Name	Polsat Warsaw Open
Logo	Polsat Warsaw Open.jpg
Logo size	200px
City	Warsaw
Country
Tier	Premier
Venue	Legia Tennis Centre
Surface	Clay / Outdoors
Draw	32M/32Q/16D
Prize money	$600,000
Web site	www.pwo.polsat.pl

The Warsaw Open, formerly the J&S; Cup, is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Warsaw, Poland. Held since 1995, the tournament is played on outdoor clay courts. The event returned to the WTA Tour in 2009 after a year's hiatus.

Past finals

Singles

Doubles

See also

List of tennis tournaments

External links

Official website

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1995 Category:Sport in Warsaw

Playername	Venus Williams
Country	United States
Residence	Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, U.S.
Datebirth	June 17, 1980
Placebirth	Lynwood, California, U.S.
Height
Weight	83 kg (182 lbs)
Turnedpro	October 31, 1994
Retired
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$ 27,681,772(2nd all-time among female athletes)|
Singlesrecord	585–143 (80.5%)
Singlestitles	43 (tied-10th in overall rankings)
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (February 25, 2002)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 5 (October 25, 2010)
Australianopenresult	F (2003)
Frenchopenresult	F (2002)
Wimbledonresult	W (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008)
Usopenresult	W (2000, 2001)
Othertournaments	Yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2008)
Olympicsresult	Gold medal (2000)
Doublesrecord	149–23 (86.7%)
Doublestitles	19
Highestdoublesranking	No. 1 (June 7, 2010)
Currentdoublesranking	No. 4 (September 13, 2010)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	12
Australianopendoublesresult	W (2001, 2003, 2009, 2010)
Frenchopendoublesresult	W (1999, 2010)
Wimbledondoublesresult	W (2000, 2002, 2008, 2009)
Usopendoublesresult	W (1999, 2009)
Othertournamentsdoubles	Yes
Olympicsdoublesresult	Gold medal (2000, 2008)
Mixed	yes
Mixedtitles	2
Mixedrecord	25–6 (80.6%)
Highestmixedranking	1 (April 5, 1999)
Australianopenmixedresult	W (1998)
Frenchopenmixedresult	W (1998)
Wimbledonmixedresult	F (2006)
Usopenmixedresult	QF (1998)
Updated	September 14, 2009

USA }} Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 5 in singles and World No. 5 in doubles. In a career limited by numerous injuries, she is still considered to be one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time, she has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first African American woman to achieve the feat during the open era.

Williams is the reigning champion in women's doubles at the Australian Open and the French Open. Her 21 Grand Slam titles ties her for twelfth on the all time list and is more than any other active female player except for her younger sister Serena Williams: seven in singles, twelve in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Her seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her with four other women for twelfth on the all-time list. Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth on the all-time list. She is one of only three women in the open era to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships through the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held. She is one of only five women in the open era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches.

Williams has won three Olympic gold medals, one in singles and two in women's doubles. She has won more Olympic gold medals than any other female tennis player. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Williams became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody in 1924.

With 43 career singles titles, Williams along with Justine Henin leads active players on the WTA Tour. Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest winning streak since January 1, 2000.

Venus has played her sister Serena in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam singles finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they met in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together. She is also one of only three active WTA players to have made the finals of all four Grand Slams, the other two being her sister Serena Williams and Justine Henin. .

Early life

Williams was born in Lynwood, California to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. She is of African American heritage and is the second youngest of Oracene's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde (died September 14, 2003), Lyndrea and Isha Price, and younger sister and former World No. 1 tennis player Serena Williams. Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Williams was eleven, since he wanted them to take it slow and focus on school work. Another motivation was racial, as he had allegedly heard parents of white players talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments. At that time, Williams had a 63–0 record on the United States Tennis Association junior tour and was ranked No. 1 among under 12 players in Southern California. In 1995, Richard pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy, and from then on took over all coaching at their home.

Playing style

Williams is one of the most powerful and better baseliners on tour, equipped with an attacking all-court game. Her game is very well adapted to grass where she feels most comfortable, which is reflected in her five Wimbledon singles titles. Across her career, she has developed into a skillful volleyer and effectively utilizes her long "wingspan" (1.85m) and agility around the net. Williams also has great court coverage using her long reach to play balls that most players would not be able to reach and is capable of hitting outright winners from a defensive position.

She holds the record for the fastest serve struck by a woman in a main draw event. At the Zurich Open, she recorded . She also holds the record for fastest serve in all four Grand Slam tournaments: 2003 Australian Open quarterfinal – , 2007 French Open second round, 2008 Wimbledon final, 2007 US Open first round – . At Wimbledon in 2008, her average first serve speed was in the quarterfinal, in the semifinal, and in the final.

Williams has always been a explosive hitter of the ball off the ground, but her backhand is the more consistently reliable of her groundstrokes. Her backhand is equally effective down-the-line or crosscourt (frequently for a set-up approach shot). Her forehand occasionally breaks down under pressure. However, it is still the more powerful of her groundstrokes and yields many winners, from a variety of court positions. Additionally, it is one of the most powerful forehands in the women's game, frequently struck in the 85 – range. In the 2008 Wimbledon women's final, Venus struck a forehand winner measured at 94 mph (IBM/Wimbledon). Only a few women (notably Ivanović, Serena Williams, and Justine Henin) hit to these speeds off the ground.

Williams's best surface is grass. She has won Wimbledon five times and has reached the final there in eight of the last ten years. The low bounces that grass produces tend to make her first serve an even more powerful weapon. Her movement on grass is also among the best on the WTA tour. Clay is Williams's weakest surface although she has suffered numerous injuries prior to the French Open. Her movement is suspect and her powerful serve and groundstrokes are less effective. Still, she has won numerous titles on clay.

Professional career

1994–96: Professional debut

Already well-known in tennis circles at age 14, Williams turned professional on October 31, 1994. In the second round of her first professional tournament, the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, Williams was up a set and a service break against World No. 2 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario before losing the match. That was the only tournament Williams played in 1994.

In 1995, Williams played three more events as a wild card, falling in the first round of the tournament in Los Angeles and the tournament in Toronto but reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament in Oakland, defeating World No. 18 Amy Frazier in the second round for her first win over a top 20 ranked player before losing to Magdalena Maleeva.

Williams played five events in 1996, falling in the first round four times but reaching the third round in Los Angeles, losing to World No. 1 Steffi Graf 6–4, 6–4.

1997–99: Early success

Williams played 15 tour events in 1997, including five Tier I tournaments. She reached the quarterfinals in three of the Tier I events — the State Farm Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California, the European Indoor Championships in Zürich, and the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. In Indian Wells in March, Williams defeated World No. 9 Iva Majoli in the third round for her first win over a player ranked in the top 10. She then lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 8 Lindsay Davenport in a third set tiebreak. Her ranking broke into the top 100 on April 14, 1997. She made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open, reaching the second round before losing to Nathalie Tauziat. She then lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Magdalena Grzybowska. During her debut at the US Open, she lost the final to Martina Hingis 6–0, 6–4 after defeating Irina Spîrlea in a semifinal famous for "the bump" in which Spîrlea and Williams collided during a changeover. Richard Williams, her father, later claimed that this incident was racially motivated. She was the first woman since Pam Shriver in 1978 to reach a US Open singles final on her first attempt and was the first unseeded US Open women's singles finalist since 1958. On September 8, 1997, her ranking broke into the top 50 for the first time. She ended the year ranked World No. 22.

Williams started 1998 at the Medibank International Sydney, where she defeated World No. 1 Hingis for the first time in the second round before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final. These results caused her ranking to break into the top 20 for the first time, at World No. 16. During her debut at the Australian Open, Williams defeated younger sister Serena in the second round, which was the sisters' first professional meeting. Venus eventually lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 3 Davenport.

Three weeks later, Williams defeated World No. 2 Davenport for the first time in the semifinals of the IGA Tennis Classic in Oklahoma City. Williams then defeated Joannette Kruger in the final to win the first singles title of her career. In her first Tier I event of the year, Williams lost in the semifinals of the State Farm Evert Cup in Indian Wells to World No. 1 Hingis. The following week, Williams won the Tier I Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida, defeating World No. 1 Hingis in the semifinals. On March 30, 1998, her ranking broke into the top 10 for the first time, at World No. 10.

Williams played only one tournament on clay before the 1998 French Open. At the Italian Open in Rome, she defeated sister Serena in the quarterfinals and World No. 5 Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals before losing to World No. 1 Hingis in the final. Williams lost again to Hingis in the quarterfinals of the French Open 6–3, 6–4. Williams lost her first match at the Direct Line International Championships in Eastbourne on grass before losing to eventual champion and World No. 3 Jana Novotná in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 7–5, 7–6(2). On July 27, 1998, her ranking rose to World No. 5.

Williams played three tournaments during the North American 1998 summer hard court season. She reached her fifth final of the year at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, defeating World No. 6 Monica Seles in the semifinals before losing to World No. 1 Davenport. Patella tendinitis in her left knee caused her to retire from her quarterfinal match at the tournament in San Diego while trailing Mary Pierce 4–0 in the third set. At the US Open, Williams defeated fourth seeded Sánchez Vicario in the quarterfinals before losing to second seeded and eventual champion Davenport in the semifinals 6–4, 6–4.

Williams played four tournaments the remainder of 1998. She won her third title of the year at the Grand Slam Cup in Munich in September, defeating World No. 9 Patty Schnyder in the final. She lost in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt before losing in the final of the Tier I Swisscom Challenge in Zürich to World No. 1 Davenport and the semifinals of the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow to Pierce. She had earned enough points during the year to participate in the year-ending Chase Championship but withdrew from the tournament because of tendinitis in her knee. She finished the year ranked World No. 5.

In 1998, Williams teamed with Justin Gimelstob to win the mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and the French Open. Her sister Serena won the other two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles that year, completing a "Williams Family Mixed Doubles Grand Slam". Williams won the first two women's doubles titles of her career, in Oklahoma City and Zürich. Both titles came with sister Serena, becoming only the third pair of sisters to win a WTA tour doubles title.

Williams started the 1999 tour in Australia, where she lost to World No. 10 Steffi Graf in the quarterfinals of the Medibank International in Sydney and World No. 1 Davenport in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. However, she rebounded at the Faber Grand Prix in Hanover, defeating Graf for the first time in the semifinals before losing the final to World No. 3 Novotná. Williams then successfully defended her titles in both Oklahoma City and Key Biscayne. She defeated Novotná and Graf to reach the final in Key Biscayne, where she defeated Serena in three sets in the first final on the WTA Tour to be contested by two sisters.

Williams played four clay court events during the spring. She lost her first match at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. Three weeks later, however, she won her first title on clay at the Betty Barclay Cup in Hamburg, defeating Mary Pierce in the final. Williams then won the Tier I Italian Open in Rome, defeating World No. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and World No. 8 Pierce in the final. At the French Open, she extended her winning streak to 22 matches before losing in the fourth round to World No. 125 Barbara Schwartz. Williams teamed with Serena to win the women's doubles title at this event, the first Grand Slam title the pair won together.

At the 1999 Wimbledon Championships, Williams defeated World No. 17 Anna Kournikova in the fourth round to reach the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year, where she lost to eventual runner-up Graf 6–2, 3–6, 6–4.

Williams rebounded in the summer when she won two Fed Cup matches against Italy and lost in the final of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford to World No. 1 Davenport. One week later, Williams defeated Davenport in the semifinals of the TIG Tennis Classic in San Diego before losing to World No. 2 Hingis in the final 6–4, 6–0. In her last tournament before the US Open, Williams won the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, Connecticut, defeating World No. 5 Seles in the semifinals and Davenport in the final. On August 30, 1999, her world ranking reached third for the first time. Seeded third at the US Open, Williams lost in the semifinals to World No. 1 Hingis in three sets. However, she teamed with singles champion Serena at this event to win their second Grand Slam women's doubles title.

