WIMBLEDON
Date: 2008-06-30

WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2008

Jelena Jankovic
LONDON, ENGLAND
T. TANASUGARN/J. Jankovic
6-3, 6-2

The Moderator Questions for Jelena.

Question How much was the knee responsible for you losing today?
Jelena Jankovic: I don't know, but I was really happy just to be on the court, especially when I did an MRI two days ago. The doctors were telling me that I'm questionable to play, so I was just, you know, happy that I could go out there and play the match.
But I was, you know, very, very late on every shot. I was always one step behind, away from the ball, so it was very hard for me to follow the game.
I tried the best that I could, and she was quite solid. She didn't make many mistakes. She was just, you know, blocking all those balls. She did quite well, so credit to her.

Question Did you ever at any stage consider not playing today?
Jelena Jankovic: Yeah, it was hard, because especially when you cannot compete at your best. When you're not hundred percent healthy, it's very hard, especially on grass court, when you have to really move well and you have to be behind the ball.
I was always too late and I wasn't moving, you know, the way I normally move, which is normal, compared to when I have an injury.
But I tried the best that I could today, so what can I do? I just hope, you know, to get healthy and be better.

Question What was the diagnosis of the injury?
Jelena Jankovic: I have meniscus tear or something. You can maybe ask the doctors. I'm not really quite sure.
But there is some tear in there, so it was -- I could make it worse, you know, in the match. Today it was good that I didn't do anything that could make my knee worse, but I couldn't play at my best.

Question What are your emotions right now?
Jelena Jankovic: It's very disappointing, but what can I do?

Question Are you concerned about the wear and tear on players on the tour? It seems there are so many injuries all the time right now. If you have any thoughts about what might be done about it that you'd like to share.
Jelena Jankovic: I don't know. We play almost all year. We don't have -- for example, like in other sports where they play a few months and they take off, you know, a few months where they can recover their body and prepare for, you know, some other competition.
We play almost I think nine or ten months per year, which is very hard on our bodies. And we have to compete at the highest level. We have to always be ready. There is no substitutes. It is an individual sport.
You have to go out on the court even though sometimes you don't feel so great, you have an injury. You have to try to do your best.
It can be quite hard on our bodies. But, you know, we try our best to be in the best possible shape so that we can prevent injuries. But what happened to me, it's a little bit of a bad luck. I slipped. I was sliding. My knee went -- I got stuck and then my knee went straight and then bent again. I did something wrong with it, but what can I do?

Question What should the tour and other tennis governing bodies do to address the injury situation, do you think?
Jelena Jankovic: I don't know. Next year will be better schedule for us. We will play a little bit less tournaments and we will have some time off in between, after the first half of the season.
So it's a little bit of a better schedule, and it will be better for us, you know, to recover and play in the best possible shape.

Question What did the doctors tell you that you're going to need to do to get your knee healthy?
Jelena Jankovic: Yesterday I couldn't train. I was resting. I was icing. I had, you know, a few injections. I took a lot of medicine, antiinflammatories. I was icing all the time. I had some, you know, steam therapies, you know, with the physios.
You know, I was almost spending the whole day with the doctors, with the physios, trying to get better, the best as possible for the match.
And it was, you know, quite hard, you know, to hear that they are telling me I'm questionable to go on court. So I did, you know, the best that I could to play today, to finish the match, which was very important.

Question Did they tell you you're going to need to be reevaluated after your play here?
Jelena Jankovic: Yes, I will go. Especially when I finish the press conference, I will go to see the doctor again and see what I'm supposed to do in order to get better.
Now I finished the tournament so I don't have a risk of making my knee worse. So I can rest, who knows how long, and then start getting ready for, you know, the other tournaments which are on hard court.

Question What were the injections?
Jelena Jankovic: They were Voltaren and I don't know too much about all these medicines. But we took everything that was possible, you know, in order to recover. Especially I was really not happy with the scheduling. I asked, you know, to play a little bit later on in the day, which would give me a few more hours to recover and do another therapy in the morning.
When I saw that I'm on the schedule at 12:00 in the morning, and especially on Court 18, which was very unusual, you know, for a No. 2 seed to play on Court 18 is, for my opinion, not really normal.
But what can you do?

Question Venus raised that point before, being a champion being on Court 2. What do you think about that?
Jelena Jankovic: Yes, I think, you know, the scheduling is really -- it was not made in a good way. It was not right. I think, you know, the champion, the defending champion, should always play on the top courts, because she won and she deserves to play there.
I also think No. 1, No. 2 seeds should always be on these top show courts. The ranking shows, you know, who deserves it, who has this ranking. Who is in the top of the game should play on the top courts.
I don't know what they are doing, you know, to put Venus on No. 2 and I'm on No. 18, especially having an injury and asking for a favor to play a little bit later on in the day. They didn't do it. So it was, you know, quite hard.
I was almost playing in the parking lot. I almost need a helicopter to go to my court.

Question Did they explain to you why you were on Court 18?
Jelena Jankovic: It was, you know, unusual. It was a really, you know, strange answer. They told me Court 18 is, you know, TV court. And I said, But so are Centre Court and Court No. 1. This is not a reason to put me on Court 18.
But what can I do? I couldn't get frustrated over that. I think it's wrong, and hopefully it will not happen in the future in this way.

Question Is it a man/woman, gender thing?
Jelena Jankovic: I don't know what they did. It's not my -- you know, it's not nice to look at the other players, why are they playing on certain courts. But I'm asking why is No. 2 seed, you know, playing on Court 18.
I don't want to, you know, look at other girls or men, why they're on Centre Court. It doesn't matter where they play. But it's also not normal that Venus plays on No. 2, and then Chakvetadze and Vaidisova, who are 18 seed and I don't know which seed, they are on Court No. 1. I think it makes really, you know, no sense.
But this is the way they did it. What can I do?

Question Will you speak with them again about it?
Jelena Jankovic: No, I don't really want to fight over that. It's finished. I'm out of the tournament. Really no sense to go out there and lose my energy.