Jelena Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Јанковић, Serbian pronunciation: [jělena jǎːŋkoʋitɕ]; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 18 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2008. Janković won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles and two doubles titles, including the 2007 Wimbledon mixed-doubles title partnering Jamie Murray. Her career-best major performance in singles was a runner-up finish at the 2008 US Open.
Janković was born in Belgrade, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as the third child of Veselin and Snežana, both economists. She has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. She is a student at the Megatrend University in Belgrade, studying economics. However, she has put her course of study on indefinite hold as she continues to pursue her tennis career. Janković learned her first tennis skills at the Tennis Club 'Red Star'.
As a 9½-year-old she was introduced to tennis by her elder brother and fitness coach Marko.
She later trained at the Tennis Academy of Nick Bollettieri. As a junior, she won the 2001 Australian Open and reached junior no. 1 in the world. In 2001, she started to play on the WTA Tour; she reached the second round at her first tournament at the Indian Wells Open.
She was ranked world No. 1 for 17 consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Serena Williams on 2 February 2009. She was the year-end world No. 1 in 2008, the first player in the history of the WTA Tour to do this without winning a Grand Slam title.
Janković has reached the singles final of the US Open and the singles semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open. In 2007, she became the first female Serbian player to win a Grand Slam title when she won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with British partner Jamie Murray.
In October 2003, Janković entered the top 100 at No. 90 for the first time, after winning her first ITF title in Dubai. Three months later, Janković garnered her first top-10 win against Elena Dementieva in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open. In May, Janković won her first WTA title, a Tier V event, in Budapest, defeating Martina Suchá in the final. Following her win in Budapest, she reached No. 51 in the world. Janković finished 2004 ranked no. 28 in the world.
In March, at Dubai, she advanced to the final following Serena Williams's retirement in the semifinal. Janković then lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport in three sets. She made her first Tier I semifinal in Berlin, losing to Nadia Petrova. In June, she reached her first grass-court final at Birmingham, but lost to Maria Sharapova. In October, Janković reached her third final of the year in Seoul, losing to 16-year-old Nicole Vaidišová in straight sets. Her ranking at the end of the season eclipsed her 2004 record at No. 22.
Janković lost in the second round of the Australian Open to world No. 188 Olga Savchuk. That was the first of ten straight losses, not winning a match from late January into early May. She later said this run caused her to consider quitting tennis. Janković ended her losing streak by beating world No. 17, Elena Likhovtseva in the first round of the Italian Open in Rome. She eventually lost to Venus Williams in three sets in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Janković reached the third round for the first time, where she lost to world No. 1, Amélie Mauresmo.
At Wimbledon, Janković defeated sixth-seeded and defending champion Venus Williams in the third round in three sets. Competing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time, she lost to ninth-seeded Anastasia Myskina. In August, Janković reached her fifth career final and first of the year at the LA Championships in Los Angeles, defeating Serena Williams (ranked world No. 108 at the time after a lengthy injury lay-off) in the semifinals, before losing to third-seeded Elena Dementieva in the final. The US Open saw Janković defeat world No. 10, Vaidišová in the third round, world No. 7 and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, and world No. 5, Dementieva in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In the semifinals, Janković lost to world No. 2, Justine Henin in three sets, after Janković had led 6–4, 4–2. Janković then lost ten consecutive games.
Janković continued her strong form in the aftermath of the US Open. Of the six tournaments she played during the remainder of the year, she reached the quarterfinals at five. This included a run to the semifinals at the China Open in Beijing, defeating world No. 7, Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, before losing to world No. 1, Mauresmo, in a third set tiebreak. Janković finished the year at a career-high ranking of world No. 12.
To begin the year, Janković won the second title of her career at the ASB Classic in Auckland, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final. The following week, at the Sydney International, Janković defeated world No. 7 and former No. 1, Martina Hingis and top-seeded Amélie Mauresmo on the way to the final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters after serving for the match. Janković's strong start to the year meant that some considered her a title threat at the Australian Open; however, she was eliminated in the fourth round by the eventual champion Serena Williams, who was ranked 81st in the world at the time. Because of her results at these tournaments, her ranking rose to world No. 10, the first time she had been included in the top 10.
Janković reached two semifinals in the Middle East in the spring, retiring against Mauresmo due to an ankle injury at the Dubai Championships, and losing in three sets to Justine Henin at the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha. Janković rebounded in the clay-court season, defeating Venus Williams on a third set tiebreak in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career. On European red clay, after losing to world No. 1 Henin in three sets both in the semifinals of the J&S Cup in Warsaw and the quarterfinals of the German Open (failing to hold a 4–0 lead in the third set in the latter), Janković won her second career Tier I title at the Italian Open, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. This results meant she entered the top 5 in the world rankings for the first time. Janković was the fourth seed at the French Open and one of the favorites for the title. After registering her third consecutive victory over Venus Williams in the third round, she went on to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, but lost there to eventual champion Henin. This improved her ranking to a new career-high of world No. 3.
On grass, Janković captured the Birmingham Classic title, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the final. Sharapova led 3–0 in the third set, before Janković rallied to win the match. The next week, Janković reached the final of the Ordina Open in the Netherlands and became the first player since Chris Evert in 1974 to win 50 matches in the first half of a year. Janković, suffering from a hamstring injury, lost the final to Anna Chakvetadze. At Wimbledon, Janković was the third seed, but lost in the fourth round to the surprise eventual finalist Marion Bartoli. In the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, Janković teamed with doubles specialist Jamie Murray to win the title in three sets by beating the fifth-seeded team, Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik.
During the North American summer hardcourt season, Janković reached the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California but lost there to fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic, having held two match points in the final set. The following week, Janković reached the final of the Tier I Canadian Open in Toronto, where she lost to Henin on Henin's sixth match point. Janković had leads in the first and second sets, but was unable to maintain her lead. At the US Open, Janković lost to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.