During the remainder of the year, Williams contributed to the USA's victory over Russia in the Fed Cup final, winning one singles rubber before joining Serena to win the doubles rubber. At the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, Venus defeated Hingis in the semifinals 6–2, 6–7(6), 9–7 before losing to Serena for the first time in the final. Venus won her sixth title of the year at the Tier I event in Zurich, defeating World No. 1 Hingis in the final. Four weeks later, she lost to Davenport in the semifinals of the tournament in Philadelphia. Making her debut at the year-ending Chase Championships, Williams lost to Hingis in the semifinals. She finished the year ranked World No. 3.

2000–02: Williams sisters domination

In 2000, Williams missed the first four months of the year with tendinitis in both wrists. She returned to the tour during the European clay court season. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Betty Barclay Cup in Hamburg to Amanda Coetzer and in the third round of the Tier I Italian Open in Rome to Jelena Dokić. Although she had won only two of her four matches before the French Open, she was seeded fourth there. She won her first four matches in Paris without losing a set before losing in the quarterfinals to eighth-seeded and former champion Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–0, 1–6, 6–2.

Williams then won 35 consecutive singles matches and six tournaments. She won her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, defeating World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, sister Serena in the semifinals, and defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the final. She also teamed with Serena to win the women's doubles title at this event.

She won three Tier II events during the North American summer hard court season, defeating Davenport in the final of the tournament in Stanford, California and Monica Seles in the finals of both the tournament in San Diego and the tournament in New Haven, Connecticut.

At the US Open, Williams defeated still-World No. 1 Hingis in the semifinals 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, coming back from 5–3 (15–30) down in the third set, and World No. 2 Davenport in the final. At the Olympic Games in Sydney, Williams defeated Sánchez Vicario in the quarterfinals, Seles in the semifinals, and Elena Dementieva in the final to win the gold medal. She also won the gold medal in women's doubles with her sister Serena. Davenport eventually snapped her winning streak in October in the final of the tournament in Linz. Williams did not play a tournament the rest of the year because of anemia. She finished the year ranked World No. 3 and with six singles titles.

In 2001, Williams reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time, where she lost to World No. 1 Hingis 6–1, 6–1. However, Venus teamed with Serena to win the doubles title at the event, completing a Career Grand Slam in women's doubles for the pair.

Williams also reached the semifinals of the Tier I Tennis Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, California, where she controversially defaulted her match with sister Serena just before the match started. Venus had been suffereing from knee tendinitis throughout the tournament and eventually this prevented her from playing. The following day, Venus and her father Richard were booed as they made their way to their seats to watch the final despite her clear injury. Serena was subsequently booed during the final with Kim Clijsters and during the trophy presentation. Due to the overt racism of the crowd, neither Williams sister has entered the tournament since. Venus rebounded from the Indian Wells controversy to win the next tournament on the tour calendar, the Tier I Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. She defeated Hingis in the semifinals and World No. 4 Jennifer Capriati in the final, after saving eight championship points. Because of this victory, her ranking rose to a career high of World No. 2.

During the European clay court season, Williams won the Tier II tournament in Hamburg but lost in the third round of the Tier I EUROCARD Ladies German Open to World No. 18 Justine Henin and the first round of the French Open to Barbara Schett. This was only the second time that she had lost in the first round of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

Williams then successfully defended her Wimbledon title, defeating third-seeded Davenport in the semifinals and eighth-seeded Henin in the final 6–1, 3–6, 6–0.

During the North American summer hard court season, Williams won for the second consecutive year the tournaments in San Diego, defeating Seles in the final, and in New Haven, defeating Davenport in the final. Williams also won the US Open singles title for the second consecutive year, without dropping a set. In the quarterfinals, she beat fifth-seeded Clijsters, followed by a semifinal victory over World No. 2 Capriati. She played Serena in the final, which was the first Grand Slam singles final contested by two sisters during the open era. Venus won the match and her fourth Grand Slam singles title. Venus also became only the sixth woman in history to win the singles titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open in consecutive years, the others being Martina Navaratilova (twice), Steffi Graf (twice), Althea Gibson, Maureen Connolly Brinker, and Helen Wills Moody (twice).

Williams began 2002 by winning the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts in Gold Coast, Australia, defeating Henin in the final. However, she then lost for the first time in her career to Seles in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Williams then went on to win the Open Gaz de France in Paris when Jelena Dokić withdrew from the final, and the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, defeating Henin in the final. As a result of her strong start to the season, Williams assumed the World No. 1 position for the first time on February 25, dislodging Capriati. Williams was the first African-American woman ever to hold the ranking. She held it for just three weeks before surrendering it back to Capriati.

Williams failed to defend her title in Miami after losing in the semifinals to Serena. However, she made a strong start to the clay-court season, winning the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, defeating Henin in the final. A week after winning that tournament, she once again replaced Capriati as the World No. 1, before losing it again to Capriati after three weeks. During those three weeks, Williams had made the final in Hamburg, defeating Hingis in the semifinals before losing to Clijsters in the final. Seeded second at the French Open, Williams defeated former champion Seles to reach the semifinals for the first time. There, she defeated Clarisa Fernández. In the final, Williams met Serena for a second time in a Grand Slam final, with Serena winning. Venus once again replaced Capriati as the World No. 1 as a result of reaching the final.

As the top seed at Wimbledon, Williams defeated Henin in the semifinals to make the final for the third consecutive year. However, there, she lost to Serena. This result meant Serena replaced Venus as the World No. 1. The Williams sisters teamed up to win the women's doubles title at the event, their fifth Grand Slam women's doubles title together.

Williams won the titles in San Diego and New Haven for the third consecutive year, defeating Davenport and Dokic to win the former and defeating Davenport in the final of the latter. At the US Open, Williams defeated Seles in the quarterfinals and Amélie Mauresmo in three sets to make the final. Playing Serena for their third consecutive Grand Slam final, Serena won once again. After that, Venus played just four more matches during the season. She reached the semifinals at the year-ending Sanex Championships after defeating Seles in the quarterfinals, but she then was forced to retire against Clijsters due to injury. Williams finished the year ranked World No. 2 having won seven titles, her best showing in both respects of her career.

2003–06: Injuries and losses

Williams started 2003 by defeating fifth seed Justine Henin to make the final of the Australian Open for the first time. In the final, however, she lost to sister Serena. This marked the first time in the open era that the same two players had met in four consecutive Grand Slam finals. Venus and Serena teamed to win the women's doubles title at the event, their sixth Grand Slam title in women's doubles.

In February, Williams won the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium for the second consecutive year, defeating Kim Clijsters in the final. However, shortly afterwards, she began to struggle with injury. She reached the final of the clay court J&S; Cup in Warsaw before being forced to retire against Amélie Mauresmo. She then suffered her earliest exit at a Grand Slam tourmament in two years when she lost in the fourth round of the French Open to Vera Zvonareva.

At Wimbledon, Williams was seeded fourth. Williams defeated former champion Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals and Kim Clijsters in the semifnials to advance to her fourth consecutive Wimbledon final, where she lost again to sister Serena.

Wimbledon was Williams's last event of the year as an abdominal injury that occurred during the Clijsters match prevented her from playing again. While she was recovering from the injury, her sister Yetunde Price was murdered. Williams finished the year ranked World No. 11. It was the first time in nearly six years that she had dropped out of the top ten.

In 2004, Williams came back to the tour and experienced inconsistent results. As the third seeded player because of a protected ranking, she reached the third round of the Australian Open, where she lost to Lisa Raymond. She then lost in the quarterfinals of her next three tournaments.

Williams began to find her form at the beginning of the clay court season. At the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Williams defeated Conchita Martínez in the final to win her first title in over a year and the second Tier I title on clay of her career. She then won in Warsaw, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final, before reaching the final of the Tier I German Open in Berlin, before withdrawing from that match against Mauresmo due to injury. Going into the French Open, Williams had the best clay court record among the women and was among the favorites to win the title; however, after making the quarterfinals to extend her winning streak on the surface to 19 matches, she lost to eventual champion Anastasia Myskina. Despite her defeat, she re-entered the top ten.

At Wimbledon, Williams lost a controversial second round match to Croatian Karolina Šprem. The umpire of the match, Ted Watts, awarded Šprem an unearned point in the second set tiebreak. Upon the conclusion of the match, he was relieved of his duties. This defeat marked the first time since 1997 that Williams had exited Wimbledon prior to the quarterfinals. After Wimbledon, Williams reached her fourth final of the year at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, where she suffered her first defeat to Lindsay Davenport since 2000.

As the defending champion at the Athens Olympics, Williams lost in the third round to Mary Pierce. She then lost in the fourth round of the US Open to Davenport, the first time she had ever lost at the US Open prior to the semifinals. Williams completed the year by losing in the quarterfinals of three indoor tournaments in the fall, a period that included defeat in her first meeting with 17-year-old Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova at the Zurich Open. Williams finished the year as World No. 9 and did not qualify for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships.

In 2005, Williams started the year by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Alicia Molik. She then reached the final in Antwerp, defeating Clijsters and Myskina en route. In the final, Williams was a set and a service break up against Mauresmo before eventually losing.

In March, at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, Williams defeated sister and Australian Open champion Serena in the quarterfinals, the first time she had defeated Serena since 2001. Venus went on to lose in the semifinals to World No. 3 Sharapova. In May, Williams won her first title in over a year at the clay-court Istanbul Cup, defeating Nicole Vaidišová in the final. However, at the French Open, she lost in the third round to 15-year old Sesil Karatantcheva, who subsequently tested positive for steroids and was suspended.

Williams was seeded 14th at Wimbledon. In the quarterfinals of the tournament, she defeated French Open runner-up Pierce in an epic second set tiebreak, winning it 12–10 to make the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in two years. There, she defeated defending champion and second-seeded Maria Sharapova to make the Wimbledon final for the fifth time in six years. Playing top-seeded Davenport in the final, Williams saved a match point with a backhand winner en route to winning. This was Williams's third Wimbledon singles title, her fifth Grand Slam singles title overall and her first since 2001. It was the first time in 70 years that a player had won after being down match point during the women's final at Wimbledon. In addition, Williams was the lowest-ranked (World No. 16) and lowest-seeded (14th) champion in tournament history. Williams returned to the top ten following the victory.

Following Wimbledon, Williams reached her fourth final of the year in Stanford, where she lost to Clijsters. At the US Open, Williams achieved her second consecutive win over Serena in the fourth round, but then lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters. Williams did not qualify for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships because of an injury sustained during the tournament in Beijing. She finished the year ranked World No. 10. It was the first year since 2001 that she had finished a year ranked higher than Serena.

In 2006, Williams was upset in the first round of the Australian Open by Tszvetana Pironkova which was her earliest loss ever at that tournament. After that loss, she did not play again for three months due to a wrist injury. She returned in late April on clay in Warsaw, where she defeated former World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the second round before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals. Wiliams completed the clay-court season by reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open, where she lost to Nicole Vaidišová.

Williams was the defending champion and one of the favorites to win the singles title at Wimbledon. However, she lost lost in the third round to 26th-seeded Jelena Janković. After the loss, Williams said that she was having pain in her left wrist, although she admitted that the injury was not the cause of her loss. Williams did not play in the US Open series or the US Open itself due to the wrist injury. During her first tournament in almost three months in October, she reinjured her wrist at the tournament in Luxembourg and lost in the second round to qualifier Agnieszka Radwańska. Williams finished the season as World No. 46, her lowest finish since she began to play on the WTA Tour full-time in 1997. It was the second consecutive year she finished higher than Serena, who finished the year at world #95

2007–09: Return to form

Williams withdrew from the 2007 Australian Open, the second consecutive Grand Slam that she had missed due to her recurring wrist injury. She returned in February at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, USA, defeating top-seeded Shahar Pe'er in the final, her first singles title since her victory at Wimbledon in 2005.

