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WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2007

Jelena Jankovic

LONDON, ENGLAND

Q. Another easy win for you. You must be growing in confidence rapidly at the moment.
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yes, I'm full of confidence. I played a lot on grass, winning one tournament, and I made it to the finals last week. So I think I'm the player who has the most matches played on grass and I feel quite confident.
In general I enjoy playing more on faster surfaces. It suits my game a lot better than clay. So I really enjoy my time here in Wimbledon, and hopefully I can make it.
I'm happy with my performance today for my second round. It was good winning 6-1, 6-1. It's not something that happens often. You have to -- it's so tough to break anyone, and I was quite focused today and did quite well.

Q. You've won a lot of matches on grass; you've won a lot of matches this year.
JELENA JANKOVIC: Everywhere, yeah.

Q. You're not getting tired?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I am quite tired now. Now I think I've reached close to my limit. But after Wimbledon, I will have a vacation and I will have maybe three weeks off and be able for me to recover my body. In the second half of the season I will play a lot less. It will be good for me for sure.

Q. Are you planning to go anywhere special?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I don't know yet. First I'm focused on Wimbledon, trying to do my job here, and then after, depending on my paycheck, we'll see (laughter). I'm just kidding.

Q. You're in the same half of the draw as Justine.
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, it's always the same. I don't get any different draw. Lately it's always her.

Q. She seems to have the edge over you, as well, six out of six.
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yes, for sure she's the better player, and she proved that winning six times. It's not, okay, she beat me one time, it's maybe lucky. But when you beat somebody six times, you're the better player. But I'm close and I'm trying to work on my game and trying to be up there with her. But I feel like that I belong in the top of the game, and my place is -- I've proven with my results what I did, and winning four tournaments on three different surfaces showed that I can play on any surface and I can perform well anywhere.
I just try to focus on myself and just try to keep working hard like I'm doing now, and results are coming.

Q. Assuming you justify your seeding, would you prefer Serena to beat Justine for you?
JELENA JANKOVIC: It doesn't matter. If you want to be the best in the world, you have to beat the best players in the world. You don't want that Serena beats Justine or whatever. I want whoever is the best, I want to pair up against that player and see where my level is at, see what I have to work on. It's no excuses when you lose, you just try to learn from every match and just try to go forward.

Q. That was the same court today that you beat Venus last year; some fond memories for you?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, I have good memories from this court. I'm until now unbeatable on that court, but No. 13 is not a good court for me. I lost in the last two years, I think I lost on Court 13. So I will tell the referee I don't want to play there (laughter).

Q. Will that be on your mind as you play on that court again?
JELENA JANKOVIC: No, I don't think it'll be on my mind. But it just happened the past two years, I lost my doubles and my singles on Court 13. But now I think that I'm the No. 3 seed I shouldn't be playing on Court 13.

Q. The top four seeds in both draws have both played on No. 1 or Centre Court this tournament, both draws.
JELENA JANKOVIC: I was supposed to but then because of the rain I didn't get my chance, and before I even -- they didn't know that I would not finish so they already made the schedule during the day for the next day, so I didn't get the chance. But I will get the chance sometime soon.

Q. I was going to say, can you hear all the noise going on from that?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Not really. All I hear is on my court, and I'm just focused on my job and just trying to play the game. I'm not really thinking who is cheering on Court No. 1, Centre Court, whatever is going on. I'm just out there with my game.

Q. Am I right in saying you've never played on Centre?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I've never played on Centre here in Wimbledon. I'm looking forward to playing there.

Q. Have you ever played on No. 1 even?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I don't remember, but I don't think so.

Q. 3 in the world, surely you couldn't have expected that at the beginning of the year?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Sorry?

Q. You could never have expected 3 in the world at the beginning of the year?
JELENA JANKOVIC: For sure. Actually if you had told me that last year when I was in my losing streak, I would never have believed you. It's something amazing.
But I really worked hard, and the hard work is just paying off. I've really given my best, and I'm somehow -- I feel like that I'm becoming a machine. It's something amazing. I'm really playing a lot and winning a lot of matches. And each time I come on court, sometimes I have pain, I'm tired, but I have learned to deal with all this, and somehow to find a way to win even though I don't feel that great or that I'm tired or something is going on, I don't feel the best. But it's just this challenge that I like, and I like competing and I like giving my best, and I want to be the best in the world, and that's what my goal is, and I'm working toward that and we'll see.

