional female tennis player. She was born in Moscow but now resides in Khimki, Russia. In 2006, she privately amended the presentation of her surname so as to be more English language friendly, adopting Dushevina in place of Douchevina which is a...

, 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. In the third round, Janković failed to defend her title, as she had a shocking upset to Akgul Amanmuradova
Akgul Amanmuradova
Akgul Amanmuradova is a professional female tennis player from Uzbekistan.In 2005, she reached her first ever WTA singles final in Tashkent, the capital of her home country. In the final she lost to 16-year old Michaëlla Krajicek of the Netherlands...

. This caused her ranking to fall to world no. 3. Janković then entered the 2010 Rogers Cup
2010 Rogers Cup
The 2010 Canada Masters was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Canada. It was the 121st edition of the Canada Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2010 WTA Tour...

 as the top seed. After receiving a bye in the first round, she was upset by Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová is a professional tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of 7 and turned professional in 1998 in Prague. She has won two WTA Tour events and one Grand Slam in mixed doubles partnering with Jürgen Melzer at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships.-2006–2008:In the 2006 Australian...

, 6-73, 3-6, in the second round. Due to her early exit, her ranking dropped to no. 5.

Janković then traveled to New York to play in the 2010 US Open
2010 US Open (tennis)
The 2010 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, held from August 30 to September 13, 2010 in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York City, United States....

, where she was seeded fourth. In the first round, she defeated Simona Halep
Simona Halep
Simona Halep is a world top-50 tennis player playing on the ITF Women's Circuit and the WTA Tour, and is currently the number-two ranked women's tennis player in Romania.-Career:...

, 6–4, 4–6, 7–5, and defeated Mirjana Lučić
Mirjana Lucic
Mirjana Lučić is a Croatian professional tennis player. She enjoyed a promising career on the WTA Tour in the late 1990s, during which she set several "youngest-ever" records, won one Grand Slam women's doubles title at the Australian Open in 1998 when she was only 15 years old, partnering Martina...

 in the second round, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2. She was defeated by Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi is an Estonian professional tennis player. Her career-high ranking is world no. 16 reached on 14 February 2011....

 in the third round, 2-6, 6-7(1). Had she won the US Open, she would have once again become the no. 1 player in the world.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open
2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open
The 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 27th edition of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, and was part of the Premier Series of the 2010 WTA Tour...

, where was seeded third and was the runner-up the previous year. Due to her seeding, she received a bye in the first round and defeated Alona Bondarenko, 6–4, 6–1, in the second round. In the third round, she lost for the second straight time to Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi is an Estonian professional tennis player. Her career-high ranking is world no. 16 reached on 14 February 2011....

, 4-6, 4-6. She then traveled to China to play in the 2010 China Open
2010 China Open (tennis)
The 2010 China Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 12th edition of the China Open, and is part of the ATP 500 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2010 WTA Tour...

, where she was seeded third. In the first round, she defeated Klára Zakopalová, 7–5, 7–5, but eventually fell in the third round against fellow Serbian player Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski
Bojana Jovanovski is a Serbian tennis player. As of 24 October 2011, Jovanovski is ranked World No. 56 and is the third highest ranked Serbian player, after World No. 14 Jelena Janković and No. 26 Ana Ivanović...

 in three sets, 6–4, 2–6, 2–6.

Despite her recent slump, Janković still qualified for the 2010 WTA Tour Championships
2010 WTA Tour Championships
The 2010 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 26 to October 31. It was the third and final time that the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships. In 2011 the competition will move to Istanbul, Turkey.Serena Williams...

 as the sixth seed. Her next tournament was the 2010 Kremlin Cup
2010 Kremlin Cup
The 2010 Kremlin Cup was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 21st edition of the Kremlin Cup, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2010 WTA Tour...

, where she was the top seed. Due to her seeding, she received a bye to the second round, where her bad form continued as she fell to Kazakhstani qualifier Zarina Diyas
Zarina Diyas
Zarina Diyas is a professional Kazakhstani tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 194, which she reached on July 5, 2010. Despite her young age, she has had some success on the WTA Tour...

