Name	Ana Ivanović Ана Ивановић
Nickname	Anči
Country	(2003–2006) (2006–present)
Residence	Basel, Switzerland
Nationality
Birth date	November 06, 1987
Birth place	Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	August 17, 2003
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$ 8,734,072
Singlesrecord	306–132 (70%)
Singlestitles	11 WTA, 5 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (June 9, 2008)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 22 (January 16, 2012)
Australianopenresult	F (2008)
Frenchopenresult	W (2008)
Wimbledonresult	SF (2007)
Usopenresult	4R (2007, 2010, 2011)
Othertournaments	yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	SF (2007)
Doublesrecord	25–30
Doublestitles	0
Highestdoublesranking	No. 50 (September 25, 2006)
Currentdoublesranking	No. 159 (January 16, 2012)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Frenchopendoublesresult	1R (2005, 2007)
Wimbledondoublesresult	3R (2005)
Usopendoublesresult	3R (2006)
Updated	January 24, 2012 }}

Ana Ivanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ана Ивановић; ) (born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of January 16, 2012, she is ranked 22nd on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open. Competing as a professional since 2003, she has won 11 WTA Tour singles titles. When on form, Ana is known for her aggressive style of play.

Early life

Ivanović's mother Dragana (Драгана), a lawyer, supports her daughter during most of her matches. Her father Miroslav (Мирослав), a self-employed businessman, attends as many events as he possibly can. Ana has a younger brother, Miloš (Милош), with whom she loves to play basketball.

Personal life

Aside from her tennis career, Ivanović also studies finance at a university in Belgrade and Spanish in her spare time. Her inspiration to begin playing was Monika Seleš, who at that time played for Yugoslavia.

On September 8, 2007, Ivanović became a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, alongside Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Janković and Emir Kusturica. She takes a special interest in the fields of education and child protection. Ivanović visited a primary school in Serbia during her inauguration and said that she is "also looking forward to going into the classroom and meeting many kids."

Career

Ivanović picked up a racket at the age of five after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Yugoslav, on television. She started her career after memorizing the number of a local tennis clinic from an advertisement. At the time, she was forced to train during the morning to avoid bombardments. Later, she admitted that she trained in an abandoned swimming pool in the winter, as there were no other facilities. When she was 15, Ivanović spent four hours in the locker room crying after a defeat – the first that her new manager had watched. She thought that Dan Holzmann, the manager in question, would drop her, thinking that she was not good enough to become a professional tennis player. He has stayed her manager to this day.

2004

Ivanović reached the final of the Junior Wimbledon tournament in 2004, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko. In 2004, she went 26–0 on the ITF circuit, and won all five events that she entered, two of them as a qualifier. As a qualifier in Zürich, she overcame a 5–1 third set deficit along with two match points to defeat world no. 29 Tatiana Golovin 7–5,6–7(2),7–6(3). She then debuted in the qualifying draw of a Grand Slam at the US Open, where she was defeated by Lioudmila Skavronskaia after winning the first set 6–1 and having two match points on 5–4 in 3rd set. She eventually fell to a close loss, 6–1, 4–6, 5–7. Her first professional breakthrough occurred in the next match, when she took Venus Williams to two tiebreaks, before losing in straight sets in the second round of the Zürich Open. She had held several set points in both sets. She followed up her run in Zürich with a quarterfinal showing at Luxembourg the next week.

2005

Ivanović won her first career singles title, as a qualifier, in Canberra, Australia, after defeating Melinda Czink in the final. Her ranking continued to rise after wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3,3–6,7–5 in Miami, Nadia Petrova 6–4,7–5 also in Miami 6–2,6–4 , and Vera Zvonareva in Warsaw, all of whom were top-10 players. Ivanović lost to Amélie Mauresmo at the Australian Open in third round, Doha in third round after Ivanović had 6–2,2–0 lead and in 3rd set had three break points for 5–2 lead, and Miami Masters in quartefinals, before defeating her in the third round of the French Open 6–4,3–6,6–3. At that stage in her career it was arguably her biggest win. Ivanović eventually reached the quarterfinals of that tournament, where she lost to Petrova. Later in the year, Ivanović reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open and Generali Ladies Linz, losing to Patty Schnyder in both tournaments.Ivanović finished the year as no. 16.

2006

Ivanović started the year at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia with fellow Serbian Novak Djoković, where the pair narrowly missed the final. To start off her WTA year, she played at the Medibank International in Sydney where she once again defeated Amélie Mauresmo, this time in straight sets 6–2,7–5, before falling to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals 7–6(3),6–3 after having 5–2 lead in first set. A week later, she lost to Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Australian Open 6–3,7–5.

Ivanović made it to the third round of the French Open, before losing to Anastasia Myskina. She progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, but lost to eventual champion and world no. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in straight sets 7–5,6–3 after beating no. 14 seed Dinara Safina 3–6,7–6(3),6–1.

Ivanović made her breakthrough in August when she defeated former world no. 1 Martina Hingis 6–2,6–3 in the final of the Rogers Cup in Montreal before beating Jelena Janković 6–1,6–2, no. 14 seed Katarina Srebotnik 6–4,6–4 and top 10 player Dinara Safina 6–1,6–4. This ultimately led to her winning the United States Open Series, ahead of Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova. At the US Open, she lost to Serena Williams.

Ivanović also played nine tournaments in doubles in 2006, teaming up with Maria Kirilenko and Sania Mirza. Ivanović and Kirilenko made two semifinals and a final; they ended the year at number 17 in the annual race to the Championships. Ivanović finished the year ranked world no. 14 in singles and world no. 51 in doubles.

2007

Ivanović started the year at the 2007 Medibank International were she beat no. 5 Nadia Petrova but lost to Nicole Vaidišová.Seeded 13th at the Australian Open, Ivanović defeated Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2,3–6,6–2 in the second round, but lost in the third round to Vera Zvonareva after she missed some opportunities. Immediately after this tournament, she announced that she had split with her coach David Taylor.Ivanović then played 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open, in quatrefinals she beat no. 10 Jelena Janković 3–6,6–4,6–2, in semifinals she beat No. 1 Maria Sharapova 6–1, 0–1 when Sharapova was forced to retire, but lost in Final to Martina Hingis 4–6, 2–6.

At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she was defeated in the fourth round by Sybille Bammer 6–7(6),6–0,3–6 after easy wins over Vania King and Alicia Molik. Yaroslava Shvedova then defeated Ivanović in the second round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Miami Masters.Then she played tournament in Amelia Island were she lost in semifinals to no. 19 and eventual champion Tatiana Golovin 4–6,6–3,4–6 after Ivanović had break points in all games of serve for Tatiana.It was first win for her in seven meetings.After she lost in semifinals she won no. 9 Jelena Janković 7–5,6–3 in quartefinals.

Ivanović then returned to Europe to play two clay-court tournaments in preparation for the French Open. In Berlin at the Qatar Telecom German Open, she won her first Tier I clay court title, defeating world no. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 3–6,6–4,7–6(4).It was very long and interesting match, in first set Kuznetsova was leading 5–1 and she officially won the set 6–3.In second set Ivanović had 2–0 lead, after Kuznetsova equalized on 2–2, Ivanović again broke for 4–2, but Kuznetsova equalized on 4–4 and Ivanović officially won the second set 6–4.Third set was the longest one, Kuznetsova first broke Ana's serve for 2–1 lead, but Ana was strong and pulled for 5–3, even then the match wasn't finished because Ivanović needed tie-break to finally finish the match.However, Ivanović injured her ankle during the final, which forced her to withdraw from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. The win in Berlin propelled her into the top ten of the WTA Rankings for the first time, at world no. 8.

Ivanović had a six-match winning streak heading into the French Open and increased this streak to twelve by reaching the final. She won her first three matches with the loss of only nine games. In her second career quarterfinal at Roland Garros, Ivanović defeated world no. 3 Kuznetsova 6–0,3–6,6–1, and she then beat world no. 2 Sharapova 6–2,6–1 in less than one hour in the semifinals. In the final, Ivanović attempted to win her first Grand Slam singles title and complete a sweep of the top three players in the world. However, world no. 1 and two-time defending champion Justine Henin won the match. Later on, Ivanović admitted that the idea of being in the final of a Grand Slam tournament had overwhelmed her.

At Wimbledon, Ivanović defeated world no. 9 Nadia Petrova 6–1,2–6,6–4 in the fourth round, and saved three match points to defeat Nicole Vaidišová 4–6,6–2,7–5 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, three-time former Wimbledon champion Venus Williams defeated Ivanović 6–2,6–4 after Ivanović had a break of lead in the second set.

A persistent knee injury sustained at Wimbledon caused Ivanović to withdraw from Serbian Fed Cup competition against Slovakia and two lead-up events to the US Open. She returned to the tour at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, saving two match points in the semifinals with huge winner before defeating no. 3 Janković 4–6,6–3,7–5 in trilling match. In the final, Ivanović defeated top 10 player Petrova to win the fourth singles title of her career, which raised her ranking to a career-high of world no. 4.

In Ivanović's first three matches at the US Open, she lost only 10 games. Venus Williams then eliminated her for the second consecutive time at a Grand Slam tournament.

Ivanović returned to Europe for three tournaments. At the Tier II Luxembourg Championships, Ivanović qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships by virtue of reaching the semifinals. In the final, Ivanović rallied from 6–3, 3–0 down to defeat Daniela Hantuchová 3–6,6–4,6–3 in two hours and 25 minutes. This was her fifth career title.In quatrefinals and semiinals she beat Tatiana Golovin 6–1,6–2 and Vera Zvonareva 6–4,6–2.

To end the year, Ivanović played the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, Spain. Seeded fourth and assigned to the Red Group during the round-robin phase, she defeated world no. 2 Kuznetsova 6–1,4–6,7–5, after she had 4–0 and three break points for 5–0 in third set she eventually won the set 7–5 and Hantuchová in straight sets 6–2,7–6.She qualified to semifinals and then Sharapova defeated Ivanović in the final match of the round-robin stage. Because she finished second in her group, Ivanović played world no. 1 Henin in the semifinals, in which the Belgian won 6–4,6–4.

Ivanović finished the year with a career-high ranking of world no. 4.

2008

Ivanović started the year at the 2008 Medibank International were she beat top 20 player, but she lost to world no. 1 Henin 2–6,6–2,4–6 after had break points on 4–4 in third set.It was great chance for Ivanović to win Henin for the first time.As the fourth seed at the Australian Open, Ivanović defeated top 20 players Katarina Srebotnik 6–3,6–4 and Caroline Wozniacki 6–1,7–6(2) and 8th seed Venus Williams for the first time in her career by beating her in straight sets 7–6(3),6–4. Later in the semifinals, she was down 0–6, 0–2 before she defeated Daniela Hantuchová 0–6,6–3,6–4. She lost to 5th seed Maria Sharapova 7–5,6–3 in the final. Her ranking rose to world no. 2 as a result of her performance at the tournament, the highest of her career at the time.

In Serbia's Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I D round-robin tie against Poland in Budapest, Ivanović defeated Urszula Radwańska in straight sets 6–3,6–1. In Serbia's second round-robin tie against Romania, Ivanović defeated Monica Niculescu 5–7,6–4,7–5 and then teamed with Jelena Janković to win the deciding doubles rubber against the Romanian team 2–6,7–6(2),7–6(4) after Janković lost her singles match. In the promotion playoff, Ivanović beat Renée Reinhard 6–2,3–6,6–3 of the Netherlands, as Serbia advanced to the World Group II playoffs in April.

In Doha and Dubai she finished in quatrefinals after she withdrew from Doha, and lost in Dubai to Elena Dementieva 7–5,3–6,3–6 after having 3–1 lead and 2 game points in second set before easy win over top 10 player Nicole Vaidisova 6–4,6–0 in second round.

In March, Ivanović defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California 6–4,6–3 before wins over top 15 players Francesca Schiavone 2–6,7–5,6–2 and Vera Zvonareva 6–1,6–4 and world no. 4 Jelena Janković 7–6(3),6–3 in the semifinals.In first set against Jelena she had 5–3 lead and even some set points on 6–5, but eventually won the set 7–6. She was very tired after the tournament so she lost to Lindsay Davenport in the third round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Miami the following week.

Ivanović started her clay-court season as defending champion at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. She lost to Elena Dementieva 6–2,7–5 for the fourth time in four meetings in the semifinals after beating no. 9 Ágnes Szávay 3–6,6–4,6–3 in the quarterfinals. Ivanović was seeded second at the 2008 French Open, where she defeated Petra Cetkovská 6–0,6–0 in fourth round, world no. 10 Patty Schnyder 6–3,6–2 in quatrefinals and world no. 3 Jelena Janković in a thrilling encounter in the semifinals 6–4,3–6,6–4. First Jelena had 4–2 lead, then Ivanović was very near to winning match after 6–4,3–1 lead, then Janković had 4–6,6–3,3–1 after Ana came for 3–3 in third set and again lost her serve, but was able to win the set 6–4.The win guaranteed Ivanović's ascent to world no. 1 the following week, regardless of her performance in the final. Nonetheless, she went on to defeat Dinara Safina in straight sets 6–4,6–3 in the final, winning her first (and to date, only) Grand Slam singles title.

At Wimbledon, Ivanović had quick work of her first round match 6–1,6–2, only to encounter an inspired Nathalie Dechy in the second round. Ivanović looked to be headed for a straight-sets win afte having 5–3 lead in first set, before Dechy eventually launched a comeback that saw her produce two match points, before Ivanović finally advanced to the third round with 6–7(2),7–6(3),10–8 win. Here, she lost to unseeded wildcard Zheng Jie of China in straight sets.

Ivanović started the summer hard-court season with a third-round loss at the Rogers Cup in Montreal to Tamira Paszek 2–6,6–1,2–6. Ivanović, bothered by a sore thumb sustained during practice two weeks before Montreal, withdrew from the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. Her withdrawal saw her lose the world no. 1 ranking to Janković. The thumb injury also caused her to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Beijing, which Ivanović described as "one of the worst moments of her career." Ivanović, having reclaimed her world no. 1 ranking on August 18, was the top-seeded player at the US Open, but lost to Julie Coin 3–6,6–4,3–6 in very exciting and high-quality second round match. The loss was the earliest defeat of the top-seeded player at the US Open since the 1973 tournament.

In her first match after the US Open, at the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanović was defeated by Nadia Petrova 1–6,6–1,2–6 of Russia in three sets, bringing her win-loss record since the French Open to 4–4. Ivanović later told the press that she was "just happy to be back injury-free" and that she needed to "play more matches get back into rhythm." Ivanović then played in Bejing and after two great results she lost to Zheng Jie 6–7(6),6–2,4–6 match after having a break in first and third set and winning 16 more points than her opponent.

Then she came back to Europe to play three more tournaments, first in Moscow where she lost to Dominika Cibulkova 6–2,2–6,7–6(5) after having two match points.In Zurich open she lost in semifinal to Venus Williams 6–4,3–6,4–6 after leading 3–1 in third set before two easy wins over Marion Bartoli 6–2,6–4 and Petra Kvitova 6–1,6–4.Ivanović played the Generali Ladies Linz in Linz torunament and was the top seed. She won the tournament by crushing top 10 players Vera Zvonareva 6–2,6–1 and Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2,3–6,7–5 in final and semifinal.

At the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, Ivanović was seeded fourth. In her first round-robin match, she was defeated by world no. 1 Janković after she won the best point of the year, hot shot. Her next match was against Zvonareva, to whom she also lost in three exciting sets. She withdrew from her final match against Kuznetsova because of a virus.

2009

At the Australian Open, Ivanović was seeded fifth and won her first two matches in straight sets before losing to 29th seed Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the third round.

Ivanović took part in Serbia's Fed Cup win in the World Group II tie against Japan. She defeated Ai Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita to help Serbia to a 4–1 win. At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5 event, she lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. Around this time, Ivanović began working with her new coach Craig Kardon, after parting with former coach Sven Groeneveld.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, where she was defending champion, Ivanović advanced to the finals, before losing to Vera Zvonareva. In Miami, Ivanović lost in the third round to Ágnes Szávay. In April, Ivanović took part in Serbia's Fed Cup World Group Play-offs against Spain. She defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues to help Serbia gain promotion to the World Group with a 4–0 win.

At the 2009 French Open, Ivanović won her first three matches in straight sets, before losing to Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round. This early loss caused Ivanović to fall out of the top ten for the first time since May, 2007. After the loss, Ivanović announced that she would cease working with Craig Kardon, and would be participating in the adidas Player Development Program, where she would be coached by Sven Groeneveld, Darren Cahill, Mats Merkel and Gil Reyes.

At Wimbledon, Ivanović was seeded 13th. She faced two match points against Lucie Hradecká, before prevailing. She then took down Sara Errani and 18th seed Samantha Stosur in the second and third rounds in straight sets, before retiring against third seed and eventual finalist Venus Williams.

At the U.S. Open, Ivanović lost in the first round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career by succumbing to Kateryna Bondarenko. After the match, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash criticized Ivanović's new service motion, stating that watching it was a "painful experience" and that it "[weakened] her threat." He also felt that Ivanović was "over-analysing" her game and that her main problem was "her lack of confidence."

At the Premier 5 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Ivanović suffered her third successive defeat by losing to Lucie Šafářová in the first round. Citing an upper respiratory tract infection, Ivanović pulled out of the China Open and announced on her website that she was taking the rest of the year off.

