Dubai : Former world number one Jelena Jankovic is hoping her move to Dubai will help raise the profile of her game.
"I hope my game will get better," Jankovic said after attending the draw ceremony of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Saturday.
Jankovic recently moved her base to Dubai. "This has been deliberate and it has been entirely my move," Jankovic stated.
"I've played some good tennis here in the past and the crowd support has always been a strong motivation for me. I am looking forward to a good performance here this year."
Born on February 28, 1985, the Serbian had a modest 2009 winning two titles on the Tour in Marbella and Cincinnati. But this was preceded by four titles each in 2007 and 2008 — when she also reached the pinnacle of the rankings on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Losing steam
However, the Serb has slipped down the rankings to No 8. She has been given the sixth seeding at the Dubai tennis championships.
Jankovic has not had a good start to the 2010 season. She lost to qualifier Agnes Szavay in the first round of the Sydney International. In the Australian Open, she lost to No 31 Alona Bondarenko in the third round.
But Jankovic plans to take it one match at a time. "The competition here is going to be tough, but I am here to do my maximum. This is home for me now and it would be nice to keep the title here in Dubai," she said. "I love so many things about this place [Dubai]. The people are good and the place is lovely as I can step out any time and practice," she added.
As the sixth seed, Jankovic will get a bye in the first round and her opponent in the second round will be the winner of the match between Sybille Bammer and Aravane Rezai.