Serb Undercards

A pair of Serbians were expected to outlast the rest of their compatriots at Wimbledon. It's just that few expected that pair to be Janko Tipsarevic and Jelena Jankovic.

But here we are about to head into the middle weekend of the Championships: Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic are gone, while Tipsarevic and Jankovic are alive, kicking and positioned to make a good run into the second week.

Their paths couldn't have been more different - from each other, and from their own personalities.

The low-key Tipsarevic sent a rumble through the men's event here yesterday by knocking out Andy Roddick 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4). It was a nail-biting match that just turned at the end when Roddick butchered a series of returns towards the end of the fourth set, including a missed forehand off a very short second serve from Tipsarevic on set point at 5-6. At 4-4 in the tiebreak, Roddick ran awkwardly around a forehand and got passed, and then missed two returns in a row to end the match.

Tattooed, pierced and bespectacled, Tipsarevic is a brooding and bookish figure with a Dostoyevsky tattoo on his arm ("Beauty will save the world" from The Idiot). Unlike the rest of the smiling Serbs, it's hard to recall Tipsarevic cracking too many jokes, but his measured thoughtfulness is just as appealing.

By the time he finished discussing the match, it had taken on an almost hallowed air. "Of course, the best emotion is when you say bye to the crowd and all that stuff," he said. "But the biggest happiness that I feel in myself is when I come to the locker and I talk about the match... the best emotion and the pride that you feel, that you lasted four sets in the top level against the ex-No. 1 is in the locker room when you come back and your emotions are down and your brain starts to work."

His brain had been working during the match too, and he spotted Roddick was on edge. "Apart from his great serving, one of his biggest strengths in my opinion is that he's not making a lot of unforced errors and not making stupid mistakes from the baseline," said Tipsarevic. "But today I could see that he was tight. This is one of the reasons why, especially in the important moments, I made him play. I didn't try to hit great shots like impossible down-the-line shots or something like that, which I'm proud of myself.

"Professional tennis players feel the intensity and see when the other guy is choking. If you can read that, that's a great bonus and benefit for you."

As Roddick frustratedly observed afterwards, he finished 0-8 on break points while Tipsarevic was 2-2. The two were nearly even in points won: 146 for Tipsarevic and 144 for Roddick.

Edging out the win on Centre Court must have been particularly sweet for Tipsarevic given how close he came against Roger Federer at the Australian Open, losing 10-8 in the fifth set of their fourth-round match. For someone just barely staying inside the Top 40, he manages to play the top players very close.

Naturally, Tipsarevic has a theory about this. "Definitely the reason is when I play against big guys - Top 10 players, world No. 1's, ex-world No. 1's - in my head there is this thought knowing that if I don't play good I'm going to get killed on the court. That leaves me with no option and I rise to the occasion.

"When I play with other guys, sometimes for no reason I think that I don't have to play as good to beat them. Then at the end, that costs me the victory."

The stage also makes a difference. "I rise to the occasion when I play on big courts," he said. "But then again, when I play my next match on Court 78, I don't play as good as I played the other day. I don't know why, but hopefully this period in my career is going to pass."

He next plays Dmitry Tursunov, who isn't a pushover, but he isn't Andy Roddick either. The match will be on Court 2, which isn't Court 78, but it's not Centre Court either. If he can avoid the letdown he says he's prone to, Tipsarevic is now in a completely open quarter of the draw and is as good a bet to make the semifinals as anyone in this section.

Incidentally, he thinks the theory behind the rise of Serbia and the rest of Easten Europe is bunk. "I don't believe in Rocky Balboa stories and this. We don't have money when we were kids and now we fight more than the British. This is complete Hollywood story, which I don't believe in."

Meanwhile, all the upsets on the women's side means that the comical, outgoing Jankovic has been flying under the radar. It must be driving her crazy - she's usually the drama queen. But after cruising through her first few matches, she's had little to complain about except her cold, which is now into its 48th week. "I was sick and I had an injury with my arm throughout the French Open, and after that I couldn't also practice for nine days. And now I can finally play without pain, and I'm still not 100% healthy," she said. "I'm still blowing my nose but it's not that bad."

She's got a tough road to the semifinals because it likely goes through Venus Williams in the quarterfinals. But don't count her out, because Jankovic has a good record against both Williamses sisters and likes playing them. She's 4-3 against Venus, beating her here in three tough sets in 2006 before Venus returned last year to make her run to the title.

For the past three Slams, the Serbian flag has been flying during in the final weekend. Completing the quadruple now looks like a tough bet, but it's still a possibility. The flagbearers, however, are a little different this time around.

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