A year ago, they were just the names of up-and-coming players from a country with no Grand Slam champions.

This time, they arrive at Wimbledon with the No1 and No2 rankings in women's tennis and the No3 position in the men's.

'For such a small country, having two Grand Slam champions in half a year is an incredible achievement,' the 21-year-old Djokovic said.

'Every time our country's name is written on a scoreboard wherever we show up, this is a big positive commercial for Serbia.

'Tennis is No1 sport in our country at the moment.'

Djokovic started the surge, upsetting Roger Federer in the Australian Open semi-finals before going on to win the first Grand Slam for Serbia.

After losing in the Australian Open and Roland Garros finals, Ivanovic became the first Serbian woman to win a Slam with her run at the French Open last month.

Now they are all trying to outdo each other to get the third Slam title.

The competition between the women is obvious: Ivanovic is 6-1 in head-to-heads against Jankovic, who is 0-4 in Grand Slam semi-finals.

But the competition does not stop there for Ivanovic. She also wants to beat longtime friend Djokovic to win Serbia's next Grand Slam title.

'Obviously, we motivate each other. It's just a natural rivalry,' Ivanovic said. 'You want to be better than the other.

'When I was going onto the court for the final in Paris, I thought, 'Novak won a Grand Slam, I can do it, too'.'

Jankovic is the odd one out among the trio, not only because she has not yet won a Slam.

She went to hone her tennis in the United States as a junior while the other two stayed closer to home in Europe.

She admits she likes to party in her down time, while the other two say they are more subdued.

But Jankovic desperately wants what they have got, including a bit of the adoration.

She said: 'We didn't have a tradition in tennis. We didn't have anybody to look up to.

'But now we have made it. Hopefully, we will motivate the younger kids and inspire them.'

She can avoid playing Ivanovic until the final, but has a difficult path to the championship with defending champion Venus Williams and third-ranked Maria Sharapova in her half.

She faces Ukraine's Olga Savchuk in the first round.

Ivanovic is up against Rossana de los Rios in the first round.

After saying five-time Wimbledon champion Federer was vulnerable following a lop-sided French Open final loss to Rafael Nadal, Djokovic ended up in the Swiss star's side of the draw.

He opens against Michael Berrer of Germany and could meet Federer in the semi-finals.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wimbledon, Day 1
Live, Ch24, 6.30pm