, 1-6, 2-6.

Janković's final event of the year was the 2010 WTA Tour Championships
2010 WTA Tour Championships
The 2010 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 26 to October 31. It was the third and final time that the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships. In 2011 the competition will move to Istanbul, Turkey.Serena Williams...

, where she qualified for the fourth consecutive year, as the sixth seed. She was placed in the White Group, consisting of second seed Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

, third seed Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....

, and eighth seed Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Her career high and current ranking is world no. 3, which she first achieved on 12 September 2011. She became the highest-ranked Belarusian player ever, surpassing Natasha Zvereva by two spots....

. After losing her opening match to Zvonareva, Janković reportedly collapsed in the locker room. She was advised to go to hospital, but refused and came out to play Clijsters the next day and lost the match. Janković's time in Doha came to an end when she lost her third and final group match to Azerenka. This loss, again in straight sets, meant that she had lost her last 10 sets of tennis played, bring an end to her 2010 season.

On November 30, Janković played a humanitarian match in Pionir Hall
Pionir Hall
Pionir Hall, or Pionir Arena is a sports arena in Belgrade, Serbia, located in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula...

. Revenue from tickets was intended to help elementary school in Kraljevo
Kraljevo
Kraljevo is a city and municipality in central Serbia, built beside the river Ibar, 7 km west of its confluence with the Western Morava. It is located in the midst of an upland valley, between the mountains of Kotlenik in the north, and Stolovi in the south.In 2011 the city has population of...

 damaged by an earthquake
2010 Serbia earthquake
The 2010 Serbia earthquake occurred on 3 November 2010 just several kilometers from Kraljevo, in central Serbia. The earthquake had magnitude of 5.3 and was felt across the country. including the capital, Belgrade, as well as in several neighboring countries. Two people were killed and over 100...

.

2011

At the start of the year, Janković announced her decision to work with Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Romania. He is currently coaching former world No. 1 and the current world No. 15 of the WTA, Jelena Janković.-Career:...

 on a trial basis.

She began 2011 by falling in the first round to France's Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...

 in three sets at the Medibank International Sydney
2011 Medibank International Sydney
The 2011 Medibank International Sydney was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 119th edition of the Medibank International Sydney, and part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2011 ATP World Tour, and of the WTA Premier tournaments of the 2011 WTA Tour...

. Her poor form continued at the Australian Open
2011 Australian Open
The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions, and part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour, as tournaments for professional, junior and wheelchair players were held...

, losing in the second round against Shuai Peng, 6-7(7–3), 3-6, after defeating the Russian Alla Kudryavtseva
Alla Kudryavtseva
Alla Alexandrovna Kudryavtseva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She currently lives in Moscow, where she is coached by Nick Rybakov...

 in the first round.

Despite a dismal start to the season, Janković did well to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...

, beating Kaia Kanepi and fourth seed Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...

. However, she lost to Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...

 in the semifinal, 5-7, 3-6, despite having a 4–0 head-to-head against her, as well as having four set points in the first set. She attributed the defeat to tiredness.

Up next for Jankovic was the Qatar Ladies Open. She reached the semifinals again, losing to Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...

, 1–6, 6–2, 4–6. The Russian had then beaten the Serb in their last five meetings. She then reached the final of the Monterrey Open
2011 Monterrey Open
The 2011 Monterrey Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the third edition of the Monterrey Open and was categorized as an International tournament on the 2011 WTA Tour...

, where she was defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova is a Russian professional tennis player and a multiple junior Grand Slam champion. Her career-high rank of World No. 13 was achieved on 4 July 2011. From July 2007 to September 2009 she was coached at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France...

