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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 28, 2009

Jelena Jankovic

KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA

G. DULKO/J. Jankovic
6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You were saying before the tournament that you weren't really feeling yourself in terms of your form. Are you still battling with those same things you were talking about?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Yes. You know, I started -- to be honest, I started to move better on the court and started to kind of, you know, get in the match, but I didn't play the way, you know, I normally play. That's a fact.
And it's the truth, in this moment, for the last three months. I haven't been playing well at all. I've been losing to the players because I'm just not at my level.
I'm not the same player as I used to be. I lost because, due to those bad results and all this, you know, that I haven't moved well and I change all these things. I lost a couple of matches which, you know, was for my caliber it's not really acceptable, and so I lost a little bit of confidence. That showed today in the match, you know.
In important points, I let my opponent come back into the match because I played bad points. I mean, I made bad mistakes and I served poorly. The whole time I didn't make many first serves, and when you play the whole time with a second serve it's very hard.
During the practice I served well. I started to feel my serve, and then I went on the court in the match and I couldn't make two first serves in the first set. So I need to keep working hard.
You know, now the clay season starts, and hopefully I will begin my season, because I still haven't begun at all. For three months I haven't been doing well at all, and I hope to begin my season sometime soon.
Hopefully I can do it on the clay. I just have to -- it's very hard, you know, to stay positive and just keep working and keep believing that you can do it, and hopefully find my form.

Q. Do you know what you have to do, though? It's not a mystery to you now? Can you pinpoint...
JELENA JANKOVIC: I just need to, you know, get into -- because for three months I wasn't in this situation when I'm winning matches. Normally it comes for you as a habit, which happened last year and the year before where I won so many matches. All I knew is how to win matches.
No matter what, even if it's -- I'm down a set at 5-Love, I still have that belief and confidence I'm going to win, I'm going to stay in the match, and at the end of the day I'm going to come out as a winner.
And now I need to find that habit again, find a habit of winning matches and playing poorly, whatever, tired, not tired, don't feel the shots, whatever it is. My opponent plays great. I need to find a way to win, and that's what I'm looking for.
Hopefully I'm going to find that, you know, confidence and that, you know, the whole construction of my game sometime soon. That's all. I mean, it's very disappointing, and it's very difficult sometimes, but that's the way it goes.

Q. This evening did you didn't do something or she did something, because you were ahead in the first set and you were in the tiebreak?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I did. Everything depended on me. When I started to play my game I was ahead, and then when I was ahead I kind of stopped and made errors. I let her come back into the match.
I mean, it's my mistake, and something that I need to work on and I need to improve in order to win those matches.
When I play my game, then it's a whole different story. But I have a lot of ups and downs during a match. I play a little bit better for a few games, and then I drop down. I need to find the consistency, and that -- but that all comes with the confidence, and especially playing those important points. It's what separates the big players from the rest.

Q. Do you feel a problem when you lose lots of points? Because last year you were in the finals here.
JELENA JANKOVIC: I'm not thinking about my points. All I'm thinking about when I find my game. When you find your game, the results come and the season is very long, and there's a lot of time to play.
But I mean, I just need to start playing some tennis. I mean, I'm just looking to play good tennis, and then when you're going to do that, results come on their own.

Q. Do you feel that the crowd was noisier than usual, or...
JELENA JANKOVIC: No, I mean, I'm used to playing on the stadium courts with full crowds. It's nothing new to me, so that didn't bother me. I love playing when it's a lot of people watching. It just gives you more motivation to fight out there, to hang in the match.
So, I mean, a lot of fans came to support both of the players, and I think that's a lot of fun.

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