At the beginning of the clay-court season, Williams reached the semifinals of the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, where she lost to Jelena Janković on a third set tiebreak. She also lost to fourth seed Janković in the third round of the French Open, her third consecutive loss to Janković. During her second round win over Ashley Harkleroad, Williams hit a 206 km/h (128.8 mph) serve, which is the second fastest woman's serve ever recorded and the fastest ever recorded during a main draw match. Williams was ranked World No. 31 going into Wimbledon and was seeded 23rd at the tournament due to her previous results at Wimbledon. Williams was a game away from defeat in her first round match against Alla Kudryavtseva and in her third round match against Akiko Morigami she was two points away from defeat, but she eventually won both 7–5 in the third set. She then advanced to reach her sixth Wimbledon final, after beating Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivnovic en route to the final where she defeated 18th seed Marion Bartoli. Williams thus became only the fourth woman in the open era to win Wimbledon at least four times, along with Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf. She also became the lowest-seeded Wimbledon champion in history, breaking the record she herself set in 2005. Williams returned to the top 20 as a result of the win.

At the US Open, after setting a Grand-Slam record serve in the opening round, Williams advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal outside of Wimbledon since 2003. However she then lost to eventual champion Justine Henin. The tournament resulted in Williams's ranking moving up to World No. 9. Williams then won her third title of the year at the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, South Korea, defeating Maria Kirilenko in the final, before then losing in the final of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo to Virginie Razzano. Williams had earned enough points during the year to qualify for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid; however, she withdrew because of continuing problems with anemia. Williams finished the year as World No. 8 with three titles, her best performance in both respects since 2002, and a winning percentage of 83 percent.

In 2008, as the eighth seed at the Australian Open, Williams reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003. However, she then lost to eventual runner-up Ana Ivanović. Williams made her first semifinal of the year at the Bangalore Open in Bangalore, India, where she met sister Serena for the first time since 2005 with Serena winning despite Venus holding a match point in the third set tie break.

Williams missed two tournaments at the beginning of the clay-court season due to undisclosed medical problems. At the French Open, Williams was seeded eighth but was eliminated by 26th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta in the third round.

Williams was the defending champion and seventh-seeded player at Wimbledon. Without dropping a set, she reached her seventh Wimbledon singles final. She then won her fifth Wimbledon singles title, and seventh Grand Slam singles title overall, by beating sister Serena in straight sets. This was the first time since 2003 that Venus and Serena had played each other in a Grand Slam final and was the first time since 2001 that Venus had defeated her in a Grand Slam final. Venus and Serena then teamed to win the women's doubles title, their first Grand Slam doubles title together since 2003.

Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics to Li Na. She did, however, earn a gold medal along with Serena in women's doubles, their second gold medal as a team, having won together at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. At the US Open, Williams made it to the quarterfinals, before losing to eventual champion Serena.

At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany in October, Williams defeated a player ranked in the top three for the first time that season by defeating World No. 3 Dinara Safina to reach her third semifinal of the year. There, she lost to Janković. A fortnight later, Williams won the Zurich Open, defeating Ivanović in the semifinals before defeating Pennetta in the final to claim her second title of the year and secure a position in the year-ending 2008 WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar. There, Williams defeated World No. 2 Safina, World No. 3 Serena and World No. 5 Dementieva in the preliminary round-robin stage. In the semifinals, Williams defeated World No. 1 Janković before winning the year-ending tournament for the first time by defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final. She ended the year ranked sixth in the world with three titles and a winning percentage of 78 percent.

As the sixth seed at the 2009 Australian Open, Williams lost in the second round to Carla Suárez Navarro after holding a match point in the third set. However, she teamed up with Serena to win the women's doubles title at the event, their eighth Grand Slam doubles title together. Venus rebounded in singles play in February at the Premier 5 (formerly Tier I) Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating defending champion and World No. 4 Dementieva in the quarterfinals and World No. 1 Serena in the semifinals on a third set tiebreak. The latter win meant that Venus led the head-to-head in career matches with her sister for the first time since 2002. Venus went on to defeat Virginie Razzano in the final. This win meant Williams was ranked in the top five for the first time since 2003, while it also marked her 40th professional singles title, only the twelfth player in the open era to achieve the feat. Williams won another title the following week at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Mexico, defeating Pennetta in the final. This was her first title on clay since 2005.

On European clay, Williams reached the semifinals in Rome before losing to World No. 1 Safina. This run meant Williams was ranked in the top three for the first time since 2003. Seeded third at the French Open, Williams lost to Ágnes Szávay in the third round, the third consecutive year she had exited at that stage.

Williams was seeded third at Wimbledon. She advanced to her eighth Wimbledon final after truly impressive and devastating displays against Ana Ivanović (6–1 1–0 ret) in the fourth round, Agnieska Radwańska (6–1 6–2) in the quarterfinals and in particular Dinara Safina; the reigning World No. 1 who she crushed 6–0 6–1 in the single most shattering defeat of any current World no 1 in history. Heading in to the final, Venus held an incredible record of 36 straight sets at wimbledon (held since Wimbledon 2007). In the final however she narrowly lost the first set tie break and from then on bombed to a 7–6 6–2 defeat to sister Serena. The Williams sisters teamed up to win the doubles title at the tournament for the fourth time.

In Stanford, Williams defeated Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva to advance to the finals, where she would lose to last year's finalist Marion Bartoli 2–6, 7–5, 4–6. Teaming with her sister, she played doubles and won the title, defeating Monica Niculescu and Yung-Jan Chan. At the 2009 US Open, as the third seed, Venus made it to the fourth round before losing to Kim Clijsters with a bizarre scoreline of 0–6, 6–0, 4–6. Venus then teamed up with Serena to play doubles at the open, where they won the title over defending champions and world No.1s in doubles, Cara Black and Liezel Huber, claiming their third grand slam doubles title in 2009.

Williams's last tournament in 2009 was the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, where she was the defending champion in singles. She was in the maroon group which includes her sister Serena, along with Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova. She lost her first match against Dementieva, and her second match against Serena- both in straight sets, after taking the first set. In her third and final RR match, Williams defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova. Because of Dementieva's loss to Kuznetsova in their round robin match, Venus advanced to the semifinal of the championships. In her semifinal match, she defeated Jelena Janković of Serbia in a thrilling match 5–7 6–3 6–4 to advance to her second consecutive final in the tournament. In the final, she was outlasted by her sister Serena (7–6(4) 6–2); with both women hampered by leg injuries. In doubles, Venus teamed with Serena as the second seed. However, they lost to Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinal. Their doubles record at the end of the year stood at 24–2.

Venus finished 2009 ranked world number 6 in singles (with a winning percentage of 70 percent) and world number 3 in doubles with Serena, in spite of playing only 6 events together in 2009.

2010: Return to top 2 despite injuries

Williams played at the Australian Open as the sixth seed. She defeated 17th-seeded Francesca Schiavone in the fourth round. She was two points from defeating 16th-seeded Li Na in the quarterfinals before losing 2–6, 7–6(4), 7–5. In doubles, she teamed with her sister Serena to successfully defend their title, defeating the top ranked team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the final 6–4, 6–3. The Williams sisters are undefeated in Grand Slam women's doubles finals and are 4–0 in Australian Open doubles finals.

Williams then played the Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was the defending champion. Seeded third, she successfully defended her title by defeating fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka in the final 6–3, 7–5.

Williams next played on clay at the Abierto Mexico Telcel in Acapulco where she was the defending champion. She reached the semifinals after recovering from a 1–5 third set deficit to Laura Pous Tió in the quarterfinals. In the final, she defeated first-time finalist Polona Hercog from Slovenia 2–6, 6–2, 6–3. This was her 43rd career title, which is the most among active female players.

Her next tournament was the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, where she was seeded third. She defeated World No. 9 Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals and World No. 13 Marion Bartoli in the semifinals to reach her third straight WTA tour final and fourth Sony Ericsson Open final. She was defeated by Kim Clijsters in the final 6–2, 6–1 in just 58 minutes, ending her 15-match winning streak. By reaching the final, her ranking improved to World No. 4 and she crossed the $26 million mark in career prize money, the only player besides Serena to do so.

The knee injury that hampered her during the final of the Sony Ericsson Open forced her to skip the Fed Cup tie against Russia and the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Williams returned to the tour at the Premier 5 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. She defeated Patty Schnyder and Shahar Pe'er before suffering the worst defeat of her career in the quarterfinals. World No. 4 Jelena Janković won their match 6–0, 6–1. Still, her ranking improved to World No. 3 on May 10.

Her next tournament was the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament. In the third round, she improved her career record against World No. 17 Francesca Schiavone to 7–0. She then beat World No. 8 Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals and routed Pe'er in the semifinals. Aravane Rezaï defeated her in the final 6–2, 7–5 despite Williams holding a 5–2 lead in the second set. In doubles, she teamed with Serena to win the title.

On May 17, her ranking improved to World No. 2, behind only Serena. This was the fourth time in the William sisters' career in which they have occupied the top two spots, but the first time since May 2003.

Her next tournament was the French Open, where she played both singles and doubles despite her knee injury. Seeded second in singles, she advanced past the third round at this tournament for the first time since 2006 before losing to Nadia Petrova in the fourth round 6–4, 6–3. She also played doubles with Serena as the top seeds. Their defeat of Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the semifinals increased their doubles ranking to World No. 1. They then defeated 12th seeded Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik in the final 6–2, 6–3 to win their fourth consecutive Grand Slam women's doubles title.

Her next tournament was the Wimbledon Championships, where she reached the final the last three years. Despite her knee injury, she made it to the quarterfinals, where she eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Tsvetana Pironkova 6–2, 6–3. Pironkova was ranked 82nd in the world and had never gone past the second round of a Grand Slam event. As a result, Williams dropped to World No. 4. She was the defending champion in doubles with her sister Serena, winning the last two years. They lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 3–6, 6–3, 6–4.

Williams then missed all tournaments in the US Open Series because of a left knee injury but still participated at the US Open as the third seed. She won three matches to move into the fourth round. Williams became one of only two women in 2010 (along with Caroline Wozniacki) to reach at least the fourth round at all four Grand Slam singles tournaments. Williams then defeated Pe'er and French Open champion Schiavone en route to her seventh US Open semifinal, against defending champion Clijsters. In spite of her clear knee injury, Williams dominated the first set of their match and recovered from 5–2 down in the second set but ultimately double-faulted on a key point near the end of the match and lost 4–6, 7–6, 6–4. Because of Serena's withdrawal from the US Open, Venus did not participate at the doubles event where she was the defending champion.

The recovery of her left knee took longer than expected and it forced Venus to miss the rest of 2010, including the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships and Fed Cup final. Venus ended the year ranked fifth in singles, the first time she ended a year in the top five since 2002, while playing only nine tournaments. She finished the year ranked eleventh in doubles.

2011

Venus started 2011 by participating at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic. She lost both her singles matches against Vera Zvonareva and Li Na, but she managed to help team America to win the silver group. Her next tournament is the 2011 Australian Open where she is the fourth seed. She is set to face Sara Errani in the first round.

Sister Serena Williams

In professional women's tennis, Venus has played her sister Serena 23 times, accumulating a 10–13 record in the series. They are the only women during the open era to have played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals. They have met in a total of eight Grand Slam finals, ahead of the number of finals played by Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and by Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs but behind the record of fourteen finals set by Chris Evert and Martina Navrátilová. Currently Venus has 43 career tennis titles, Serena has 37. Serena has 13 slams and Venus has seven.

Fight for equal prize money

Despite years of protesting by tennis pioneer Billie Jean King and others, in 2005 the French Open and Wimbledon still refused to pay women's and men's players equally through all rounds. In 2005, Williams met with officials from both tournaments, arguing that female tennis players should be paid as much as males. Although WTA tour President Larry Scott commented that she left "a very meaningful impression", Williams's demands were rejected.