, 6–2, 2–6, 3–6, despite being up a set. Indian Wells Masters
Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....

 was next for Jankovic, where she is the defending champion. She was given a bye in the first round and defeated the American wildcard, Coco Vandeweghe
Coco Vandeweghe
Coco Vandeweghe is an American professional tennis player. She played on the junior circuit, where she reached a high ranking of junior world no. 15, but is gradually playing more senior tournaments. She won the 2008 US Open Girls' singles championship.She made her WTA debut in Los Angeles, and...

, 6–2, 6–1, in the second. She then defeated German Julia Görges
Julia Görges
Julia Görges is a professional tennis player from Germany. Görges reached career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 16 on 6 June 2011 and a doubles ranking of 31 on 6 June 2011...

, 6–2, 6–4, in the third round. She was defeated by Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

 in the fourth round, 4–6, 2–6.

Jankovic's next tournament was the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she was the sixth seed. She received a bye in the first round and defeated Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu is a Romanian tennis player. As of October 24, 2011 she is ranked No. 29 at the WTA Tour Singles Ranking. Her highest WTA ranking is currently her present ranking in singles, reached on 24 Oct 2011, and No. 24 in doubles, reached on June 7, 2010.Niculescu was born in Slatina,...

, 6–3, 6–1, and then defeated Klára Zakopalová, 7–5, 6–1, to advance to the fourth round. She then defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues , better known as Anabel Medina, is a Spanish female tennis player. She reached a career high WTA Tour ranking of No. 16 on 4 May 2009, and has won 11 singles titles and 14 doubles titles, including the 2008 French Open and 2009 French Open with Virginia Ruano Pascual...

, 6–1, 6–3, for a spot in the quarterfinals. She lost to Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic is a professional German tennis player of Serbian origin. She is the highest ranked German tennis player. She lives in Griesheim near Darmstadt, Germany....

 in the quarterfinals, 6–2, 2–6, 4–6, despite leading 4–2 in the final set.

Jankovic's next tournament is Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...

 in Charleston. After receiving bye in the first round, she defeated Tamira Paszek
Tamira Paszek
Tamira Shelah Paszek is a professional tennis player from Austria. As of July 4, 2011, she is the no.1 ranked tennis player from Austria in the WTA ranking, at No. 41....

 in two sets, 6–2, 6–3. She next defeated Chanelle Scheepers
Chanelle Scheepers
Chanelle Scheepers is a South African professional tennis player. Her career high WTA singles ranking is No. 37, which she reached on 10 October 2011. Her career high doubles ranking is 91, set at 30 August 2010....

, 6–2, 6–2. Jelena easily dispatched Christina McHale
Christina McHale
Christina McHale is a professional American tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is No. 45, and in doubles it is No. 171. McHale has beaten numerous top WTA tour players, including current world no...

, 6–2, 6–0, in the quarterfinals. She lost in the semifinals to world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...

, 4-6, 4-6.

She then played in the Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...

 against Slovakia. She appeared on Sunday's singles match against Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...

, which she won, 6–2, 3–6, 7–5, despite being down 3–1 in the third set. Later on, she won an epic doubles match with Aleksandra Krunic
Aleksandra Krunić
Aleksandra Krunić is a Serbian professional tennis player, who is, as of October 03 2011, ranked No. 213. Krunić has won six ITF events — five in singles and one in doubles....

 against Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top 10.She is currently coached by Larri Passos...

 and Magdalena Rybarikova
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková is a Slovak professional tennis player. On June 22, 2009, she achieved her career-high WTA singles ranking of 40th.-Biography:...

, 2–6, 7–5, 9–7, despite being down, 6–2, 5–1 (30–0) and saving three match points. With this, Serbia was placed in World Group I again.

Her next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...

. She was seeded seventh and faced Beatriz Garcia Vidagany
Beatriz García Vidagany
Beatriz García Vidagany is a Spanish tennis player. She reached a career high ranking of 166 in singles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on June 7, 2010.-Singles Activity:2010...

 in the first round; she won, 6–1, 6–2. In the second round, she was defeated by Germany's Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic is a professional German tennis player of Serbian origin. She is the highest ranked German tennis player. She lives in Griesheim near Darmstadt, Germany....