She finished the year with a 24–14 match record, her worst since she turned pro, and did not win any titles. Ivanović only reached three quarterfinals, one semifinal, and one final, and only won back-to-back matches six times. Ivanović ended the year ranked 21, the first time she had been ranked outside the top 20 since July 2005.

2010

Ivanović started the year at the 2010 Brisbane International. Seeded third, Ivanović reached her first semifinal since Indian Wells in 2009. She eventually bowed out to wildcard Justine Henin in Henin's first tournament since her return from retirement. Ivanović was seeded 20th at the 2010 Australian Open, but lost to Gisela Dulko in the second round in three sets.

Ivanović then participated in the opening round of the 2010 Fed Cup in Serbia's tie against Russia. She went 0–2 in her singles matches, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alisa Kleybanova, both in straight sets. She partnered with Jelena Janković in the deciding doubles match, but they fell to Kuznetsova and Kleybanova. Ivanović then withdrew from Dubai with shoulder tendinitis.

Ivanović announced that she would be working with Steffi Graf's former coach Heinz Gunthardt on a trial basis during the spring North American hard-court season, suspending her relationship with the Adidas Player Development Program indefinitely. In her first match as Gunthardt's pupil, a one-set semifinal against reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the 2010 Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden, Ivanović lost in a tiebreak, despite having held match point. After the match, Ivanović stated that she had noted improvements in her game.

Despite her improvements reflected in the BNP Paribas Showdown, Ivanović lost her opening match to world no. 63 Anastasija Sevastova at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open. Never before had she suffered four consecutive losses. By also losing a huge number of ranking points, Ivanović dropped out of the top 50 for the first time since March 2005. Seeded 25th at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Ivanović won her first match since the Australian Open, but then lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round.

In her first clay-court event of the year at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Ivanović suffered a second consecutive loss to Radwańska. In her first doubles match since June 2009, partnering Andrea Petkovic, she lost to Borwell and Kops-Jones.

Unseeded at the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Ivanović had her best week of tennis in nearly two years. She stunned top-10 players Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, and top-20 player Nadia Petrova, all in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinals. She was granted a wildcard into the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid, and received a bye in the first round due to her semifinal appearance at the Italian Open. She was the first unseeded wildcard to receive a first-round bye in the history of the WTA Tour. She lost in the second round to Jelena Janković, despite leading by a set and a break. Ivanović entered the 2010 French Open unseeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2005. She fell to Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.

In the UNICEF Open, Ivanović fell to seventh-seeded German Andrea Petkovic in the second round. Ivanović was defeated in the first round of Wimbledon by 13th seed Shahar Pe'er, and as a consequence saw her ranking drop to world no. 64.

In the opening round of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University, Ivanović avenged her 2009 Australian Open and 2010 French Open defeats to Alisa Kleybanova, before losing in the next round to Marion Bartoli in straight sets. At the Mercury Insurance Open, Ivanović once again suffered a first-round loss to Shahar Pe'er. At the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open, she rallied from a set and a break down to beat Victoria Azarenka in three sets. Ivanović retired against Kim Clijsters in the semifinals due to a foot injury. Her ranking dramatically improved to world no. 39. The injury caused her to withdraw from the Pilot Pen tournament held in New Haven.

Unseeded at the 2010 US Open, Ivanović breezed into the fourth round with straight-set victories, before losing to defending and eventual champion Kim Clijsters.

Ivanović went into the Hansol Korea Open as the seventh seed, but lost her opener to Vera Dushevina. Ivanović then defeated Kleybanova, the Korea Open champion, in the first round of the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, before again losing to Bartoli in straight sets. Ivanović avenged her losses to Bartoli at the 2010 China Open, beating the Frenchwoman in straight sets in the first round. On her way to the quarterfinals, Ivanović scored another top-10 victory by defeating Elena Dementieva for the second time in 2010. Ana fell to world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. By virtue of her quarterfinal finish, Ivanović re-entered the top 30.

Entering the 2010 Generali Ladies Linz as a wildcard, Ivanović defeated Patty Schnyder in the finals, 6–1, 6–2, in just 47 minutes of play. Ana headed to the 2010 BGL Luxembourg Open as the fourth seed, where she breezed right through to the quarterfinals, before falling to eighth seed Julia Görges. Meanwhile, after making the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament with Yanina Wickmayer, they fell to fourth seeds Lucie Hradecká and Renata Voráčová.

Ivanović revealed that she had ended her coaching relationship with Swiss star Heinz Gunthardt, because Gunthardt mixed his interest in tennis with being a Swiss television commentator.

By virtue of her title in Linz, Ivanović qualified for the last tournament of the season, the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. She made it to the finals, where she defeated Russian Alisa Kleybanova for her tenth career title and her second of the year. With her title in Bali, Ivanović achieved a year-end ranking of no. 17, her fifth finish in the top 20.

2011

Ivanović started the year with the 2011 Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. She competed along with Novak Djokovic under the Serbian flag. Ana and Djokovic swept their first two ties against Kazakhstan and Australia, 3–0, but fell against Belgium, 1–2. They did qualify for the final, but due to an injury sustained during Ivanović's match against Justine Henin, Serbia was forced to withdraw. Along with the Hopman Cup, Ivanović also withdrew from Sydney.

Ivanović was seeded 19th at the 2011 Australian Open, where she lost to Ekaterina Makarova, 6–3, 4–6, 8–10, in the first round in 2 hours and 47 minutes. Ivanović then played in the PTT Pattaya Open, where she fell in the quarterfinals to fifth seed Roberta Vinci in straight sets, 5–7, 3–6. She headed to Dubai as the 14th seed, where she lost against Patty Schnyder in three sets. She stated the loss was in part because of the abdominal injury sustained in the beginning of the season, and she subsequently withdrew from Doha.

Ivanović then headed to Indian Wells, where she was seeded 19th. After losing her doubles match with Petkovic in a tight three-setter, she lost to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals.

Ivanović then played in the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was seeded 19th. She lost against defending champion Kim Clijsters in her fourth-round match, despite having a 5–1, 40–0 lead in the third set and having five match points. She partnered with Petkovic in doubles where, after scoring a first round win, they stunned sixth-seeded Benesova and Zahlavova Strycova. They withdrew from the doubles competition after Ivanovic lost to Clijsters.

Ivanović withdrew from the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience tournament to better prepare herself for the upcoming clay-court season. However, she joined Serbia in the 2011 Fed Cup event. Ivanović scored a point for Serbia by beating Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets, 6–2, 6–4, but had to retire in her next match against Dominika Cibulková, as she renewed an injury from the beginning of the season. Despite that, Serbia beat Slovakia in the deciding doubles rubber, 3–2.

Ivanović's next scheduled tournament was the 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she was seeded 15th. After her early exit in the first round, losing to Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Ivanović headed to 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was 13th seed. Ivanović lost in the second round to Yanina Wickmayer in three sets. Ivanović withdrew from Strasbourg due to a minor wrist injury. Ana then lost to Johanna Larsson, 6–7(3), 6–0, 2–6, in her first round match at the 2011 French Open. Ivanović had a slight resurgence in Birmingham, reaching the semifinals, but lost to Daniela Hantuchová in three sets. Ivanović lost to Venus Williams in the second round at Eastbourne.

She beat Melanie Oudin in the first round at Wimbledon in straight sets. After her win over Eleni Daniilidou in the second round, also in straight sets, she fell in the third round. She was beaten by Petra Cetkovská who had beaten 13th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in round two. After Wimbledon, Ivanovic hired Nigel Sears, the head of women's tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association, as her coach.In Stanford, Ivanović fell against Japan's Ayumi Morita in her opening match, 3–6, 5–7. As the fifth seed in Carlsbad, she received a first-round bye. In round two, she avenged the previous week's loss by beating Ayumi Morita, 6–1, 7–6⁵, despite trailing 0–5 in the second set. In the third round, Ana cruised past Alberta Brianti of Italy, 6–1, 6–2. Ivanović then took on Shuai Peng in the quarterfinals and won in two sets. In the semifinals, she lost against top seed Vera Zvonareva, 7–5, 4–6, 4–6. After losing to Roberta Vinci in her third round match at the Roger's Cup, Ana, who teamed with Andrea Petkovic, had to withdraw in the middle of her doubles match while playing against fourth-seeded Azarenka and Kirilenko. At the US Open, Ivanović defeated Ksenia Pervak of Russia in the first round. She received a walkover from Petra Cetkovská and advanced to the third round. In the third round, Ivanovic defeated Sloane Stephens, 6–3, 6–4, to advance to the fourth round, where she faced Serena Williams, losing in straight sets 3–6, 4–6, in just 74 minutes. She also played alongside fellow countryman Nenad Zimonjic in the mixed doubles competition for the first time, but fell against Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Yung-jan Chan, 3–6, 4–6.

During the Toray Pan Pacific Open Ivanovic recorded victories in straight sets over Anastasia Rodionova and wildcard Laura Robson, before losing to Maria Kirilenko in the third round.

At the China Open Ivanovic defeated Kimiko Date Krumm and Svetlana Kuznetsova in straights to reach the third round, where she beat third seed and world no. 4 Vera Zvonareva, 6–2, 6–1. She then faced Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarter-finals. She lost the first set 3–6 and was down 2–3 when she had to retire because of a back injury. Ivanovic received a wild card to play in the 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, which she won last year. In her first round she played Italy's Roberta Vinci and defeated her 6–3 6–3. In the semi-finals she beat Russian Nadia Petrova 6–1, 7–5. In the final, she captured her 11 WTA title by beating Anabel Medina Garrigues in straights sets, 6–3, 6–0. This is the first time she had ever defended her title in a tournament.

2012

Ivanović began her season at the 2012 Brisbane International where she was defeated in the second round by fifth seed Kim Clijsters in three sets, 1–6, 6–1, 3–6 after leading 3–0 in the final set. Ivanović's next event was the Apia International Sydney but she lost in the first round to Lucie Šafářová in straight sets, 6–7(5) 2–6. Ivanović's next event was the 2012 Australian Open where she was seeded 21st. Ivanović did not drop a set en route to the fourth round, defeating Lourdes Domínguez Lino, Michaella Krajicek and Vania King along the way. In the fourth round, Ivanović lost in straight sets to the World No. 2 Petra Kvitová, 6-2, 7-6(7-2).

Equipment

Ivanović endorsed Nike apparel and shoes at the beginning of her professional career, but at the beginning of 2006 switched to rival Adidas. Ivanovic then signed a lifetime contract with the company. Ivanovic will become an Ambassador for Adidas once she retires from competitive tennis. She is believed to be the youngest athlete, male or female, to sign a contract of such longevity. She started with the Wilson racquets, eventually using the nCode nBlade. Since the beginning of 2008, Ivanović has used Yonex racquets. She previously used the RQiS 1 Tour XL 95, but at the beginning of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open 2010 in Cincinnati switched to a prototype version of a new Yonex racket. Ivanovic plays with the Yonex EZONE 100 model.

Playing style

Ivanović is an offensive baseliner who is notable for her aggressive play. In 2007 and 2008, Ivanović was regarded as one of the best competitors on the women's tour. After winning the 2008 French Open and becoming no. 1, Ivanović endured a decline in form. Many critics attributed this to lack of confidence. At the 2010 Australian Open, Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova commented that, "while she has absolutely no confidence in herself, she still fights till the last point." She has since made some improvements to her playing style after appointing a new coach in 2010. As a result, she started to play with more confidence and won matches more consistently. Recently, however, an inexplicable loss of form and increased injury has sent Ivanovic back to the drawing board.

Serve

Ivanović's serve is a powerful weapon. She hit a serve at the French Open in 2007, the fifth fastest serve of all time on the WTA Tour. As of late, however, her serve has become unreliable, mostly due to technical issues with her ball toss. The success of her ball toss is directly associated with her nerves. During the French Open final in 2007, Ivanović was overcome with nerves and her toss went astray. During Ivanović's slump in play in 2009, her serve became gradually less effective as her confidence diminished. Ana is now confident she has rectified these problems.

Groundstokes

Another one of Ivanović's strengths is her powerful forehand. A flat stroke, hit with not a lot of topspin which gives it its power, it has been considered to be one of the best forehands in the game. Ivanović tends to hit more winners of this wing. Her backhand, although not as big as her forehand, has improved over the years. Ivanović's movement and net play were once considered to be her weaknesses, but they have both improved over the years. She is considered now to be considerably faster than when she started playing professional tennis.

Surfaces

Ivanović's best surface is the clay court, where her height allows her to strike clean winners off of high-bouncing balls. Nonetheless, she is capable of performing well on hard and grass courts as well. When she launched her re-branded site during 2010, she stated in her bio that she likes all surfaces.

Awards

Ivanović has won the following awards:

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour most Improved player (2005)

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour most Improved player (2007)

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (2007)

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Diamond ACES Award (2008)

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Humanitarian Award (2009)

Nominated for U.S. Secretary of State's 2007 International Women of Courage Award (2007)

Michael Westphal Award (2008)

Singles performance timeline

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Career statistics

Video games

Ivanović has appeared as a character in ''Smash Court Tennis 3'', released in 2007, ''Virtua Tennis 2009'', released in 2009, ''Grand Slam Tennis'' for Wii, also released in 2009, ''Top Spin 4'' and ''Virtua Tennis 4'' both released in 2011. She stars, among others, alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lindsay Davenport, Anna Chakvetadze, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova.

Other ventures

Ana has appeared in a song called "Hurricane Ana," produced by Serbian rapper Filip Filipi and Collie Buddz. Also, she appeared on a number of international magazines like FHM (Germany, United Kingdom, Australia), Cosmopolitan (Serbia), Vanidades (Mexico), Grazia (Serbia), The Best Shop (Serbia), Sports Illustrated (South Africa) and others.

See also

Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)

Serbia Fed Cup team

List of Grand Slam women's singles champions

List of WTA number 1 ranked players

References

External links

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:Serbian sportswomen Category:Serbian female tennis players Category:Sportspeople from Belgrade Category:Serbian expatriates in Switzerland Category:French Open champions Category:Swiss people of Serbian descent Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:Hopman Cup competitors

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Name	Caroline Wozniacki
Country
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Birth date	July 11, 1990
Birth place	Odense, Denmark
Nickname	Caro, Miss Sunshine, Golden Retriever
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	18 July 2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$ 10,002,875
Website	www.carolinewozniacki.dk
Singlesrecord	288–102
Singlestitles	18 WTA, 4 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (11 October 2010)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 1 (29 August 2011)
Australianopenresult	SF (2011)
Frenchopenresult	QF (2010)
Wimbledonresult	4R (2009, 2010, 2011)
Usopenresult	F (2009)
Othertournaments	yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	F (2010)
Olympicsresult	3R (2008)
Doublesrecord	36–53
Doublestitles	2 WTA, 0 ITF
Highestdoublesranking	No. 52 (14 September 2009)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	2R (2008)
Frenchopendoublesresult	2R (2010)
Wimbledondoublesresult	2R (2009, 2010)
Usopendoublesresult	3R (2009)
Updated	29 August 2011 }}

Caroline Wozniacki (born 11 July 1990) is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current World No. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 29 August 2011, she has held this position for 46 weeks. She is the first Danish tennis player to hold the top ranking position and 20th overall.

Since her WTA debut in 2005, she has improved her year-end ranking each year until finishing on top in 2010. She has won 18 WTA singles titles as of August 2011, three in 2008, three in 2009, six in 2010 (the most since Justine Henin's ten in 2007), and six in 2011. She was runner-up at the 2009 US Open and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships in Doha to Kim Clijsters. She won the 2006 Wimbledon Girls' Singles, but has yet to win a Women's Grand Slam title. She also holds two WTA titles in doubles.

Early life

Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish immigrants, Piotr and Anna Wozniacki. Her mother played on the Polish women's national volleyball team, and her father played professional football. The couple moved to Denmark when Piotr signed for the Danish football club Boldklubben 1909. Wozniacki's older brother Patrik is a professional footballer for Hvidovre IF in Denmark.

Playing style

Wozniacki's playing style centers "around the defensive aspects of tennis with her anticipation, movement, agility, footwork and defence all first-rate and key parts of her game." Her two-handed backhand is one of her best weapon as she is capable of turning defense into offense, most notably the backhand down-the-line. Her defensive playing style has her contemporaries label her a counter-puncher.

Career

2005

Wozniacki won several junior tournaments in 2005, including the Orange Bowl tennis championship. She made her debut on the WTA Tour at Cincinnati's Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open on 19 July 2005, losing to the top-seeded and eventual champion Patty Schnyder in the first round. In the Nordea Nordic Light Open, her other WTA tournament of the year, she lost to Martina Suchá in the first round.

2006

In 2006, she was the top seed at the Australian Open (junior girls' singles), but lost the final to eighth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. She was seeded second with partner Anna Tatishvili in the doubles tournament, but the pair was knocked out in the semifinals by the French-Italian pair of Alizé Cornet and Corinna Dentoni, who were seeded eighth.

In February at the Memphis, she reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal, beating Kristina Brandi and Ashley Harkleroad before losing to third-seeded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden. Before the Wimbledon, Wozniacki won the exhibition tournament Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, beating Ashley Harkleroad in the finals.

