"Serena Williams is the most recognizable tennis player of the last few decades, she has done a lot for our sport" - Jelena Jankovic

Jelena Jankovic praised Serena Williams as among the most widely recognized tennis players around the globe.

Williams had an illustrious tennis career, throughout which, she won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, which is an Open Era record among female tennis players.

In a wide-ranging interview with Slovenian publication Dnevnik, Jelena Jankovic talked about her impression of the American and what she achieved on the tennis court. The Serbian dubbed the 23-time Grand Slam champion the most famous tennis athlete in the last few decades and lauded her contributions to the sport.

"Serena Williams is, in my opinion, the most recognizable tennis player of at least the last few decades. She has done a lot for our sport and I appreciate her a lot," Jelena Jankovic said.

Jankovic was slighted surprised when the interviewer reminded her that she had defeated Williams four times in her career. The Serb recalled beating Serena and Venus Williams back-to-back at the 2010 Italian Open and having a positive win-loss record against Serena at one point.

"Really, I beat her four times? I can really be proud of that, as well as the fact that I beat both Serena and Venus Williams in less than 24 hours at one of the tournaments. Not many actresses have achieved such a feat. American women must not have slept well then. I remember that at some point I had a positive win-loss record against Serena, and in the last matches she regularly beat me," Jankovic stated.

Jelena Jankovic lost to Serena Williams in her only Grand Slam final

Jelena Jankovic

While Jelena Jankovic was once the World No. 1 and claimed 15 titles in her career, she only managed to reach the title contest of a Grand Slam once. That happened at the 2008 US Open. As the No. 2 seed, Jankovic progressed to the final after defeating Coco Vandeweghe, Sofia Arvidsson, Zheng Jie, Caroline Wozniacki, Sybille Bammer, and Elena Dementieva.

Her opponent, Serena Williams, was in red-hot form and hadn't dropped any sets while routing Kateryna Bondarenko, Elena Vesnina, Ai Sugiyama, Severine Bremond, Venus Williams, and Dinara Safina. In the title contest, the American maintained her form to down Jankovic and emerge victorious 6-4, 7-5.

In their 14 matches against each other, Williams was on the winning side 10 times. Their last match came at the 2014 Western & Southern Open, where the American beat the Serbian 6-1, 6-3.