The entry list for the Medibank International Sydney tourney is out (unfortunately, sans video) and there is one notable name missing: JJ.
The Glitter Queen had originally assured the tournament that she would be playing, but for whatever reason she hasn't committed to the tournament:
Organisers issued a statement on Wednesday saying Jankovic had revealed she was still finalising her playing schedule for the start of 2009 and she would not appear on the official acceptance list to be announced this week.
Reports in October had said she would headline the strong women's field for the Sydney tournament which starts on January 11 in the lead-up to the Australian Open.
Organisers said Jankovic could still seek a wildcard entry.
"We had some good signs from Jelena early on and she indicated to me in New York that she was looking forward to returning to Sydney," said tournament director Craig Watson.
"Players often end up re-arranging their schedules a number of times and in this instance, Jelena has not finalised her plans for 2009 yet.
"If Jelena does decide that she would like to play in Sydney, then we would certainly consider her for a wildcard."
Considering she's not confirmed for any other tournaments in Australia leading up to the AO and the fact that we know she'll play any and all tournaments on the schedule, this seems really weird. Did she miss the entry deadline? Is she trying to avoid the extremely strong field in Sydney? Would she prefer a wildcard to the weak field in Brisbane with all her fellow Serbs? It's all really weird to me.
Official Medibank International Sydney line-up (men’s)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (no.6)
Gilles Simon FRA (no.7)
David Nalbandian ARG (no.11)
Igor Andreev RUS (no.19)
Tomas Berdych CZE (no.20)
Tommy Robredo ESP (no.21)
Dmitry Tursunov RUS (no.22)
Mardy Fish USA (no.24)
Richard Gasquet FRA (no.25)
Radek Stepanek CZE (no.27)
Feliciano Lopez ESP (no.30)
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA (no.31)
Rainer Schuettler GER (no.33)
Jurgen Melzer AUT (no.34)
Andreas Seppi ITA (no.35)
Mario Ancic CRO (no.36)
Jarkko Nieminen FIN (no.37)
Michael Llodra FRA (no.40)
Simone Bolelli ITA (no.41)
Lleyton Hewitt AUS (no.67) Wildcard
Official Medibank International Sydney line-up (women’s)
Serena Williams USA (no.2)
Dinara Safina RUS (no.3)
Elena Dementieva RUS (no.4)
Vera Zvonareva RUS (no.7)
Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (no.8)
Agnieszka Radwanska POL (no.10)
Nadia Petrova RUS (no.11)
Caroline Wozniacki DEN (no.12)
Victoria Azarenka BLR (no.15)
Alize Cornet FRA (no.16)
Marion Bartoli FRA (no.17)
Dominika Cibulkova SVK (no.19)
Katarina Srebotnik SLO (no. 20)
Daniela Hantuchova SVK (no.21)
Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP(no.22)
Na Li CHN (no.23)
Amelie Mauresmo FRA (no.24)
Sybille Bammer AUT (no.26)
Kaia Kanepi EST (no.27)
Maria Kirilenko RUS (no.29)
Ai Sugiyama JPN (no.31)
Alisa Kleynanova RUS (no.32)
Sorana Cirstea ROU (no.36)
Shuai Peng CHN (no.40)