Later that year, she was given a wild card to main draw qualifying of the Wimbledon, where she was beaten in the first round by Miho Saeki. However, Wozniacki went on to win the girls' singles tournament, beating Slovak Magdaléna Rybáriková in the finals.

In August, she reached another WTA Tour quarterfinal, this time at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Stockholm. She defeated top 100 players Iveta Benešová and Eleni Daniilidou before falling to eventual champion and third-seeded Zheng Jie.

Wozniacki was seeded second in Girls' Singles in the year's last major tournament. In the first round she won the first set against Russian Alexandra Panova, but was disqualified in the second set for verbally abusing an umpire. Wozniacki was said to have used an expletive in referring to a linesman who made a disputed call; however, on her blog, she claimed to say "take your sunglasses of [sic]" and was mistaken for talking to the linesman, when she in fact was criticizing herself after the next point.

In her last junior tournament, the Osaka Mayor's Cup, she won both the girls' singles and doubles.

Her first title on the senior tour came shortly after on 29 October, when she won the $25,000 ITF-tournament in Istanbul by beating Tatjana Malek in the final.

Wozniacki was set to face Venus Williams on 27 November in an exhibition match in Copenhagen, but five days before the event, Williams canceled because of an injury. The two did, however, face each other in the Memphis WTA Tier III event on 20 February. Williams beat Wozniacki, ending the nine-match winning streak Wozniacki had at the time.

On 29 November, Wozniacki was named ambassador for Danish Junior Tennis by the Culture Minister of Denmark at the time, Brian Mikkelsen.

2007

On 4 February, she won an $75,000 ITF singles title in Ortisei, Italy, beating the Italian player Alberta Brianti. On 4 March, she won the $75,000 ITF tournament in Las Vegas, beating top-seed Akiko Morigami in the final.

She obtained a wild card for the Pacific Life Open main draw and made her Tier I debut there. She was knocked out in the second round by Martina Hingis.

She then made the semifinals of the AIG Open in Tokyo in October, her first career WTA Tour semifinal, and as a result became the first Danish woman to reach a WTA semifinal since Tine Scheuer-Larsen at Bregenz in 1986. She was defeated by Venus Williams in straight sets.

2008

At the Australian Open, Wozniacki defeated Gisela Dulko and 21st seed Alona Bondarenko on her way to the Round of 16, where she lost to the eventual finalist and fourth-seeded Ana Ivanović.

At the French Open, she was seeded thirtieth, making this the first Grand Slam tournament in which Wozniacki was seeded. She again lost in the third round to the eventual champion and World No. 2 Ana Ivanović.

At Wimbledon, she reached the third round, but lost to second-seeded Jelena Janković.

Wozniacki won her first-ever WTA Tour title at the Nordic Light Open in Stockholm without dropping a set, defeating no. 5 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals, top seed and World No. 10, Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals, and Vera Dushevina in the final.

At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, she beat World No. 12 Daniela Hantuchová in the second round before falling to the eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva. Wozniacki then won her second WTA Tour title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, defeating four seeded players in Dominika Cibulková, Marion Bartoli and Alizé Cornet en route to the final, where she defeated World No. 11 Anna Chakvetadze.

Wozniacki was the 21st seed at the US Open. She defeated World No. 14 Victoria Azarenka in the third round but lost to second-seeded and eventual runner-up Jelena Janković in the fourth round.

At the China Open, she lost her opening match to Anabel Medina Garrigues. However, she teamed up with Medina Garrigues to clinch the doubles title, defeating the Chinese duo of Han Xinyun and Xu Yi-Fan. It was Wozniacki's first WTA doubles title. At the Tier III AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, she was the top seed for the first time on the WTA Tour, and she won her third career title, defeating Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the final.

Wozniacki then took part in an ITF tournament in her hometown Odense. She won the tournament, beating World No. 64 Sofia Arvidsson in the final.

Her final win–loss record for the year (ITF matches included, exhibition matches not included) was 58–20 in singles and 8–9 in doubles. She ended the year ranked 12th in singles and 79th in doubles. She finished thirteenth in the race for the Sony Ericsson Championships. She also won the WTA Newcomer of the Year award for 2008.

2009

Wozniacki's started the season in Auckland where she lost to Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. She also reached the quarterfinals in Sydney, this time losing to World No. 2 Serena Williams 6–7(5), 6–3, 7–6(3) after having three match points. Seeded 11th at the Australian Open, Wozniacki lost in the third round to Australian wild card Jelena Dokić.

In Pattaya, Wozniacki lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the quarterfinals. Seeded first at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Wozniacki advanced to the final but lost to Victoria Azarenka. Afterwards they partnered in the doubles final to defeat Michaëlla Krajicek and Yuliana Fedak.

Wozniacki then took part in the first two Premier Mandatory tournaments of the year. At Indian Wells she lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva. In Miami she scored her first win over Elena Dementieva before losing to another Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

Wozniacki won her first title of the year at the MPS Group Championships on green clay in Ponte Vedra Beach where she defeated Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak (no relation). In Charleston she defeated top seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals before losing the final to Sabine Lisicki.

Wozniacki suffered early exits in her next two tournaments, losing to Marion Bartoli in the second round in Stuttgart, and to Victoria Azarenka in the third round in Rome. She reached the final of the inaugural Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she lost to World No. 1 Dinara Safina. This was Wozniacki's only match against a reigning No. 1 before she herself became No. 1 in October 2010. Seeded 10th at the French Open, Wozniacki lost to Sorana Cîrstea in the third round. They partnered in doubles but lost in the first round.

Wozniacki won her second 2009 title on the grass of Eastbourne. In the final she defeated Virginie Razzano. Wozniacki was seeded 9th in Wimbledon where she lost to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.

On her 19th birthday she lost the final of the Swedish Open to María José Martínez Sánchez. On hard-court at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, she lost in the second round to Sorana Cîrstea. At the Cincinnati Masters, she reached the quarterfinals before falling to Elena Dementieva. In Toronto she lost early in the second round to Zheng Jie, but she then went on to defend her title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven without losing a set. In the first round she had her first double bagel win as a professional, 6–0, 6–0 over Edina Gallovits in 41 minutes. In the final she beat Elena Vesnina for her third title of the season.

Wozniacki was the 9th seed at the US Open. She made her best result to date by becoming the first Danish woman to reach a Grand Slam final. There she was defeated by Kim Clijsters who had recently made a comeback after retiring in 2007.

In the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open she retired because of a viral illness down 0–5 against Aleksandra Wozniak. She then lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round of the China Open, and to Samantha Stosur in the semifinals in Osaka. The following week in Luxembourg, she retired with a hamstring injury in the first round while leading 7–5, 5–0 over Anne Kremer. This aroused controversy because of the scoreline.

Wozniacki's 2009 results qualified her for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha for the first time. She won two of three group matches and advanced to the semifinals. There she struggled with a stomach strain and a left thigh injury against World No. 1 Serena Williams, and retired while trailing 6–4, 0–1.

2010

In her first WTA tournament of the year, Wozniacki suffered an opening round loss to Li Na of China in the Sydney. She was seeded 4th at the Australian Open, her first top-eight seed in a Grand Slam. She again fell to Li, this time in the fourth round, in straight sets. Despite her 4th round exit, Wozniacki achieved a career-high ranking of No.3.

As the 2nd seed at Indian Wells, Wozniacki reached the final before losing to former World No. 1 Jelena Janković. With this result, she achieved a new career-high ranking of World No. 2. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Wozniacki lost in the quarterfinals to the newly-returned Justine Henin.

Her next tournament was the Ponte Vedra Beach, where she defeated Olga Govortsova in the final. Wozniacki then competed at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. She advanced to the semifinals, where she met Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki was forced to retire down 2–5 after she rolled her ankle while chasing down a short ball.

Despite her ongoing ankle injury, she continued to compete in tournaments through the clay-court season, suffering early losses in Stuttgart, Rome and the Madrid. She then reached the quarterfinals in Warsaw, but retired there after losing the first set.

Wozniacki was seeded 3rd at the French Open. She posted her best result at Roland Garros by advancing to the fourth round without dropping a set. After defeating Flavia Pennetta in the Round of 16 in three sets, she lost to eventual champion Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals. Wozniacki partnered with Daniela Hantuchová in doubles, but they withdrew before their second round match against the Williams sisters because to a right shoulder injury to Hantuchová.

As the defending champion, Wozniacki lost early at the AEGON International, her first grass-court tournament of the year, to Aravane Rezaï. Wozniacki was seeded 3rd at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, where she defeated Tathiana Garbin, Chang Kai-chen and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the fourth round, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová.

Wozniacki was the number 1 seed at the inaugural 2010 e-Boks Danish Open. It was the first Danish WTA tournament, created largely out of Wozniacki's popularity in Denmark. She reached the final and she defeated Klára Zakopalová to win her second title of the year.

In Cincinnati, she lost in the third round to Marion Bartoli. As the number 2 seed of Montreal, Wozniacki was forced to wait two days to play her semifinal match with Svetlana Kuznetsova because of heavy rain. She defeated both Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva on the same day for her third singles title of the year. As the top seed of New Haven, Wozniacki defeated Nadia Petrova in the final for her third consecutive title there. By virtue of this, she also won the 2010 US Open Series.

Wozniacki was the top seed at the US Open due to the withdrawal of World No. 1 Serena Williams. She advanced to the semifinals before being upset by Vera Zvonareva. With her semifinal appearance, Wozniacki became only one of two women (the other being Venus Williams) to have reached at least the fourth round of all 4 Grand Slam events in 2010.

Wozniacki's first tournament during the Asian hard-court season was the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She won back-to-back three setters against Victoria Azarenka and Elena Dementieva, the latter of whom she beat in the final to win her fifth title of the year.

She then entered the China Open in Beijing. In the third round, Wozniacki faced Petra Kvitová, who had routed her at Wimbledon. Wozniacki avenged that loss which ensured that she would replace Serena Williams as the new World No. 1 after the tournament. She was the fifth player to reach the number 1 position without having won a Grand Slam tournament. She also became the first Danish, man or woman, to reach the top ranking. Wozniacki ultimately won the tournament, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final to win her sixth title of the year and twelfth overall.

At the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Wozniacki was drawn in a group with Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur and Elena Dementieva. She defeated Dementieva in her first round robin game, but lost to Stosur in the second. She won her last round-robin match in the group against Schiavone, securing the year-end World No. 1 rank and a place in the semifinals against the winner of the other group, Vera Zvonareva. Wozniacki defeated her, but then lost . in the final in three sets to Kim Clijsters. Wozniacki ended the season with six WTA singles titles, the most on the tour. Clijsters won five and no other player won more than two.

2011

During the offseason, Wozniacki switched her racquet make from Babolat to Yonex. Wozniacki began her 2011 season with an exhibition match in Thailand against Kim Clijsters. She lost 3–6, 6–4, 10–12 after a super tie-break. Wozniacki then played another exhibition, the team event Hong Kong Tennis Classic where she represented and was Captain of Team Europe. She won two matches against Team Asia Pacific before getting crushed 6–1, 6–0 by world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva in the final against Team Russia. Her first WTA tournament was the Medibank International Sydney. She received a bye to the second round where she lost 6–3, 6–3 to Dominika Cibulková.

The Australian Open was Wozniacki's first major as World No. 1. She lost to Li Na, who had defeated her the previous year, in the semifinals 6–3, 5–7, 3–6, after failing to convert a match point when trying to serve out the match at 5–4 in the second set.

Wozniacki dropped to No. 2 behind Kim Clijsters during the week of 14 February, but regained the top spot the following week. She received a bye to the second round in Dubai where, in the quarterfinals, she beat Shahar Pe'er 6–2, 6–4 to ensure her No. 1 position in the next rankings update. She went on to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6–1, 6–3 to take her 13th career singles title and first of the year.

In Doha she received a bye to the second round and reached the final after defeating Nadia Petrova, Flavia Pennetta and Marion Bartoli in straight sets. She lost to Vera Zvonareva in the final 4–6, 4–6.

In the first Premier Mandatory event of the year, the Indian Wells, Wozniacki made it to the final where she met Marion Bartoli and won 6–1, 2–6, 6–3 for her 14th singles title.

After a first-round bye at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Wozniacki lost in the fourth round to 21st seed Andrea Petkovic 7–5, 3–6, 6–3. Wozniacki made an uncharacteristic 52 unforced errors and later cited exhaustion as a factor in the loss.

In the Family Circle Cup, Wozniacki made it to the final, where she defeated unseeded Elena Vesnina 6–2, 6–3 to take her third title of the year, fifteenth of her career.

In Stuttgart Wozniacki made it to her fifth final of the year, where she lost to Julia Görges in straight sets.

In Madrid Wozniacki lost to Görges again, this time in the third round. In Rome, she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova in the semifinal round, with a 7–5, 6–3 defeat.

At the Brussels Open, Wozniacki reached the semifinals, where she defeated the 3rd seed and reigning French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone 6–4, 4–6, 6–3. In the final – Wozniacki's 6th of the year – she defeated the 8th seed Peng Shuai 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 to win her first red clay title after having won three on the faster green clay.

Wozniacki was the top seed at the French Open, but was defeated in the third round by 28th seed Daniela Hantuchová, 6–1, 6–3.

Wozniacki's next tournament was the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open in her native Denmark. In the final, she defeated 4th seed Lucie Šafářová 6–1, 6–4 taking her fifth title of the year. At Wimbledon she had straight-set wins until the fourth round but then lost 6–1, 6–7(5), 5–7 to 24th seed Dominika Cibulková.

At the Rogers Cup, Wozniacki was not able to defend her title and made an early second round exit. She was defeated by Roberta Vinci 6–4, 7–5, despite holding a 5–1 lead in the second set. Wozniacki was the top seed at the 2011 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, but lost in the second round to World #76 Christina McHale 4–6, 5–7. Next playing at the 2011 New Haven Open at Yale, Wozniacki won the title for the fourth year in a row, defeating Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals and qualifier Petra Cetkovská in the final, 6–4, 6–1. At the US Open Wozniacki will be the No.1 seed, and her first round opponent is Nuria Llagostera Vives.

Personal life

Wozniacki's best friend is her fellow Danish tennis player Malou Ejdesgaard, her doubles partner in some WTA tournaments. They are trying to gain entry to the 2012 Summer Olympics in doubles.

When asked in 2008 by ''Teen Vogue'' magazine what sports beside tennis she liked to play, Wozniacki said "I like handball, soccer, swimming, playing the piano, and all kinds of different things."

On 20 December 2010, she signed a three-year deal to endorse Turkish Airlines' business class service.

Wozniacki is a Liverpool F.C. supporter. She wore a Liverpool shirt signed by footballer Steven Gerrard on court in the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open.

According to Forbes in 2011 she was the second highest earning female athlete in the world.

According to the June 2011 edition of SportsPro Wozniacki is the world's 9th most marketable athlete.

She is currently dating golfer Rory McIlroy.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Singles performance timeline

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Awards

;2008

WTA Tour Most Impressive Newcomer of the Year

;2010 ITF Player of the Year Danish Sports Name of the Year

References

External links

Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:Danish expatriates in Monaco Category:Danish female tennis players Category:Danish people of Polish descent Category:Olympic tennis players of Denmark Category:People from Monte Carlo Category:People from Odense Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:Wimbledon junior champions

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Name	Kim Clijsters
Nickname	Aussie Kim
Country
Residence	Bree, Belgium
Birth date	June 08, 1983
Birth place	Bilzen, Belgium
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	17 August 1997
Retired	6 May 2007Returned 11 August 2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US $23,757,657 (3rd in overall earnings)
Singlesrecord	503–121 (80.60%)
Singlestitles	41 WTA (13th in overall rankings)3 ITF
Currentsinglesranking	No. 3 (29 August 2011)
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (11 August 2003)
Australianopenresult	W (2011)
Frenchopenresult	F (2001, 2003)
Wimbledonresult	SF (2003, 2006)
Usopenresult	W (2005, 2009, 2010)
Doublesrecord	131–54 (%)
Doublestitles	11 WTA, 3 ITF
Highestdoublesranking	No. 1 (4 August 2003)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	Yes
Australianopendoublesresult	QF (2003)
Frenchopendoublesresult	W (2003)
Wimbledondoublesresult	W (2003)
Usopendoublesresult	QF (2002)
Othertournaments	Yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2002, 2003, 2010)
mixed	Yes
mixedtitles	0
wimbledonmixedresult	F (2000)
updated	29 August 2011 }}

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 29 August 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 3 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles.

Clijsters is the reigning singles champion at the US Open and the Australian Open. She has also won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She has won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009 and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She has also been runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments, and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003 and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.

In June 2011, ''TIME'' Magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".

According to ''Forbes'' in August 2011, she became the fifth highest-paid female athlete over the past year.

