I have a better chance now - Jankovic

World No 3 Jelena Jankovic warned on Monday that she is ready to fill the gap left by retired queen of clay Justine Henin.

Jankovic, who reached the semifinals 12 months ago, enjoyed a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 first-round victory over Romanian lucky loser Monica Niculescu.

And the 23-year-old plans to make the most of the shock retirement of Henin, the winner for the last three years in France, after putting a series of poor results behind her to successfully defend her Rome title.

It was her first trophy of the year and sixth in total after winning four last year.


"Justine was the one against whom I always had the most trouble, so I have a better chance now," explained Australian Open semi-finalist Jankovic.

"I am more mature. I have played in three Grand Slam semifinals and lost to the eventual winner. I've been playing quite well the last few weeks on clay. I'm working with a new coach, and he's helping me a lot. I really feel the improvement."

Jankovic admitted that her confidence had taken a battering following a series of poor results which had led her to consider quitting.

"Many of us go into some kind of a bad period. All of a sudden I got sick and I started losing so many times. I couldn't accept that, and I wanted to stop playing tennis. I wanted to hang my racket on the wall and say goodbye to the sport.

"I was depressed. I didn't know how to get out of it. At that time, it's very important to have a good support system.

"My family was very close to me, and they always believed in me and gave me some kind of hope and belief that I can come back, and then I become an even better player than I am now. Since then, I've been improving and only going up.

"So I really learned a lot from that, and sometimes the bad things are good learning experiences. They make you so much stronger in the future."

The Serb got off to a confident start again Niculescu and was quickly 3-0 up before her 86th-ranked opponent began to find her feet on the clay of the Suzanne Lenglen Court, mixing up her game with high balls and drop shots.

It was the first meeting between the two players and Jankovic admitted that she had not known what to expect.

"I didn't know her game, I didn't know how she plays, and I didn't know what to expect from her. And then I started making some errors and I lost my rhythm a little bit, because she played a very different game to the other girls. But then in the second set, I got used to her, and was little bit better, " she said.

She next meets either Italy's Tathian Garbin or New Zealander Marina Erakovic for a place in the third round as she bids to finally go further than the semifinals in a Grand Slam.

"That is my dream - to win a Grand Slam. So now Justine is not there, and she was the one that I had most trouble with, I never could beat her, obviously I've more of a chance.

"The one who will do great here, who will make the results will win this Grand Slam will be the number one and the well-deserved No 1," she added.

(via IOL, photo/Reuters)