The turning point was an essay published in The Times on the eve of Wimbledon in 2006. In it, Williams accused Wimbledon of being on the "wrong side of history", writing:

Category:1980 births Category:African American tennis players Category:American female tennis players Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:Living people Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Olympic tennis players of the United States Category:People from Compton, California Category:People from Palm Beach County, Florida Category:People from Saginaw, Michigan Category:People from West Palm Beach, Florida Category:Tennis people from California Category:Tennis people from Florida Category:Tennis people from Michigan Category:Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

Playername	Svetlana Kuznetsova
Nickname	SvetaKuzzyKuzya
Country
Residence	Saint Petersburg, Russia
Datebirth	June 27, 1985

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Female tennis players Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:French Open champions Category:Olympic tennis players of Russia Category:Russian female tennis players Category:Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:United States Open champions (tennis)

Name	Mike Ross
Image name	Official_MR_Headshot.JPG
Date of birth	August 02, 1961
Place of birth	Texarkana, Arkansas
Alma mater	University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Residence	Prescott, Arkansas
State	Arkansas
District	4th
Term start	January 3, 2001
Preceded	Jay Dickey
Succeeded	Incumbent
Office2	Arkansas State Senator
Term start2	1991
Term end2	2000
Party	Democrat
Religion	Methodist
Spouse	Holly
Children	Sydney, Alex
Occupation	Former Small Business Owner

Michael Avery “Mike” Ross (born August 2, 1961) is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Democratic Party. Ross is currently the dean of the Arkansas congressional delegation, or its most senior member.

Early life, education and career

Ross was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, the son of two public school educators, and he graduated high school in Hope, Arkansas. He was educated at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, working his way through college as a local radio announcer. Together with his wife, Ross owned and operated a small pharmacy in Prescott, Arkansas, which they sold in May 2007. The Ross family has two children and attend the First United Methodist Church of Prescott.

Ross also served as Chief of Staff to then-Lieutenant Governor Winston Bryant from 1985 to 1989.

Arkansas State Senate

In 1990, Ross was elected to the Arkansas State Senate becoming the legislature's youngest member at that time; he served for ten years until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Committee on Energy and Commerce

*Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

*Subcommittee on Health

*Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Committee on Foreign Affairs

*Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment

*Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia

NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Ross is a Co-Chair of the fiscally conservative, Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, Co-Chair of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus, President of the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association and Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Ross is against gun control and is one of the few Democratic members of Congress to consistently earn an A+ rating from the National Rife Association's Political Victory Fund.

Ross considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman for the 110th Congress; however, he deferred to incumbent John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair, which is the position for which Larson had been running.

Political positions

The Blue Dogs and health care

On June 19, 2009, Ross made clear that he and a group of other fiscally conservative, moderate Democrats, known as the Blue Dog Coalition, were increasingly unhappy with the direction that health-care legislation was taking in the House. They claimed the health care reform bill was being written behind closed doors without their input and that the proposals being consider fall short in reducing costs and increasing efficiency, outlining only a fraction of what will be required to achieve a product that does not add to the deficit. Ross cited, among other things, provisions that major health-care companies also strongly oppose. Ross was the guest of honor at a special "health-care industry reception," one of at least seven fundraisers for the Arkansas lawmaker held by health-care companies or their lobbyists this year, according to publicly available invitations. According to Ross's Federal Election Commission Disclosure Report, which every candidate must file quarterly, eight percent (8%) of his total campaign contributions have come from the health care industry in the last election cycle (2007-8).

Ross was thrust into the national spotlight on July 21 when he and a group of seven Blue Dog Democrats on Energy & Commerce bucked their party's leaders and brought the committee mark up process of H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, to a halt. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman postponed meeting publicly to discuss the health-care legislation to negotiate with the Blue Dogs, meeting privately with Ross and other members of the so-called Blue Dog Coalition, conservative Democrats who sit on the committee and could join Republicans and vote down a bill they don't like since the panel has 36 Democrats and 23 Republicans.

After days of back-to-back meetings and intense negotiations into the night, four of the seven Blue Dog Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Ross, said they resolved their differences with Chairman Henry Waxman of California and were able to force House leadership to agree on several provisions, namely that the full House would not vote on the legislation until at least September so lawmakers would have time to read the bill and listen to constituents.

Other concessions won by Blue Dogs, which drew immediate opposition from liberals in the chamber, would shave about 10 percent from the health care overhaul's $1 trillion, 10-year price tag, in part by limiting subsidies to people who are not insured. The exemption for small businesses would be doubled so that only businesses with payrolls greater than $500,000 a year would be required to offer insurance or pay a tax equivalent to 8 percent of their payroll.

Because many Blue Dogs, especially Ross, had serious concerns about the bill's potential harmful affects on rural doctors and rural hospitals, the group forced House leadership to accept that the government would negotiate rates with health care providers instead of using Medicare rates in any so-called public option.

President Obama praised the efforts of the Blue Dog Coalition in a statement issued after the agreement was announced: “I'm especially grateful that so many members, including some Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee, are working so hard to find common ground. Those efforts are extraordinarily constructive in strengthening this legislation and bringing down its cost,” the President said in a statement. However, some of the concessions to Ross set off a revolt among members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who said they feared that the public insurance plan was being weakened. “We do not support this,” said Representative Lynn Woolsey, Democrat of California, co-chairwoman of the progressive caucus. "It’s a nonstarter."

After Congress' August recess, Ross announced that he could not support a bill with a Public Option. In a letter to constituents, he claimed that "An overwhelming number of you oppose a government-run health insurance option, and it is your feedback that has led me to oppose the public option as well." However, a Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the left-leaning group Daily Kos, found that a majority of his district actually supported a Public Option. While a poll from the University of Arkansas only found support for the public option at 39 percent. Ross ultimately voted against the Health Care Reform bill that passed the House on November 7, 2009

Political campaigns

Ross won a narrow victory against incumbent Jay Dickey in 2000 by portraying himself as a moderate, like the political tendencies of his district. In contrast, Dickey was seen as a controversial conservative because of his comments on stem cell research and homosexuality. Ross was the only Democrat outside of California to defeat a Republican incumbent.

Ross easily defeated Dickey in a 2002 rematch, then ran unopposed in 2004. He picked up an easy victory in the 2006 election, defeating the similarly named Republican, real estate executive Joe Ross, 75 percent-25 percent.

2008

Ross had no Republican opponent but did face Hot Springs lawyer and Green Party candidate Joshua Drake, who he beat with a decisive 87% of the vote.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, like most Arkansas Democrats, Ross endorsed former U.S. Senator and former First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) for President.

2010

Winning 58% of the vote, Ross handily defeated Republican nominee Beth Anne Rankin (40%) and Green Party nominee Josh Drake (2%). Ross was the only congressional representative of Arkansas's delegation seeking reelection in 2010 and now is the only House Democrat in the Arkansas Congressional Delegation.

2014 gubernatorial campaign

Ross is considered a potential gubernatorial nominee for the Democrats in 2014. Ross says his interests lie in Arkansas, not in national party politics, and that "it's no secret" that he'd want to help lead the state "at some point in the future." He says he does not know if that will be in 2014.

Electoral history

ProPublica investigation

On September 22, 2009, an investigative report co-published by a New York City-based group ProPublica and the The Politico reported that in 2007, Ross was paid $420,000 for the building and lot of his family pharmacy in Prescott, Arkansas by USA Drug, a Pine Bluff, Arkansas-based pharmacy chain. The property had been assessed in 2007 by the county at $263,000; an independent appraiser hired by ProPublica put the 2009 value of the property at $198,000, although it was well into an economic recession that began in 2008.

USA Drug also paid roughly $1.2 million for related assets of the property, such as stock, and paid roughly $100,000 for a non-compete agreement. As of the date of the report, Holly Ross remained the pharmacist at Holly's Health Mart under USA Drug.

Additionally, USA Drug owner Stephen L. LaFrance donated $2,300, the maximum contribution allowed, to Ross' campaign two weeks after the sale was made.

Following up on the story, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported shortly thereafter on September 23 that, “Richard Jackson, a professor of pharmacy administration at Mercer University in Atlanta and an expert in evaluating the worth of pharmacies, said the price tag for the pharmacy’s assets was ‘well within the ballpark’ of what similar pharmacies in similar communities would bring.”

The same article continued saying that Jackson agreed that the keys for the buyer of a pharmacy are those assets — such as the inventory, the fixtures and the “good will” the business has established in the community, an intangible asset “with significant value especially in a rural area.”

It quoted Jackson as saying that the price the Rosses received for the pharmacy’s assets — between $500,000 and $1 million — is “very average” and that “there’s nothing unusual about that whatsoever. I value pharmacies every day, and most are going to fall within that range.” He also commented on the noncompete agreement – standard in pharmacy sales – saying that “people come to that pharmacy not because of the bricks and mortar, but because of the pharmacist. There is a distinct and significant value to that pharmacist being there.”

That same article continued saying, “Scott Pace of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association echoed Jackson, noting that the sale of any pharmacy’s assets would take into consideration a number of factors in addition to the value of the real estate. He provided data from the National Community Pharmacists Association showing that the average independent community pharmacy had $3.6 million in sales in calendar year 2007, with an average inventory of more than $298,000.”

On September 25, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that the only other pharmacy owner in Prescott — Ross’ former political and business rival — said the deal seemed fair. All Care pharmacy owner state Sen. Percy Malone was reported to say, “I would have bought it for that." In 1992, Malone and Ross ran a spirited Democratic primary campaign against each other for the state Senate, the Democrat Gazette reported. Malone said he “didn’t see anything out of line” in the price USA Drug paid and added that since there were only two drugstores in the town of 3,686 people, the price would likely be higher than the property’s assessed value.

The same article interviewed other pharmacy owners in Arkansas who have in recent years have had similar business transactions, such as David Smith who sold Central Pharmacy in Conway to Cardinal Health Care in 2006. Cardinal subsequently sold it to the Medicine Shoppe. Smith, who manages the pharmacy said that he received at least $50,000 in a noncompete agreement that stipulated that he couldn’t work for another pharmacy within five miles (8 km) for a threeyear period. Holly and Mike Ross received $110,000, but their noncompete agreement came with much more stringent terms. They agreed not to work for a competitor within for a period of 10 years. Smith said USA Drug “got an incredible deal." That’s because, Smith said, to a great extent a pharmacy’s value is tied up in the pharmacist himself. “The store revolves around the store owner or pharmacist,” he said. “That’s the face people trust.” To illustrate how important the noncompete agreement is, he said it was a “huge” deal that LaFrance hasn’t switched signs on the front of Holly’s Health Mart. “It’s a very shrewd move on his part to have retained that name,” he said.

The same article stated that it’s also common for a pharmacy chain to pay higher than assessed property values when acquiring land and buildings. Larger chains have paid premiums for land in smaller Arkansas towns in recent years it reported. For instance, Walgreen Co., the Illinois-based drug giant, purchased and a building in Wynne in 2007 for $650,000. The current value of the land, according to the Cross County assessor’s office is $145,800. The same year, the chain bought an empty plot in Newport for $560,000. In 2008, the Jackson County assessor pegged the land’s value at $35,900. And in 2008, according to Garland County records, Walgreen paid $990,000 for and a building that was listed with a $282,650 value.

