Jelena Pandžić

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**Jelena Pandzic**

Country	Croatia
Residence	Leverkusen, Germany
Date of birth	March 17, 1983 (1983-03-17) (age 25)
Place of birth	Split, Croatia
Height	1.70m
Weight	56kg
Turned pro
Plays	Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Career prize money	$74,933
Singles
Career record:	157-66
Career titles:	0 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking:	143 (June 9, 2008)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	-
French Open	2r (2008)
Wimbledon	-
US Open	-
Doubles
Career record:	32-26
Career titles:	0 WTA, 2 ITF
Highest ranking:	368 (23 July 2001)
Infobox last updated on: June 9, 2008.

Jelena Pandzic (born March 17, 1983 in Split, SR Croatia) is a professional tennis player from Croatia.

1 Tennis Career
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Tennis Career

She began playing tennis aged 7 and as a junior she was considered a hot prospect for the future, being ranked as the world number one in the under 14 age bracket ^[1]. In the mid-nineties she was spotted by Nick Bollettieri who personally coached her for a time. In his autobiography 'My Aces, My Faults', published in 1996, Bollettieri writes about seeing Jelena play for the first time at a tournament in the south of France, writing, “She played like she was from another planet.”

[edit] 1999 - 2002

Pandzic's first senior tournament on the ITF circuit was in April 1999 where she qualified and reached the quarter finals of the Makarska $10000 tournament. By 2002 she had made some progress up the rankings, winning three ITF singles titles, but had not yet fulfilled her initial promise. Her highest ranking was 374, achieved in October 2002.

[edit] 2003 - 2006

In 2003 Pandzic only played one game of tennis before a car crash put her out of action. Over the next few years she didn't play in any professional ranking tournaments. Instead, she attended university in the USA and played on the college tennis circuit, representing Fresno Pacific University ^[1]

[edit] 2007

In May 2007, Pandzic once more began playing on the professional circuit and this time she began to put together an impressive string of results. Despite beginning with no ranking and having to qualify for the lowest tier of events, she reached a year-end ranking of 255, having won 4 of the 13 tournaments she entered.

[edit] 2008

Although she began 2008 with three first-round losses, Pandzic continued her climb up the rankings. Her first appearance in the main draw of a WTA event came when she qualified for the ECM Prague Open. She lost in the first round to Melinda Czink.

In May 2008, with a ranking of 189, she was able to enter the qualifying rounds of the French Open. With wins over Eva Hrdinova, Julie Coin and Monica Niculescu, Pandzic managed to qualify for the main draw of a grand slam for the first time in her career. She then won her first round match against Severine Bremond in three sets but was beaten heavily 6-2 6-0 in the second round by Agnieszka Radwanska, the 14th seed.

As well as the WTA and ITF tour events, Pandzic also plays for professional teams in both Germany and the USA. She is currently part of the St. Louis Aces team for the 2008 World TeamTennis league, alongside Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick ^[2].