WTA Tour - Jankovic blasts Federer

Eurosport - Wed, 11 Feb 09:14:00 2009

Roger Federer should concentrate on his own career rather than criticising others, Serb Jelena Jankovic said after being irked by the Swiss master's unflattering verdict on her number one world ranking last year.

TENNIS Jelena Jankovic plays a shot during her fourth round tie at the 2009 Australian Open - 0

Last month, former world number one Federer hit out at the way the WTA rankings were calculated, saying a player who has never won a Grand Slam should not be granted the number one spot.

Jankovic reached the top spot in the WTA rankings in August having never won a major tournament. She lost her first Grand Slam final to American Serena Williams at last year's US Open.

The Serb has since dropped down to third in the world following a shock fourth-round defeat to France's Marion Bartoli at the Australian Open.

"To be honest, I do not like to talk about players, I really prefer to focus on myself," Jankovic said at the Paris Open.

She said she could not understand why Federer felt the need to hit out at women's tennis while his great rival Rafa Nadal, who took over from the Swiss as world number one, was so "humble".

"Why should he even care? I don't like putting my nose in other's business," Jankovic said.

"I mean, one thing I like about Nadal is that he is such a great champion, he is so humble, always has kind words for everybody, he is a role model for everybody.

"Federer is a great champion, I don't want to get in a fight with him but why does he care, I really don't understand. Why does he need to do that?"

Federer also led the charge against Jankovic's compatriot Novak Djokovic when he quit because of the heat in his Australian Open quarter-final match against Andy Roddick.

"I'm almost in favour of saying, you know what, if you're not fit enough, just get out of here," the Swiss said.

Jankovic said Federer should not criticise fellow players.

"I don't think it's nice to attack other players," Jankovic added.

"If he retired, he probably had his reasons, he knows better. You cannot attack someone when you don't have proof, when you don't have a piece of evidence.

"There is no reason to offend him that way."

Jankovic will open her Paris Open campaign with a first-round match against Italian Francesca Schiavone.

Reuters

Comment 103 - 122 of 162

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  1. 77677 TO OLLIE 112

    777 THE WIMBLEDON COURT JJ­ COMPLAINED ABOUT NO 18 WAS A BRAND NEW ADDITION
    ZZZZZ­ SITUATED NEXT DOOR -- NEXT TO --- CENTRE &­ NO 1 COURT ---CLOSER THAN COURT 4

    From pam_wallis60, on Wed 11 Feb 8:35AM
  2. alkssmiljnov,serena is 27 and jj turns 24 on the 28th­ of this month,that makes it 3 years apart.For your­ information,serena won her first grand slam 1999 and­ she was only 17 .Jj is turning 24 soon,yet no grand­ slam to show for her so called consistency.You see,you­ have no point.As for the muscles,she had it when she­ won the french open in 2003 and maybe its the lesser­ muscles of Fed that has made him not to win the french­ open.Nadal has muscles and he has been winning the­ French open.So stop bashing the williams girls just­ bcos your girls can never achieve what they have­ achieved even in 10 years time and sorry,the williams­ girls cant play for serbia bcos i know thats what you­ wish.In your dreams.........................

    From ede o, on Wed 11 Feb 8:32AM
  3. I certainly agree with Jelena. I love Roger, but I­ think he should not comment on other players;­ what's more, Jelena is a great player and yeah, she­ may not have won a major yet, but she's proved that­ she deserves to be one of the best with her consistency­ and some unbelieveable matches. I believe that, like­ every single other player, she has her own personality­ inside and outside the court and that's the way it­ is..in tennis, like any other sport or activity you­ cannot always be the winner; sometimes you win and some­ you lose..what you need to do is to keep on doing the­ best you can, believe in yourself, try to improve and­ that's all. Everybody keep saying about great­ champions, and yes, there have been quite some of them,­ there are some of them at the present and there will be­ others in the future..each one is unique and­ special..who cares who was, is or will be the­ greatest..that's all guys..hugs to all and enjoy­ tennis and life!

    From sideway m, on Wed 11 Feb 8:16AM
  4. Roger Federer should concentrate on his own career ? he­ has one ,one that she can only dream of ....
    shut and­ get a face lift

    From rslessix, on Wed 11 Feb 7:31AM
  5. And maybe wta needs changing its ranking system? make­ it to be based on quality poins or average number of­ points earned. This way maybe players that can not play­ more than 10 tournaments during year can be number 1.­ These players might want to have time for something­ else in life as well.

    From alkssmiljnov, on Wed 11 Feb 5:14AM
  6. To aus 11123, its not about whether S williams is­ atractive or not, its more regrding her being having­ more muscles than FedExpress. and to nuelallove you can­ not compare how many grand slams thay won because thay­ are differnet age and for that played during diferent­ times. JJ is much youger than williams sisters. (around­ 6-7 years?). and tell you why she can not win Feench,­ those muscles are not enough because the surface is­ slowing the ball

    From alkssmiljnov, on Wed 11 Feb 4:59AM
  7. in a kinda way I agree with jj. Fed should be more­ supportive of his colleagues
    sometimes he can be see as­ being too arrogant. I think it is good that someone is­ actually winning/ beating Fed now I really hope that­ Rafa is as sincere as he is promising to be and remain­ humble. also I was quite dissapointed to see Fed crying­ at the final of the Australian open, I am empathic­ towards Fed and understand that he felt really­ emotional but somehow I think he should have respected­ Rafa, because when I looked at Rafa he looked rather­ uncomfortable with Fed tears

