The 21st century
Serbia · born Belgrade, 1985 · right-handed · world No. 1 in 2008 and Wimbledon mixed doubles champion 2007 with Jamie Murray
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2007
Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Jamie Murray, unseeded
1st
Serbian woman to win a Wimbledon title
4-6, 6-3, 7-5
Birmingham final 2007 against the top seed, Maria Sharapova
5
Wimbledon singles fourth rounds, her best result there
No. 1
World ranking, first reached 11 August 2008
Jelena Janković was born in Belgrade on 28 February 1985, the youngest of three children of two economists. Her elder brother Marko introduced her to tennis at nine and later travelled as her fitness coach; she trained at the Red Star club in Belgrade and then at Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida.
She rose through the women's tour in 2006 and 2007, reaching the semi-finals of the French Open in 2007, 2008 and 2010 and the Australian Open semi-finals in 2008. On 11 August 2008 she became world No. 1, and she finished 2008 at the top, the first woman to end a year as No. 1 without having won a Grand Slam singles title. Her best major result was the 2008 US Open final, lost to Serena Williams.
On grass she won the Birmingham title in 2007, beating Maria Sharapova from behind in the final, and a week later took the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Jamie Murray, the first title of any kind at Wimbledon for a Serbian woman. In singles at the All England Club she reached the fourth round five times, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2015. She won 15 tour singles titles, stopped playing after the 2017 season with a back injury and announced her retirement in 2022.
| Wimbledon mixed 2007 final | With Jamie Murray, unseeded, beat the fifth seeds Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in 99 minutes on Centre Court; the first home winner of a Wimbledon title for 20 years |
|---|---|
| Birmingham 2007 final | As second seed, beat the top seed Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 after Sharapova led 3-0 in the final set; the final was played on the Sunday after rain held up the week |
| Wimbledon 2006 | Beat the defending champion Venus Williams in the third round, then lost to Anastasia Myskina in the fourth |
| Wimbledon singles | Fourth round in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2015; in 2008 she played with a knee injured in her third-round win over Caroline Wozniacki and lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Mixed doubles | with Jamie Murray |
| Birmingham | ||
| 2006 | Women's doubles | with Li Na |
| 2007 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"It was like destiny, it was meant to happen"
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 2007
Jamie Murray was ranked high enough to enter the mixed doubles for the first time, and the partnership with Janković was set up through his agent. It was the first Grand Slam mixed event for both. She had joked beforehand that her lack of doubles experience made her of little use to him.
Source: LTA; Reuters, in Dawn, July 2007Centre Court, July 2007
Murray gave her the credit after the final: "She won the match in the end because she kept returning the guy's serve and I couldn't do it." The Centre Court crowd stood for five minutes, Andy Murray watched only the end because he was too nervous, and Judy and Willie Murray were in tears in the stands.
Source: Reuters, in Dawn, 10 July 2007Belgrade, 2008
In the year she became No. 1 a documentary, Jelena's World, followed her for about twelve months, from the end of 2007 to the eve of the 2008 season finale in Doha. Its director, Tanja Brzaković, called her "a real fighter: even when it seems a match is lost, she never gives up." It opened in Belgrade in November 2008.
Source: Tennis.comCincinnati, 2011
On the way to practice her car ran out of petrol; she and her coach ran to a petrol station and came back with a gallon of fuel. She later asked a player who had driven past her: "Why you didn't stop to drive me back?" In a press conference in Charleston she described herself as goofy off court but "the dragon that spits fire" on it.
Source: Sports Illustrated, April 20142022
Her last tour match was in 2017. When she confirmed her retirement in 2022 she said she had stopped suddenly because she did not know how her injury would turn out, and that "My health is a priority, especially now that I have a child and she needs me."
Source: Women Who Serve, July 2022Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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