Tennis: Grieving Jankovic upset by Shvedova at US Open
By RACHEL COHEN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK � Jelena Jankovic felt as though she couldn�t even watch the ball.
The night before, her beloved grandmother had died back home in Serbia. That�s where her heart and mind were Thursday, not on the No. 5 seed�s second-round match at the U.S. Open that ended with a loss to Yaroslava Shvedova.
�I was very sad and emotionally I was really not on court,� Jankovic said. �I really tried my best to be there and to try to play, but it was really hard.
�You could see I was not happy on the court. I was really suffering. I tried to think about my tennis, but I felt like I was so late and so slow.�
Shvedova, a 21-year-old from Kazakhstan, won 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6).
Jankovic planned to fly to Serbia on Friday to join her mother, who left New York on Wednesday to return home. Jankovic said she didn�t know many details after talking on the phone with her mother.
�I couldn�t really speak,� she said. �I was just crying.�
Shvedova had never defeated an opponent ranked higher than No. 15. She closed out the third-set tiebreaker with an ace after setting up match point with an overhead slam to end a long rally.
The 55th-ranked Shvedova also reached the third round at the French Open this year.
Jankovic lost in the final at Flushing Meadows in 2008, but the former top-ranked player has not advanced past the fourth round at a Grand Slam this year.
�When you are sad, when you are down, you�re not the same person,� she said. �You don�t move as well. You don�t hit the ball as well. My head wasn�t really there. I just was so � it was like a shadow of myself.
�But, you know, what can you do? Life goes on and I have to try to stay hopefully positive as much as I can, get through this.