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Jelena Jankovic learned some things the hard way in her first Grand Slam final.
Huge television screens and slow rivals are distractions. They do not award Oscars. They do give drug tests. And when you are mainly worried about your next-day shopping trip, it helps to know how much money you might win.
The Serbian second seed was like Alice in Wonderland after losing to Serena Williams 6-4 7-5 in Sunday’s title match of the year’s last Grand Slam event.
“It’s a great learning experience for me,” Jankovic said.
“I really had fun the whole two weeks. It was special. I really love the atmosphere, the crowd, the people. The city has so much energy. It suits my personality quite well.”
One reason is that she came off as a drama queen much of the week with regard to injuries, a notion she joked should bring her a Hollywood honour rather than a tennis trophy.
“I should have gotten an Oscar for all this drama,” she said.
“I should have gotten a trophy for the acting.”
There was disappointment at squandering chances to capture the second set but in the end, Jankovic was happy that a year filled with injuries could lead to a long-sought Slam final with a sense of greater things to come.
“I worked really hard to get to this stage,” Jankovic said.
“It will give me a lot of motivation to work hard on my game and improve myself. I believe I’ll be playing many more finals in the future. I’m only 23. My time will come.”
Jankovic was annoyed by what she saw as Williams taking too long between points, buying time to rest between points, complaining to the umpire at one stage.
“I was a little bit upset,” Jankovic said.
“She took quite a lot of time in between points and I thought it was not fair. Not once. Many times she took her time to recover and get herself back together.
“Maybe it wouldn’t make a difference. Maybe it would. I lost. She won. That’s what counts.”
Also distracting were giant TV screens atop the ends of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I was laughing at all these people dancing,” Jankovic said.
“It’s probably why I lost my concentration and made all those double faults. It’s why I made all these mistakes when I shouldn’t have.
“They should turn it off because I keep looking at it. I keep watching. You see your big face up there. I cannot focus. I keep looking at it. Your eyes just go up because you know there is something going on up there.”
Jankovic had no clue her runner-up prize was $US750,000 ($A900,300), half of what Williams won but still enough for a Manhattan shopping spree.
“Now I have a lot of money to spend. Tomorrow is my day to go shopping,” she said.
But first she had to take a doping test. That had her drinking bottles of water in an effort to produce a sample.
“I can’t even go to the toilet,” she said.
“I have to drink some more water or else I will be here until two or three in the morning and then I won’t feel good for my shopping, which is not good.”
Path to the US Open women’s title for American fourth seed Serena Williams:
1st rd: bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 6-1 6-4
2nd rd: bt Elena Vesnina (RUS) 6-1 6-1
3rd rd: bt 30-Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 6-2 6-1
4th rd: bt Severine Bremond (FRA) 6-2 6-2
QF: bt 7-Venus Williams (USA) 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (9-7)
SF: bt 6-Dinara Safina (RUS) 6-3 6-2
F: bt 2-Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 6-4 7-5
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