Jelena Pandžić

Tennis career

She began playing tennis aged seven and as a junior she was considered a very promising player for the future, being ranked as the world number one in the under 14 age bracket. 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 Pandžić play for the first time at a tournament in the south of France, writing, "She played like she was from another planet."

1999–2002

Pandžić'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.

2003–2006

In 2003 Pandžić only played one game of tennis before a car crash put her out of action. Over the next few years she did not play in any professional ranking tournaments. Instead, she attended university in the USA and played on the college tennis circuit, representing Fresno Pacific University.

2007

In May 2007, Pandžić 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.

2008–2009

Although she began 2008 with three first-round losses, Pandžić 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 Hrdinová, Julie Coin and Monica Niculescu, Pandžić 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 Séverine Brémond in three sets but was beaten heavily 6–2 6–0 in the second round by Agnieszka Radwańska, the 14th seed.

As well as the WTA and ITF tour events, Pandžić 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.

The end of 2008, saw Pandžić losing repeatedly in first rounds, and this continued through January 2009, when she disclosed she has been playing with a calf injury for some time, and was not sure if she will be able to continue playing professional tennis.

2010

At the end of May 2010, Pandžić started her second comeback by qualifying for and winning a 10K challenger in Sumter, South Carolina. In addition to playing well in a number of other ITF events, she has used her protected ranking of 163 to enter some WTA events as well, losing tight matches to high ranked players. In a time of just over 3 months, she has accumulated 50 points and a record of 16–5 and is ranked 548 as of early August. She entered the 2010 US Open – Women's Singles Qualifying beating Sarah Gronert 7–6, 3–6, 7–5 in the first round before losing to Alexandra Panova 2–6, 3–6 in the second.