Serbian ace Jelena Jankovic is training hard in her attempt to capture her first Grand Slam in the up-coming US Open.
The US Open being shown live on Sky Sports from Monday
Serbian ace Jelena Jankovic is working hard in her attempt to capture her first Grand Slam at the up-coming US Open.
The 23-year-old is the world number two but has yet to reach a final in 20 grand slam appearances, let alone win a tournament.
She hopes to rectify that record at Flushing Meadow next week, but knows it will be a tough call after recent injuries.
The Serbian had to fight through a calf injury to get to the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics, where she received pain injections from a doctor prior to her matches.
"There was a problem with my calf in Beijing and I was taking injections to play that tournament," she said.
"I had to take the injections so I didn't feel the pain. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go on the court and play."
Besides the leg injury in Beijing, she was upset in the fourth round at Wimbledon while dealing with a knee injury.
"Knock on wood I don't have any problems or injuries at the moment," she added.
Training hard
"I am just trying to get back in shape. I am training hard to get as fit as possible for the tournament.
"It is amazing how quickly you get out of shape and then it takes you a long time to get back there."
She added: "I am working very hard and some of the things don't happen overnight. You can't get your endurance and your strength back in a few days. I will keep working hard and we will see what happens."
Despite the recent injury set-backs, Jankovic has reached the quarter-finals or better in 14 of 15 tournaments this year and was rewarded for her consistent play earlier this month when she earned the world number one ranking for the first time in her career.
But it was a short stay at the top as countrywoman Ana Ivanovic quickly claimed it back.
Jankovic said tennis recently became the number one sport in Serbia thanks to the success of players like her, Ivanovic and men's world number three Novak Djokovic.
"Believe it or not tennis is the most popular sport in Serbia. That was never the case before. We didn't have a tradition of producing great tennis players," she said, adding now the country had several top ranking players.
"It is really amazing. A lot of young kids are playing. A lot of people are so interested tennis. It is a great thing for our country."