Playing style

Clijsters is recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes. She can hit outright winners off both wings and from any part of the court. Her forehand is one of the best and most powerful the women's game has ever seen, yet occasionally erratic and prone to unforced errors; her backhand is more reliable and consistent, and can be hit with heavy slice as a defensive shot. Clijsters is also recognised for her all-court defence, characterized by speed and athleticism. Clijsters, along with Jelena Janković and Svetlana Kuznetsova, is among the few tennis players on either the Association of Tennis Professionals or Women's Tennis Association tours who can slide (or "straddle") on all surfaces. Maria Sharapova, interviewed after losing to Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, said, "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back". Her first serve, while not overwhelming, is placed well and earns aces and unreturnables. Clijsters tends to rush between first and second serves, which may contribute to her occasional matches with high numbers of double faults. A former World No. 1 player in doubles, Clijsters has exceptional volleys; she has no problem switching from baseline to finishing points at the net with a volley or over-head. Her mental fragility was considered her biggest weakness, and at the earlier stages of her career she was considered a "choker", often surrendering big leads in the latter rounds of Grand Slams. Since winning the 2005 US Open, Clijsters has gained more control over her nerves and since her return to the tour in 2009 she has been known, along with Serena Williams, as among the toughest players to beat mentally. She is now seen as capable of rising to the occasion and playing her best tennis at the important stages of matches. Clijsters is also considered to be one of the most popular players on the tour, known for her grace on the court and even temper. She has been voted the WTA Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award by her fellow players seven times and the WTA Player Service Award three times.

Personal life

Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Limburg, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. She is the daughter of Lei Clijsters, a former international footballer, and Els Vandecaetsbeek, a former national gymnastics champion. Lei Clijsters died of skin cancer on 4 January 2009. Clijsters says that she inherited footballer's legs from her father and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother. Kim's younger sister Elke finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion and retired in 2004 after back injuries.

In December 2003, Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004. Clijsters is still affectionately nicknamed "Aussie Kim" by Australians. In October 2006, Clijsters announced her engagement to American basketball player Brian Lynch, who is based in Clijsters' hometown of Bree. In an interview with ''Sportweekend'' (a sports programme on Belgian Flemish television), Clijsters said that she was retiring to start a family. Clijsters and Lynch married privately on 13 July 2007, at 6 am at the Bree city hall. She was married by the mayor, with sister Elke, Lynch's brother Pat Lynch, and both sets of parents present.

Clijsters gave birth to a daughter on 27 February 2008, at 1:35 pm at the Vesalius hospital in Tongeren, Belgium.

Tennis career

Junior career

Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In singles, she finished as runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event, finishing 11th in the year-end singles ranking. In the same year in doubles, Clijsters won the French Open title with Jelena Dokić defeating Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova in the final as well the US Open with Eva Dyrberg defeating former partner Dokic in the final. Clijsters ended the season as number four in the International Tennis Federation junior doubles world ranking.

1999

In 1999, Clijsters made her breakthrough professionally. At her first WTA tournament in Antwerp, she qualified and lost to the eventual finalist Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor in the quarterfinal after failing to convert a matchpoint. Playing through the qualifying rounds at Roehampton, only after four others had dropped out, she made it through the main draw of Wimbledon. Clijsters won six matches in a row while only losing 25 games. She defeated tenth ranked Amanda Coetzer en route to the fourth round, during which Clijsters lost to her childhood idol Steffi Graf in straight sets, in difficult rainy circumstances. Later that summer, Clijsters reached the third round of the US Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams after serving for the match. In the autumn, Clijsters won her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles title at Luxembourg. She followed up with her first WTA doubles title at Bratislava, partnering Laurence Courtois. At the end of the year, she was granted the WTA Most Impressive Newcomer award, the only Belgian player to have received this trophy.

2000–2002

Clijsters climbed up the rankings over the next couple of years. In 2001, she reached her first Tier I final at the tournament in Indian Wells, California, losing to Serena Williams in a match overshadowed by controversy. Clijsters also reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati 12–10 in the third set. This two-hour, 21-minute match featured the longest third set in a French Open women's final. Clijsters was four times within two points of winning before Capriati prevailed. Her next important breakthrough came at the end of 2002, when she won the year-end Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles, defeating top ranked Serena Williams in the final. This was only the fifth defeat of the year for Williams and snapped her 18-match winning streak. On her way to the final, Clijsters defeated fourth ranked Justine Henin and second ranked Venus Williams, becoming just the fourth player to beat both of the Williams sisters in the same event. She also equaled the event's record for the fewest games dropped.

2003

Clijsters started her season at the Adidas International, where she won her first tournament of the year defeating Lindsey Davenport in straight sets in the final. Clijsters reached the final after defeating Patty Schnyder, Chanda Rubin and Justine Henin. At the Australian Open, Clijsters lost in the semi-final to Serena Williams 4–6, 6–3, 7–5 after holding 5 match points. On the way to the semis Clijsters lost just fifteen games beating Samantha Reeves and completing a double bagel (wherein the opposing player fails to win a single game) against Petra Mandula. She then continued by winning in straight sets against Tatiana Poutchek, Amanda Coetzer and Anastasia Myskina. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final.

Clijsters reached the final of the WTA German Open after defeating Jennifer Capriati 6–4 in the final set. In the final she played Justine Henin and squandered three match points as Clijsters lost the final set 7–5. To compound the day Clijsters also lost the doubles final 6–4 in the final set.

Clijsters’ third title of the year came at the Telecom Italia Masters in Rome, where she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final. Clijsters had defeated Myskina and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama to make the final.

At the French Open Clijsters’ reached the final for the second time in three years after defeating Nadia Petrova. In the final Clijsters lost to Henin 6–0, 6–4, and again at the US open, 7–5, 6–1. She also lost in the semi-final at Wimbledon to Venus Williams after leading by a set and a break. On 11 August 2003, Clijsters attained the World No. 1 ranking, holding the spot for 12 non-consecutive weeks during the remainder of the year, and was the first player to be top ranked by the WTA without first winning a Grand Slam singles title.

On 18 August 2003, Clijsters also attained the World No. 1 ranking in doubles, joining a very select group of only four players – Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport – having reached the World number one ranking in singles and doubles simultaneously. By 2010, only Serena Williams has managed to join this group.

The World No. 1 ranking was again at stake in October during the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany. Clijsters rallied from a set down to beat Henin. The match marked only the eighth time that the top two players battled for the top ranking. Even though Clijsters won that match, she finished the year ranked World No. 2, just behind Henin.

2004

Clijsters started 2004 by playing in the Hopman Cup. During the tie against Australia, Clijsters injured her ankle against Alicia Molik. Clijsters was on crutches for a few days and feared she may need surgery. Clijsters pulled out of the Adidas International due to the injury. Clijsters did recover in time to reach her fourth career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost once more to Henin. After defeating in straight sets Marlene Weingärtner, Maria Elena Camerin (with a double bagel), Dinara Safina, Silvia Farina Elia, Anastasia Myskina (during the match Clijsters aggravated her ankle injury) and Patty Schnyder to reach the final. Clijsters then won two consecutive titles in Paris and Antwerp. In Paris Clijsters defeated local favourite Mary Pierce in the final. To reach the final Clijsters defeated Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo, Farina Elia and Safina. While defending her Tier I title at the Pacific Life Open Clijsters injured her wrist during her win against Angelika Roesch, in her first match. Clijsters withdrew ahead of her second match with the injury being described as a bruised bone. Clijsters withdrew from the event in Miami the next week Clijsters then appeared six weeks later in her home town of Bree to play in a Fed Cup tie against Croatia winning both of her rubbers. Clijsters returned to the tour in Berlin and needed three sets to see off Marta Marrero. Clijsters then pulled out of her second match and then was told to rest for five weeks causing her to miss the French Open. Clijsters then had surgery to remove a cyst causing her to miss three months of the tour including Wimbledon and the US Open. Clijsters also missed the Olympics, but she had already decided not to play the tournament after a dispute about clothing sponsors. Clijsters returned at the Gaz de France Stars she made the semi finals defeating Iveta Benešová and Magdalena Maleeva; before pulling out in the second set against Elena Bovina. Clijsters had aggravated the injury and although she did not need surgery, she was out for the rest of the season. As well she played down fears that the injury may force her retirement from tennis.

2005

Clijsters missed the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, due to injury. In February, after four months out, Clijsters returned to the tour by participating in Antwerp. Her first match back was against Jelena Kostanić, which she won in straight sets before losing to Venus Williams in the quarter-finals.

Clijsters completed her comeback in March and April, when she won, as an unseeded player, 17 matches in a row to claim two Tier I titles and regain a top-20 ranking. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Clijsters was ranked World No. 133 at the time. The Belgian began by beating Nicole Pratt, Shinobu Asagoe, Anna Chakvetadze and Evgenia Linetskaya all without dropping a set. In the semi final Clijsters defeated World No. 5 Elena Dementieva in straight sets and World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final in three sets. The week after that win, Clijsters defeated four top-6 players in straight sets to win the NASDAQ-100 Open. To win the title Clijsters defeated Sandra Kloesel, Amy Frazier, Nathalie Dechy, Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Amélie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova going the whole tournament without dropping a set.

Turning her attention to clay, Clijsters’ winning streak continued at the J&S; Cup. Clijsters defeated Tatiana Perebiynis, Maria Kirilenko, and Elena Bovina. Against Bovina Clijsters’ picked up a minor shoulder injury. Clijsters’ 17 match winning streak was finally ended by Svetlana Kuznetsova. Playing next at the WTA German Open Clijsters defeated Yuliana Fedak and Dinara Safina in straight sets before hurting her right knee and retiring against Patty Schnyder. Clijsters recovered in time to play in the French Open. Playing in the French Open for the first time in two years, Clijsters defeated Meilen Tu, Cervanová and Daniela Hantuchová to advance to the fourth round where she lost to Davenport.

Clijsters got off to the best possible start of her grass court season at the Hastings Direct International Championships by winning the tournament. Clijsters defeated Jelena Janković, Conchita Martínez, Mashona Washington, Kuznetsova and Vera Dushevina to claim her third title of the year. At Wimbledon Clijsters defeated Katie O'Brien, Marissa Irvin Roberta Vinci before facing Davenport in the last 16 for the second slam running. The result was the same as the French Open with the American winning.

After Wimbledon Clijsters went on an amazing run of form where she lost just once between July and October. Clijsters’ run began at the Bank of the West Classic against Ai Sugiyama, and defeated Hantuchová, Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Venus Williams to win her fourth title of the year. Clijsters’ streak continued in San Diego as she defeated Marta Domachowska and Janković before suffering her one and only defeat in this run to Shuai Peng.

After the defeat to Peng, Clijsters continued the run as she went on an amazing winning streak, winning twenty two matches in a row, collecting four straight titles along the way, including her maiden Grand Slam title. The twenty-two-match-streak started against Karolina Šprem, and victories over Safina, Nadia Petrova, Francesca Schiavone, saw Clijsters collect her fifth title of the year. The streak continued in Toronto as Clijsters beat Virginie Razzano, Ana Ivanović (via a walkover), Flavia Pennetta, Anastasia Myskina and Justine Henin-Hardenne to win the Rogers Cup. After winning three of her four US Summer Hard court tournaments, Clijsters won the US Open Series, which links all the US summer hard courts together and doubles the winners prize money at the US Open. Giving Clijsters a chance to double the $1.1 million US Open winners prize to $2.2 million.

Clijsters won her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, after having reached four Grand Slam finals previously. Clijsters started by defeating Martina Müller, Fabiola Zuluaga, Ai Sugiyama and María Vento-Kabchi in straight sets to reach the quarter finals. There, Clijsters defeated tenth-seeded Venus Williams in the quarter-finals 4–6, 7–5, 6–1, winning 11 of the last 13 games after being down 6–4, 4–2. Clijsters also needed three sets to defeat top-seeded Sharapova in the semi-final. In her fifth attempt, Clijsters won her first Grand Slam final, defeating Mary Pierce in straight sets. By winning the US Open Series Clijsters doubled her US$1.1 million in prize money she received for winning the US Open, to US$2.2 million. The pay check was the largest payday in women's sports history.

On 15 September, a week after her US Open victory, it was announced that Clijsters and her coach, Marc Dehous, had parted company, which was due in part to her paying him only $9,000 of her $2,200,000 US Open winnings.

Clijsters’ hot streak continued as she extended her streak to 21 wins, even without a coach at the Fortis Championships. Clijsters beat Klara Koukalová, Schiavone, Dechy and Lena Groenefeld all without dropping a set to win her eighth title of the year. The title was Clijsters’ fourth consecutive title. At the Porsche Grand Prix Clijsters defeated Šprem for her twenty second consecutive match win before Dementieva ended the streak.

Clijsters then won her ninth and final tournament of the year at the Gaz de France Stars, defeating Schiavone in the final, to go the whole tournament without dropping a set. Clijsters defeated Ekaterina Bychkova, Šprem, Julia Schruff and Safina to make the final.

At the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, Clijsters was eliminated in the group stage. Clijsters lost her first match, a rematch of the US Open final, to Pierce 6–1, 4–6, 7–6 and her second match to Mauresmo 6–3, 7–6. This left the Belgian needing to win and hope that the results in the other matches went her way. Although results did not go her way and Clijsters was eliminated with one match still to play, she finished her season by defeating Dementieva in straight sets. Clijsters ended the year ranked World No. 2.

2006

Clijsters started the year by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title she defeated Jie Zheng, Elena Dementieva, and top ranked Lindsay Davenport. Clijsters then withdrew from her semi-final match at the WTA tournament in Sydney, citing a left hip muscle strain.

At the Australian Open, Clijsters defeated former champion Martina Hingis in the quarter-finals 6–3, 2–6, 6–4 before retiring from her semi-final match with Amélie Mauresmo. Despite the loss, the ranking points she accumulated were enough to regain the World No. 1 ranking, a position she last held on 9 November 2003. She was the first tennis player, male or female, to rise from outside the Top 100 (World No. 134) to World No. 1 in less than a year. Clijsters' loss to Mauresmo in the Australian Open semi-final was due to an ankle injury. Although she had been expected to miss at least eight weeks to recover, Clijsters returned two weeks later at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She lost the final of that tournament to Mauresmo in three sets.

Clijsters won her first title of the year at a clay court event in Warsaw, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the French Open in May, Clijsters reached the semi-final without losing a set, defeating Hingis in the quarter-finals 7–6, 6–1. However, she lost to Justine Henin in the semi-final 6–3, 6–2 on her 23rd birthday. She was seeded second going into Wimbledon but was again eliminated in the semi-final by Henin, also in straight sets, 6–4, 7–6(4).

Clijsters collected her second title of the year as the top seed in Stanford, defeating Patty Schnyder in the final. Clijsters then reached the final in San Diego, falling to second-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets. This was her first loss to Sharapova in five career meetings.

On 16 August, after receiving a first round bye at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Clijsters faced Canadian Stéphanie Dubois in the second round. Having won the first set 6–1 and trailing 2–3 in the second set, Clijsters slipped and fell on her left wrist and was forced to retire from the match. On 18 August 2006, Clijsters announced on her official website that the condition of her wrist was worse than she had expected and that she would be unable to defend her title at the US Open. She also missed the Fed Cup final against Italy, which Italy won 3–2.

Playing in Paris at the Gaz de France Stars tournament, her first event in more than two months, Clijsters successfully defended her title by beating qualifier Kaia Kanepi in the final. At the year-ending WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters lost a semi-final to Mauresmo 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 after defeating Dementieva and Kuznetsova and losing to Sharapova in the round robin phase of the tournament.

2007: Retirement

2007 was to be Clijsters’ final year on tour as she had planned in 2005 to retire at the end of the 2007 season. Clijsters started the year by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title, she defeated Zheng Jie, Patty Schnyder, and top ranked Maria Sharapova. Clijsters then won the Medibank International in Sydney, defeating Nicole Pratt, Shahar Pe'er, Li Na and Jelena Janković to claim the title after being match point down in the final.

At the Australian Open Clijsters was the fourth seed. The Belgian started by giving a double bagel to Vasilisa Bardina before going on to defeat Akiko Morigami, Alona Bondarenko, and Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets. Clijsters then defeated sixth seed Martina Hingis in three sets before losing to Sharapova in the semi-finals.

Clijsters next played in Belgium at the Proximus Diamond Games after pulling out of the Open Gaz de France with a hip injury. While Clijsters said that she was fit she hinted that she may miss the French Open. Clijsters defeated Olga Poutchkova, Ana Ivanović and Tatiana Golovin to reach the final without dropping a set, though she lost there to Amélie Mauresmo.

After this event Clijsters confirmed that she would miss the French Open and US Open, making Wimbledon her last Grand Slam event. The Belgian also added that her last two tournaments would be in Luxembourg and at the WTA Tour Championships in Stuttgart.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Clijsters lost in the fourth round to Li Na in three sets after beating Akiko Morigami and Sam Stosur. A month later in her first clay tournament of the year, at Warsaw Clijsters failed to defend her title when she lost to Julia Vakulenko 7–6(3), 6–3.

On 6 May 2007, citing injuries, Clijsters announced on her official website that she was cutting short her season and bringing forward her plans to retire from professional tennis. Clijsters decided to retire immediately from the sport.

2009: Comeback

Almost two years after her retirement and one year after the birth of her daughter in February 2008 it was announced that Clijsters, along with Tim Henman, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, would play an exhibition event on Wimbledon's Centre Court in May, in order to test the new roof on centre court.

While preparing for the exhibition at Wimbledon, Clijsters called a press conference on the 26 March and then announced that she was returning to professional tennis. She said that she had been inspired when preparing for the Wimbledon roof event during January 2009. Clijsters stated that she had asked for wildcards for the Cincinnati and Toronto tournaments. Additionally, Clijsters had also asked for a wildcard at the US Open, after which she planned to evaluate the comeback in terms of success and the feasibility of combining it with her family life. Clijsters also stated that she preferred to think of it as a "second career" instead of a comeback, because so many factors (marriage, a baby, the recent death of her father) were different compared to her first career.

