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.
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.
Comment 103 - 122 of 162
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
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.........................
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!
Roger Federer should concentrate on his own career ? he has one ,one that she can only dream of ....
shut and get a face lift
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.
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
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
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
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
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!!!
Jankowho?
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.
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.
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.
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.
I am with Jelena Jankovic! She was No. 1, I love her personality. She is a hero!
Good idea )
player must wait to be no 1
without a GS
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
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.
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
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account