References

External links

Congressman Mike Ross official U.S. House site

Congressman Mike Ross official campaign site

Profile at SourceWatch

Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People from Texarkana, Arkansas Category:American Methodists Category:Arkansas Democrats Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas

Playername	Kim Clijsters
Country
Residence	Bree, Belgium
Datebirth	June 08, 1983
Placebirth	Bilzen, Belgium
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	17 August 1997
Retired	6 May 2007Returned 11 August 2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$21,431,916 (6th in overall rankings)
Singlesrecord	476–113 (80.8%)
Singlestitles	40 WTA (13th in overall rankings)3 ITF
Currentsinglesranking	No. 3 (1 November 2010)
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (11 August 2003)
Australianopenresult	F (2004)
Frenchopenresult	F (2001, 2003)
Wimbledonresult	SF (2003, 2006)
Usopenresult	W (2005, 2009, 2010)
Doublesrecord	131–54
Doublestitles	11 WTA, 3 ITF
Highestdoublesranking	No. 1 (4 August 2003)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	2
Australianopendoublesresult	QF (2003)
Frenchopendoublesresult	W (2003)
Wimbledondoublesresult	W (2003)
Usopendoublesresult	QF (2002)
Othertournaments	Yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2002, 2003, 2010)
Updated	October 31, 2010

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former World No. 1 ranked player in singles and in doubles. As of 6 December 2010, Clijsters is ranked World No. 3.

Clijsters has won 40 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She has won three Grand Slam singles titles at the US Open in 2005, 2009 and 2010. She has also won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003 and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.

Playing style

Clijsters is recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes. She is capable of hitting outright winners off both wings and from any part of the court, but particularly off her forehand which is one of the best and most powerful of all time in the women's game. However she is sometimes erratic off her forehand and is capable of hitting far too many unforced errors wheras her backhand is more of a reliable and consistent shot and which she can also hit with heavy slice as a defensive shot. Clijsters is also recognised for her all courtwide defence, characterized by speed and athleticism. Clijsters, along with Jelena Janković and Svetlana Kuznetsova is among the few tennis players on either the Association of Tennis Professionals or Women's Tennis Association tours who can slide (known as the straddle) on all surfaces. After being defeated by Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, Maria Sharapova implied that Clijsters' strength lies in how she always forces her opponent to hit an extra shot, that "you just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back". Her first serve, while not overwhelmingly powerful, is placed well and earns aces and unreturnables. Clijsters tends to rush between first and second serves, which may contribute to her occasional matches with high numbers of double faults. Having been a World No. 1 player in doubles, Clijsters volleys are considered exceptional and she has no problem in transitioning from being a baseline striker to finishing points at the net with a volley or over-head. Her mental fragility was considered her biggest weakness, and at the earlier stages of her career she was considered a "choker", often surrendering big leads in the latter rounds of Grand Slams. Since winning the 2005 US Open, Clijsters has gained more control over her nerves and since her return to the tour in 2009 she has been known along with Serena Williams as being the toughest players to beat mentally and Clijsters is now seen as a player who is capable of rising to the occasion and playing her best tennis at the important stages of matches. Clijsters is also considered to be one of the most popular players on the tour, known for her grace on the court and even temper. She has been voted the WTA Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award by her fellow players seven times in her career and the WTA Player Service Award three times.

Personal life

Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Limburg, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. She is the daughter of Lei Clijsters, a former footballer, and Els Vandecaetsbeek, a former national gymnastics champion. Lei Clijsters died of lung cancer on 4 January 2009. Clijsters says that she inherited footballer's legs from her father and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother. Kim's younger sister Elke finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion and retired in 2004 after back injuries.

In December 2003, Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004. In October 2006, Clijsters announced her engagement to American basketball player Brian Lynch, who is based in Kim's hometown of Bree. In an interview with Sportweekend (a sports programme on Belgian Flemish television), Clijsters stated that she was retiring to start a family.

Clijsters gave birth to a daughter on 25 February 2008, at 1:35 pm at the Vesalius hospital in Tongeren, Belgium. The girl, Jada Ellie, weighed 3.035 kg and measured 51 cm.

Tennis career

Junior career

Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In singles, she finished as runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event, finishing 11th in the year-end singles ranking. In the same year in doubles, Clijsters won the French Open title with Jelena Dokić defeating Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova in the final as well the US Open with Eva Dyrberg defeating former partner Dokic in the final. Clijsters ended the season as number four in the International Tennis Federation junior doubles world ranking. Where she defeated tenth ranked Amanda Coetzer en route to the quarter finals, where Clijsters lost to her childhood idol Steffi Graf in straight sets. Clijsters reached the final after defeating Patty Schnyder, Chanda Rubin and Justine Henin. At the Australian Open, Clijsters lost in the semi-final to Serena Williams 4–6, 6–3, 7–5 after holding 5 match points. On the way to the semis Clijsters lost just fifteen games beating Samantha Reeves and completing a double bagal (wherein the opposing player fails to win a single game) against Petra Mandula. Then continuing to win in straight sets against Tatiana Poutchek, Amanda Coetzer and Anastasia Myskina. and at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, where she defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final.

Clijsters reached the final of the WTA German Open after defeating Jennifer Capriati 6-4 in the final set. In the final she played Justine Henin and squandered three match points as Clijsters lost the final set 7-5. To compound the day Clijsters also lost the doubles final 6-4 in the final set.

Clijsters’ third title of the year came at the Telecom Italia Masters in Rome, where she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final, white washing the Frenchwoman in the final set. After Clijsters had defeated Myskina and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama to make the final.

At the French Open Clijsters’ reached the final for the second year running after defeating Nadia Petrova. In the final Clijsters lost 6-0, 6-4 to Henin at the US open, 7-5, 6-1. She also lost in the semi-final at Wimbledon to Venus Williams after leading by a set and a break. On 11 August 2003, Clijsters attained the World No. 1 ranking, holding the spot for 12 non-consecutive weeks during the remainder of the year, and was the first player to be top ranked by the WTA without first winning a Grand Slam singles title.

On 18 August 2003, Clijsters also attained the World No. 1 ranking in doubles, joining a very select group of only four players of Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport having reached the World number one ranking in singles and doubles simultaneously. By 2010, only Serena Williams has managed to join this group.

The World No. 1 ranking was again at stake in October during the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany. Clijsters rallied from a set down to beat Henin. The match marked only the eighth time that the top two players battled for the top ranking. Even though Clijsters won that match, she finished the year ranked World No. 2, just behind Henin.

2004

Clijsters started 2004 by playing in the Hopman Cup. During the tie against Australia, Clijsters injured her ankle against Alicia Molik. Clijsters was on crutches for a few days and feared she may need surgery. Clijsters pulled out of the Adidas International due to the injury Clijsters did recover in time to reach her fourth career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost once more to Henin. After defeating in straight sets Marlene Weingartner, Maria Elena Camerin (With a double bagal), Dinara Safina, Silvia Farina Elia, Anastasia Myskina (during the match Clijsters aggravated her ankle injury) and Patty Schnyder to reach the final. Clijsters then won two consecutive titles in Paris and Antwerp. In Paris Clijsters defeated local favourite Mary Pierce in the final. To reach the final Clijsters defeated Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo, Farina Elia and Safina. In Antwerp. While defending her Tier I title at the Pacific Life Open Clijsters injured her wrist during her win against Angelika Roesch, in her first match. Clijsters withdrew ahead of her second match with the injury being described as a bruised bone. Clijsters withdrew from the event in Miami the next week Clijsters then appeared six weeks later in her home town of Bree to play in a Fed Cup tie against Croatia winning both of her rubbers. Clijsters returned to the tour in Berlin and needed three sets to see off Marta Marrero Clijsters then pulled out of her second match and then was told to rest for five weeks causing her to miss the French Open. Clijsters then had surgery to remove a cyst causing her to miss three months of the tour including Wimbledon and the US Open. Clijsters also missed the Olympics, but she had already decided not to play the tournament after a dispute about clothing sponsors. Clijsters returned at the Gaz de France Stars she made the semi finals defeating Iveta Benesova and Magdalena Maleeva; before pulling out in the second set against Elena Bovina. Clijsters had aggravating the injury but she did not need surgery but was out for the rest of the season. As well she played down fears that the injury may force her retirement from tennis.

2005

Clijsters missed the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open with injury. In February, after four months out, Clijsters returned to the tour by participating in Antwerp, her first match back was against Jelena Kostanic. Clijsters won in straight sets before losing to Venus Williams in the quarter-finals.

Clijsters, completed her comeback in March and April, when she won, as an unseeded player, 17 matches in a row to claim two Tier I titles and regain a top-20 ranking. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Clijsters was ranked World No. 133 at the time. The Belgium began by beating Nicole Pratt, Anna Chakvetadze and Evgenia Linetskaya all without dropping a set. In the semi final Clijsters defeated World No. 5 Elena Dementieva in straight sets and World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final in three sets. The week after that win, Clijsters defeated four top-6 players in straight sets to win the NASDAQ-100 Open. To win the title Clijsters defeated Sandra Kloesel, Amy Frazier, Nathalie Dechy, Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Amélie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova going the whole tournament without dropping a set.

Turning her attention to clay, Clijsters’ winning streak continued at the J&S; Cup. Clijsters defeated Tatiana Perebiynis, Maria Kirilenko, and Elena Bovina. Against Bovina Clijsters’ picked up a minor shoulder injury. Clijsters’ 17 match winning streak was finally ended by Svetlana Kuznetsova. and Dinara Safina in straight sets before hurting her right knee and retiring against Patty Schnyder. Clijsters recovered in time to play the French Open. Playing in the French Open for the first time in two years Clijsters defeated Meilen Tu, Cervanova and Daniela Hantuchova to advance to the fourth round where she lost to Davenport.

Starting her grass court season at the Hastings Direct International Championships, Clijsters got off to the best possible start by winning the tournament. Clijsters defeated Jelena Jankovic, Conchita Martinez, Mashona Washington, Kuznetsova and Vera Douchevina to claim her third title of the year. At Wimbledon Clijsters defeated Katie O'Brien, Marissa Irvin Roberta Vinci before facing Davenport in the last 16 for the second slam running. The result was the same as the French Open with the American winning.

After Wimbledon Clijsters went on an amazing run of form where she lost just once between July and October. Clijsters’ run began at the Bank of the West Classic against Ai Sugiyama, and defeated Hantuchova, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Venus Williams to win her fourth title of the year. Clijsters’ streak continued in San Diego as she defeated Marta Domachowska and Jankovic before suffering her one and only defeat in this run to Shuai Peng.

After the defeat to Peng, Clijsters continued the run as she went on an amazing winning streak, winning twenty two matches in a row, collecting four straight titles along the way, including her maiden Grand Slam title. The twenty two match streak started against Karolina Sprem and victories over Safina, Nadia Petrova, Francesca Schiavone, saw Clijsters collect her fifth title of the year. The streak continued in Toronto as Clijsters beat Virginie Razzano, Ana Ivanovic (Via a Walkover), Flavia Pennetta, Anastasia Myskina and Justine Henin-Hardenne to win the Rogers Cup. After winning three of her four US Summer Hard court tournaments, Clijsters won the US Open Series, which links all the US summer hard courts together and doubles the winners prize money at the US Open. Giving Clijsters a chance to double the $1.1 million US Open winners prize to $2.2 million.

Clijsters won her maiden Grand Slam singles title at the US Open. It was her first victory after reaching four Grand Slam finals previously. Clijsters started by defeating Martina Muller, Fabiola Zuluaga, Ai Sugiyama and Maria Vento-Kabchi in straight sets to reach the quarter finals. Where Clijsters defeated tenth-seeded Venus Williams in the quarter-finals 4–6, 7–5, 6–1, winning 11 of the last 13 games after Williams had led 6–4, 4–2. Clijsters also needed three sets to defeat top-seeded Sharapova in the semi-final. At the fifth attempt Cljisters won a Grand Slam final defeating Mary Pierce in straight sets. By winning the US Open Series Clijsters doubled her US$1.1 million in prize money she received for winning the US Open, to US$2.2 million. The pay check was the largest payday in women's sports history.

On 15 September, a week after her US Open victory, it was announced that Clijsters and her coach, Marc Dehous, had parted company.

Clijsters’ rich vein of form continued as she extended her streak to 21 wins, even without a coach at the Fortis Championships. Clijsters beat Klara Koukalova, Schiavone, Dechy and Lena Groenefeld all without dropping a set to win her eighth title of the year. The title was Clijsters’ fourth consecutive title. At the Porsche Grand Prix Clijsters defeated Sprem for her twenty second consecutive match win before Dementieva ended the streak.