, 6–3, 1–6, 3–6. Next up for Jankovic was the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. She drew Spanish wildcard Laura Pous-Tio in the first round; Jankovic won comprehensively, 6–2, 6–0. She lost to Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafárová
Lucie Šafářová is a professional Czech tennis player. She was born in Brno.Šafářová has won four WTA tour singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, upsetting defending champion Amélie Mauresmo en-route...

 in the second round, 4–6, 6–4, 5–7.

However, at 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia
2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia
The 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia was a tennis tournament, being played on outdoor clay courts at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. It was the 68th edition of the event and was classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2011 ATP World Tour and a Premier 5 event on the 2011 WTA Tour...

, Jelena got her revenge beating the Czech player, 6–0, 6–3. Jelena won the first nine games of the match, before Safarova won a single game. She then defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues , better known as Anabel Medina, is a Spanish female tennis player. She reached a career high WTA Tour ranking of No. 16 on 4 May 2009, and has won 11 singles titles and 14 doubles titles, including the 2008 French Open and 2009 French Open with Virginia Ruano Pascual...

 in the third round, 6–4, 2–6, 6–2. She lost to world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...

 in the quarterfinals, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, for the third time in a row. Her ranking dropped to no. 10, the lowest it had been since the beginning of 2007.

Her next tournament was the Brussels Ladies Open. In the first round, she defeated Anastasia Rodionova, 6–2, 6–3, but lost in the second round to Sofia Arvidsson
Sofia Arvidsson
Lena Sofia Alexandra Arvidsson is a Swedish tennis player. As of May 9, 2011, she is ranked World No. 77. Her highest career ranking is World No. 29.-Biography:...

, 6–3, 3–6, 3–6.

Jankovic was the tenth seed at the 2011 French Open
2011 French Open
The 2011 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 110th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...

. In the first round, she defeated Alona Bondarenko, 6–3, 6–1. She then went on to defeat Vera Dushevina
Vera Dushevina
Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina is a Russian professional female tennis player. She was born in Moscow but now resides in Khimki, Russia. In 2006, she privately amended the presentation of her surname so as to be more English language friendly, adopting Dushevina in place of Douchevina which is a...

 in the second round, 6–3, 6–2. In the third round, she defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6–2, 6–2. Jankovic then fell to fifth seed and defending champion Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...

, 3–6, 6–2, 4–6. As a result, she dropped out of top 10 for the first time since early 2007, with her position being no. 15.

Jankovic was the 15th seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships
2011 Wimbledon Championships
The 2011 Wimbledon Championships took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, from 20 June to 3 July 2011. It was the 125th edition of the championships, and the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. It was played on grass courts and was part of the...

, but lost to María José Martínez Sánchez
María José Martínez Sánchez
María José Martínez Sánchez is a Spanish professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, the 2009 Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, the 2009 Swedish Open, the Premier 5 event, 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, the 2011 Gastein Ladies and the 2011 Hansol Korea Open. She...

 in the first round, her first opening-round exit in a Grand Slam since the 2005 French Open
2005 French Open
The 2005 French Open was the 104th edition of the tournament. Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth in his first French Open, was a strong favorite after winning the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters, with Guillermo Coria, a 2004 finalist and runner-up in Monaco, calling Nadal the best clay-court player in the...

.

Her next tournament was 2011 Rogers Cup
2011 Rogers Cup
The 2011 Canada Masters was a tennis tournament to be played on outdoor hard courts in Canada. It was the 122nd edition of the Canada Masters, and was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the 2011 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2011 WTA Tour...

, where she fell in the first round to Julia Georges, 1–6, 3–6.

Jankovic was seeded 13th at the 2011 Western & Southern Open
2011 Western & Southern Open
The 2011 Cincinnati Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati, United States. The tournament was a joint men's and women's event, with six new courts being built for the tournament...

