Sunday, October 5 2008 -- September 30, 2008 – Last Sunday, Jelena Jankovic secured her second title in 2008 alone at the China Open after beating Svetlana Kuznetsova. All Jankovic needs to do now in order to reach number one again is to beat Serena Williams who also happens to be the same player that denied Jankovic victory at the US Open.

Much controversy stirs, however, regarding Jankovic’s ascent to the number one spot without having even won a Grand Slam. It wouldn’t have been much of an issue if she was able to hold on to the number one spot by beating Serena Williams. Sadly, the complete opposite happened and Serena took away the number one spot from Jankovic.

Now, Jankovic is about to reach the number one spot yet again. For some, this is time to celebrate. Others, however, think that this would ultimately mean that too many great women tennis champions are leaving too early, leaving room for players who still need time to achieve as much as they have.

Among the great women tennis champions who have retired early include Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Anastasia Myskina. All these female tennis players have retired too early to majority of people’s disappointment. Carlos Rodriguez, Henin’s coach even commented that players reaching the number one spot without winning a Grand Slam change the face of tennis. For him, nothing can compare to tennis players like Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters who not only consecutively win Grand Slams, they also have that X factor that makes tennis an interesting game to watch.