Coordinates	55°45′0″N37°36′57″N
Name	Justine Henin
Nickname	''Juju'' ''The Belgian Backhand''
Country
Residence	Brussels, Belgium
Birth date	June 01, 1982
Birth place	Liège, Belgium
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	1 January 1999
Retired	14 May 2008 Return: 4 January 2010 Retirement: 26 January 2011
Plays	Right–handed (one-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$20,863,335 (7th in all-time rankings)
Singlesrecord	525–115 (82.03%)
Singlestitles	43 WTA, 7 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (20 October 2003)
Australianopenresult	W (2004)
Frenchopenresult	W (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Wimbledonresult	F (2001, 2006)
Usopenresult	W (2003, 2007)
Othertournaments	Yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2006, 2007)
Olympicsresult	20px Gold medal (2004)
Doublesrecord	47–35
Doublestitles	2 WTA, 2 ITF
Highestdoublesranking	No. 1
Updated	29 aUGUST 2011

Justine Henin (born 1 June 1982), formerly known as Justine Henin-Hardenne (2002–2007), is a former professional Belgian tennis player and former World No. 1.

Henin won 43 WTA singles titles and seven Grand Slam singles titles, including four French Open titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open titles. She has also won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships twice and the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand (which John McEnroe has described as the best single-handed backhand in the women's or men's game) as the principal reasons for her success.

Critics and all-time-great players have made testament to Henin's talent. Upon Henin's first retirement from the WTA in the early part of the 2008 season, Billie Jean King said that "pound for pound, Henin is the best tennis player of her generation." as well as that "Justine is the best women's athlete I've ever seen." Andre Agassi said of Henin, "Justine Henin is one of the most talented women ever to have played the game of tennis." In 2007, 18 time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova said that "She is head and shoulders above everyone else right now." John McEnroe concurred, saying that Henin is "The player I most like to watch." Henin made a return to the WTA in early 2010, losing the final of the Australian Open in only her 2nd tournament back.

On 26 January 2011, she announced that she had been forced to retire from professional tennis once again because of an elbow injury.

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by ''Time''.

Playing style

At the 2007 French Open, Martina Navratilova said that "Henin's offense is just phenomenal ... it's sort of like we've got 'the female Federer', or maybe the guys have 'the male Justine Henin', because she is just head and shoulders above everyone else right now." Henin's footwork, balance, and court coverage—and she is adept at changing from a defensive style to an aggressive one.

Despite her relatively small size, Henin has a powerful serve, which has been measured at a top speed of 196 km/h (122 mph) at the 2005 Family Circle Cup. Henin's single-handed backhand, is one of the most powerful and accurate in the game. She can hit her backhand 'flat', with heavy topspin, or slice [underspin]. Her backhand can also be used to surprise her opponents with dropshots, breaking up the pattern of a groundstroke rally. Her slice backhand is regarded as one of the best of all time. However, Henin's forehand is generally regarded as her most dangerous weapon, and the stroke that she normally uses to dictate the play of a match.

Personal life

Justine Henin was born in Liège. Her father is José Henin; her mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and history teacher who died when Justine was 12 years old. She has two brothers (David and Thomas) and a sister (Sarah).

When Justine was two, her family moved to a house in Rochefort, situated next to the local tennis club, where she played tennis for the first time.

Henin's mother routinely took the young Henin across the border to France to watch the French Open. Henin saw the 1992 final involving her idol Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Although Graf lost, the experience impressed Henin.

In 1995, shortly after her mother's death, Henin met her coach Carlos Rodriguez who guided her career both before her retirement in 2008 and during her 2010 comeback. Following a conflict between Justine and her father over her tennis career and her relationship with Pierre-Yves Hardenne, Rodriguez soon became not only her trainer but in some ways a second father figure.

On 16 November 2002, Henin married Pierre-Yves in the ''Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne''. On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the upcoming tournaments in Australia, including the Australian Open, due to personal problems. and she also resumed her maiden name, Justine Henin, instead of Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Tennis career

Justine Henin is a globally recognized tennis player, who has had huge success on all surfaces of the game, and has so far achieved Grand Slam success on clay and hard courts, winning four French Open titles, including three consecutive titles between 2005 and 2007, which ties Monica Seles' record of most consecutive Roland Garros titles won by a woman. This achievement has made her the most successful female clay court player of the last decade (2000–2009). She has also won three Grand Slam titles on hard court, winning the US Open title in 2003 and 2007, and the Australian Open title in 2004. She has also reached the Wimbledon final twice, in 2001 and 2006; it is the only Grand Slam singles title she has not won.

Early career

Henin, known as "Juju" to many of her fans, was coached by Carlos Rodriguez of Argentina. In 1997, she won the junior girl's singles title at the French Open. Early in her senior career, she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions and won five International Tennis Federation tournaments by the end of 1998.

She began her professional career on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open clay tournament at Antwerp and became only the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event. She defeated three top 50 players on the road to the title.

Henin established herself as a major competitor in 2001 when she reached the women's singles semifinals of the French Open and then upset the reigning Australian Open and French Open champion Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing to defending champion Venus Williams in three sets in the final. By the end of the year, Henin was ranked seventh in singles, with three titles to her name. Also that year, she reached the French Open women's doubles semifinals with Elena Tatarkova and helped Belgium win the 2001 Fed Cup.

