Wish I knew about this site before- I would have asked Jana to post
on here again (I see in earlier posts she hasn't...)! I was very
lucky to see my all-time favorite player- Jana- at
this years' US Open! I've attended the US Open every year since 1989.
This year, while checking the schedule for the next day one evening,
I saw Jana would be playing in the Women's Senior Doubles! I quickly
went through my tennis-related collection, and found a 'Tennis Week'
magazine from July '98, which featured Jana on the cover. I brought
it with the next day, with hopes I could ask her to sign it. Well, I
posted a photo of the magazine (yes- signed!) in the Photos section
of this site (US Open 2004).
Jana was most gracious, and happily signed it. There was another
fan near me with her small son- and Jana autographed his hat. We both
thanked her- and she said "No, thanks to you guys!". We chatted for a
second, saying how we really miss her and her game at the Open. She
commented- "Thank you, but you know... the body gets old..." and
smiled. Jana looked great- very, very fit. Her partner was Virginia
Wade. Hana Mandlikova also participated in the event- her partner was
Robin White. I watched Hana played a couple of days later, and looked
across the court (it was on a small outside court) and saw Jana
catching a few minutes of the action. If you're interested in the
scores (Jana / Virginia DID wind up playing Hana /Robin- guess who
won that match?!) check the US Open site:
www.usopen.org
Seeing, chatting and getting Jana to sign the cover for me was
definately the highlight of this year's Open for me :) Hope to catch
her playing again next year!