    From cato899, on Wed 11 Feb 2:36AM
  8. in a kinda way I agree with jj. Fed should be more­ supportive of his colleagues
    sometimes he can be see as­ being too arrogant. I think it is good that someone is­ actually winning/ beating Fed now I really hope that­ Rafa is as sincere as he is promising to be and remain­ humble. also I was quite dissapointed to see Fed crying­ at the final of the Australian open, I am empathic­ towards Fed and understand that he felt really­ emotional but somehow I think he should have respected­ Rafa, because when I looked at Rafa he looked rather­ uncomfortable with Fed tears

    From cato899, on Wed 11 Feb 2:36AM
  9. Go to the US version of yahoo sports for the article on­ the same subject, and make your own judgment about­ Eurosport.

    This is really just creating something out­ of nothing

    From HT, on Wed 11 Feb 2:35AM
  10. who's jankovic?

    i completely agree with fed. if u­ havent won a single grand slam, how can you be world­ number 1? you can't, because you haven't­ proved yourself yet. If you haven't won, you­ can't be THE BEST. She got her #1 status by pure­ luck, relying on the top players to lose in order to­ get it. Jankovic, concentrate on improving, because at­ the moment you're doing nothing that impress people­ except for wearing pretty revealing clothes and showing­ guys you're cleavage.

    gtfo kid.

    FED #1 FOREVER!!!

    From nick, on Wed 11 Feb 2:24AM
  11. Jankowho?

    From IndiansR, on Wed 11 Feb 1:36AM
  12. on the other hand comments bout jj are true,does anyone­ remember jj complaining bout being made to play almost­ in the wimbledon car park,if youre good what does it­ matter where the court is?the dimensions of it remain­ the same,if you`re tired change your schedule and play­ less tournaments,if you`re injured simply dont play­ until you`re better otherwise keep it to yourself once­ you have chosen to gt on the court.the other irritating­ thing is how on matches she keeps talking to her­ support camp.coach and mother while match is on.

    From ollie8oz, on Wed 11 Feb 1:01AM
  13. first roger should mind his own business,he seems to­ have negative comments bout other players especially­ ones that he has lost to,case in point­ murray,djokovic.i have to say this is inspite of me­ agreeing with what he said bout both jelena and­ djokovic,there`s something suspect bout there­ attitude,you remember jelena complaining last year bout­ being made to play in the car park at wimbledon or­ saying she was always playing with an injury of some­ sort,or saying after loosing at wta championships that­ she was tired?excuses toomany to keep up with.comment­ bout djokovic is also true because he does quit a bit­ too many times when loosing to ppl he thinks he should­ easily beat.the sum of it all,federer should leave­ others to chart their own careers however badly leave­ it to us fans to be the judgeges, after all we are the­ ones that pay to watch the matches and we have­ commentaters and journalists to question the players­ for us.

    From ollie8oz, on Wed 11 Feb 12:47AM
  14. may b federer should have left the whole female tennis­ circle alone, but jj certainly dint deserve to b no.1­ b'cos she doesnt have big match poise atall(she­ lost always to justine).if u look at d majors last yr,d­ opponent was always better tactically.
    all she does is­ fake injuries den go n win some tier 2 titles d­ following
    dey say she won d most matches but dey dont­ talk about winning percentage which is a far better­ indicator
    right now i evn feel she is lucky 2 b 3 in­ the world coz dere r better playrs around.

    From habeeb a, on Wed 11 Feb 12:32AM
  15. Jelena didn't talk about it, she was being asked by­ those stupid journalists about Roger's comments. I­ agreed with what she said. I think he can talk anything­ about the ATP but shouldn't drag WTA into it.

    From Koh, on Wed 11 Feb 12:25AM
  16. I am with Jelena Jankovic! She was No. 1, I love her­ personality. She is a hero!

    From Vladan, on Wed 11 Feb 12:03AM
  17. Good idea )
    player must wait to be no 1
    without a GS

    From sitilhakan, on Tue 10 Feb 11:10PM
  18. LOL.
    I like Jankovic, she's a great player getting­ better - but seriously, it was a tad bit­ 'lucky' that she got to NO1 without winning a­ major event. Still, she fought it out, they didn't­ just let her have it.

    BUT, what's up with Fed?­ He's badmouthed practically every other male player­ there is, now he's moved on to girls? Come on, man­ - FOCUS ON YOUR GAME! I WANT GOOD TENNIS, not this­ gossip and silliness :P

    From izilda6, on Tue 10 Feb 11:05PM
  19. Does anyone remember how Joker cried at the Olimpicis­ when he lost to Rafa?
    He was lucky he didn't have­ to stay on the court like Fed.

    From mcorto36, on Tue 10 Feb 10:47PM
  20. 6 years ago(2002) was the last time.But why are you so­ interested only in the french open?what of the us and­ aussie opens?she even defeated jj to win us open when­ she was 3-5,set point down instead of her choking it­ was jj that choked just like they all do and she won 4­ and 5,thats class.she has 10 slams,jj has........oh­ none.jj likes serenas looks thats why she spent the off­ season building extra muscles,but its not the­ muscles,its power,great tactics and class that she has

    From ede o, on Tue 10 Feb 10:16PM
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