, where she defeated Iveta Benesova
Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová is a professional tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of 7 and turned professional in 1998 in Prague. She has won two WTA Tour events and one Grand Slam in mixed doubles partnering with Jürgen Melzer at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships.-2006–2008:In the 2006 Australian...

, 6–0, 6–3, Jie Zheng, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1, and Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...

, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4, to reach the quarterfinals. She secured a spot in the semifinals in a walkover when Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai is a Chinese professional female tennis player. She won a gold medal at the 2010 Asian Games, defeating Akgul Amanmuradova in the final...

 withdrew with injury. She defeated Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic is a professional German tennis player of Serbian origin. She is the highest ranked German tennis player. She lives in Griesheim near Darmstadt, Germany....

 in the semifinal, 7–6(4), 6–1. However, Jankovic lost to Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...

, 6–4, 6–7(3), 3–6. Her improved form was the result of hiring Ricardo Sanchez as her coach again, who once helped her to achieve the world no.1 spot.

She reached the third round at the US Open, losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova is a Russian professional tennis player and a multiple junior Grand Slam champion. Her career-high rank of World No. 13 was achieved on 4 July 2011. From July 2007 to September 2009 she was coached at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France...

, 4-6, 4-6. She reached the semifinals of the 2011 Generali Ladies Linz
2011 Generali Ladies Linz
The 2011 Generali Ladies Linz is a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is the 25th edition of the Generali Ladies Linz, and part of the WTA International tournaments of the 2011 WTA Tour...

 tournament, falling to Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová is a Czech professional tennis player. She has won seven WTA singles titles. As of 31 October 2011, she is ranked World No. 2. Kvitová won the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and the 2011 WTA Tour Championships singles titles...

, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6.

Playing style

Jelena Janković is often regarded as a counterpuncher. Jelena is known for being able to slide effectively on all surfaces. Janković has very consistent ground strokes and prefers to go down the line more often than crosscourt. Her signature shot is her two-handed backhand
Backhand
The backhand is a tennis shot in which one swings the racquet around one's body in the direction where one wants the ball to go, usually performed from the baseline or as an approach shot. The term is also used in other racquet sports, and other areas where a similar motion is employed...

. She also has a decent forehand
Forehand
The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racquet across one's body in the direction of where the player wants to place the shot...

 and a fair net game, being able to hit effective drive, drop and swinging volleys. Her main weakness is her serve. She likes to spin it in on the first and second serve which can lead to her getting broken many times in matches. Her weakest surface is considered grass and her best surface is fast hard court where she can use her defense and speed to win matches.

Personal life

Janković was the subject of the 2008 autobiographical documentary, Jelenin svet
Jelenin svet
Jelenin svet is a 2008 film, the documentary about former World No. 1 female tennis player, Jelena Janković. Jankovic portrayed herself in the film, which is directed by Tanja Brzaković.-Plot:...

 (Jelena's World), featuring Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...

, Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

, Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...

 and other notable players.

On December 5, 2007, Janković became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, for Children's Fund. "I am happy to have become a UNICEF ambassador for Serbia. This is a great honour for me and I will try to justify the role that has been given to me", she said. Janković is the second Serbian tennis star to have volunteered to help promote the rights of children and collect funds for UNICEF after Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

 became an ambassador in September.

Endorsements

Leading Chinese sportswear brand, ANTA sports
Anta Sports
Anta Sports Products Limited is a branded sportswear company in China. It involves the business of designing, developing, manufacture and marketing sportswear, including sports footwear, apparel and accessory under its own brand name, ANTA...