Clijsters then won her ninth and final tournament of the year at the Gaz de France Stars, defeating Schiavone in the final, to go the whole tournament without dropping a set. Clijsters defeated Ekaterina Bychkova, Sprem, Julia Schruff and Safina to make the final.

At the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, Clijsters was eliminated in the group stage. Clijsters lost her first match, a rematch of the US Open final, to Pierce 6–1, 4–6, 7–6 and her second match to Mauresmo 6–3, 7–6. This left the Belgium needing to win and hope that the results in the other matches went her way. Although results did not go her way and Clijsters was eliminated with one match still to play. Clijsters finished her season by defeating Dementieva, in straight sets. Ending the year ranked World No. 2.

2006

Clijsters started the year by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title she defeated Jie Zheng, Elena Dementieva, and top ranked Lindsay Davenport. Clijsters then withdrew from her semi-final match at the WTA tournament in Sydney, citing a left hip muscle strain.

At the Australian Open, Clijsters defeated former champion Martina Hingis in the quarter-finals 6–3, 2–6, 6–4 before retiring from her semi-final match with Amélie Mauresmo. Despite the loss, the ranking points she accumulated were enough to regain the World No. 1 ranking, a position she last held on 9 November 2003. She was the first tennis player, male or female, to rise from outside the Top 100 (World No. 134) to World No. 1 in less than a year. Clijsters' loss to Mauresmo in the Australian Open semi-final was due to an ankle injury. Although she had been expected to miss at least eight weeks to recover, Clijsters returned two weeks later at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She lost the final of that tournament to Mauresmo in three sets.

Clijsters won her first title of the year at a clay court event in Warsaw, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the French Open in May, Clijsters reached the semi-final without losing a set, defeating Hingis in the quarter-finals 7–6, 6–1. However, she lost to Justine Henin in the semi-final 6–3, 6–2 on her 23rd birthday. She was seeded second going into Wimbledon but was again eliminated in the semi-final by Henin, also in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6(4).

Clijsters collected her second title of the year as the top seed in Stanford, defeating Patty Schnyder in the final. Clijsters then reached the final in San Diego, falling to second-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets. This was her first loss to Sharapova in five career meetings.

On 16 August, after receiving a first round bye at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Clijsters faced Canadian Stéphanie Dubois in the second round. Having won the first set 6–1 and trailing 2–3 in the second set, Clijsters slipped and fell on her left wrist and was forced to retire from the match. On 18 August 2006, Clijsters announced on her official website that the condition of her wrist was worse than she had expected and that she would be unable to defend her title at the US Open. She also missed the Fed Cup final against Italy, which Italy won 3–2.

Playing in Paris at the Gaz de France Stars tournament, her first event in more than two months, Clijsters successfully defended her title by beating qualifier Kaia Kanepi in the final. At the year-ending WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters lost a semi-final to Mauresmo 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 after defeating Dementieva and Kuznetsova and losing to Sharapova in the round robin phase of the tournament.

2007

2007 was to be Clijsters’ final year on tour, with as she had planned in 2005 to retire at the end of the 2007 season. Clijsters started the year by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title, she defeated Jie Zheng, Patty Schnyder, and top ranked Maria Sharapova. Clijsters then won the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia, defeating Nicole Pratt, Shahar Peer, Li Na and Jelena Janković to claim the title after being match point down in the final.

At the Australian OpenClijsters was the fourth seed. The Belgium started off by giving a double bagal to Vasilisa Bardina before going on to defeat Akiko Morigami, Alona Bondarenkoand Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets. Clijsters then defeated sixth seed Martina Hingis in three sets before losing to Sharapova in the semi-finals.

Clijsters next played in Belgium for the final time at the Proximus Diamond Games after pulling out of the Open Gaz de France with a hip injury. When Clijsters said that she was fit she hinted that she mayn miss the French Open. Clijsters reached the final of the Diamond Games losing to Amélie Mauresmo. Defeating Olga Poutchkova, Ana Ivanovic and Tatiana Golovin while on the way to the final without dropping a set.

After this event Clijsters confirmed that she would miss the French Open and US Open, making Wimbledon her last Grand Slam event. The Belgium also added that her last two tournaments would be in Luxembourg and at the WTA Tour Championships in Stuttgart.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Clijsters lost in the fourth round to Li Na in three sets. After beating Akiko Morigami and Sam Stosur. A month later in her first clay tournament of the year, at Warsaw Clijsters failed to defend her title when she lost to Julia Vakulenko 7–6(3), 6–3.

Retirement

On 6 May 2007, citing injuries, Clijsters announced on her official website that she was cutting short her season and bringing forward her plans to retire from professional tennis. Clijsters decided to retire immediately from the sport.

2009: Comeback

Almost two years after her retirement and one year after the birth of her daughter in February 2008 it was announced that, Kim, along with Tim Henman, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, would play an exhibition event on Wimbledon's Centre Court in May, in order to test the new roof on centre court.

Whilst preparing for the exhibition at Wimbledon, Clijsters called a press conference on the 26 March and then announced that she was returning to professional tennis. She said that she had been inspired when preparing for the Wimbledon roof event during January 2009. Kim stated that she had asked for wildcards for the Cincinnati and Toronto tournaments. Additionally, Clijsters had also asked for a wildcard at the US Open, after which she planned to evaluate the comeback in terms of success and the feasibility of combining it with her family life. Clijsters also stated that she preferred to think of it as a "second career" instead of a comeback, because so many factors (marriage, a baby, the recent death of her father) were different compared to her first career.

At the Wimbledon exhibition Clijsters and Henman won 7–6 in a tiebreak against Graf and Agassi. Clijsters also played a singles rubber against Graf, winning 6–4. Clijsters said at the event she had been practicing for a month from January and had started to feel good again at the start of February, then Wimbledon was confirmed and that is what pushed her to commit to pro tennis again. In July, she won both of her doubles matches with the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis.

Clijsters started her second career at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, following the acceptance of her wildcard. She defeated World No. 13 Marion Bartoli in the first round 6–4, 6–3. In her next two matches, she defeated World No. 20 Patty Schnyder 6–2, 7–5 and World No. 6 and reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she lost to World No. 1 Dinara Safina 6–2, 7–5.

Following Cincinnati Clijsters played at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on another wildcard. She defeated British qualifier Elena Baltacha in the first round. In the second round, she defeated World No. 9 Victoria Azarenka 7–5, 4–6, 6–1 but lost to World No. 4 Jelena Janković in the third round 1–6, 6–3, 7–5, after serving for the match at 5–3.

She then received a wildcard to play in the main draw of the US Open. She easily won her first round match over Viktoriya Kutuzova 6–1, 6–1. She won her second round match, defeating World No. 14 Marion Bartoli for the second time in three weeks 5–7, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated compatriot Kirsten Flipkens 6–0, 6–2 in the third round. She went on to upset World No. 3 Venus Williams in the fourth round 6–0, 0–6, 6–4. This was only Clijsters' 11th competitive match since coming out of retirement. Clijsters beat 18th seed Na Li in straight sets 6–2, 6–4 to reach the semi-finals where she faced defending champion and World No. 2 Serena Williams, winning 6–4, 7–5 after Williams was given a point penalty on match point after a dispute with an official over a foot fault call. Clijsters became the first unseeded finalist at the US Open since Venus Williams in 1997, and the first wildcard to ever reach the US Open final. With her victory over Serena, Clijsters became the only player to have beaten both Williams sisters in the same tournament twice. In the final she defeated ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3 to win her second US Open title. Her US Open victory placed her in the top 20 in the world rankings. She also became the first Wild Card champion in US Open history and the first mother to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980. Clijsters is popularly known as one of the "comeback queens" of tennis. Clijsters then received a wildcard to play at the 2009 BGL Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg, as the second seed. She eased through her opening match 6–2, 6–2 against Meghann Shaughnessy but fell to Patty Schnyder in a close second round encounter 4–6, 6–3, 6–7.

Playing an exhibition match in Antwerp, Belgium on December 10, Clijsters defeated rival Venus Williams 6–1, 7–5. She finished the year ranked 18th.

In March 2010, Clijsters won her first Laureus World Sports Award, for her remarkable 2009 US Open comeback. She also won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year and the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award for the seventh time.

2010

Clijsters started her 2010 campaign at the Brisbane International in Australia as the top seed. She defeated Tathiana Garbin and Alicia Molik in the first two rounds without dropping a set. She then defeated Lucie Šafářová in three sets to advance to the semifinals where she defeated Andrea Petkovic to set up a final with her rival and compatriot Justine Henin. Clijsters led 6–3, 4–1 before Henin to win eight consecutive games to take the second set and lead 3–0 in the final set. Clijsters trailed 5–3 saved two match points before breaking back and forcing a final set tie break defeating her rival 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6).

Clijsters' next tournament was the 2010 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season where she was seeded 15h. Clijsters advanced to the third round with straight sets wins over Valérie Tétreault and Tamarine Tanasugarn. In the third round Clijsters lost to the World No. 20 Nadia Petrova winning just one game in the worse defeat of her career.

Clijsters did not play competitively again until March at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She was seeded 14th but she fell to the 23rd seed Alisa Kleybanova in the third round losing a final set tie break. Clijsters found form at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open as she went on to win the title. As the 14th seed, she only dropped three games while defeating Petra Kvitová and Shahar Pe'er. Clijsters then defeated the defending champion Victoria Azarenka for the loss of just four games. Before defeating the World No. 10 Samantha Stosur in the quarter-finals and Justine Henin in a final set tie break to reach the final. Clijsters went on to beat Venus Williams in straight sets in the final, ending the American’s fifteen match unbeaten streak. As a result of winning the title for the second time, Clijsters' ranking rose to World No. 10.

Playing her first clay tennis match in three years at the Andalucia Tennis Experience as the third seed, Clijsters advanced to the second round after beating Alexandra Dulgheru in three sets. However in the second round Clijsters lost to the World No. 258 Beatriz Garcia Vidagany. Clijsters played in Belgium's Fed Cup tie against Estonia, Clijsters defeated Maret Ani 6-4, 6-2 in her opening singles match. However, it was discovered that she had torn a muscle in her left foot which caused her to pull out of her next match against Kaia Kanepi. Doctors ruled the Belgium out for six weeks but Clijsters hoped to make an early recovery She later announced in a press conference that she would have to withdraw from the rest of the clay court season, including the 2010 French Open.

Clijsters returned to action at the start of the grass-court season in Eastbourne as part of her Wimbledon warm-up where she was victorious in 2005. Clijsters, as the fifth seed, defeated compatriot Yanina Wickmayer and Šafářova to reach the quarter finals losing just three games. Before losing in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka. Despite this loss Clijsters’ ranking rose to World No. 8 and she was seeded 8th at her first Wimbledon Championships since 2006. She started well with a straight sets wins over Maria Elena Camerin, Karolina Sprem and Maria Kirilenko to set up a fourth round clash with 17th seed Justine Henin. Clijsters came back from a set down to beat Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Clijsters lost in the quarterfinals to 21st seed and eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva in three sets.

Inbetween Wimbledon and the US hard court season, Clijseters participated in the record breaking Best of Belgium. Clijsters defeated Serena Williams in straight sets. As well as in the New York derby in the WTT representing the Sportimes whilst playing against the Buzz. Clijsters took care of Martina Hingis 5-2, before teaming up with John McEnroe and Abigail Spears in the doubles. Clijsters lost with McEnroe but won with Spears.

