The champ is down for the count
Kvitova shockingly sent packing after Jankovic puts herself back in spotlight
WIMBLEDON—“It’s not easy to go away.”
One woebegone comment that cut to the quick. Uttered as much in disbelief as sadness. Stricken.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova hadn’t planned on an early departure, certainly hadn’t expected it.
Prior to Saturday’s third-round match, the two-time Wimbledon title-holder had raced through competition like a sleek cigarette boat cresting the waves, spending precisely 93 minutes on the courts, flicking off opponents with her powerful lefthanded game, never dropping a set. And maybe that effortless progress proved harmful.
She’d happily given interviews to anyone who asked, endlessly trilling about the joy of returning to SW19 as a reigning victor. A photographer back home in the Czech Republic had even convinced her to recreate the famous pose of Christine Keeler straddling a chair naked, a picture give prominent display in British newspapers.
Though one might fairly wonder about the reasoning behind that gratuitous bit of cheesecake or if Kvitova even knew who Keeler — and the notorious Profumo Affair that brought down a Conservative government here in 1963 — was. Kvitova wasn’t actually naked during the shoot but she definitely basked in the tease of the thing.
As a tennis player, the leggy (sixfoot-one) 25-year-old is notorious for blowing hot and cold on the women’s tour. Yet Wimbledon has always been like a warm womb for her, nurturing.
There seemed little to fear from Jelena Jankovic, an almost forgotten name from the past, former No. 1 but with no Grand Slam singles victories on her resume, had reached only one majors final during her career — the 2008 U.S. Open. She hasn’t been a serious contender in five years.
And the 30-year-old from Serbia had dropped her first set on Saturday with barely a peep, 6-3, at one point taking a bad sliding fall across the grass and practically lumbering to her feet, wincing in either pain or frustration.
She appeared exhausted from the three-set matches that had brought her this far.
But that’s the way of sports. You just never know. You just never can tell.
Kvitova took the first set with a single break and broke early in the second, serving brilliantly. Jankovic looked completely flummoxed by the torque her opponent was generating, the ruthless forehand swings and smashes. Halfway through that set, however, the worm began to turn — for Kvitova.
With abrupt unlikelihood, Jankovic broke and, almost before Kvitova could process what was happening, she was the one serving to stay in the set. It was the first time she’d had to contend with any pressure and the 25-year-old did not respond well. That was in stark contrast to Jankovic, who’d battled back to 4-4.
“Suddenly, I was just missing it. It was really unusual probably, or weird. I can’t really explain how.”
Jankovic broke her again, taking the set 7-5, forcing a decider.
Kvitova disappeared for an eightminute comfort break.
“I’m still young at heart. I look pretty, so why not? I mean, give me a break, guys. What’s old?” JELENA JANKOVIC
“I was trying to calm down a little bit. I was changing my clothes. I was trying to think positively.”
It didn’t translate onto Centre Court upon her return and she continued to come undone. The final set stayed on serve until Jankovic broke Kvitova to close it out 6-4. And just like that, Kvitova was gone.
A downcast Kvitova struggled to make sense of it afterwards. “I said it many times, what it is to be champion of Wimbledon, something really special. That’s why I’m playing tennis. Not to be in the second week of my favourite tournament for me is really sad. I don’t know what I can say. That’s it.”
She’s a nervy woman, has mentioned it often in the past week, about bringing her mental demons to heel.
“I think this year was little bit better for me to handle the pressure. But I don’t think I lost today because I was defending champion from last year.”
For her part, an over-the-moon Jankovic claimed she knew it, just knew in her bones that she was going to prevail in this match, from the moment she first broke Kvitova in the second set.
“I just played one point at a time and held my ground and won that second set. After that I know I could do it. I was fighting. I was very brave at the end.” Then she erupted in a laugh. “Here I am! Unbelievable.” The Serb — she actually lives in Dubai — hates grass, has rarely performed decently on it, except for winning the mixed doubles with Brit Jamie Murray in 2007.
“I would just come from the French Open . . . and wouldn’t know what I’m doing on grass. It’s happening so fast, the points are going too fast. Before I know it, I’m out of the court.” Self-deprecating giggle here. This year, she played a couple of grass tournaments before Wimbledon. Had never done that before but, with an extra week not slotted in after Roland Garros, she wisely took advantage of the opportunity, unlike Kvitova who rested up while recovering from a viral infection.
Jankovic also drew on veteran tactical cleverness, denying Kvitova angles, forcing herself to stay patient and exploiting crevices of weakness.
Many believed she was too old to ever recapture significance in the sport. “I’m not old!” she objected. “I’m still young at heart. I look pretty, so why not? I mean, give me a break, guys. What’s old?”
Thirty-three-year-old Serena Williams, at the opposite side of the draw — and just barely managing to avert elimination herself on Friday against gutsy British heroine Heather Watson — would doubtless agree.
It could come down to a Jankovic-Serena final next Saturday.
“Here I am in the fourth round, in the second week of Wimbledon,” Jankovic said, wondrously. “I just beat a defending champion. I don’t think I can ask for more.”
Which isn’t the talk of champions, so she hastily added: “I hope to keep going.”