In an effort to improve her performances and go back to the form that saw her become the number one tennis player in the world, Jelena Jankovic has completely overhauled her coaching staff, hiring Henner Nehles as her new coach and Korey Goodwin as her new fitness instructor. The changes came after Jankovic some extraordinarily low performances by her standards over the last couple of seasons which has seen her rankings slip to 13th.
The Serbian tennis star, although has not won a single Grand Slam title, she was always touted as one of those players who could take the tennis court by storm but other than becoming the number one player in the world in August 2008, Jankovic has not been able to fulfill her potential. She seemed immensely focused on the new season during a recent press conference and said that she was training around 7 to 8 hours a day in order to get in the shape for the upcoming Australian Open, the season’s first Grand Slam tournament.
Jelena Jankovic and her new coaching staff are scheduled to arrive Down Under in a couple of days to train and to get acquainted with the Australian weather Jankovic is hoping that Nehles, who was s standout player in the UNLV and reached a career high 38th position in the NCAA rankings can turn her game around in order for to be able to compete with the new breed of young tennis players like Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and the likes.
Jankovic stated in a press conference that her prime target is to attain peak fitness for which she has set two hours’ time every day after practice. Having won twelve singles title, Jelena Jankovic knows what it takes to reach the top but it will be worth watching her trying to scale the heights once again.
At the end of a busy tennis season, you would expect the top stars to head to the likes of Barbados and sit and relax on the beach. Jelena Jankovic is a very different type of star, however, and all she wants to do is to go back home to her native Serbia, and help her mum around the house!
“I have only just arrived in Belgrade and I am already about to travel abroad. I am spending the time here with my family and friends. I also had an appointment with the dentist!”
“I will continue the break abroad and rest for a little while longer and then start my preparations for the coming season. I am on tour throughout the year and when I come back to my Belgrade, I am delighted to be able to eat home-made food. I have lost some weight, but I honestly don’t know how. I love the meals I eat when I come back here and I love the pickles and preserves – these are the things I cannot get to eat anywhere else in the world” said Jelena.
“What I really want to do is help my Mum around the house, and make pickles adn that kind of thing – I love cooking with my Mother.”
Born in Serbia, on the 28th day of February, 1985, Jelena Jankovic is a former World No. 1 tennis palyer who has led a wonderfully versatile life as a tennis player, as a social activist and ambassador and as an endorser of famous brands. 2008 US Open has seen her reaching for the finals after she won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Coached by the former ATP top 15 player, Andrei Pavel, Jankovic is ranked World No. 15 after that. She was the third child of the two economists called Veseline and Snezana and was born in Yugoslavia.
Marko and Stefan are her two brothers and she finished her university education from Megatrend University, Belgrade. Nevertheless, her study could not hold her form following her passion, that is tennis and thus he kept her studies on hold to pursue Tennis as a profession and career. She was introduced to this game by her elder brother Marko, when she was just about ten years and learned the initial skills and tactics of the game from the Tennis Club called ‘Red Star’. When she was 11 years of age, she had won the national championship competition against the 12 year old participants and had gone to take further training about the game from the Tennis Academy of Nick Bollettieri.
She tasted glory as she won the 2001 Australian Open and became the Junior No. 1 in the world. In the tournament at the Indian Wells Master, she reached the second round and from here she never had to look behind, however she too had faced her share of obstacles and losses. 2003 led her to gain her position in the top hundred top-class tennis player as she went ahead to win her first ITF title in Dubai. The series of victories then continued as she marched forward by defeating the likes of Elena Dementieva, Martina Sucha, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva and many other renowned players. Within 2009, she remained the world No.1 for seventeen weeks ata stretch before she was dethroned by none other than Serena Williams. The later time also saw her reaching close and closer to the finals in several singles titles and that kept on sealing her success with each day and then in 2007 she won the Grand Slam which made her the first Serbian player to win the prestigious title.
The following years too saw her winning several more singles and mixed double titles with few losses and thus she kept on progressing towards her pinnacle of success. Apart from Tennis, Jelena was also associated with the UNICEF and became the national ambassador for Serbia and volunteered for the promotion of children’s rights and development. She is also the leading face and endorser of various famous and niche sports brands like ANTA sports, JJ Brand, Reebok, Prince Sports and Aqua Viva Hydroactive. Her life and career has been a center of several positive discussions which made her the main subject of an autobiographical documentary made in 2008.
Uncategorized | admin | 
January 4, 2012 9:43 am | 
Comments Off on Jelena Jankovic Appoints New Coaching Staff