So The Drama

Hi, Rowan here. Paula is on holiday in the sunny Caribbean so I’m having a go at the guest blogging thing again. I’m about to go on holiday myself, to chilly Tauranga. Happy holidays everybody.

How about that Wimbledon huh? Worth staying up for. Lots of upsets, no Serbs in the quarterfinals, who woulda thunk it? Actually Nenad Zimonjic is still representing in the doubles, good on him. I’ve been thinking about Jelena Jankovic, and how she is such a total drama queen. But she isn’t an obnoxious, horrible drama queen. She is a loveable, funny, awesome drama queen. Sure, she carries on a lot, but that’s what makes JJ so much fun. Jelena loves attention, loves the camera, and loves being out on court. After her loss to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round, JJ revealed that she was less than thrilled about having to play the match on lowly Court 18. “I was almost playing in the parking lot,” she announced in her post match interview. “I almost need a helicopter to go to my court.” The woman is a star, people!

One thing about Jelena Jankovic is that she is always injured. Every match, out comes the trainer. Nobody sells their injuries as dramatically as JJ. She winces, she limps, she makes a scene. In the second set of her third round match Jelena got her left leg wrapped up. She called the trainer back in the third set to undo the bandages, fearing for her circulation. “Look, look, look, it’s blue!” Jelena cried. After the match she said something like, “If I can’t move, it’s hard to play.” So true.

Sometimes people get fed up with JJ’s on-court antics and suggest that her histrionics cross the lines of sportsmanship, or sportswomanship. Like how she’ll be struggling to stand on her blue leg between points, but then she’ll move with the speed and grace of a hungry cheetah during an important rally. I don’t know if Jelena plays up her injuries with gamesmanship in mind, I just think she is that kind of person, the kind who makes a scene about everything. If she stubbed her toe while shopping she would shriek and carry on and sit down and someone would bring her a plaster. She’s just an over-the-top kind of girl. May she never change.