EXCLUSIVE Article from Jelena to her fans: "I was crushed"

[ChrisDi]

WHEN I walked on to centre court on Monday night, I knew right away it would be tough. I felt as if Rod Laver Arena and 15,000 spectators were crashing down on my shoulders.

It was a funny feeling. They were behind me, but I was always going to struggle to win. I was so nervous about my match with Alisa Kleybanova.

The Australian people had helped me so much last year getting to the quarter-finals, but before the match I felt all this weight on my shoulders.

I was so nervous and tight, and everyone could see it.

Even my camp was nervous and that was obvious, too.

It was probably no surprise that I lost the match. Even though it was disappointing, it was almost a relief after a hard fortnight.

I have decided to pull out of the Federation Cup clash against Spain next month.

With the way everything is and with the pressure, it's best if I don't play.

Not because of me, but because of the team. I don't want to let the team down.

I want to thank (Fed Cup coach) Dave (Taylor) and Sam (Stosur) for their help, understanding and support on this.

But I can tell the Australian public one thing - I have had to deal with a lot in my career but I am not done yet.

I will be back.

I will be back here next year, and I will be back playing tournaments in the next fortnight. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

So much has happened in the past fortnight since my first tournament in Brisbane.

I felt I played well there but lost, and straight away there was pressure.

More than anything I expected to play as well as I did last year.

The tournament in Hobart, where I just played badly from the start, was tough.

I should have pulled out, but that was my schedule and I needed to honour it.

I felt maybe I should have given myself more time on the practice court, but that wasn't an option.

I didn't want to pull out. I had promised Alicia Molik I would play doubles with her as well and I didn't want to let her or the tournament down. In a way I am glad I did it because I would have regretted it and let some people down.

Maybe for next year I will skip that week just in case.

People made a lot about the controversy over the flight back from Hobart, but that actually wasn't much of a distraction for me.

Things get blown up every day and unfortunately this was one of those times.

It got blown up, but what happened what not the way that was described.

There is no point going into it, but at that stage anything I did people would have jumped on my back. Or that's how it feels at the moment.

When you don't do well everyone rips you apart, but that's just one of the things athletes have to deal with.

I have had that a lot in my career and the best thing I can do is just shut people up with my results.

I was in tears in practice on Sunday, but that wasn't the end of the world.

It makes it harder when something comes out and is on the back page of the Herald Sun.

You could have taken pictures of hundreds of other players on the day and seen that they weren't happy with their practice.

The public didn't even know whether it was about practice -- my dog could have died that day.

That was the unfortunate part. I hadn't played badly this month but not great either and it wasn't easy coming from Hobart and having two days' practice. The tears were a bit of frustration and a bit of sadness.

I still got two good practices in on Monday but it wasn't enough to beat Kleybanova.

The decision to pull out of the Federation Cup was tough, but it was the right decision.

We have a tough tie and I don't think mentally I would be up to playing singles.

But I would love to play later in the year.

The goal now is to try to get my ranking up straight away.

The plan is to play in Thailand, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur and then Indian Wells and Miami, so I can set myself up for a big year.

It's been a tough summer, but also a learning one, and I intend to use the lessons to make myself a better player.

[jorginho_90]

Good to hear this from her. She's very aware of things. She doesn't seem to be affected by what happened. Best of luck for her!

[BmxBandit]

Go go Jelly!

[MaryT]

Jelena should just enjoy the game and not to afraid of defeat.

And take your life in your hands!!!

Jelena in Belgrade 2002...............................

[sugarloaf]

ChrisDi, could you tell us how you got this interview.

[ChrisDi]

sugarloaf, unfortunately I can't, it's a secret...

Just kidding
The article is from Herald Sun and written by Jelena herself.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/do...-1225822321480

[PierreC]

thanks for posting, much appreciated!

[Sean.J.S.]

Jelena seems very positive! I expect some great results in the coming months. Hopefully she'll be Top 50 by Roland Garros.

[Apocalypto]

I think a new interview should be conducted to clarify the last three sentences of the above interview.

Go Jelena...

but where...

[Sean.J.S.]

I know. This is fricking ridiculous! I can only take so much. But I just hope Jelena can do something soon! PLEASE!