Missing Action: When will Jankovic and Ivanovic Recall Actual Form?

The recipe for a perfect WTA salad:

Ingredients: A good and large amount of Safina, Azarenka, Williamses, Kuznetsova, Zvonareva, Wozniacki; A moderate amount of Dementieva, Zheng Zie and a rare pinch of Jankovic and Ivanovic.

Method: Add all the given ingredients in a large specialised WTA bowl and go on tossing it such that no player seems to stick on top of the pile. Go on tossing till at last one fighter emerges and stays put.

But point to note: If the "Jankovic" and the "Ivanovic" appear somewhere in the top, the procedure has to repeated till they fill the middle of the tossing bowl in spite of being a good taste in the actual field.

The above analogy might be a tad sarcastic [perhaps even more] but given the performance displays by these two Serbs, sarcasm was the only let out.

Trying to understand their tennis display is complicated. Both Jankovic and Ivanovic, former World No. 1s, one of whom who can boast of a slam victory don't seem anywhere near the rock solid deliverance that propelled them into the top bracket.

What's more is the fact that their form began to dip once they had achieved the world's best female tennis player tag as though, they didn't want to associate with it anymore.

Of course, it could be argued against Jankovic that she became the World No. 1 due to point technicalities and because her fellow countrywoman didn't hold on to her 2008 French Open podium form; but even then it was not as if J.J did not get any opportunity to support it.

Time and again she got it and time and again she let it slip out of her hands or should we say: her racquet?

And it's not as if she loses every single match that she plays; she wins the initial rounds, gives a feeling that the old Jelena has probably returned and then it's back to ground zero!

After the Australian Open 2009, she got demoted from being the World No. 1 to World No.3 and these days after a string of vacillating high to low performance finds herself shunted to the fifth spot.

But at least it appears that she is faring better than Ana who post her maiden slam hasn't been able to prove anything much. To top it all, now it seems that she has sustained a knee injury and as far as injuries go, the soreness after any injury is far worse than the actual mishap.

So in such a condition, how well can we expect the defending champion to fare at Roland Garros? it looks highly improbable at the moment that Ana will be able to successfully take her second slam at Paris taking into consideration the above.

Also, not helping matters for the Serbs is the show by the other WTA players especially Safina who will be oozing confidence post her back to back victories in the Rome and Madrid clay; and youngsters like Azarenka who has already shown a great potential in the making.

Facing such talent who have delivered an almost consistent and perfect performance till now, it will be a Herculean task for Jelena and Ana to make a comeback of sorts; and if they being the underdogs right now, end up doing it, it would mean a huge rejuvenation: not only to themselves but to the entire women's tennis fan following.