Jankovic Wins Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Diamond Aces Award
Serbian honoured as leading player for her off-court contributions during 2007 seasonFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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11/07/07 - Madrid, Spain--World No. 3 Jelena Jankovic from Serbia has claimed the inaugural Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ACES Award for the first time in her career by virtue of an impressive lead at the top of the season-long ACES Race which began at the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia and culminated following the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria just over a week ago. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ACES Award is given to the player who consistently goes above and beyond to promote the sport of women’s tennis in the media, in the community and beyond.
“I am honoured and delighted to receive this award,” said Jankovic. “Tennis has been the joy of my life and I am very happy to be able to give back to the sport and help it grow. I am looking forward to participating in the ACES program again next year and hope to be able to make a larger difference on and off the court.”
“Jelena has been one of our marquee breakout stars of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2007,” said Larry Scott, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. “She has participated in many activities this year away from the courts, whether it was media interviews, fan-friendly endeavours, sponsor functions, pro-am clinics, she has given of herself selflessly, been a true ambassador in promoting our sport and deserves that recognition amongst her peers.”
“Jelena has made a significant effort to promote women’s tennis this year and it will give me great pleasure to present her with this award during the Championships,” said Dee Dutta, CVP and Global Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “It’s great to see some very strong contenders for the 2007 ACES Award and to recognise the players who are so dedicated and passionate towards promoting women’s tennis.”
This year marked the first time a point weighted system was used to award all the off-court activities players participate in at Sony Ericsson WTA Tour events of Tier II ($600,000) and higher. After each event, the off-court contributions of each player were measured and the ACES Race standings were published on sonyericssonwtatour.com. In quantifiable terms, Jankovic’s extra curricular endeavours amounted to more than 100 hours.
The ACES award was first incepted in 1995, in memory of former Tour CEO Jerry Diamond. Since then eight players have won the award including Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Gabriela Sabatini, Amanda Coetzer, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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MEDIA CONTACT: John Dolan, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, +44.20.8392.4768, jdolan@wtatour.com
Links:
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/1/newsroom/stories/?ContentID=1890
