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OPET JE DANAS POBEDIO TALENAT NAD TALENTIMA
Blessed with the talent,Serbian 20 years old tennis player wins again!!!
three young Serbians — yes, Serbians — will enter the annual New York party at the National Tennis Center like the proverbial elephants in the room.
While you're scrambling to your nearest atlas to locate tiny Serbia on the map (in the middle of former Yugoslavia in southeastern Europe), consider that a country of 10 million with a long and circuitous history (very little of it in tennis) now has the same number of players in the world's top 10 (three) as our own country (USA) of 300 million.
It has occurred too often to deny that the power of inspiration in a child is more than able to overcome any weakness in infrastructure. For today's three young Serb tennis stars — Novak Djokovic, 20, ranked No. 3 in the men's game, and Jelena Jankovic, 22, and Ana Ivanovic, 19, ranked third and fifth in the women's game — surely were enraptured by a dream in their tender years as they watched Seles will her way to world champion.
And "will" is the operative word when seeking to understand how these three have come so far despite their rudimentary backgrounds. Practicing in a drained swimming pool between bombing runs is part of the legend, but more likely the universal equation of determined ability plus wise guidance (all three attended foreign tennis academies in their formative years) has led to success on the world's stage today.
Djokovic (pronounced JOKE-o-vitch) certainly shouldn't be considered one as he is a first major away from becoming the third wheel on Roger and Rafa's Duallie. He has done everything but win one this year, reaching the semifinals of the French Open and Wimbledon and, notably, beating Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer back to back to back to win the Canadian Open in Montreal two weeks ago. (Imagine that phone call home: "Who did you play, son, and how did you do?")
To watch him play is to see nothing extraordinary aside from sound technique and excellent agility, but the intangibles under the hood — burning desire, calmness and courage under pressure — are what bode well for even bigger things ahead. Plus the closeness of his family will help keep his meteoric success in perspective — I watched the Djokovic family take up a back court at Wimbledon a couple of years ago, where big brother Novak was batting it around with his young siblings, burgeoning tennis players in their own right. There was a lot more there than a short stint of obligation.
The women's side
Jankovic (pronounced YANK-o-vitch — yes, like parodist "Weird Al" ... hopefully, no relation) has shot up to No. 3 in the world this year by playing lots and lots of tournaments (21 entering the U.S. Open) and doing well in many of them (three titles, including the Italian Open and the semis of the French Open). As quick to smile as she is on her feet, Jankovic has the punishing groundstrokes and an improving consistency of demeanor that should take her far in New York, that is, if she doesn't face her nemesis, Justine Henin, who has beaten her in all seven meetings, including five times this year.
The final Serb of the trio, Ivanovic (pronounced Ee-VAHN-o-vitch), is destined to be the next glamour girl of the women's tour (OK, so the defending champ, world No. 2 media maven Maria Sharapova, might have something to say about that). Her website having replaced that of another Anna as the most visited among female athletes, Ivanovic has much more than stunning looks in her tall (6-1), dark and athletic frame. Her crunching forehand has been stunning opponents all year as she has won two titles and reached the final of the French Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon (she also has a mean little habit of beating her older and higher-ranked compatriot, having won four of five encounters). Look for Ana to dazzle more than her opponents in New York.
All of this Serb talk is not meant to distract from the more likely title winners at the U.S. Open — Federer, gunning for four in a row, and Henin, past champ and world No. 1, are the favorites — or to diminish our homegrown players' chances (James Blake has had a good hard-court season, and when he gets the mo' going, look out), but the fact is that three young players from a landlocked country making big waves on tour very well could result in a big splash in New York.
David Wheaton, a Minnesota native and former professional tennis player, is a Star Tribune contributor. He is an author, speaker, radio talk show host and the touring pro at Wayzata Country Club. You can find out more at davidwheaton.com.
