Jelena Jankovic - US Open 25. August Interview

Q. It seems like this time of the year every year you come out on the court with either your knee bandaged or thigh or ankle. It didn't appear like you had any bracing this evening. What's your general state of health?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Well, at the moment, you know, I'm healthy, and I don't want to talk about that. I don't have any problems, but I've been struggling throughout the whole year. I had so many injuries and when I started with one, and it was like a chain, you know, my whole body was compensating. I got all these injuries that I never had before.
So I had a tough time overall throughout the year, but now I finally am healthy and I'm trying really to work hard. Even after the match, I did some fitness, I did some strengthening for my legs and for my arms. I need to get in shape again and get stronger and get fitter so that I can, you know, from my perspective avoid those kind of injuries. But you can be unlucky and twist an ankle, so that when I'm playing, you know, I don't have as much as I can, I can try to stay healthy. I try my best.

Q. Were you at all able to feel happy about being No. 1 for a week? Did that actually mean anything to you?
JELENA JANKOVIC: No, it means a lot to me, because especially after having, you know, a tough year, I've been struggling, I haven't been able to train the way I want to, I haven't been in my best form, and to reach in the No. 1 spot is amazing. And it's something that will stay in my record, in my biography for the rest of my life. And nobody can take that away from me. And I'm only the 18th player to achieve that. So it's a huge achievement, and I'm really proud to join a selection of great champions.
But of course I want to keep developing my game, keep improving, but in order to do that, it's very -- the priority is to be healthy, and I haven't been healthy throughout almost the whole year.
So it's very tough to be at your best game, at your top level, but, you know, I will try my best, you know, for the hopefully for the rest of the season. If, I hope, I pray to God just to stay the way I am now and then I can work on my game and try to get better and better each day.

Q. You said on Saturday that the change in time zones from Beijing to Serbia to New York had made you tired, and in the evenings 7:00 or 8:00 you were having trouble staying awake. Were you tired at all tonight?
JELENA JANKOVIC: I'm tired now. I'm actually falling asleep now. It's about time for me to go to bed, but when I was on the court, I really didn't think about sleeping. I was just excited to go on court and to play my match and get the job done, especially I was, you know, I wanted to be awake, because I didn't know my opponent very well, I didn't know who she is, the way she plays. All I knew she was a junior and I only heard that she was 16 years old they said when they were introducing her on the court. So I didn't really know much about her.
So it's always tough to play an opponent who doesn't have anything to lose, who you don't know very well, who is, you know -- it's always a tough opponent especially in the first round with the windy conditions out there. But I did as much as I needed to do to win the match.


(via ASAP Sports, photo/Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)