At the Wimbledon exhibition Clijsters and Henman won 7–6 in a tiebreak against Graf and Agassi. Clijsters also played a singles rubber against Graf, winning 6–4. Clijsters said at the event she had been practicing for a month from January and had started to feel good again at the start of February, then Wimbledon was confirmed and that is what pushed her to commit to pro tennis again. In July, she won both of her doubles matches with the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis.

Clijsters started her second career at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, following the acceptance of her wildcard. She defeated World No. 13 Marion Bartoli in the first round 6–4, 6–3. In her next two matches, she defeated World No. 20 Patty Schnyder 6–2, 7–5 and World No. 6 and reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she lost to World No. 1 Dinara Safina 6–2, 7–5.

Following Cincinnati Clijsters played at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on another wildcard. She defeated British qualifier Elena Baltacha in the first round. In the second round, she defeated World No. 9 Victoria Azarenka 7–5, 4–6, 6–1 but lost to World No. 4 Jelena Janković in the third round 1–6, 6–3, 7–5, after serving for the match at 5–3.

She then received a wildcard to play in the main draw of the US Open. She won her first round match over Viktoriya Kutuzova 6–1, 6–1. She won her second round match, defeating World No. 14 Marion Bartoli for the second time in three weeks 5–7, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated compatriot Kirsten Flipkens 6–0, 6–2 in the third round. She went on to upset World No. 3 Venus Williams in the fourth round 6–0, 0–6, 6–4. This was only Clijsters' 11th competitive match since coming out of retirement. Clijsters beat 18th seed Li Na in straight sets 6–2, 6–4 to reach the semi-finals where she faced defending champion and World No. 2 Serena Williams, winning 6–4, 7–5 after Williams was given a point penalty on match point after a dispute with an official over a foot fault call. Clijsters became the first unseeded finalist at the US Open since Venus Williams in 1997, and the first wildcard to ever reach the US Open final. With her victory over Serena, Clijsters became the only player to have beaten both Williams sisters in the same tournament twice. In the final she defeated ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3 to win her second US Open title. Her US Open victory placed her in the top 20 in the world rankings. She also became the first Wild Card champion in US Open history and the first mother to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980. Clijsters is popularly known as one of the "comeback queens" of tennis. Clijsters then received a wildcard to play at the 2009 BGL Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg, as the second seed. She eased through her opening match 6–2, 6–2 against Meghann Shaughnessy but fell to Patty Schnyder in a close second round encounter 4–6, 6–3, 6–7.

Playing an exhibition match in Antwerp, Belgium on 10 December, Clijsters defeated rival Venus Williams 6–1, 7–5. She finished the year ranked 18th.

In March 2010, Clijsters won her first Laureus World Sports Award, for her remarkable 2009 US Open comeback. She also won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year and the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award for the seventh time.

2010

Clijsters started her 2010 campaign at the Brisbane International in Australia as the top seed. She defeated Tathiana Garbin and Alicia Molik in the first two rounds without dropping a set. She then defeated Lucie Šafářová in three sets to advance to the semifinals where she defeated Andrea Petkovic to set up a final with her rival and compatriot Justine Henin. Clijsters led 6–3, 4–1 before Henin won eight consecutive games to take the second set and lead 3–0 in the final set. Clijsters trailed 5–3 saved two match points before breaking back and forcing a final set tie break defeating her rival 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6).

Clijsters' next tournament was the 2010 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season where she was seeded 15th. Clijsters advanced to the third round with straight sets wins over Valérie Tétreault and Tamarine Tanasugarn. In the third round Clijsters lost to the World No. 20 Nadia Petrova winning just one game in the worst defeat of her career.

Clijsters did not play competitively again until March at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She was seeded 14th but fell to the 23rd seed Alisa Kleybanova in the third round, losing a final set tie break. Clijsters found form at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open as she went on to win the title. As the 14th seed, she only dropped three games while defeating Petra Kvitová and Shahar Pe'er. Clijsters then defeated the defending champion Victoria Azarenka, losing just four games. Next she defeated the World No. 10 Samantha Stosur in the quarter-finals and Justine Henin in a final set tie break to reach the final. Clijsters went on to beat Venus Williams in straight sets in the final, ending the American's fifteen match unbeaten streak. As a result of winning the title for the second time, Clijsters' ranking rose to World No. 10.

Playing her first clay tennis match in three years at the Andalucia Tennis Experience as the third seed, Clijsters advanced to the second round after beating Alexandra Dulgheru in three sets. However in the second round Clijsters lost to the World No. 258 Beatriz García Vidagany. Clijsters played in Belgium's Fed Cup tie against Estonia, easily defeating Maret Ani 6–4, 6–2 in her opening singles match. However, it was discovered that she had torn a muscle in her left foot, causing her to pull out of her next match against Kaia Kanepi. Doctors ruled the Belgium out for six weeks but Clijsters hoped to make an early recovery She later announced in a press conference that she would have to withdraw from the rest of the clay court season, including the 2010 French Open.

Clijsters returned to action at the start of the grass-court season in Eastbourne as part of her Wimbledon warm-up where she was victorious in 2005. Clijsters, as the fifth seed, defeated compatriot Yanina Wickmayer and Šafářova to reach the quarter finals losing just three games, before losing in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka. Despite this loss Clijsters’ ranking rose to World No. 8 and she was seeded 8th at her first Wimbledon Championships since 2006. She started well with a straight sets wins over Maria Elena Camerin, Karolina Šprem and Maria Kirilenko to set up a fourth round clash with 17th seed Justine Henin. Clijsters came back from a set down to beat Henin 2–6, 6–2, 6–3. Clijsters lost in the quarterfinals to 21st seed and eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva in three sets.

In between Wimbledon and the US hard court season, Clijsters participated in the record breaking Best of Belgium- an Exhibition extravaganza. Clijsters defeated Serena Williams in straight sets, improving her head-to-head record since her comeback against the Williams Sisters to 5–1 (3–1 against Venus who won against Clijsters at the Billie Jean Cup 2010, 2–0 against Serena).

Clijsters played her next event at the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open held in Cincinnati where she had made her comeback the previous year. This was her first event of the 2010 US Open Series. After a first round bye, Clijsters, as the 4th seed, defeated former World No.1 Dinara Safina, Christina McHale and Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Clijsters was leading 2–1 when her opponent, Ana Ivanović, had to retire due to a foot injury. In the final, Clijsters faced 10th seed Maria Sharapova and after losing the first set, Clijsters found herself down 5–3 in the second set. She managed to save three championships on her own serve before rain interrupted play. Clijsters came back to take the second set into a tie-break and despite being down 0–3, she came back to win the tie-break and then went on to claim a 2–6, 7–6(4), 6–2 victory. This win propelled her ranking to World No. 4 with her 38th singles title of her career.

Clijsters played her final event of the US Open Series in Montreal at the 2010 Rogers Cup where she was seeded 5th. After coming back from 6–4, 4–1 down in the opening round to defeat Bethanie Mattek Sands, Clijsters reached the quarterfinals before losing to Vera Zvonareva in three sets.

Clijsters then competed in the 2010 US Open where she was the No. 2 seed. Clijsters advanced to the quarter finals without dropping a set defeating Gréta Arn, Sally Peers, Petra Kvitová and Ana Ivanović. There Clijsters came from a break down in the third set to defeat 5th seed Samantha Stosur 6–3 in the final set to advance to the semifinals. In the semis Clijsters faced Venus Williams, winning the match in the final set to extend her US Open match winning streak to 20, second only to Chris Evert's 31-match winning streak from 1975–1979 and tying with Venus and Monica Seles. In the final, Clijsters faced seventh seed Vera Zvonareva in a rematch of their Wimbledon quarterfinal meeting. Clijsters won, only dropping three games, to defend her US Open title, winning it for the third time and her second as a mother. The win also extended her US Open winning streak to 21 matches and was her 27th victory of her last 28 matches at the tournament, the only loss came from compatriot and rival Justine Henin in the '03 final. By winning US$2.2 million, she equalled her own 2005 record of the largest payday in women's sports history. Injury then kept Clijsters out until the WTA Championships. At the year-end championship, Clijsters advanced to the final, after defeating Janković and Azerenka to qualify for the semi final. Clijsters lost her final group game to Zvonareva. In the semi finals Clijsters beat Stosur in straight sets after surviving a car crash. In the championship match Clijsters faced World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in a rematch of the 2009 US Open final. Clijsters finished the year at World No. 3 after defeating the Dane in three sets, to clinch her third WTA Championship and fifth title of the year. Clijsters final match of 2010 was a repeat of what the Best of Belgium should have been, a match against Justine Henin. The match took place at the Diamond Games in front of a Belgian crowd. Clijsters came out the winner, winning the match tie breaker 10–5.

For her performance during the season, Clijsters received the WTA Player of the Year award for the second time (first one in 2005), the first player ever to win this award in the year following the win of the Come Back Player of the Year.

2011

Clijsters' first competitive outing of the year was the Medibank International Sydney in Australia. In the first round, Clijsters defeated Alexandra Dulgheru in two sets, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Victoria Azarenka and Alisa Kleybanova to advanced to the final where she was defeated by World No. 11 Li Na from China, 7–6(3), 6–3, despite leading 5–0 in the first set.

Clijsters started her strong campaign at the 2011 Australian Open at Melbourne Park as the tournament's favorite with an emphatic 6–0, 6–0 victory over former World No. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round. This was the first time in tennis' open era that a former World No. 1 player received a double bagel loss in a grand slam tournament. Clijsters then defeated Carla Suárez Navarro 6–1, 6–3 and Alizé Cornet 7–6(3), 6–3, before winning a fourth-round match against Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 7–6(3), 6–2. In the quarterfinals, Clijsters continued her progress without dropping a set by beating the twelfth seed Agnieszka Radwańska 6–3, 7–6(4).thumb|left|Clijsters in Paris, 2011 She defeated World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 6–3, guaranteeing her accession to World No. 2, her highest ranking since her return to the tour. Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open singles by beating Li Na 3–6, 6–3, 6–3; It was her first major win outside the US and her fourth overall. Clearly emotional, Clijsters declared that she finally had earned the title "Aussie Kim".

Clijsters next traveled to play at the indoor tournament in Paris. After defeating Jelena Dokić in the quarterfinals, Clijsters returned to the top of the WTA rankings for the first time in almost five years, overtaking Caroline Wozniacki. Clijsters eventually progressed to the final of the competition, but was beaten by third seed Petra Kvitová in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3.

Up next for Clijsters was the Indian Wells Masters in California, where she was seeded 2nd. After receiving a bye in the first round, she faced Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and defeated her 6–2, 6–0. In the third round, she beat the Italian Sara Errani in three sets, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4. Clijsters had to retire in her next match against Marion Bartoli at 6–3, 1–3 with a shoulder injury.

Clijsters was the defending champion at Miami and the No. 2 seed. After defeating Anastasiya Yakimova 6–1, 6–2 and María José Martínez Sánchez 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in the second and third round, respectively, she came back from 1–5 0–40 in the final set against Ana Ivanović in the fourth round, winning the match 7–6(4), 3–6, 7–6(5). She eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3.

On 21 April 2011, Clijsters was elected number 16 on the Time Top 100 list of most influential people, the first sports person on the 2011 listing. Her sportsmanship, involvement in charity, success as a mother combined with her anti-diva no-nonsense attitude led to her election.

Clijsters suffered an ankle injury while dancing at a wedding and missed most of the clay court season before the 2011 French Open. Clijsters was the second seed in the Roland Garros draw. She was defeated by Arantxa Rus in the second round, 3–6, 7–5, 6–1, after leading 6–3, 5–2 and having two match points. Clijsters suffered a further ankle injury in the UNICEF Open, which forced her to withdraw from the 2011 Wimbledon Championships.

Clijsters returned to the tour at the 2011 Rogers Cup. She received a bye into the second round where she played qualifier Zheng Jie. She won the first set 6–3 but retired three games into the second due to an abdominal injury. The injury caused her to pull out of the 2011 Western & Southern Open and then the 2011 US Open where she was the two-time defending champion. She also added on her blog that she will drop the rest of the season to fully recover in order to get ready for 2012, year of the Olympic Games. She will probably come back in December in Antwerp for the Diamond Games.

Coaches

1992–1996: Bart Van Kerckhove

1996–2002: Carl Maes

2002–2005: Marc Dehous

2009–2011: Wim Fisette

2011–present: Carl Maes & Wim Fisette

Records

2001

Clijsters became the first person from Belgium to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era.

2003

Clijsters became not only the first Belgian—man or woman—to be ranked World No. 1, but also did so without winning a Grand Slam tournament. Clijsters is one of only six women to have been ranked World No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously (the others being Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Lindsay Davenport). Clijsters compiled a 90–12 singles record. Her singles win total was the highest single-season total by any woman since Navratilova in 1982. Clijsters was the first woman to play more than 100 singles matches in a year since Chris Evert in 1974.

2005

Following Clijsters's victory in the US Open Series and the subsequent US Open, she collected US$2.2 million in prize money, the largest single purse ever won by a female athlete. To that date, she held a North American hardcourt win-loss record of 36–1.

Clijsters had a 22-match winning streak from August to October. During the streak, she won tournaments in Los Angeles, Toronto and Luxembourg, and the US Open.

First player ever to win the WTA Player of the Year Award in the same year of winning the WTA Come Back Player of the Year trophy

2006

In returning to the World No. 1 ranking after the Australian Open in January, Clijsters broke a rankings record. She was ranked as low as World No. 134 in March 2005, so her return to the top spot in a ten-month span was the fastest and biggest leap in women's tennis history.

2009

Third unseeded and first unranked female champion of a Grand Slam title by winning the 2009 US Open. Clijsters also became the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won the Wimbledon title in 1980, and the first mother to win the US Open since Margaret Court in 1973. She defeated Danish Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3 in the US Open final.

Returned to WTA rankings at number 19, equaling the highest debut ever that was set by Andrea Jaeger in 1980.

Won the WTA Come Back Player of the Year trophy despite only playing three months effectively.

2010

First woman to retain the US Open title since Venus Williams in 2001.

Second woman in the Open Era to win three successive US Opens in which she played (she did not play in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 tournaments). Chris Evert won four U.S. Open Championships in a row:(1975–1978)and two additional titles in 1980 and 1982 for a total of six U.S. Opens. Martina Navratilova reached the final after two successive wins in 1985, but lost the third final to Hana Mandlíková. Steffi Graf reached the finals after two consecutive wins in 1990, but lost the third final to Gabriela Sabatini.

21 consecutive US Open match victories, second all-time to Chris Evert's 31 from 1975–1979.

Third woman to win two Grand Slams as a mother, one shy of the record by Margaret Court.

Repeated her own 2005 feat of earning a women's sport record paycheck of approximately US$2.2 million by winning the US Open, after ending the US Open Series as second after Caroline Wozniacki.

Won the Masters (WTA Tour Championships) for the third time joining a very select group of players, consisting of Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf.

Broke the US$20 million mark in career prize money at the same Masters.

Became WTA year prize money leader with more than US$5 million in earnings

First player ever to win the WTA Player of the Year Award in the year following the win of the WTA Come Back Player of the Year trophy ''(see also 2005)'' Both Serena Williams (2004–2008) and Amélie Mauresmo (2003–2006) became Player of the Year after having been the Comeback Player of the Year but they did not achieve this feat in consecutive years.

Became most time winner of the Karen Krantzcke WTA award for fair play (7)

2011

Inflicted the first time ever double bagel loss at a Grand Slam since the start of the open era on a former World No. 1 player – Dinara Safina – during the first round of the Australian Open.

By becoming Australian Open champion, completed a consecutive winning string of the four most important hardcourt tournaments within a year: Miami Masters ("The Fifth Slam") 2010, US Open 2010, WTA Tour Championships 2010 and the Australian Open 2011. Steffi Graf (November 1987–1988 ) and Monica Seles in 1991 had accomplished this series before.

Equalling the record of Margaret Court of winning three Grand Slams as a mother

Received for the third time a women's sport record paycheck of approximately US$2.2 million by winning the Australian Open

Became number 1 in the WTA rankings for the fourth time in her career on 14 February 2011 after the 2011 Open GDF Suez in Paris, nearly five years after being at the #1 spot in early 2006. It is also the first time Clijsters is number one in the same calendar year of winning a Grand Slam.

Became the first mother to hold the number 1 ranking since the inception of the computer rankings in 1975.

Ranked 16 on the Time Top 100 list of most influential people, the first sports person on the 2011 listing.

