Ousted Jankovic angry over schedule
leadPicToggle(); Ousted Jankovic angry over schedule 
From Steve Griffiths in London, England
Former Australian Captain July 01, 2008
JELENA Jankovic accused Wimbledon officials of contributing to her shock exit after the Serbian’s request to be given extra time to recover from a knee injury was rejected.
Jankovic, the world No.3 and second seed, had asked to play her fourth-round match against Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn as late as possible on Monday (local time) to allow her to have treatment on the knee injury she suffered in the previous round.
But Wimbledon’s match schedulers ignored Jankovic’s plea and sent her out in the first match on court 18.
Her movement was restricted to such an extent that Tamarine, the world No.60, cruised to a convincing 6-3 6-2 victory.
Jankovic, who has torn a muscle in her knee, was also surprised that she didn’t get to play on centre court or court one - Wimbledon’s two main show courts - and couldn’t contain her anger after the match.
“I don’t know what they are doing to put Venus (Williams) on No.2 and I’m on No. 18, especially having an injury and asking for a favour to play a little bit later on in the day,'’ she said.
“They didn’t do it. So it was quite hard. I was almost playing in the parking lot. I almost need a helicopter to go to my court.
“When I saw that I’m on the schedule in the morning, and especially on court 18, which was very unusual for a No.2 seed, I thought it was not really normal.
“I think the scheduling is not right. I think the No.1 and No.2 seeds should always be on these top show courts.
“The ranking shows who deserves it. Who is in the top of the game should play on the top courts.
”It’s also not normal that Venus plays on No.2, and then Chakvetadze and Vaidisova, who are 18 seed and I don’t know which seed, they are on court No.1. I think it makes really no sense.'’
Jankovic claimed she was told the reason she was playing on court 18 was because it is an arena with facilities for the television cameras, but that cut no ice with the 23-year-old.
“It was a really strange answer. They told me court 18 is a TV court and I said, ‘But so are centre court and court No.1′. This is not a reason to put me on court 18,'’ she said.
“But what can I do? I couldn’t get frustrated over that. I think it’s wrong, and hopefully it will not happen in the future in this way.'’
Agence France-Presse