Jelena Jankovic was stunned by Marion Bartoli’s fantastic performance at Wimbledon; the Serb was helpless in the fourth round match against the determined Frenchwoman (the eventual surprising finalist), and lost in singles earlier than planned.

However, by coincidence, Jankovic made best of bad situation — she paired with Jamie Murray, and I think completely unexpectedly for her, won mixed doubles on Sunday! They beat fifth seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Australia's Alicia Molik 6-4 3-6 6-1.

Jelena Jankovic admitted that a first Grand Slam win was especially sweet.

"It's really an incredible feeling for me to be there and to hold the trophy," she said.

"It's something that I always dreamed of, and I would love one day to have that feeling with the singles trophy." (via BBC)

About two weeks ago I have written an article on women’s tennis Wimbledon history and records, and among the players mentioned was Venus Williams who was the lowest seeded Wimbledon champion, winning the title in 2005 when she was seeded 14th.

Two days ago, the American beat Marion Bartoli in the final to win her fourth trophy at the grass-court grand slam, but this time she was seeded even lower, that is 23rd.

Apparently, she was not in the race for the title on paper, but seedings and rankings do not take into consideration character and determination, something that Venus and her sister Serena have in abundance.

World number two Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the Russian team for Fed Cup semi-final against the United States, which will take place this weekend in Vermont. The reason is her shoulder injury which has bothered her since April. World number four Svetlana Kuznetsova may also withdraw, since she has an injured shoulder too.

"Kuznetsova is a long shot. If her shoulder improves in the next couple of days then she'll play," said Russia Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev.

Sharapova will be replaced by world number 58 Elena Vesnina, and an alternate for Kuznetsova is world number 66 Alla Kudryavtseva (Reminder: Alla Kudryavtseva is that fantastic teenager who was so close to victory in her first round match at Wimbledon against the eventual champion Venus Williams)

Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze, ranked in the top 10 in the world, make up the rest of the Russian team.

As for the American team, it consists of Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Lisa Raymond and Vania King. (via Reuters)

Zimbabwe's Cara Black and South African Liezel Huber defeated Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama 3-6 6-3 6-2 to take the trophy at Wimbledon 2007. The second seeded winners were too strong for a relatively new partnership of their fourth-seeded opponents.

Black and Huber are also 2005 Wimbledon champions, as well as this year’s Australian Open champions.

As for Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik and Japan's Ai Sugiyama, this was the second consecutive grand slam final they lost – at last month’s French Open they were defeated by Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo. (via BBC)

Jelena Jankovic and Jamie Murray have proved to be a successful partnership, reaching Wimbledon mixed doubles final defeating Daniel Nestor and Elena Likhovtseva 6-4 4-6 6-4.

Murray wanted Jankovic to be his partner, and she has accepted it although she doesn’t consider herself a good doubles player. (Read more about the beginning of their partnership at Jelena Jankovic — top spot on Jamie Murray's list)

Maybe Jelena doesn’t play doubles so well, but it seems to me that they enjoy each other’s company and that that’s where the good results come from. I’ve read an amusing interview of Jelena and Jamie (after their victory over Julian Knowle and Tiantian Sun on July 6) and they seem to have a lot of fun together; they are relaxed and positive.

Here are some parts of the interview which I find most interesting: Read more »

Here’s a list of Wimbledon women's singles champions since 1922:

2007 Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Marion Bartoli (France) 6-4 6-1
2006 Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Justine Henin (Belgium) 2-6
6-3 6-4
2005 Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) 4-6 7-6(4)
9-7
2004 Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Serena Williams (U.S.) 6-1
6-4
2003 Serena Williams beat Venus Williams 4-6 6-4 6-2
2002 Serena Williams beat Venus Williams 7-6(4) 6-3
2001 Venus Williams beat Henin 6-1 3-6 6-0
2000 Venus Williams beat Davenport 6-3 7-6(3) Read more »

Seed No.23 Venus Williams of the USA defeated seed No. 18 Marion Bartoli of France 6-4 6-1 in the final on Saturday. It was a decisive win for Venus, who should be congratulated on her amazing comeback. With this victory the 27-year-old American became the fourth four-time winner of Wimbledon in the open era, joining Billie-Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf.

Being ranked only 31st in the world Venus Williams defeated 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova on Wednesday, 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday and French Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic on Friday. Read more »

World No. 11 Martina Hingis will play two warm-up events before the US Open, final Grand Slam of the year.

The first hard-court tournament she’ll play will be the $1,340,000 Acura Classic in San Diego which starts on July 30th. Hingis reached the quarterfinals here last year and won the event in 1997 and 1999.

Martina will then take one week off and after that short break she’ll play another Tier I event, this time Rogers Cup presented by American Express in Toronto. This event switches each year between Toronto and Montreal and last year Martina reached the final where she lost to impressive Ana Ivanovic. Martina won this event in 1998, 1999, and 2000.

After these US Open tune-ups Hingis will take another week off to prepare for the Grand Slam she won in 1997. Last year Hingis was not successful at the hard-courts of the US Open losing to Virginie Razzano in the second round. (via martinaworld)

Ana Ivanovic gave an interview to BBC Sport reporter Phil Jones while giving him a tour of some of the player areas at Wimbledon.

In the interview Ana tells what she thinks about all the attention her beauty attracts, she explains how and why she started playing tennis, etc. Also, you can see the shot of the now famous swimming pool in Belgrade Ana used to train in (BTW, kids in Serbia still practice there!).

Italy, the defending champion, hosts France in the Fed Cup semifinals on July 14 and 15.

I was listening to Severine Bremond’s interview in which she talks about her expectations for the Fed Cup and compares France’s first round tie in Japan to the upcoming one in Italy.

The Frenchwoman mentions that women in the French team get along very well and points out how their team consists of really good players. World No. 37 says that Italy will be a tough opponent, since France lost to Italy the last time they faced each other.

Bremond emphasizes how she loves playing for her country, and says that the team will give their best.

See also: Italy leave out Flavia Pennetta for Fed Cup, France omit Marion Bartoli