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Jelena Jankovic’s grandmother passed away in Serbia

Jelena Jankovic’s grandmothe died yesterday back home in Serbia and that’s where her heart and mind were today not on hers second-round match at the U.S. Open that ended with a loss to Yaroslava Shvedova.

“I was very sad and emotionally I was really not on court,” Jankovic said. “I really tried my best to be there and to try to play, but it was really hard.

“You could see I was not happy on the court. I was really suffering. I tried to think about my tennis, but I felt like I was so late and so slow.”

Jankovic planned to fly to Serbia on Friday to join her mother, who left New York on Wednesday to return home.
Jelena said she didn’t know many details after talking on the phone with her mother.

“I couldn’t really speak,” she said. “I was just crying.”

“When you are sad, when you are down, you’re not the same person,” she said. “You don’t move as well. You don’t hit the ball as well. My head wasn’t really there. I just was so—it was like a shadow of myself.

“But, you know, what can you do? Life goes on and I have to try to stay hopefully positive as much as I can, get through this.”

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