Q. With your record on Court 2, perhaps everyone should come and play you there.
JELENA JANKOVIC: It doesn't matter. I'll play her any court. It doesn't matter which court I'm playing on, Centre Court, No. 2, whatever. I'm up there. I'm just playing my game and that's all I care about, just enjoy and have fun, no matter which court.

Q. When you're playing, though, week after week and you get to a new tournament, does it sort of seem like everything is the same and there's courts again, there's a hotel, I'm just playing?
JELENA JANKOVIC: No, it's not. No, it's not each time, each tournament, especially on grass, you can just feel the difference. For example, in Birmingham I played, the courts were so much faster, and it's a completely different game.
Then I went to Holland and the ball bounces a lot lower there, and also a little bit slower.
Then I came here, the grass is longer, the points are a little bit longer than in this previous tournament. So you have to adjust your game. And the balls seem bigger.
But I've learned to adjust, and you just go to your practice court and you see how you feel, you try to get your rhythm, but different houses -- it's normal. This is our life, traveling all over the world, packing, unpacking and going from city to city. It's something that the job brings.
But I like it until now; I'm still 22 years old, so I still enjoy it. But probably there will come a time when I will be -- I have enough.

Q. Does it feel like a job, or can you still get special joy and happiness out of playing?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I'm happy. I'm happy on the court. I wouldn't be playing -- I'm a person who if I don't enjoy something, I'm not going to do it. I really enjoy playing tennis, and I really love going on court and practicing and playing my matches. That's the most -- something that I prefer, going on court and playing my matches and competing against the best players and playing on the big courts with the special atmosphere. That's all -- that's what I'm all about, about this show and about winning matches.

Q. Is it fair to say that Justine is in your head now, that you're not --
JELENA JANKOVIC: She's not in my head. That's what -- because I have lost to her so many times it's a statistic that she's the only player that I have trouble with. But I am not really looking for any excuse why. For sure she's better than me. She beat me six times.
But I will find a way to beat her, and I would like to find a way, but no pressure. I really -- I'll go on court and I'll just try to play the game. It doesn't matter, she can beat me 20 times. I'm still up there, I'm not going to give up.

Q. When you're on court, and you've beaten a lot of good players, do you physically feel and technically feel, she's better than me, or do you think, I'm just not bringing my level against her?
JELENA JANKOVIC: The only time that she has beaten me easy was at the French Open. She beat me 6-2, 6-2 and I didn't have a chance. It's not that she played so well, there's also my level went completely down and I was not on my game and was just not playing well, and she was just doing -- she was quite solid and didn't do anything special, but it was enough on that day to beat me in two sets.
But the other times she beat me 6-4 in the third, a few points deciding the winner, and it was always me who was erratic at the wrong time. But I'm learning from each time, and I feel that there is little things that make the difference, so I'm trying to see what those things are and trying to find the tactics.
She came up really strong, and I watched the DVDs after I lost against her at the French Open, and I saw what she did right and what I did wrong. So maybe next time, and I think on the faster surface I have for sure a bigger chance than on clay.

Q. Does being the third seed change your outlook when you walk in the gates in the morning?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I really don't know. It doesn't matter I'm No. 3 in the world or No. 1 or 1,000. For me nothing changes. I'm still the same person, I still say good morning to everybody and wish them a good day. That's all I care about.

Q. So your expectations -- players' expectations do change year to year, and if you compare to where you were before May of 2005, you made big mental leaps. Your confidence has gotten a lot more -- you have to be coming into Grand Slams now thinking if I play my level I can go pretty far here?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yeah, of course I can go far. When you're No. 3 in the world, all you're expected is to go far, go to the semifinals, go to the finals. But I'm not really thinking about that. All I'm thinking is every time I'm now in the third round and I go in my next match, I'm just focused on my game and what I can do, and each time I try to get better and better. Each round I try to feel and perform one level up.
So that's all I really am working on, and I am not really thinking every time they say, oh, you're one of the favorites, you have a big chance, but I'm just here to do my job. I'm just here to enjoy my tennis, and hopefully I'll have a good two weeks and we'll see at the end what the income will be.

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