Fed Cup debutante Jamea Jackson (pronounced: ja-MEE-ah) led an inexperienced
United States team to victory over Germany in the first round of the 2006 competition.
To the delight of her team captain, Zina Garrison, 19-year-old Jackson won both her
singles matches, beating Martina Muller in straight sets and upsetting world number
14 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2 3-6 7-5. "I've known her since she was 11 years old,"
said Garrison. "She's improved a lot in the last months. I never saw her playing better."
It was not the first time Jackson had beaten Groenefeld. She also defeated her back in
2001 in the final of the USTA Winter International Junior Championships to capture the
biggest junior title of her career.
On 22nd March, Jackson grabbed a little slice of tennis history for herself during
the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami when she became the first player ever to use the
'Hawk-Eye' instant-replay technology to challenge a line-call, albeit unsuccessfully.
"I think it takes a lot of the pressure off, you know," she commented afterwards. "I
loved it, I thought it was great. You don't get angry. You just play and don't worry
about the line-calls. I wanted to be the first, that's what it was really all about."
Jackson won two ITF Women's Circuit singles titles and made her WTA Tour main draw
debut at Miami in 2003. She has made steady progress ever since, reaching the third
round of this year's Nasdaq-100 Open, losing to world number seven Nadia Petrova.
She is coached by Rodrigo Nascimiento.
Jackson's father, Ernest, is a former NFL cornerback (New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons
and Detroit Lions). She started playing tennis at the age of eight. "I played baseball
and liked hitting balls," she explained. She honed her power game at the Nick Bollettieri
Tennis Academy in Florida. She enjoys reading, listening to music, playing video games
and watching TV.
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