Clijsters played her next event at the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open held in Cincinnati where she made her comeback the previous year. This was her first event of the 2010 US Open Series. After a first round bye, Clijsters, as the 4th seed, defeated former World No.1 Dinara Safina, Christina McHale and Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Clijsters was leading 2-1 when her opponent, Ana Ivanović, had to retire due to a foot injury. In the final, Clijsters faced 10th seed Maria Sharapova and after losing the first set, Clijsters found herself down 5-3 in the second set. She managed to save three championships on her own serve before rain interupted play. Clijsters came back to take the second set into a tie-break and despite being down 0-3, she came back to win the second set and then went on to claim a 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory. This win propelled her ranking to World No. 4 with her 38th singles title of her career

Clijsters played her final event of the US Open Series in Montreal at the 2010 Rogers Cup where she was seeded 5th. She reached the quarterfinals before losing to Vera Zvonareva in three sets. After coming back from 6-4, 4-1 down in the opening round to defeat Bethanie mattek Sands.

Clijsters then competed in the 2010 US Open where she was the No. 2 seed. Clijsters advanced to the quarter finals without dropping a set defeating Greta Arn, Sally Peers, Petra Kvitová and Ana Ivanović. There Clijsters came from a break down in the third set to defeat 5th seed Samantha Stosur 6-3 in the final set to advance to the semifinals. In the semis Clijsters faced Venus Williams winning the match in the final set to extend her US Open match winning streak to 20. Tying with Venus and Monica Seles but second only to Chris Evert's 31-match winning streak from 1975-1979. In the final, Clijsters faced seventh seed Vera Zvonareva in a rematch of their Wimbledon quarterfinal meeting. Clijsters won only dropping three games on the way, to defend her US Open title, winning it for the third time; and her second as a mother, one short of the Open Era record held by Margaret Court. Clijsters extended her US Open winning streak to 21 matches. By winning US$2.2 million, she equalled her own 2005 record of the largest payday in women's sports history. Injury then kept Clijsters out until the WTA Championships. At the year-end championship, Clijsters advanced to the final, after defeating Jankovic and Azerenka to qualify for the semi final. Clijsters lost her final group game to Zvonareva. In the semi finals Clijsters beat Stosur in straight sets after surviving a car crash which wrote the car off whilst on her way to the match. In the championship match Clijsters faced world #1 Caroline Wozniacki in a rematch of the 2009 US Open final. Clijsters finished the year at world #3 after defeating the Dane in three sets, to clinch her third WTA Championship and fifth title of the year. Clijsters finished the year ranked #3 in the world. Clijsters final match of 2010 was a repeat of what the Best of Belgium should have been, a match against Justine Henin. The match took place at the Diamond Games in front of a Belgium crowd. Clijsters came out the winner winning the match tie breaker 10-5.

For her performance during the season, Clijsters received the WTA Player of the Year award for the second time (first one in 2005), the first player ever to win this award in the year following the win of the Come Back Player of the Year.

2011

Clijsters started 2011 on new years day with a rematch of the WTA Tour Championships final against Caroline Wozniacki; at the 84 World Tennis Invitation in Hua Hin, Thailand. Clijsters' won the exhibition in a match tie break, 12–10. Clijsters’ first competitive outing of the year was the Medibank International Sydney. In the first round, she defeated clay-court specialist Alexandra Dulgheru in a one-sided encounter, 6-1 6-2. Clijsters advanced to the final where she was defeated by Li Na of China, 7-6 6-3, despite leading 5-0 in the first set.

Coaches

1992–1996: Bart Van Kerckhove

1996–2002: Carl Maes

2002–2005: Marc Dehous

since 2009: Wim Fisette

Records

2001

Clijsters became the first Belgian—man or woman—to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era.

2003

Clijsters became not only the first Belgian—man or woman—to be ranked World No. 1, but also did so without winning a Grand Slam tournament. Clijsters is one of only five women to have been ranked World No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously (the others being Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Lindsay Davenport). Clijsters compiled a 90–12 singles record. Her singles win total was the highest single-season total by any woman since Navratilova in 1982.

WTA Player Service Award (for 2010)

Career statistics

Singles

See also

List of female tennis players

List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions

Clijsters–Henin rivalry

References

External links

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Belgian female tennis players Category:Flemish sportspeople Category:French Open champions Category:Order of the Crown (Belgium) recipients Category:People from Limburg (Belgium) Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

Playername	Justine Henin
Nickname	Juju ) as the principal reasons for her success.

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:Belgian expatriates in Monaco Category:Belgian female tennis players Category:French Open champions Category:Olympic gold medalists for Belgium Category:Olympic tennis players of Belgium Category:Order of the Crown (Belgium) recipients Category:People from Liège (city) Category:People from Monte Carlo Category:People from Namur (province) Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:Walloon sportspeople Category:World No. 1 tennis players

Playername	Jelena Janković
Country	(2000-2003)(2003–2006) (2006–present)
Datebirth	February 28, 1985
Nickname	J.J. (in the media)The Empress Jeca (in Serbia)Jelly (in the UK)
Placebirth	Belgrade, Serbia (then SFR Yugoslavia)
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	February 6, 2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$11,569,440
Singlesrecord	414-213
Singlestitles	12 WTA, 1 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (August 11, 2008)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 8 (1 November 2010)
Australianopenresult	SF (2008)
Frenchopenresult	SF (2007, 2008, 2010)
Wimbledonresult	4R (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
Usopenresult	F (2008)
Othertournaments	yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	SF (2008, 2009)
Olympicsresult	QF (2008)
Doublesrecord	41-60
Doublestitles	1 WTA
Highestdoublesranking	No. 43 (November 6, 2006)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	3R (2008)
Frenchopendoublesresult	2R (2007)
Wimbledondoublesresult	3R (2010)
Usopendoublesresult	3R (2006)
Mixestitles	Wimbledon 2008 Partner: Jamie Murray
Updated	November 1, 2010

Jelena Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Јанковић) ; born February 28, 1985 in Belgrade) is a former World No. 1 Serbian professional tennis player. She was runner up at the 2008 US Open and mixed doubles winner at the 2007 Wimbledon. Janković is currently ranked World No. 8.

Family and early life

Janković was born in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia, as the third child of Veselin and Snežana, two economists. . She also has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. She is a student at the Megatrend University 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. As a junior she won the 2001 Australian Open 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.

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 6–1, 6–4 in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open. In May, Janković won her first WTA title, a Tier V event, in Budapest, defeating Martina Suchá 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 (twice), Vera Zvonareva, Patty Schnyder and Paola Suárez. Janković finished 2004 ranked No. 28 in the world. Having a spectacular junior career is by no means a guarantee for success on the pro WTA Tour, but Jelena was junior number one and also was pro number one in the world. Only Martina Hingis, Amelie Mauresmo and Jelena Jankovic managed to do that.

She was ranked World No. 1 for seventeen consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Serena Williams 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.

Janković has reached the singles final of the US Open 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 mixed doubles title with British partner Jamie Murray.

She is one of only seven players who has defeated both Williams sisters 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 never falling out of Top 10 ever since.

2005

In March, at Dubai, she advanced to the final following Serena Williams's retirement in the semifinal. Janković then lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. She made her first Tier I semifinal in Berlin, losing to Nadia Petrova 6–4, 6–7, 6–3. In June, she reached her first grass court final at Birmingham, but lost to Maria Sharapova 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In October, Janković reached her third final of the year in Seoul, ranked No. 17 in the world, her highest ranking at that time, losing to 16-year-old Nicole Vaidišová 7–5, 6–3. 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 to World No. 188 Olga Savchuk. 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 in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, before eventually losing to Venus Williams 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.

At Wimbledon, 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 6–4, 7–6(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 (ranked World No. 108 at the time after a lengthy injury lay-off) in the semifinals before losing to third-seeded Elena Dementieva 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 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 4–6, 6–4, 6–0 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 in Beijing, defeating World No. 7 Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals before losing to World No. 1 Mauresmo on 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 in Auckland, New Zealand, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final. The following week, at the Medibank International in Sydney, Janković defeated World No. 7 and former No.1 Martina Hingis and top-seeded Amélie Mauresmo on the way to the final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters after serving for the match. Janković's strong start to the year meant some considered her a title threat at the Australian Open; however, she was eliminated in the fourth round by the eventual champion Serena Williams 6–3, 6–2. Because of her results at these tournaments, her ranking rose to World No. 10, the first time she had been included in the top ten.

.]] Janković reached two semifinals in the Middle East in the spring, retiring against Mauresmo due to an ankle injury at the Dubai Tennis Championships and losing in three sets to Justine Henin at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, 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 on a third set tiebreak in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina 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 in both the semifinals of the J&S; Cup in Warsaw 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 in Rome, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. This results meant she entered the top five on the world rankings for the first time. Janković was the fourth seed at the French Open and one of the favorites for the title. After registering her third consecutive victory over Venus Williams 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 6–2, 6–2. This improved her ranking to a new career-high of World No. 3.

On grass, Janković captured the DFS Classic title in Birmingham, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova 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 in the Netherlands and became the first player since Chris Evert 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. At Wimbledon, Janković was the third seed but lost in the fourth round to the surprise eventual finalist Marion Bartoli, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3. In the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, Janković teamed with doubles specialist Jamie Murray to win the title by beating the fifth-seeded team, Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik, in the final 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. Janković finished the year on a six-match losing streak, losing all three of her round-robin matches on her debut at the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, including her seventh loss of the year to Henin. She finished the year ranked World No. 3, her first time finishing the season in the top ten.

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 has declared for the sportswoman of the year.

2008

.]] Janković lost in the semifinal of the Australian Open to Maria Sharapova 6–3, 6–1. In March, at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Janković lost in the semifinals to fellow Serb Ana Ivanović 7–6(3), 6–3. The following fortnight, Janković reached her first final of the year at the Miami Masters, losing to Serena Williams 6–1, 5–7, 6–3 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 in Charleston, South Carolina and the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. Janković then successfully defended her Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia title in Rome, after defeating Venus Williams in three sets in the quarterfinals, receiving a walkover from the injured Sharapova in the semifinals, and defeating French teenager Alizé Cornet in the final. This was Janković's first singles title of the year. She went in to the French Open among the favorites following the sudden retirement of four-times champion Justine Henin. However, she lost to eventual champion Ivanović 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, 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, Janković injured her knee during her third-round match against Caroline Wozniacki. Although she won that match, it visibly hindered her during her fourth round loss to Tamarine Tanasugarn. Janković would have become the World No. 1 had she reached the semifinals of the tournament. However, she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round 6–3, 6–2. 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 and the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, losing to Dominika Cibulková. 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, 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 and Kim Clijsters) 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 in the semifinals to reach her first Grand Slam final. There, she lost to fourth-seeded Serena Williams 6–4, 7–5. Janković would have re-claimed 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, Janković defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–2 to win the title. The following week, Janković played in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, where she defeated Venus Williams in the semifinals 6–7(8), 7–5, 6–2, and Nadia Petrova in the final 6–4, 6–3. In the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Janković defeated defending champion Dementieva in the semifinals 0–6, 6–1, 6–0 before triumphing against Vera Zvonareva 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-ending 2008 WTA Tour Championships held in Doha, 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 Venus Williams, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, and ended the year as World No. 1. Janković was later named the ITF World Champion for her performances in 2008. She won four titles during the season, the most of anyone on the tour along with Serena Williams and Safina.

Olympic Committee of Serbia has declared for the best sportswoman two years in a row.

2009

Janković started the year at the JB Group Classic, an exhibition prior to the Australian Open. 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. The team defeated Team Americas' World No. 6 Venus Williams and newcomer to the women's tour, Coco Vandeweghe, 6–4, 7–5. Janković then lost to Williams in singles 6–2, 6–2. Janković later withdrew from the remainder of the tournament because of illness.

Janković was seeded first at the Australian Open in Melbourne, losing to sixteenth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France in the fourth round 6–1, 6–4. Bartoli hit 34 winners compared to Janković's 17 and won 81% of her first serve points compared to Janković's 56%. Janković lost her World No. 1 ranking to Serena Williams as a result.

