Jankovic Blames loss on lack of preparation

MELBOURNE, Jan 25 (bdnews7.blogspot.com/Reuters) - World number one Jelena Jankovic lamented her lack of preparation as a factor in her Australian Open fourth-round loss to Marion Bartoli on Sunday. The 6-1 6-4 defeat cemented the worst performance by a women's top seed at the year's first grand slam since Germany's Steffi Graf lost at the same stage to South Africa's Amanda Coetzer in 1997. "I haven't played for a while. For two months I didn't compete. I was supposed to play an exhibition in Hong Kong," the 23-year-old Jankovic told reporters. "Unfortunately, me and my mother, we got sick, so it was very hard where I couldn't play some matches over there, which I wanted, just to feel the atmosphere, get the rhythm on the court. "I'm this kind of a player who needs a little bit of time to get used to it, to get the routine playing matches and get the confidence. "Then I feel that I can do whatever I want on the court. At the moment I'm still not there." Jankovic added: "I'm still finding my range, to get that confidence when I'm playing. …Today I just couldn't find it." An aggressive Bartoli capitalised on the Serbian's inconsistent serve, blasting winners at every opportunity. "My opponent was really on fire today and she was hitting everything and really went for her shots," said Jankovic. "Most of those were going in. It was tough. "I couldn't do my own thing, …I just couldn't do what I needed to do. My shots were not where I wanted to be." Jankovic, who has yet to win a grand slam, will lose the world's top ranking at the end of the tournament if Serena Williams or Elena Dementieva make the final. "I really enjoy being the number one and I proved that at the end of last year when I won three tournaments in a row," she said. "You know, it doesn't matter because it's just the beginning of the year, and there are many more tournaments to play. "So maybe it will change, the number one ranking, but it's not important what you do now, it's the whole year ahead of us. "(There are) a lot of tournaments, a lot of battles out there. You know, the best one will finish it. I think, at least for me, the most important thing is how you finish, not how you begin."