Justine Henin's reflections on the four grand slams are quite interesting, especially her opinion about the U.S. Open.

Wimbledon: “The people are really nice here. I’m not a great fan of England as a country but everyone’s really nice here. There’s a special type of atmosphere."

Roland Garros: “In Paris, the public tends to warm to me a lot more and it’s like being at home."

Australian Open: "I like it in Australia as well."

US Open: "The US is the toughest. People seem to turn up to do anything except watch the actual tennis."

Reminder: World No. 1 Henin possesses six titles from grand slams: Roland Garros (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007), Australian Open (2004), US Open (2003). She has no Wimbledon titles yet, but this year, as the top seed, she is highly likely to add that one to her collection. (via Wimbledon's official site)

Andy Murray's brother Jamie, the British doubles specialist, asked Jelena Jankovic to be his mixed doubles partner, and she agreed. However, the world No. 3 in singles believes that Jamie could have chosen someone else, since she’s not a good doubles player.

“I don't think I'm going to be useful for him. He made a bad choice," said Jankovic.

Of course, there were rumors that JJ was hoping for a love-match out of the association.

"It was the funniest thing that I've heard lately that I have a sweet spot for Jamie Murray. Where did that (come) from?," she said.

"If I don't really know the guy, how can I like him. I just want to confirm that it's not true. His agent said I was first on his list to play so maybe he has a soft spot for me!" (source: Reuters, photos via Down the Line)

Martina Hingis had decided to compete in Wimbledon despite a partially healed left hip injury which has bothered her for months. The former world number one hadn’t played since Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, where she lost to Patty Schnyder in the third round. So, not playing for such a long time, Hingis became hungry for some on-court action; she was fed up with just watching matches, she wanted to play. After withdrawal from Roland Garros, Hingis couldn’t stand missing another Grand Slam, and despite her injury she decided to take part in Wimbledon.

But after a tough first round match against the British wildcard Naomi Cavaday, where Hingis won in three sets, saving two match points on the way, the 1997 Wimbledon champion started to wonder whether she had made the right decision to take part in Wimbledon 2007. She realized that there was no way she could take the trophy. Read more »

Jankovic has been playing a lot of tournaments this year, and I've discussed this issue two times already — in posts “Should Jankovic have skipped Strasbourg?” and “Jankovic could have done without Ordina Open” (so, for details check out these two posts).

Adam Lincoln on Wimbledon website has also discussed this topic saying: “She maintains a hectic playing schedule, far busier than any other top 10 player, but how long can Jelena Jankovic keep it up?” In the second part of the article, it is stated that Jankovic is planning to go on a holiday after Wimbledon, while in the second half of the year she will have a more relaxed timetable. Read more »

Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia had a difficult third round match against Czech 25th seed Lucie Safarova, but eventually won 5-7 7-6 6-2 . Jankovic lost the first set 5-7, and had to play a tiebreak in the frustrating 75-minute second set to stay in the match. She won the tiebreak 7-4 after which there was a rain delay. Jankovic seemed to have benefited from the rain; when the play was resumed she won the decider 6-2.

The match was really exciting. World No. 25 Safarova had strong and precise forehands, and luck was definitely on her side in the first two sets. Many of her shots ended up in the court, when no one expected that could happen. Especially interesting was the shot when the ball landed on the net — everyone was sure that it would end up in Safarova’s side of the court, and even Jankovic didn’t approach the net thinking it was a point for her, but then the ball, after that “indecisiveness”, turned to Jankovic’s side of the court and Safarova got the point.

During the first two sets Jankovic often seemed hopeless, and her body gestures showed that she didn't know how to beat her opponent. In contrast, Safarova looked strong, and everything she did produced results.

To sum up, Safarova played amazing, but she couldn’t keep her rhythm during a match that long.

Jelena Jankovic will next play No. 18 seed Marion Bartoli of France, who beat Israel’s Shahar Peer in the third round.

Second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia beat Severine Bremond of France 6-0 6-3. The result speaks for itself. Sharapova next meets Ai Sugiyama, who she beat on her way to her 2004 title.

Sharapova admitted that she still struggles with the shoulder injury. When asked if her shoulder would last the full two weeks of the tournament, she said: "I don't know, we'll see. It's holding up but I'll tell you when I am done playing here."

No. 23 seed Venus Williams overcame Czech qualifier Hana Sromova 6-2 6-2. Sromova gave Williams a few problems with some crowd-pleasing drop shots and lobs, but the five-times grand slam champion was never unduly troubled.

No. 10 seed Daniela Hantuchova edged past Russian Elena Likhovtseva on Thursday, winning 7-5 7-6 to book her place in the third round. The 31-year-old Likhovtseva, whose career highlights have come on the doubles court where she has won 27 titles, was a real test for the Slovakian player. Hantuchova will next face Slovenian 19th seed Katarina Srebotnik. Read more »

Ladies' singles results for Wednesday, 27 June:

First round

• No. 12 seed Elena Dementieva (RUS) bt Nathalie Dechy (FRA) 6-2 7-6

• No. 29 seed Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Anne Kremer (LUX) 5-7 6-4 6-3

• No. 32 seed Martina Muller (GER) bt Anna Smashnova (ISR) 6-0 6-0

• No. 28 seed Mara Santangelo (ITA) bt Ayumi Morita (JPN) 6-1 3-6 6-3 Read more »

After edging past a British wildcard Naomi Cavaday in the first round, Martina Hingis ruled herself out as a serious contender for the ladies' singles crown this year.

The 1997 champion had to save two match points and play three sets to defeat the teenager ranked 232 in the world.

"After this match I don’t see myself as a contender for the title," Hingis said. (More about Hingis vs. Cavaday match here)

Martina still isn’t sure if she made the right decision, which is to compete in Wimbledon despite a left hip injury which has bothered her for two months. Read more »

I will start with the most interesting match of the second day, and that is the first round match between No. 23 seed Venus Williams and unseeded Russian teenager Alla Kudryavtseva.

World No.59 Alla Kudryavtseva was close to victory, but simply didn’t make use of the numerous opportunities she had. Eventually, she was defeated 2-6 6-3 7-5, leaving the court frustrated and in tears. Still, in this match the young Russian showed that she has a great potential.

Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo easily defeated world No. 158 Jamea Jackson 6-1 6-3. Maybe this is the beginning of Mauresmo’s better results after an unsatisfactory first half of the year? Read more »

Svetlana Kuznetsova has a new image which she presented in her opening match on the second day of Wimbledon. She looks completely different, sporting a long blonde braided weave. Compare the photos: 1st one is from the French Open, the 2nd one shows Svetlana’s new look.

My opinion: I’m not a fan of such hairstyles, but it’s not bad for a change.

Uh, I almost forgot the more important fact…Kuznetsova reached the second round beating Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Reminder: On Wednesday, June 27th, Kuznetsova celebrates her 22nd birthday.

(source: Off the Baseline, photos: Getty Images)