Awards

1999

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

WTA Most Impressive Newcomer

2000

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

Flemish Giant Award

2001

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2000)

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

Flemish Giant Award

2002

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2001)

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2003

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award(for 2002)

Belgian Sports Personality of the Year(for 2002)

2004

WTA Player Service Award (for 2003)

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award(for 2003)

2005

ITF World Champion

WTA Tour Championships Race winner

US Open Series Winner

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) Player of the Year

International Tennis Writers Ambassador for Tennis

WTA Player of the Year

2006

WTA Player of the Year (for 2005)

WTA Comeback Player of the Year (for 2005)

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2005)

Member of the Belgian Sporting Team of the Year (Fed Cup – Team)

WTA Humanitarian of the Year

2007

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2006)

2009

VTV Tennis Performance of the Year

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2010

Laureus World Comeback of the Year (For 2009)

WTA Comeback Player of the Year (for 2009)

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2009)

Best Comeback Athlete ESPY Award (for 2009)

VTV Tennis Performance of the Year

Flemish Giant Award

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2011 WTA Player of the Year (for 2010) WTA Player Service Award (for 2010)

Career statistics

Singles

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See also

List of female tennis players

List of Grand Slam women's singles champions

Clijsters–Henin rivalry

References

External links

Kim Clijsters' Profile

{{navboxes|title=Kim Clijsters in the Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Kim Clijsters Achievements |list1= }}

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:Belgian female tennis players Category:Flemish sportspeople Category:French Open champions Category:Order of the Crown (Belgium) recipients Category:People from Bilzen Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:French Open junior champions Category:United States Open junior tennis champions

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Name	Tamira Paszek
Country
Residence	Dornbirn, Austria
Birth date	December 06, 1990
Birth place	Dornbirn, Austria
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	October 26, 2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$810,721
Singlesrecord	123–80
Singlestitles	2 WTA, 2 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 35 (July 9, 2007)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 36 (August 1, 2011)
Australianopenresult	2R (2007)
Frenchopenresult	2R (2007)
Wimbledonresult	QF (2011)
Usopenresult	4R (2007)
Doublesrecord	11–21
Doublestitles	0 WTA, 2 ITF
Highestdoublesranking	No. 292 (August 17, 2009)
Updated	October 12, 2009 }}

Tamira Shelah Paszek (born December 6, 1990 in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria) is a professional tennis player from Austria. As of July 4, 2011, she is the no.1 ranked tennis player from Austria in the WTA ranking, at No. 41.

She was introduced to tennis by her mother, Françoise Paszek, at age four-and-a-half. Her mother is Chilean born, and her father is Ariff Mohamed, who is Tanzanian-born, Kenya-raised and lived in Canada. Both her paternal grandparents are from India. She is currently being coached by Angel Giminez having previously been coached by Larri Passos (former coach of former ATP No.1 Gustavo Kuerten).

Biography

Paszek attended Gymnasium Dornbirn-Schoren and Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Schoren.

Tennis career

As a junior, Paszek was a finalist in the 2005 Girls' Singles Championship at Wimbledon and at the US Open – Girls' Singles in 2006.

In September 2005 she won her first title at an ITF tournament in Sofia. In October of the same year she received a wild card to appear at her first WTA tournament in Linz; she defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round and lost to Ana Ivanović after a tough first set.

In 2006 she passed qualifications in Istanbul, where she lost in the second round to Catalina Castaño; and in Portorož in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, where she won her first WTA title by defeating number 6 seed Maria Elena Camerin from Italy 7–5 6–1. This was a career-first Tour singles title in only her third Tour main draw. That title made her the youngest Tour singles titlist in 2006 and the seventh-youngest all-time, the youngest winner being Tracy Austin. A month later, at the Zürich Open, she lost to Camerin in the second round of qualifying. She finished 2006 as No. 181 in the WTA rankings.

2007

She started the 2007 WTA Tour at the Australian Open, where she passed qualifications and defeated Top 40 player Séverine Brémond in straight sets in the first round, before losing to No.22 seed Vera Zvonareva.

After her loss to Na Li in the second round of the Miami Masters, she broke the top 100 of the WTA rankings. At the 2007 French Open she was defeated by Justine Henin in the second round 7–5 6–1 after being 5–0 down in the first set.

At Paszek's first grass tournament of her career, she reached the third round in Birmingham, losing to Maria Sharapova in a tight match 6–3 4–6 6–2. At the 2007 Wimbledon Championships she reached the fourth round after beating two seeded players, No.17 seed Tatiana Golovin and No.12 seed Elena Dementieva; she then eventually lost to No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. The win pushed her up 19 spots from #54 to #35, a career high and only a few spots from a guaranteed seeding spot at the US Open.

She also participated at the Fed Cup for Austria in 2007. She won her first two matches in the group stage against Australia but lost both her matches in the World Group play-offs against Israel; a singles match against Shahar Pe'er and a doubles match, partnering Melanie Klaffner.

She debuted on the 2007 US Open, reaching the fourth round, beating on the way #24 and #11 seed, Francesca Schiavone and Patty Schnyder. She lost to #6 seed, Anna Chakvetadze.

Paszek decided against defending her title in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portorož, Slovenia, in favour of the larger China Open tournament in Beijing. However, she was bundled out in the second round by fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva (whom she beat in Wimbledon) 6–2, 6–0 in less than an hour.

2008

At the 2008 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Paszek made it to the semifinals, losing to veteran Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 6–3. In the first round of the 2008 Australian Open, Paszek played third-seeded Jelena Janković of Serbia in the first round. Paszek easily won the first set 6–2, and Janković went on to win the second set 6–2. In the deciding set, Paszek led 5–3 and had three match points before Janković came back to win the three-hour match 2–6 6–2 12–10.

Following this she lost in the first round of Doha to Patty Schnyder 6–4 6–0. Then she competed for the first time as a seed in a tier 1 tournament in Indian Wells retiring in the third round to Casey Dellacqua being down 6–1 4–0. Then in Miami she was defeated by Anna Chakvetadze in the second round 6–3 6–2.

This started a losing streak of 6 straight matches running through the French Open and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon she lost her second marathon match of the year to Francesca Schiavone 6–3 5–7 10–8. It came to an end in Los Angeles where she defeated Aiko Nakamura only to lose to Flavia Pennetta in the second round.

On July 31, Paszek beat World no.1 Ana Ivanović of Serbia in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal in three sets: 6–2, 1–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she played Victoria Azarenka who defeated her 6–4 7–5. Then she lost in the first round of Cincinnati to Petra Cetkovská. At the US Open she defeated the 23-seed Maria Kirilenko 6–3 3–6 6–4, only then to lose to a lower ranked opponent Magdaléna Rybáriková.

Paszek was runner up in Bali. She reached the final after taking out the 7-seed Flavia Pennetta and the top seed Daniela Hantuchová. She lost the final against Patty Schnyder 3–6 0–6. She then withdrew from the Linz tournament due to injury.

2009

Paszek ended her professional relationship with coach Lari Passos and is now coached by Angel Giminez.

Paszek lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Australian wild card Jelena Dokić in three sets.

Paszek passed the first round at Indian Wells, winning in straight sets against Mara Santangelo 6–3, 6–2, and lost in the second round against 21 seed Alisa Kleybanova by the same score.

2010

In January, Tamira lost in second round of qualifying at tournament in Auckland. After successfully defeating Carly Gullickson 6–3 7–5 she retired in her match against Rebecca Marino after trailing 6–0 1–0. Her next tournament was 2010 Moorilla Hobart International. She scored a big win after defeating Roberta Vinci 6–4 6–3, but she then lost to Gisela Dulko in very long and difficult match with 6–1 0–6 7–6 score.

Her next tournament was 2010 Australian Open where she lost to Julia Görges in first round 6–0 3–6 6–3. At tournament in Paris Tamira lost to eventual runner-up Lucie Šafářová 6–0 6–3.To reach the main draw at 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships, Tamira entered qualifying. She defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in first round, but she lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–3 7–5. After Dubai she entered in Indian Wells, but she lost to Julie Coin with 6–4 6–3 score. At 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Tamira beat Anne Keothavong 6–4 6–2, but she lost to 22-th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7–6 4–6 6–3.

She lost in early rounds of Marbella, Barcelona and Fes. She didn't enter to 2010 French Open.

Instead,Tamira entered 25,000 $ ITF tournament in Izmir, Turkey. She won that tournament beating Çağla Büyükakçay 6–2 6–3. Her next tournament was ITF Budapest. She successfully qualified defetaing Lukacs Vanda and Cepelova Jana, and she reached second round losing to Lenka Wienerová.

She then entered 2010 Wimbledon, qualified but lost to Kurumi Nara in second round 7–5 6–4.

She tried to qualify in Budapest defeating Eleni Danilidou and Jessica Moore but lost to Andreja Klepač 5–7 6–2 6–1. Her next tournament will be 2010 ECM Prague Open. She entered qualifing. Tamira defeated Tadeja Majerič 6–4 6–0 and then crushed first seed Anastasia Rodionova. She than lost to Liana Ungur 2–6 3–2. After losing the first set 6–2, Tamira went to play better breaking Ungur serve and lead 2–0.On the other side Ungur came back broke twice to lead 3–2. Tamira then retired because of heat and stomach inyuri.But,because Gisela Dulko withdrew Tamira gained her chance to enter to the main draw. She faced French star Alizé Cornet and lost 7–6 6–7 6–4 in match that last 3 hours and 40-minutes.

Her next tournament was the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open where she defeated Jelena Kostanić Tošić 7–5 6–2 for her first main draw win since Ponte Vedra Beach in 2009. She faced Stefanie Voegele and lost 7–5 6–4.

After some bad losses in qualifying of the Premier tournaments, Tamira found her form in the 2010 US Open where she entered qualifying. She defeated Michaëlla Krajicek, Koreas Kim So- Jing and Russias Evgeniya Rodina to reach the main draw. In the final qualifying round, Paszek trailed Rodina 2–6 after the first set before coming back to win the second and blank the Russian in the third. In the 1st round of the main draw, she defeated 26th seed Lucie Šafářová despite being down 2–6 1–4 in the second set. She lost to Chan Yung-jan in the second round.

Her next tournament was at the 2010 Bell Challenge. She defeated Marina Erakovic 6–0 6–4 and Jill Craybas in the second round 6–2 6–3.In her first quarter-final of the 2010 she defeated No.8 seed Sofia Arvidsson 6–3 6–4.She than crushed Christina McHale in the semifinal to book her place in the final where she won the title by beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7–6(6) 2–6 7–5.

She will be in the 100 rankings again.

2011

Tamira started 2011 ranked No.89 and lost in the first round of Auckland to Sofia Arvidsson. She qualified for Hobart and reached the second round of the main draw before falling to Jarmila Gajdosova. Prior to Wimbledon 2011 Tamira had a standard year before she went on to reach the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon for the first time in her career, defeating world No.7 and 6th seed Francesca Schiavone (her first top 10 win of 2011) in an epic third round match that lasted 3 hours and 42 minutes. Tamira finally prevailed 3–6, 6–4, 11–9 hitting a total of 40 winners to 36 unforced errors. Tamira played Russian Ksenia Pervak in the fourth round. She went on winning, beating Pervak in three sets: 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, reaching the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Tamira played number 4 seed Victoria Azarenka in the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon. The match started on Court 1 but was moved to Centre Court after the first game due to rain. Paszek lost in straight sets 6–3, 6–1.

WTA Tour Singles 3 (2–1)

{|class=wikitable !Legend: Before 2009!!Legend: Starting in 2009 |- |colspan=2 bgcolor=#FFFF99|Grand Slam tournaments |- |colspan=2 bgcolor=#FF6666|WTA Championships |- |bgcolor=#ffcccc|Tier I |bgcolor=#0099CC|Premier Mandatory |- |bgcolor=#ccccff|Tier II |bgcolor=#c0d077|Premier 5 |- |bgcolor=#CCFFCC|Tier III |bgcolor=#BF94E4|Premier |- |bgcolor=#66CCFF|Tier IV & V (1) |bgcolor=#50C878|International (1) |}

{|class="sortable wikitable" style=font-size:97% !width=80|Outcome !width=20|No. !width=150|Date !width=200|Championship !width=75|Surface !width=200|Opponent in the final !width=200|Score in the final |-bgcolor=#66CCFF |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner |1. |September 24, 2006 |Portorož, Slovenia |Hard | Maria Elena Camerin |7–5, 6–1 |-bgcolor=#CCFFCC |bgcolor=#ffa07a|Runner-up |1. |September 08, 2008 |Bali, Indonesia |Hard | Patty Schnyder |6–3, 6–0 |- |-bgcolor=#50C878 |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner |2. |September 19, 2010 |Quebec City, Canada |Carpet | Bethanie Mattek-Sands |7–6(6), 2–6, 7–5 |}

Doubles (2)

{|class=wikitable !No. !Date !Tournament !Surface !Partnering !Opponents in the final !Score |-bgcolor=#f0f8ff |1. |September 18, 2005 |ITF / Sofia, Bulgaria |Clay | Sanja Ančić | Joana Cortez & Karolina Kosińska |6–7(9), 6–2, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#f0f8ff |2. |May 30, 2010 |ITF / Izmir, Turkey |Hard | Maria-Fernanda Alves | Cagla Buyukakcay & Pemra Özgen |6–1, 6–2 |}

Singles performance timeline

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Tournament!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!W–L |- |colspan=15 align=left|'''Grand Slam Tournaments |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Australian Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |1–5 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|French Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |1–4 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Wimbledon |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |LQ |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |7–4 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|US Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R | |5–3 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !8–4 !1–4 !0–3 !1–2 !4–3 !14–16 |- |colspan=12 align=left|'''Olympic Games |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Summer Olympics |colspan=3 style=color:#ccc|Not Held |A |colspan=3 style=color:#ccc|Not Held !0–0 |- |colspan=12 align=left|'''Year-End Championship |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|WTA Tour Championships |A |A |A |A |A |A | !0–0 |- |colspan=18 align=left|'''WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Indian Wells |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |3–4 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Key Biscayne |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |LQ |4–4 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Madrid |colspan=4 style=color:#ccc|Not Held |LQ |A |A |0–0 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Beijing |colspan=4 style=color:#ccc|Not Held |A |LQ | |0–0 |- |colspan=15 align=left|'''WTA Premier 5 Tournaments |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Dubai |colspan=4 style=color:#ccc|Not Tier I |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |LQ |LQ |0–1 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Rome |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |1–3 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Cincinnati |colspan=4 style=color:#ccc|Not Tier I |A |LQ | |0–0 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Canada |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |A |LQ | |3–2 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Tokyo |A |A |A |A |A |A | |0–0 |- |colspan=15 align=left|'''WTA Premier Tournaments |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Charleston |A |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |2–2 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Moscow |A |A |A |A |A |A | |0–0 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Doha |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |colspan=2 style=color:#ccc|Not Held |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |0–2 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Berlin |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |A |colspan=3 style=color:#ccc|Not Held |0–1 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Zurich |A |LQ |LQ |A |colspan=3 style=color:#ccc|Not Held |0–0 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|San Diego |A |A |A |A |A |A | |0–0 |- |colspan=20 align=left|'''Career Statistics |- !style=text-align:left|Titles !0 !1 !0 !0 !0 !1 !0 !2 |-bgcolor=#efefef |align=left|Year End Ranking |365 |181 |42 |73 |185 |89 | ! |}

References

External links

Tamira Paszek Management Group

Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:Austrian female tennis players Category:Austrian people of Chilean descent Category:Austrian people of Indian descent Category:Austrian people of Tanzanian descent Category:People from Dornbirn

bg:Тамира Пашек cs:Tamira Paszeková da:Tamira Paszek de:Tamira Paszek es:Tamira Paszek fr:Tamira Paszek it:Tamira Paszek hu:Tamira Paszek mr:तमायरा पाझेक nl:Tamira Paszek ja:タミラ・パシェク no:Tamira Paszek pl:Tamira Paszek pt:Tamira Paszek ru:Пашек, Тамира sk:Tamira Paszeková sr:Тамира Пасек fi:Tamira Paszek uk:Таміра Пашек zh:達美拉·柏絲克

name	Daniela Hantuchová
nickname	Danka (in Slovak) Dani (in English)
country
residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
birth date	April 23, 1983
birth place	Poprad, Slovakia, (at that time CSSR)
height
weight
turnedpro	1999
plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
careerprizemoney	$7,863,649
singlesrecord	452–285
singlestitles	4 WTA, 3 ITF
highestsinglesranking	No. 5 (January 27, 2003)
currentsinglesranking	No. 23 (August 29, 2011)
australianopenresult	SF (2008)
frenchopenresult	4R (2002, 2006, 2010, 2011)
wimbledonresult	QF (2002)
usopenresult	QF (2002)
othertournaments	Yes
wtachampionshipsresult	RR (2002, 2007)
tournament of champions	SF (2010)
olympicsresult	2R (2004, 2008)
doublesrecord	234–164
doublestitles	9 WTA, 1 ITF
highestdoublesranking	No. 5 (August 26, 2002)
currentdoublesranking	No. 37 (August 29, 2011)
grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
australianopendoublesresult	F (2002, 2009)
frenchopendoublesresult	F (2006)
wimbledondoublesresult	QF (2005)
usopendoublesresult	3R (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)
mixed	yes
mixedrecord	39–13 (75%)
mixedtitles	4
highestmixedranking	n/a
australianopenmixedresult	W (2002)
frenchopenmixedresult	W (2005)
wimbledonmixedresult	W (2001)
usopenmixedresult	W (2005)
updated	August 29, 2011 }}

Daniela Hantuchová (; born April 23, 1983) is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top ten.

She is currently coached by Larri Passos. Her WTA Tour mentor in the "Partners for Success" program was Martina Navrátilová, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. As of August 22, 2011, Hantuchová is ranked World No. 22 in singles.

In 2005, she became the fifth female tennis player to have won the mixed doubles title in all four Grand Slam tournaments during her career.

Personal life

Hantuchová was born in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to father Igor, a computer scientist, and mother Marianna, a toxicologist.