, announced it has secured one of the biggest deals in women's tennis by signing Janković to exclusively wear their sports apparel, shoes and accessories world-wide.The ANTA design team from the US and Japan has worked closely with Jelena to develop a Jelena Janković range of sports products under the JJ brand. The range reflects the style and fashion of Jelena Janković while offering the performance required by the number one tennis player in the world. The partnership with Janković marks a historic deal. ANTA is the first Chinese sports brand to align with a world number one female tennis player as part of their vision to grow its presence in tennis. Before Janković had endorsed Reebok
Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German sportswear company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of Athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle...

 sportswear, and had her own line with them for her tournament wear. Janković also has an endorsement with Prince Sports
Prince Sports
Prince Sports, Inc., based in Bordentown, New Jersey, is a manufacturer of equipment for racquet sports, primarily for tennis, badminton, and squash....

 and now uses the Prince O3 Speedport Pro White Racquet after formerly using the Prince O3 Red Racquet. She now uses the Prince EXO3 Black. She is the face of the Serbian fashion design company Mona with her own line of clothing. Janković recently signed up to endorse Aqua Viva Hydroactive Water. Her picture will appear on the bottles for a limited time and she will now feature in a TV advertisement. She is also Face of new Orbit endorsement.

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2008
2008 U.S. Open - Women's Singles
Justine Henin was the defending champion, but retired from the sport on May 14, 2008.Serena Williams won in the final 6–4, 7–5, against Jelena Janković.-Seeds:# Ana Ivanović # Jelena Janković # Svetlana Kuznetsova ...

 
US Open  Hard   Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 
6–4, 7–5

Mixed doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 2007
2007 Wimbledon Championships - Mixed Doubles
The mixed doubles event at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships was held over six rounds of competition. The final took place on July 8 with unseeded pair Jamie Murray and Jelena Janković defeating fifth-seeds Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik in three sets...

 
Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

 
Grass   Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray
Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...

 
  Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik is a Australian professional female tennis player. She reached a career high singles rank of number 8 and also won a bronze medal for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Molik also reached a career high doubles ranking of number 6, and won two grand slam doubles titles, at the...


  Jonas Björkman
Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships....

 
6–4, 3–6, 6–1

Grand Slam record

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2011 US Open
2011 US Open (tennis)
The 2011 US Open was a tennis tournament played on the outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States...

.
Tournament2000
2000 WTA Tour
The 2000 Sanex WTA Tour was the 28th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 3, 2000, and concluded on November 13, 2000, after 58 events. For this season, a new event was added: the State Farm Classic in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S...

2001
2001 WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier IV and Tier V events...

2002
2002 WTA Tour
The 2002 Sanex WTA Tour was the 30th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on December 31, 2001, and concluded on November 11, 2002, after 64 events....

2003
2003 WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association . The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, Tier IV and Tier V events...

2004
2004 WTA Tour
The 2004 WTA Tour was the 32nd season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2004, and concluded on November 13, 2004, after 60 events....

200520062007
2007 WTA Tour
The 2007 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 35th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 1, 2007, and concluded on November 11, 2007 after 61 events. Two new events were added to the schedule for the 2007 season: the Barcelona KIA and Gastein Ladies. It also...

2008
2008 WTA Tour
The 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 36th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on December 31, 2007, and concluded on November 9, 2008 after 59 events.The season was characterised by its frequent changes in the No...

2009
2009 WTA Tour
The 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 37th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2009, and concluded on November 8, 2009 after 56 events....

2010
2010 WTA Tour
The Women's Tennis Association Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the WTA. The 2010 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the WTA Premier tournaments , the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup , and the year-end...

2011
2011 WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is the elite tour for women's professional tennis organized by the Women's Tennis Association . The 2011 WTA Tour includes the Grand Slam tournaments , the WTA Premier tournaments, the WTA International tournaments, the Fed Cup , the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, and the WTA...

SRW–L
Australian Open
Australian Open
The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court...

A A A 2R 2R 2R 2R 4R SF 4R 3R
2010 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Serena Williams defended her title after winning 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 against Justine Henin in the final.-Seeds:# Serena Williams # Dinara Safina ...

2R
2011 Australian Open – Women's Singles
Serena Williams was the defending champion, but could not defend her title due to a foot injury sustained in the middle of the 2010 season.Kim Clijsters won her first Australian Open title and fourth Grand Slam overall by beating Li Na 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the final match...