Her next Women's Tennis Association event was the Open GDF SUEZ tournament in Paris, where she entered as a wildcard and was the second seeded player. In the first round, Janković beat Francesca Schiavone and in the second round, she beat Li Na. In the quarterfinals, she beat fifth-seeded Alizé Cornet 5–7, 6–4, 6–4 but then lost to Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals 6–2, 0–6, 6–1.

Janković had a first round bye at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded third. She was upset by Kaia Kanepi in the third round, 6–2, 7–5, 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, a Premier Mandatory tournament. She received a bye in the first round before losing in the second round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–4, 6–4. 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 in Key Biscayne, Florida, to Gisela Dulko 6–4, 7–6(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 in Marbella, Spain, Janković defeated fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets for her first title of 2009. .]] Jelena Janković has won the third point for Serbia in the Fed Cup play-offs against Spain, which means the national team will play in the 2010 edition of Fed Cup World Group. Jelena beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 in Lleida to bring Serbia team a first ever chance to compete among the world's top-tier women's tennis teams next year. Day before Jelena Janković and Ana Ivanović won their single matches.

Janković was the defending champion at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Seeded third, she lost in the quarter-finals, she lost to Flavia Pennetta 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. Janković was also the defending champion at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome but lost in the quarter-finals to eventual finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–1, 7–6(3). Seeded fourth at the inaugural Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, she advanced to the quarter-finals once again but was defeated by Patty Schnyder, 7–6(6), 6–3

Seeded fifth at the French Open, she lost to Sorana Cîrstea of Romania in the fourth round, 3–6, 6–0, 9–7, despite serving for the match in the third set at 5–4.

In her first match on grass at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, third seeded Janković lost in the first round to Russian Anna Chakvetadze, 6–7(5), 6–3, 6–2. Janković was seeded 6th at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Julia Görges having been trailing 5–2 in the first set. Janković then beat Iveta Benešová in the second round but lost to qualifier Melanie Oudin in the third round, 6–7, 7–5, 6–2.

At the Bank of the West Classic in California, Janković lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Marion Bartoli, despite having two match points. In her next tournament at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, Janković defeated Victoria Azarenka to advance to the quarterfinals where she disposed of Sybille Bammer. In the semi-finals, Janković defeated Elena Dementieva 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 6–4, 6–2. With the win her ranking also went back to World No. 4.

Desptite her good form leading up to the 2009 US Open, Janković's inconsistency continued as she suffered a shock second round defeat to Yaroslava Shvedova 6–3, 6–7(4), 7–6(6) despite having match points in the third set tie-break. Her ranking decreased to World No. 8.

At the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, seeded seventh, Janković defeated Sabine Lisicki and Elena Vesnina in the second and third round respectively after receiving a first round bye. She defeated Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals 6–4,6–3 and Li Na 6–4,6–3 in the semifinals. She faced Maria Sharapova 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. She lost her opening match to home favorite Peng Shuai 4–6, 7–5, 6–2.

Her next tournament was Moscow where she was seeded second. This tournament was her last chance to qualify for Doha. She was in a battle for the last available spot at Doha along with Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwańska. However, things worked for her favor as both Zvonareva and Radwańska fell in their early rounds making Janković to be the last qualified player at Doha. She is now set to face defending champion Venus Williams in the semifinals. Janković lost her first match to Azarenka 6–2, 6–3 but bounced back defeating Safina 1–1, ret and Wozniacki 6–2, 6–2 to clinch the first berth in her group. In her second year ending championship semifinal she lost to Venus Williams 5–7, 6–3, 6–4. She ended year ranked 8th and with a 46–19 record.

2010

Janković started the 2010 season in Sydney. She lost in the first round to Ágnes Szávay, 7–5, 1–6, 5–7 having been seeded 7th for the tournament. During the Australian Open, Janković, seeded eighth, defeated opponents Monica Niculescu and Katie O'Brien in straight sets before losing to number 31-seed Alyona Bondarenko in the 3rd round.

Next, Janković represented Serbia in the 2010 Fed Cup. In her first match, she rallied from 4–6, 1–4 down to defeat Alisa Kleybanova 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. In her next Fed Cup match, she defeated reigning French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 4–6, 6–3. In the deciding doubles match, she partnered with Ana Ivanović. Ivanović and Janković fell to Kuznetsova and Kleybanova. Her next scheduled tournament was the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships. Having a first round bye, she defeated Aravane Rezaï 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. She then lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round, causing her ranking to fall to 9th in the world.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Monterrey Open, 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. At the tournament, she was seeded sixth and defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6–2, 6–4 to take the her 12th title.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was seeded 7th. In the fourth round, she lost to Samantha Stosur 1–6, 6–7(9), ending her 8-match win streak.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Family Circle Cup where she was seeded second. She lost in the quarterfinals to Daniela Hantuchová.

At the Fed Cup qualifying, Janković defeated Slovakia's Magdaléna Rybáriková in her first singles match, but fell to Hantuchová in her second. Janković and Bojana Jovanovski then fell to Rybáriková and Hantuchová in the deciding doubles match.

Janković was the fourth seed at the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. 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. In the quarterfinals she produced one of her most polished performances to thrash fourth seed Venus Williams 6–0, 6–1, with Williams suffering her heaviest loss in her career, having never won less than two games in a match. She then beat reigning World No. 1 Serena Williams in the semi-finals, 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 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 and lost in the final 6–7(5), 5–7. Nevertheless, her ranking increased to world No. 4.

Seeded 7th, Janković received a first round bye at the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open and defeated compatriot Ana Ivanović 4-6 6-4 6-1 in the second round after being down 4-6 0-2. She lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champion Aravane Rezaï 5–7, 4–6.

Janković's next tournament was 2010 French Open where she was seeded No. 4. In the first round, she defeated Alicia Molik 6–0, 6–4, then Kaia Kanepi 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 in the second round, and then Alyona Bondarenko in the third round 6–4, 7–6(3). In the fourth round, she defeated Daniela Hantuchová 6–4, 6–2, who had already defeated Janković twice that year on clay. In the quarterfinals, Janković defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 6-4, for a spot in her third semifinal at Roland Garros. Her run ended in the semifinals to Samantha Stosur, 6-1, 6-2. Two weeks later, her ranking increased to world No. 3.

Janković then played in the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, where she was seeded No. 4 seed. She defeated hometown favorite Laura Robson 6-3 7-6 in the first round and Aleksandra Wozniak 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 Alyona Bondarenko 6-0 6-3 in their third meeting at a Grand Slam this year. Struggling with injuries, Jankovic retired trailing 21st seed Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round 6-1, 3-0. Although she retired in the fourth round, her ranking increased to World No. 2.

Janković defeated fellow Serb Bojana Jovanovski 6-3 6-3 in the first round of the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open but had to retire in her next match against Anastasiya Yakimova 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 5-7, 2-6, despite leading 4-0 in the first set and also having 3 set points in the first set.

Jankovic 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 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. In the third round, Jankovic failed to defend her title as she had a shocking upset to Akgul Amanmuradova. This will cause her ranking to fall to world #3. Jankovic then entered 2010 Rogers Cup as the top seed. After receiving a bye in the first round, she was upset by Iveta Benesova, 7-6³, 6-3 in the second round. Due to her early exit, she ranking dropped to No. 5.

Jankovic then traveled to New York to play in the 2010 US Open where she was seeded No. 4. In the first round, she defeated Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 and defeated Mirjana Lučić in the second round 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. She was defeated by Kaia Kanepi in the third round, losing 6-2, 7-6(1). Had she won the US Open, she would have once again become the No. 1 player in the world.

Jankovic's next tournament was the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where was seeded No. 3 and was the runner up last 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, 6-4 6-4. She then traveled to China to play in the 2010 China Open, where she was seeded no. 3. 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 in three sets, Jankovic lost 6-4, 2-6, 2-6.

Despite her recent slump, Jankovic still qualified for the 2010 WTA Tour Championships as the No. 6 seed. Her next was the 2010 Kremlin Cup, 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 6-1, 6-2.

Jankovic's final event of the year is the 2010 WTA Tour Championships, where she qualified for the fourth consecutive year, as the No. 6 seed. She was placed in the White Group, consisting of the No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva, No. 3 seed Kim Clijsters, and No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka. After losing her opening match to Zvonareva 3 and 0 Jankovic 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. Jankovic's torrid time in Doha came to an end when she lost her third and final group match to Azerenka. This loss again in straight sets ment that she had lost her last 10 sets of tennis played, bring an end to her 2010 season.

In November 30, Janković played humanitarian match in Pionir Hall. Revenue from tickets is intended to help elementary school in Kraljevo damaged by an earthquake. Other participants were successful players such as Slobodan Živojinović, Ilie Năstase, Henri Leconte, Goran Prpić...

2011

Jankovic began 2011 by falling in the first round to France's Aravane Rezai in three sets at the 2011 Medibank International Sydney.

Jankovic is the 7th seed at the 2011 Australian Open.

Playing style

Jelena Janković is often regarded as one of the fittest and toughest players in recent years of women's tennis for her great defensive abilities and footwork, which classifies her 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 down the line which she will often use for outright winners when the opportunity arises. She also has a decent forehand and a fair net game, being able to hit effective drive, drop and swinging volleys. Her main weakness is her serve but during off season 2009-2010 she changed her serve motion in a attempt to produce more power . 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 (Jelena's World), featuring Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanović, Elena Dementieva and other notable players. In September 2008, Janković announced that she has been dating Montenegrian water polo player Mlađan Janović since August 2008. The pair had been dating since the 2008 Summer Olympics. and she will now feature in a TV advertisement. She is also Face of new Orbit endorsement.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

{| class="sortable wikitable" |- |width="80"|Outcome |width="50"|Year | style="width:200px;"|Championship |width="75"|Surface | style="width:200px;"|Opponent in the final | style="width:200px;"|Score in the final |- style="background:#ccf;" | style="background:#ffa07a;"|Runner-up || 2008 || US Open || Hard || Serena Williams || 6-4, 7-5 |}

Mixed doubles: 1 (1–0)

{| class="sortable wikitable" |- |width="80"|Outcome |width="50"|Year | style="width:200px;"|Championship |width="75"|Surface | style="width:200px;"|Partner | style="width:200px;"|Opponent in the final | style="width:200px;"|Score in the final |- style="background:#cfc;" | style="background:#98fb98;"|Winner || 2007 || Wimbledon || Grass || Jamie Murray || Alicia Molik Jonas Björkman || 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 2010 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, which ended January 31, 2010.

Awards

;2001

Junior No.1 In The World

Junior Girls Australian Open Singles Title

;2002

Junior Sports Girl of the Year In Yugoslavia

;2004

Best Tennis Player In Serbia

;2006

WTA Most Improved Player of the Year

;2007

Best Female Tennis Player In Serbia

WTA Tour ACES Award

National Tennis Association Award Best Female Player

The Olympic Committee Best Female Athlete In Serbia

UNICEF National Ambassador To Serbia

;2008

ITF Women's Singles World Champion

Year End No. 1

Best Female Tennis Player In Serbia

The Olympic Committee Best Female Athlete In Serbia

Status Magazine's The Personality of the Year

Best European Award

WTA Tour Championships Race winner

AIPS Best Third Athlete

;2009

Best Tennis Player In Serbia

Guinness Book of World Records In Making a Photo-Mosaic

Oscar Of Popularity Best Female Athlete

;2010

Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award

See also

Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)

List of Wimbledon Mixed Doubles champions

International Tennis Federation

Jelenin svet

Jankovic – V. Williams rivalry

References

External links

Fan site of Jelena Janković

United Athletes Magazine Interview with Janković (from November 2006).

Facebook page of Jelena Janković

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Serbian sportswomen Category:Serbian female tennis players Category:People from Belgrade Category:Female tennis players Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic tennis players of Serbia and Montenegro Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic tennis players of Serbia Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Serbia