When her parents split up in 2003, Hantuchová's performances temporarily worsened. At Wimbledon that year, she failed to convert several match points and was seen weeping on court. She also suffered from a weight problem during this period. She was suspected of being anorexic but denied this.

Hantuchová speaks three languages (Slovak, English and German), and was trained as a classical pianist. She is thought to be a perfectionist and puts a lot of pressure on herself during her training. She qualified for university in Slovakia but deferred it to pursue tennis.

She appeared in the 2009 ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition'' alongside Maria Kirilenko and Tatiana Golovin in a pictoral entitled ''Volley of the Dolls''.

Career

2002

Hantuchová started the year as the world number 38, being known as a new up-and-coming player, in the Gold Coast where she lost to World No. 7 Justine Henin in the second round in a three setter 1–6, 6–0, 6–3. After reaching the last 16, after qualifying, in Sydney, Hantuchová went on to play at the Australian Open losing in the third round to the second seed Venus Williams 3–6, 6–0, 6–4.

After climbing the rankings to world number 26, having competed in Paris and Antwerp (reaching the round of 16 in both), she went into the prestigious Indian Wells event, defeating Justine Henin in the fourth round 6–3 6–3 and Martina Hingis in the final 6–3 6–4. She was the lowest ranked player of 26th (seeded 18th) to ever win the Tier I event. In Miami and Amelia Island Hantuchová went on to lose surprisingly in the second rounds. She then played in Charleston only to be beaten by again in the second round by 1995 Australian Open and 2000 French Open Champion, Mary Pierce 6–3, 6–4, Pierce being ranked 232. Playing in Fed Cup she won one of her two singles rubbers against Switzerland. Also in the clay season Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals in Hamburg and Berlin losing to Martina Hingis respectively in straight sets and Anna Smashnova 1–6, 6–2, 6–3. Having entered the French Open as the 11th seed and World No. 13 and losing her previous match in Rome in the first round, she beat Cara Black (after losing to her in Miami earlier in the year) only to lose to former champion Monica Seles in straight sets in the fourth round.

Hantuchová progressed to the semi-finals of Eastbourne losing to Myskina again in aid as a warm-up tournament into Wimbledon, where she beat 7th ranked Jelena Dokić in the round of 16 only to be beaten by the eventual champion, Serena Williams as the 11th seed. left|thumb|Daniela Hantuchová Her US Open Series season was modest as she lost in the second rounds of San Diego and Los Angeles, after having first round byes in both tournaments, but as improvement in match fitness going into the US Open she reached the semi-finals of the Tier I event in Montreal, losing to Amélie Mauresmo, and New Haven, losing to World No. 2 Venus Williams. At the final Grand Slam of the year Hantuchová defeated 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli in round three, World No. 6 Justine Henin, 6–1, 3–6, 7–6(4) in round four only to be beaten in her second consecutive Slam quarterfinal by Serena Williams (whom again went on to win the title).

Later on that year, Hantuchová also reached the quarterfinal in Leipzig and the final in Filderstadt, losing to Kim Clijsters 4–6 6–3 6–4, the only set Hantuchová has taken from Clijsters in their nine meetings. She then went on to reach the quarterfinals of Zurich, losing to eventual champion Patty Schnyder in three tight sets, the semi-finals in Linz and winning both of her singles rubbers in the Fed Cup final, winning Slovakia their only title to date against Spain. This impressive season amassed her enough points to compete at the prestigious annual Tour Championships losing in the first round to 17th ranked Magdelena Maleeva 6–2, 7–5. Hantuchová's record for the year 56–25 and was 6–10 against top 10 players; 6–2 in singles Fed Cup play (helping lead Slovakia to their first Fed Cup victory against Spain in the final); 10–6 on indoor carpet, 6–2 on grass, 11–7 on clay, and 29–10 on hardcourts.

2003

Hantuchová started 2003 solidly, reaching the quarterfinals at her first three events in Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport 6–4 3–6 7–6(3), Venus Williams 6–4 6–3 at the Australian Open (her third Slam quarterfinal in a row), and Elena Dementieva in Paris 7–5 6–3. Hantuchová reached her first semifinal of the year at her fourth event in Antwerp, losing to Williams again, 6–1 6–4. By then, Hantuchová's ranking was at a career high No. 5. Defending a title for the first time in her career, Hantuchová advanced to the fourth round in Indian Wells, losing to Amanda Coetzer 6–4 6–4. Despite a first round loss to Alicia Molik in Miami, Hantuchová rebounded in the Tier I Charleston event, making her fifth quarterfinal in seven events, losing to Ashley Harkleroad 6–2 6–1. She made her sixth quarterfinal at her next event in Amelia Island, losing to eventual champion Dementieva 6–0 6–1. Hantuchová went undefeated in first round Fed Cup play against Germany, winning both of her matches. Following Fed Cup, she again made it to the quarterfinals for the seventh time of the year at the Tier I Berlin tournament, losing to Kim Clijsters 6–0 6–3.

At the French Open, Hantuchová lost in the second round in a marathon match to Harkleroad again 7–6(2) 4–6 9–7 making 101 unforced errors, leading to long-time coach Nigel Sears criticising her attitude publicly. Following the match, her extremely thin physique was noticed for the first time publicly and some wondered about Hantuchová's health. Kicking off the grass season in Eastbourne, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to Conchita Martínez, but more famously she lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Shinobu Asagoe 0–6 6–4 12–10, with Hantuchová breaking down crying during the latter stages of the match in the midst of making 57 unforced errors. Some theorized that the media's continued interest regarding her weight and the pressure of success at 19 years of age, in addition to her on-court breakdown and her parents' divorce, her coach walked out during the middle of the match. This helped to explain subsequent fall of Hantuchová from the top of women's tennis. Following Wimbledon Hantuchová went 6–8 for the rest of the year, 0–4 against top 10 players She ended the year with an overall record of 28–23 and she fell to No. 17 in the world. Further signs of the pressure and problems she was facing during this period was that in July she made herself unavailable for Slovakia in the Fed Cup in order to concentrate on her singles career and in November she parted company with Sears.

2004

2004 proved to be a continuation of Hantuchová's poor second half of 2003, with many of the same struggles (she briefly hired Harold Soloman, who had previously coached her friend Jennifer Capriati as well as Anna Kournikova before re-hiring Sears in March), She reached just three quarterfinals, her first of which at the first Tier I event in Tokyo was not until halfway through the season. At Tokyo, however, she garnered her thus far only victory over Maria Sharapova in the second round, falling to Davenport 6–2 6–2 in the quarters. The tournament that saved her from a poor 2004 was Eastbourne, in which she defeated Ai Sugiyama in the quarterfinals 6–1 7–6(7) and Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals 4–6 6–4 6–4 before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third final of her career, 2–6 7–6(2) 6–4. However, Hantuchová was serving for the championship, up 6–2 6–5, but got broken.

Hantuchová was ranked No. 54 as she entered Eastbourne, but found herself ranked No. 38 as she went into Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Sharapova in the third round 6–3 6–1. Hantuchová would make one more quarterfinal at New Haven, losing to Lisa Raymond 6–4 6–3. At the US Open one week later, Hantuchová lost in three sets to Patty Schnyder in the third round. She finished the year ranked No. 31, with a 24–24 win-loss record. She finished 1–4 against top 10 players overall, the sole victory over Mauresmo.

2005–2006

Hantuchová reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Dementieva in a tight three-setter, 7–5 5–7 6–4. Following that, she made her first quarterfinal of the year in Tokyo for the second straight year, losing to Kuznetsova 7–6(4) 7–6(4). At her next event she reached the semifinals in Doha, losing to Sharapova 6–2 6–4. Then she made another quarterfinal at her next tournament in Dubai, losing to Serena Williams 6–4 6–3; at Dubai also, in the first round, she garnered her 10th top 10 victory over No. 8 Alicia Molik 7–6(8) 6–2. Hantuchová made the third round at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing to Clijsters 6–4 6–2 in Paris and eventual champion Venus Williams 7–5 6–3 in England.

Hantuchová had a successful US Open series run, where she reached the semifinals in Cincinnati, getting upset by No. 74 Akiko Morigami 6–4 6–4. After Cincinnati, in Stanford, Hantuchová lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6–3 6–1. And after a second round loss in San Diego to Sugiyama, Hantuchová reached her fourth final in Los Angeles, getting a walkover in the quarterfinals over Sharapova, and got revenge against Dementieva in the semifinals, defeating her 6–3 6–4 (Hantuchová stands 2–0 against Dementieva in semifinals). In the final, for the seventh time in their head-to-head, Clijsters defeated Hantuchová 6–4 6–1. For the third time at the event, Hantuchová made the quarterfinals in New Haven, losing to Davenport 6–2 7–6(5).

Hantuchová would lose to eventual quarterfinalist Venus Williams in the third round at the US Open. In Luxembourg, Hantuchová made her eighth quarterfinal of the season, losing to Nathalie Dechy 6–1 6–4. In Filderstadt the following week, Hantuchová made the semifinals, her third of the year, defeating No. 10 Patty Schnyder in the second round and Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals; she lost to Davenport in the semifinals. And at the final Tier I event of the year, Hantuchová pushed Davenport to three sets and had match points in the second set in Zurich before losing 3–6 7–5 6–2. And in her final event of the year, in Linz, Hantuchová made her 10th quarterfinal, losing to Schnyder 6–2 6–1. Hantuchová finished 2005 with a 3–10 record against the top 10, 37–25 overall record with 2–1 on indoor carpet, 3–4 on clay, 2–3 on grass, 30–17 on hardcourts, reaching 10 quarterfinals, three semifinals, and one final.

thumb|left|Daniela Hantuchová at the Zurich Open 2006 Hantuchová started 2006 when she reached the quarterfinals of Sydney with a win over top 10 player Patty Schnyder and got to the semifinals of Auckland. She continued this form at the Australian Open with her third round 6–1, 7–6 (5) victory over defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, who had entered the tournament with a lack of match practice and questions over her fitness. This victory (the only over Serena in her career) ensured Daniela progressed to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in three years. She lost to 4th-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the fourth round. Thereafter she was unable to find a consistent level of form. She reached the fourth-round at the Australian Open, but prior to the clay court season she parted company for a second time (and permanently) with Sears. He was replaced by Angel Giminez. After the split with Sears she played her first Fed Cup matches for Slovakia in almost 3 years (Slovakia had slipped from being winners in 2003 to languishing in the Europe/Africa zone having being relegated every year in Hantuchová's absence). It was a successful return with Hantuchová winning her both singles and doubles matches against Luxembourg, her singles match against The Netherlands and the decisive singles rubber in the tie against Great Britain. With the help of Hantuchová's 4–0 record over the 6-day period Slovakia booked a place in the World Group II play-off against Thailand.

Despite disappointing results in the warm-up tournaments she equalled her Australian Open performance by getting to the fourth round of both the French Open and Wimbledon before extending her 2006 Fed Cup record to 6–0 by winning both her singles matches in Slovakia's 5–0 rout of Thailand, which ensured their promotion to the World Group II. Her fourth-round streak at Grand Slams ended when she was beaten by a resurgent Serena Williams at the second round of the US Open, which was the culmination of a very disappointing American hard court season (her record was 7–6 including the US Open, failing to get past the last 16 of any of the tournaments she entered).

Daniela showed what she is capable of producing the week before Stuttgart beating an in-form Tatiana Golovin in straight sets before losing out to Dinara Safina. The following week she reached the quarterfinals of Stuttgart with an easy victory over the now top 10 player Safina in the 2nd round, the same player to whom she had lost convincingly the previous week. This was both her first victory over a top 10 player and appearance in a quarter final since January. In October 2006, Hantuchová reached the final of the Zurich Open. In the first round, she upset 6th seed Patty Schnyder. In the second round, she defeated her doubles parter Ai Sugiyama. Daniela was then scheduled to play World No.1 Amélie Mauresmo in the quarter finals. However, Mauresmo withdrew due to a right shoulder injury. In the semi finals, Daniela upset World No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4 6–2 to reach the final of the Tier I event. In the final, Daniela lost in a tight 3 setter to 2nd seed Maria Sharapova. Sharapova winning 6–1 4–6 6–3. The results in this tournament were the culmination of Hantuchová's up turn of form which kept her in the world's top 20 as she had arrived in Zurich outside the top group for the first time in over 11 months. The injury she suffered to her right rib, after Mary Pierce hit a shot at her in doubles, caused her the most serious injury of her career and also forced her to retire in her match against Vesnina the following week in Linz. Hantuchová finished the year ranked 17th in the world with a 34–25 record. She went 24–17 on hard courts, 5–4 on clay, 3–2 on grass and 2–2 on carpet. She was 4–6 against top 10 players beating Schnyder (twice), Safina and Kuznetsova, with losses to Sharapova (twice), Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Dementieva and Nadia Petrova.

2007

thumb|upright|Daniela Hantuchová at the 2007 Fortis Championships in Luxembourg Hantuchová's first tournament of the year was at the Tier IV ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, where she lost in the second round to Virginie Razzano. Hantuchová then lost to Nicole Vaidišová in the first round of the Tier II New South Wales Open/Medibank International in Sydney and reached her second consecutive Australian Open fourth round, where she lost to World No. 5 Kim Clijsters 6–1, 7–5. Hantuchová was then upset in the first round of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo by Roberta Vinci. Three weeks later at the Tier II Dubai Tennis Championships, Hantuchová defeated Maria Kirilenko in the second round 2–6, 6–4, 7–6(4) before losing her quarterfinal match against Amélie Mauresmo in three sets. The following week at the Tier II Qatar Total Open in Doha, Hantuchová trailed World No. 6 Martina Hingis in their quarterfinal match 4–1 in the second set before coming back to win 1–6, 6–4, 6–4. She then lost her semifinal match against World No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova. In her seventh tournament of the year, Hantuchová won six matches, the last four of which were upsets of higher seeded players, to win the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. She upset Hingis in the fourth round, Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals 6–2, 5–7, 7–6(5), Li Na in the semifinals, and Kuznetsova in the final in straight sets.

Hantuchová, however, struggled in her next four events. She was upset in the third round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida by Vera Zvonareva. On clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, Hantuchová lost to Sybille Bammer in the quarterfinals. Two weeks later, Hantuchová lost both of her Fed Cup matches against the Czech Republic in Bratislava on clay, losing to Vaidišová and Lucie Šafářová. Losing her fourth consecutive match, Hantuchová was upset in the first round of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin by Zuzana Ondrášková. Hantuchová then reached her first career clay court semifinal at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. She upset seventh-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the third round before losing to second-seeded Kuznetsova in the semifinals. At the French Open, Hantuchová was upset in the third round by Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 7–6(2), 7–5.

After defeating Eleni Daniilidou in the third round of the Tier III grass court DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Hantuchová was guaranteed a return to the top 10 for the first time since August 2003. She then lost to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals 5–7, 6–4, 7–5. The following week at the Tier III Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Hantuchová defeated World No. 6 Ana Ivanović in the quarterfinals before losing to Chakvetadze in the semifinals. This result caused Hantuchová to drop out of the top 10. Hantuchová was the tenth-seeded player at Wimbledon and did not lose a set in her first two matches. She then defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in the third round 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 before losing to World No. 8 Serena Williams in the fourth round 6–2, 6–7(2), 6–2. Immediately after Wimbledon, Hantuchová helped Slovakia win its Fed Cup World Group II play-off against Serbia. On an indoor hard court in Košice, she beat Ana Timotić and Vojislava Łukić.

left|thumb|Daniela Hantuchová at the 2007 Bank of the West Classic Hantuchová played five tournaments during the North American summer hard court season. She began the US Open Series by losing to Chakvetadze in the semifinals of the Tier II Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. This result put her back in the top 10. At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, she lost to World No. 16 Venus Williams in the second round. The following week at the Tier II JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, Hantuchová retired from her third round match with Elena Dementieva while trailing 6–3, 4–1. Hantuchová once again fell out of the top 10 after losing in the second round of the Tier II Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut to eventual runner-up Ágnes Szávay. At the US Open, Hantuchová was the ninth-seeded player but lost to Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko in the first round 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. It was Hantuchová's earliest loss at this tournament since her debut in 2001 and her earliest loss at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2004 French Open.

Hantuchová then played four consecutive tournaments. She reached her second final of the year at the Tier III Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, losing to Lindsay Davenport in three sets. At the Tier III Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India, Hantuchová lost in the semifinals to Maria Kirilenko but reentered the top 10. Traveling back to Europe, Hantuchová played in the Tier II Fortis Championships Luxembourg. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals and Bartoli in the semifinals to advance to her third final of the year for the first time in her career. Hantuchová then lost to World No. 6 Ivanović in the final 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 after leading the match 6–3, 3–0. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Hantuchová defeated Šafářová in the first round but lost in the second round to Dementieva. This loss, however, did not prevent Hantuchová from rising to World No. 9, her highest ranking in over four years.

