It’s great that Jankovic is ambitious and determined, and I really enjoy watching her play, but I’m worried that she competes in too many tournaments — that might take a toll on her body.

In my opinion, she really didn’t need to take part in the Ordina Open. After winning Birmingham, she rushed to play in the Netherlands, instead of training and saving energy for Wimbledon, the major tennis event of the year.

And there, at the Ordina Open, she had that tiring final against Chakvetadze on Saturday – only two days before the start of the grass-court Grand Slam. The match against Chakvetadze lasted the whole day, due to many rain suspensions. The rain made the court slippery – a perfect place to get injured!

Should Jankovic have saved herself at least a bit for Wimbledon? Look at Sharapova for example – she played at the DFS Classis, but skipped the Ordina Open, and is getting ready for Wimbledon. To me this is much more reasonable.

But who knows. Maybe Jankovic feels that her body is perfectly fine with her playing that many matches. After all, she knows it better than me.

We all know how successful Jelena Jankovic has been in 2007. The Serb has risen to a career-high No. 3 and won titles on all surfaces — Auckland (hard), Charleston (clay), Rome (clay), and Birmingham (grass). There is only one player that Jelena has never defeated; that is world No. 1 Justine Henin, who was too strong for Jankovic in each of their six meetings.

At the Ordina Open on Thursday, defeating Alona Bondarenko in the quarterfinals, Jelena Jankovic won her 50th match of the year and became the first woman in over 30 years to achieve the feat that fast. In this way she has accompanied legends such as Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Read more »

Saturday was the finishing day of two grass-court events – the $600,000 International Women’s Open and the $175,000 Ordina Open. Finals at both tournaments were tough three-setters; at the International Women’s Open Justine Henin defeated Amelie Mauresmo 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), while at Ordina Open Anna Chakvetadze beat Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3.

Top seed Justine Henin of Belgium has defended her Eastbourne title assuring us that she’s a strong favorite for Wimbledon after defeating France’s Amelie Mauresmo, reigning champion of the upcoming grand slam.

To reach the final, the 25-year-old Belgian beat Agnieszka Radwanska, Nicole Vaidisova, and Marion Bartoli. Read more »

Women’s singles started to be played at Wimbledon in 1884, seven years after the foundation of the tournament. Women’s doubles and mixed doubles were first played in 1913. Here are some facts and records:

Youngest singles winner was Charlotte (Lottie) Dod who won Wimbledon in 1887 at the age of 15 years, 285 days. Later on she won four more Wimbledon titles, in 1888, 1891, 1892, 1893.

It’s unbelievable how times have changed. Take a look at Dod’s tennis outfit! I'm speechless.

And note this: besides playing tennis she was a member of the national field hockey team, British Amateur golf champion in 1904 and the archery silver medalist at the 1908 Olympics.

The youngest ever player at Wimbledon was Mita Klima of Austria, who was 13 years old in the 1907 singles competition.

Martina Hingis was the youngest doubles winner, being only 15 years, 282 days old when she became a champion in 1996. Read more »

Saturday is the final day of the last Wimbledon tune-up event, the $175,000 Ordina Open in the Netherlands. The winner will earn $25,870 and 140 points, the runner-up $13,630 and 100 points.

Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia reached the final by defeating the last year’s runner-up Dinara Safina of Russia, seeded-fourth. Jankovic saw five match points slip through her fingers before finally sealing the 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) victory in the tie break of the third set. It was a tough match for both of them, lasting 2h 31min, but Jelena proved that she’s hell of a player by overcoming tough moments and winning the match despite problems with a hamstring which forced her to take a medical timeout. Read more »