0 / 9 18–9
French Open A A A LQ 1R 1R 3R SF SF 4R
2009 French Open – Women's Singles
Ana Ivanović was the defending champion, but lost in the fourth round to Victoria Azarenka.Svetlana Kuznetsova won in the final 6–4, 6–2, against Dinara Safina in 74 minutes. It was the third all-Russian final in Grand Slam history, and the first since 2004...

SF
2010 French Open – Women's Singles
Svetlana Kuznetsova was the defending champion, but lost in the third round to Maria Kirilenko.Francesca Schiavone defeated Samantha Stosur 6–4, 7–6 in the final and became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam tournament.-Seeds:...

4R
2011 French Open – Women's Singles
Francesca Schiavone was the defending champion, but lost in the final to Li Na, 6–4, 7–6, making Li the first Asian and Chinese Grand Slam singles champion.-Seeds:# Caroline Wozniacki # Kim Clijsters ...

0 / 8 23–8
Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

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2010 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles
The Women's Singles event at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships saw defending champion and top seed Serena Williams successfully defend her title with a 6–3, 6–2 win over Vera Zvonareva in the final, whilst failing to lose a set throughout the entire tournament...

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2011 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles
Serena Williams was the two-time defending champion, but lost to 2007 finalist Marion Bartoli in the fourth round.For the first time since 1913, all eight quarter-finalists were European....

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2010 US Open – Women's Singles
Kim Clijsters was the defending champion, and successfully defended her 2009 title, after she won 6–2, 6–1, against Vera Zvonareva in the final. This match lasted only one hour.-Seeds:# Caroline Wozniacki # Kim Clijsters ...

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2011 US Open – Women's Singles
Kim Clijsters was the two-time defending champion, but withdrew due to an abdominal injury.Ninth seed Samantha Stosur won her first Grand Slam championship, defeating the favourite Serena Williams, a three-time US Open champion and the 28th seed, 6–2, 6–3 in the final...

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Awards

2002
  • Junior Sports Girl of the Year In Yugoslavia

2004
  • Best Tennis Player In Serbia

2006
  • WTA Most Improved Player of the Year
  • Best Tennis Player In Serbia

2007
  • WTA Tour ACES Award
  • National Tennis Association Award Best Female Player
  • Best Female Tennis Player In Serbia

2008
  • ITF Women's Singles World Champion
  • Status Magazine's The Personality of the Year
  • Best European Award
  • AIPS Best Third Athlete
  • Best Female Tennis Player In Serbia

2009
  • Guinness Book of World Records In Making a Photo-Mosaic
  • Oscar Of Popularity Best Female Athlete
  • Best Female Tennis Player In Serbia

2010
  • Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award
  • Oscar Of Popularity Best Female Athlete
  • Best Female Tennis Player In Serbia

See also

  • Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)
    Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)
    This article presents in a tabular form the career tennis Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships and Olympic singles results of every woman who has reached the singles final of at least one Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships or Olympic tournament during her career...

  • Serbia Fed Cup team
    Serbia Fed Cup team
    The Serbian Fed Cup team represents Serbia in Fed Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Serbia Tennis Federation. They currently compete in the World Group.-Current team:-Before 1992:...

  • List of Wimbledon Mixed Doubles champions
  • List of WTA number 1 ranked players
  • ITF World Champions
  • World number one women tennis players
    World number one women tennis players
    -1883-1920 rankings:1883-1920 rankings are more variable in nature because of limited sourcing.-1921–present:More recent rankings are much better sourced.-See also:* List of WTA number 1 ranked players* World number one male tennis player rankings...

  • List of Grand Slam girls' singles champions
  • Jelenin svet
    Jelenin svet
    Jelenin svet is a 2008 film, the documentary about former World No. 1 female tennis player, Jelena Janković. Jankovic portrayed herself in the film, which is directed by Tanja Brzaković.-Plot:...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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