At the Tier I Zurich Open, Hantuchová defeated Dinara Safina in the first round 7–6(2), 7–6(4) before losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. One week later, Hantuchová won her third career title at the Tier II Generali Ladies Linz. In the semifinals, she defeated Vaidišová for the first time in her career 2–6, 6–2, 7–6(3). Hantuchová then defeated Schnyder in the straight-sets final. This title enabled Hantuchová to qualify for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. But Hantuchová did not advance past the round robin stage in Madrid. She lost to Maria Sharapova and Ivanović before beating Kuznetsova to finish third in her group. Hantuchová's win-loss record for 2007 was 52–28. She was 6–11 versus top 10 players, with two victories against Hingis, two against Kuznetsova, one against Ivanović, and one against Chakvetadze. The losses were to Clijsters, Mauresmo, Chakvetadze (twice), Kuznetsova (twice), Vaidišová, Serena Williams, Ivanović (twice), and Sharapova. Hantuchová finished the year at World No. 9, her first top-10 finish since 2002.

2008

She started the year at the Medibank International in Sydney. She defeated Russian Dinara Safina in the first round before eventually losing to World No. 12 Czech Nicole Vaidišová in the second round. At the Australian Open, Hantuchová reached her first Grand Slam semifinal. She won her first three matches without losing a set. In the quarterfinals, she beat Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwańska, who had defeated second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova in earlier rounds. Hantuchová then lost to Ana Ivanović in a semifinal 0–6, 6–3, 6–4 despite Hantuchová leading the match 2–0 in the second set. After the match, Hantuchová claimed that Ivanović had been distracting her by squeaking her shoes on the court before serving, a claim Ivanović disputed. Hantuchová's performance at this tournament caused her Women's Tennis Association ranking to improve one spot to World No. 8.

Hantuchová then played two indoor tournaments in Europe. At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, she lost to seventh-seeded Ágnes Szávay of Hungary in the quarterfinals. She was the third-seeded player at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she again reached the quarterfinals. A blister on her right hand caused Hantuchová to retire during the quarterfinal against Timea Bacsinszky. Hantuchová was then scheduled to play at the Qatar Total Open, the first Tier I event of the year, and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Tier II event, but withdrew from both because of fatigue. Hantuchová played both of the two-week Tier I events in the United States. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Hantuchová was the defending champion and fifth seed. She lost to fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. In doubles, Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama lost in the semifinals to Safina and Elena Vesnina, the eventual champions. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Hantuchová failed to reach the fourth round in this event for the ninth consecutive year. She lost to former doubles partner Sugiyama in the third round 6–4, 6–7(8), 7–5 despite leading 3–0 in the third set. In doubles, Hantuchová partnered with Lindsay Davenport to reach the quarterfinals where they lost to Sugiyama and Katarina Srebotnik, who went on to win the event.

The following week at the Tier II Bausch & Lomb Championships on clay in Amelia Island, Florida, Hantuchová was the third seed but lost in the second round to Karolina Šprem. Hantuchová spent the month of May and most of June recovering from a stress fracture in her right foot, which resulted in her withdrawal from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, the Tier III Istanbul Cup, the French Open, and the Tier III Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. She recovered in time for Wimbledon but lost in the second round to unseeded Alisa Kleybanova 6–3, 4–6, 6–1.

Hantuchová played four hard court tournaments between Wimbledon and the US Open. She lost in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and in the second round of the following week's tournament, the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. Hantuchová was seeded tenth at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. She defeated Sugiyama in the first round before losing in the second round to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The following week at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to Alizé Cornet of France. Hantuchová was seeded eleventh at the US Open, where she was upset in the first round by qualifier Anna-Lena Grönefeld.

left|thumb|Hantuchová at the 2008 Fortis Championships To end the year, Hantuchová played seven tournaments in Asia and Europe. She lost in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali and in the first round of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to Francesca Schiavone. In Beijing at the China Open, she lost to World No. 2 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals. After losing in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, the second round of the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, and the second round of the Tennis.com Zürich Open, Hantuchová was seeded third at the Fortis Championships Luxembourg. However, she lost to World No. 39 Sorana Cîrstea in the quarterfinals. Because she won only 11 of 26 singles matches after the Indian Wells tournament, Hantuchová finished the year ranked World No. 21, her lowest and first finish out of the top 20 since 2004. She was 0–5 during the year versus players ranked within the top 10 at the time the matches were played, with losses to Ivanović, Sharapova, Janković, and Vera Zvonareva (twice).

2009–2010

Hantuchová began the 2009 tour by participating in the Brisbane International as the tournament's fourth-seeded player. She was upset in the first round by Sara Errani 6–7(1), 6–4, 6–0. Hantuchová then played the Medibank International in Sydney where she lost in the second round to sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwańska. right|thumb|180px|Daniela Hantuchová at the 2009 Brisbane International At the Australian Open in Melbourne, the first Grand Slam event of the year, Hantuchová was seeded nineteenth and defeated home favourite Casey Dellacqua in their first round match 7–6(11), 6–4, she then beat Mathilde Johansson of France in the second round before losing to fifteenth-seeded Alizé Cornet of France in the third round 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the doubles competition, Hantuchová and her partner Ai Sugiyama made it to the final, where they lost to Serena Williams and her sister Venus Williams.

At the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, Hantuchová beat Ekaterina Makarova in the first round before losing to Cornet in the second round. This was the third consecutive time she has lost to Cornet. Hantuchová then played in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where she lost to eventual runner-up Virginie Razzano in the third round. Because of her results at this tournament, Hantuchová's ranking improved five places to World No. 36. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, a Premier Mandatory event, Hantuchová was the only two-time singles champion in the draw. Seeded 30th, Hantuchová fell to Sybille Bammer in the fourth round 6–3, 6–2. Unseeded for the first time since 2001 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another Premier Mandatory event, Hantuchová lost to 22nd seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the second round 6–3, 6–1.

Starting off the spring clay court season as a wildcard at the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Hantuchová defeated eighth-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round 6–3, 7–5. She then lost to eventual champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals 6–2, 6–2. Playing in the Fed Cup World Group Play-offs, Hantuchová defeated Alizé Cornet 6–7(2), 6–3, 6–4 in the first round rubber but lost to Amélie Mauresmo 7–5, 6–4 in her next match.

Hantuchová played four tournaments before Roland Garros on European clay. She lost in the early rounds of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Rome Masters and the Madrid Masters to Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Janković respectively. In doubles at Rome, Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama defeated No.1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinals. However, the pair lost to Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai 7–5, 7–6(5) in the final. Her fourth event was the Warsaw Open where she reached her second career clay court semi-final but Hantuchová lost to Romanian qualifier and eventual champion Alexandra Dulgheru 6–4, 6–7(2), 6–1. Hantuchová was unseeded at the French Open and lost to Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano in the first round 6–3, 6–3.

On grass, Hantuchová was seeded sixth at the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch. She fell to No.1 seed Safina 1–6, 6–4, 6–3 in the quarterfinals. Competing at her 9th Wimbledon, Hantuchová was unseeded in singles for the first time since 2004. She came from behind to defeat local teenager Laura Robson 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 in the first round. She then upset 16th seed and last year's semifinalist Zheng Jie 6–3, 7–5 and doubles partner Sugiyama 6–4, 6–3. However, Hantuchová fell to No.2 seed and eventual champion Serena Williams in the fourth round 6–3, 6–1.

Hantuchová played her first round match at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, winning in three sets against defending champion Aleksandra Wozniak, 6–4, 4–6, 7–5. She then defeated No.7 seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the second round 4–6, 7–6(6), 6–1 but fell to No.3 seed Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals 6–2, 6–4. In the LA Women's Tennis Championships she lost to Dinara Safina 6–2 6–4. In the Western & Southern Financial Women's Open she lost to Flavia Pennetta 6–3, 6–3 after upsetting No.7 seed Vera Zvonareva 7–6(6), 0–6, 7–6(5). In the Rogers Cup in Toronto she fell to qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in the first round 7–6(1), 7–6(4).

Hantuchová was seeded 22nd at the US Open. She defeated Meghann Shaughnessy, Timea Bacsinszky and Vania King but fell in the fourth round to No.2 seed and defending champion Serena Williams 6–2, 6–0.

At the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul, South Korea, Hantuchová was the top seed but was upset by eventual chmapion Kimiko Date Krumm in the quarterfinals 7–6(3), 4–6, 6–4. She then competed in the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the China Open were she reached the second round in both before losing in three sets to No.11 seed Agnieszka Radwańska and No.13 seed Nadia Petrova respectively.

Hantuchová finished off the season in Europe at the BGL Luxembourg Open where she was upset by unseeded Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals 6–2, 7–6(4).

Hantuchová finished outside the top 20 for the second consecutive year at No. 24 with a win-loss record of 39–25. She went 25–16 on hard courts, 9–7 on clay and 5–2 on grass. She was 1–9 versus top 10 players with losses to Radwańska, Kuznetsova, Janković, Dementieva, Serena Williams (twice) and Safina (three times) with the sole victory over Zvonareva.

Hantuchová started the 2010 tour by competing at the Brisbane International. Seeded fourth, Hantuchová was upset by unseeded Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–2. At the Medibank International in Sydney, Hantuchová fell to No. 5 seed and eventual champion Elena Dementieva in the second round 6–2, 4–6, 6–2. Seeded 22nd at the Australian Open, Hantuchová fell to 16th seed and eventual semifinalist Li Na in the third round 7–5, 3–6, 6–2.

Hantuchová defeated Zhang Shuai 6–0, 6–1 in the Fed Cup tie against China in Bratislava, Slovakia prior to the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, UAE. In Dubai, Hantuchová upset No.5 seed Dementieva through retirement after winning the first set 6–4. However, she fell to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round 6–3, 6–4.

Hantuchová was seeded No. 2 at the Monterrey Open in Monterrey, Mexico. She became one of the favorites after No. 1 seed Jelena Janković fell in the first round. Hantuchová fought from a set down to beat unseeded Vania King 2–6, 6–2, 6–1 in the quarterfinals and No. 4 seed Dominika Cibulková 4–6, 6–3, 6–0 in the semifinals. However she fell to No. 3 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the finals 1–6, 6–1, 6–0. It was Hantuchová's first final since Linz in 2007. Hantuchová was upset at the BNP Paribas Open by Roberta Vinci in the second round after injuring her back during training earlier that day. At the Sony Ericsson Open she gained a career best in Miami reaching the fourth round after recording straight set victories over Patty Schnyder and No. 16 seed Nadia Petrova, but lost a very tight three set match to No. 3 seed and eventual finalist Venus Williams 1–6, 7–5, 6–4 in nearly three hours.

Hantuchová began the clay season by competing at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She upset No. 2 seed and World No. 7 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals 1–6, 6–3, 6–3. However, she fell to No. 4 seed and eventual champion Samantha Stosur in her third career clay court semifinal 6–3, 7–6(2). Following Charleston, Hantuchová helped Slovakia earn a place in the World Group I for the 2011 Fed Cup by scoring two singles victories and a doubles victory in the World Group Play-offs against Serbia. She again defeated World No. 7 Janković in one of her singles matches for a second week in a row. Despite first round loses in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy and in the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain, Hantuchová rebounded at the French Open in Paris, France. Seeded No. 23, she upset No. 16 seed Yanina Wickmayer in the third round but fell to No. 4 seed Jelena Janković in the fourth round.

Hantuchová played two tournaments on grass. She was defeated by Samantha Stosur at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, England and was then upset by Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová at The Wimbledon Championships in London, England.

To start off the US Open Series, Daniela suffered a tough opening round loss to No. 6 seed Shahar Pe'er 0–6, 6–4, 6–3 at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. At the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, she upset No. 6 seed Marion Bartoli 3–6, 7–6(3), 6–4 in the first round saving three match points. She then beat Zheng Jie and Alisa Kleybanova to advance to the semifinals where she fell to Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. Hantuchová then fell in the first rounds of the Cincinnati Masters and the Rogers Cup to eventual semifinalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No. 15 seed Flavia Pennetta respectively. At the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis she fell to Dinara Safina 7–6(4), 7–6(2).

As the 24th seed, Hantuchová defeated Dinara Safina and Vania King at the 2010 US Open before falling to No. 12 seed Elena Dementieva in the third round.

Hantuchová fell in the early rounds in both the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan and the China Open in Beijing, China. At the Generali Ladies Linz in Linz, Austria, Hantuchová was upset by Patty Schnyder 6–4, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. At the BGL Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg she lost again in the early rounds to Angelique Kerber in three sets. Hantuchová received a wildcard to the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia. She upset Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets but fell to Alisa Kleybanova in the semifinals. She also lost the third place match to Kimiko Date Krumm 7–5, 7–5.

Hantuchová finished outside the top 20 for the third consecutive year at No. 30 with a win-loss record of 35–25. She was 3–5 versus top 10 players with losses to Dementieva, Venus Williams, Janković, Stosur and Radwańska and with victories over Dementieva and Janković (twice).

2011

Hantuchová withdrew from her first tournament of the year at the Brisbane International due to a left Achilles strain. She competed next at the Medibank International Sydney but suffered a loss to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round 6–2, 6–4. At the Australian Open she was the No. 28 seed, but lost in the first round to Regina Kulikova in three sets 7–5, 3–6, 9–7. This is the first time Hantuchová has lost in the first round of the Australian Open, bar her first appearance.

She then played at the PTT Pattaya Open where she defeated Kurumi Nara, Kimiko Date Krumm and Akgul Amanmuradova all in straight sets to reach the semifinals. There she upset top seed, World No. 3 and defending champion Vera Zvonareva 7–6(3), 6–4. Hantuchová then won her first title in more than 3 years by defeating Sara Errani 6–0, 6–2 in the final. Despite this she fell to Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships 6–1, 6–3 the following week. However she rebounded at the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha, Qatar by upsetting No. 6 seed Victoria Azarenka in the first round 4–6, 6–1, 6–2 but fell to No. 2 seed and eventual champion Vera Zvonareva 7–5, 6–7(5), 7–5 in the quarterfinals despite serving for the match at 5–4 in the final set.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California and Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Hantuchová lost in the early rounds to Dinara Safina and No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki respectively. Partnering Agnieszka Radwańska they reached the semifinals in Indian Wells falling to the eventual champions but won the doubles title in Miami defeating Nadia Petrova and Liezel Huber.

On clay, Hantuchová was upset in the third round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina by Christina McHale. Hantuchová next competed on European red clay at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain and at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy. She fell in the early rounds of all three to Samantha Stosur in both Stuttgart and Madrid and to No. 2 seed Francesca Schiavone in Rome. However, Hantuchová rebounded at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France where she upset No. 4 seed Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals but fell to No. 2 seed Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. Seeded No. 28 at the French Open in Paris, France, Hantuchová defeated Zhang Shuai and Sara Errani in the first two rounds, both in straight sets. She then upset top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki 6–1, 6–3. This is also her first win over a reigning World No. 1. However, Hantuchová fell to No. 13 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round 6–7(6), 6–3, 6–2.

Hantuchová reached her second career grass court final at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham, England upsetting No. 2 seed Ana Ivanović in the semifinals 6–7(2), 6–3, 6–2 before falling to unseeded Sabine Lisicki 6–3, 6–2. Competing at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, Hantuchová defeated No. 2 seed Li Na and Venus Williams before retiring to No. 5 seed Petra Kvitová in the semifinals. Seeded No. 25 at the Wimbledon Championships in London, England, Hantuchová fell to No. 4 seed Victoria Azarenka in the third round 6–3, 3–6, 6–2.

Hantuchová fell in the early rounds of both the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. She reached her sixth and seventh quarterfinals of the season at the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, California and at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio but fell to No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwańska and No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva respectively.

Career statistics

Endorsements

Product endorsement and equipment

Until the 2009 US Open, Hantuchová was endorsed by Nike sportswear and had her own line with them for her tournament wear, similar to players such as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. From the 2009 US Open onwards, Hantuchová began endorsing Adidas sportswear. As of Wimbledon 2010, she shares the same signature line as Ana Ivanović, therefore being the faces of the Adidas tennis sportswear line (except the Adidas by Stella McCartney line). In 2006, Hantuchová also appeared on an advertisement for Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot phone with Ivanović.

Hantuchová also has endorsed three racquet brands. She was first endorsed by Babolat from being a junior until late 2003, then Yonex until the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo when she then used the Prince Ozone Seven Racquets from the 2007 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Photos were released from Prince giving the impression that Hantuchová, from the start of the 2011 season, will be using the Prince EXO3 Tour 100. But, she signed a deal with Volkl Tennis and is currently using the Volkl Power Bridge 9. This means that she has endorsed four brands of racquets so far in her career – more than most players. Again however, from the 2011 Fed Cup she began using the Prince EXO3 Tour Team 100, which she won her fourth career title using.

Video games

Hantuchová has been in many sports/tennis related video games with such players as Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova. Some of the titles are Top Spin (both Xbox and Play Station 2 versions), Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2, Roland Garros 2005 and Virtua Tennis 3. Hantuchová is currently ranked third behind Serena Williams and Ana Ivanović in a poll for new downloadable players for Top Spin 3. Hantuchová is also a playable character in Virtua Tennis 2009.

Achievements

Team achievements

2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion

2002 Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)

2004 Hopman Cup Finalist (with Karol Kučera)

2004 Athens Olympic Games

2005 Hopman Cup Champion (with Dominik Hrbatý)

2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Special achievements

2001 WTA Newcomer of the Year Award

2002 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year Award

2003 Laureus World Sports Academy Award nominee for World Newcomer of the Year Award

See also

Slovakia Fed Cup team

References

External links

Daniela Hantuchová official web site

Category:1983 births Category:Living people Category:Slovak female tennis players Category:Olympic tennis players of Slovakia Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:French Open champions Category:Wimbledon champions Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:People from Poprad

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