In 2002, she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them, and finished the year ranked World No. 5. Her German Open victory, her first win at a Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati in a semifinal and Serena Williams in the final, the then number two and number five ranked players, respectively.

2003

Henin started the year as the fifth ranked player in the world but lost to Kim Clijsters in the semifinals of the Medibank International in Sydney. In the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Henin defeated Lindsay Davenport 7–5, 5–7, 9–7. In a match lasting more than three hours, Henin overcame a 4–1 final set deficit, high temperatures, and muscle cramps to defeat Davenport for the first time in her career. Henin then lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals in straight sets.

Henin then lost to Clijsters in the semifinals of the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. At the Dubai Tennis Championships one week later, Henin defeated former World No. 1 Monica Seles in the final 4–6, 7–6, 7–5 after Seles had a match point at 5–4 in the second set. It was Henin's first victory over Seles.

Henin's next tournament was the Tier I Miami Masters. She lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 10 Chanda Rubin 6–3, 6–2.

At the clay court Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, Henin defeated World No. 1 Serena Williams in the final. This was Williams' first loss of the year after 22 wins.

The following week, Henin reached the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, losing to eventual winner Elena Dementieva 3–6, 6–4, 7–5. Henin then helped Belgium defeat Austria 5–0 in a first round tie of the Fed Cup.

In May, Henin successfully defended her Tier I title at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. In the final, Henin saved three match points in the third set before defeating Clijsters.

At the French Open, Henin was the fourth seeded player. She defeated the defending champion, Serena Williams, in a semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 after Henin trailed 4–2 in the third set. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. This was Henin's first Grand Slam title, and she was the first Belgian ever to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Henin then began her preparations for Wimbledon. At the grass court Ordina Open in Rosmalen, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters when Henin was forced to retire from the match after injuring her finger.

At Wimbledon, Henin was the third seeded player. She defeated Mary Pierce in the fourth round and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals before losing to Serena Williams in a straight sets semifinal.

Henin's first competition after Wimbledon was the Fed Cup tie against Slovakia. Henin won both her singles matches to help Belgium win the tie 5–0.

Henin then played two tournaments during the North American summer hard court season before the US Open. At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, the third-seeded Henin defeated the top-seeded Clijsters in the final. Two weeks later at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, Henin defeated Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya in the final.

Henin was the second-seeded player at the US Open. She won her first four matches against unseeded players before defeating seventh-seeded Anastasia Myskina in the quarterfinals. Henin then defeated sixth-seeded Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals 4–6, 7–5, 7–6(4) in a match that lasted more than three hours and stretched to midnight. Henin recovered from a 5–3 deficit in the second set and a 5–2 deficit in the final set and was just two points from defeat eleven times. She was treated for muscle cramps and dehydration overnight but returned to play in the final the next day. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. The win raised Henin's ranking to World No. 2, just behind Clijsters.

Henin next played the indoor Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany where she lost to Myskina in the final. This ended Henin's 22-match winning streak. Two weeks later at the indoor Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters. Had Henin won this match, she would have immediately replaced Clijsters as the World No. 1.

At the Tier I Zurich Open the following week, Henin reached her sixth consecutive final where she defeated Serbia's Jelena Dokić. This win caused Henin to become the thirteenth World No. 1 on the Women's Tennis Association computer on 20 October 2003. Henin, however, held this ranking for only one week as she declined to defend her title at the Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Linz, Austria.

At the WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles, Henin defeated Myskina and Capriati but lost to Japan's Ai Sugiyama in her round robin matches. In the semifinals, Henin lost to Amélie Mauresmo 7–6(2), 3–6, 6–3.

Henin was named the International Tennis Federation's women's singles World Champion for 2003. She ended the year as the World No. 1.

2004

Henin started 2004 by winning a warm-up tournament in Sydney. She then won the Australian Open in Melbourne, defeating Kim Clijsters in three sets.

As of 22 March 2004, Henin had accumulated the highest point total (7626) in the history of the WTA rankings. Because the awarding of quality points was eliminated in 2006, this point total may never be exceeded.

By the end of the 2004 spring hard court season, Henin had built a 25-match Tier I winning streak and a 22–1 win-loss record (winning her first 16 matches).

At the start of the 2004 spring clay court season, Henin's health was adversely affected by infection with a strain of cytomegalovirus and an immune system problem. She often slept up to 18 hours a day and barely had the strength to brush her teeth, let alone play competitive tennis.

Although she decided to defend her French Open title and was seeded first in the tournament, she lost her second round match to a much lower-ranked player, Tathiana Garbin of Italy. At the time, the loss marked only the second time in 15 Grand Slam events that she'd lost before the fourth round.

After months of layoff because of a virus, Henin returned to competition in August and won the women's singles gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo of France in the final 6–3, 6–3. Henin reached the gold medal match by defeating reigning French Open champion Anastasia Myskina in a semifinal 7–5, 5–7, 8–6 after having trailed 1–5 in the final set. Her medal ceremony was attended by fellow countryman and IOC president Jacques Rogge.

In September, she was unsuccessful in her defence of her US Open title, losing to Nadia Petrova in the fourth round. This defeat caused her to lose the World No. 1 ranking, which she had held for 45 non-consecutive weeks. She then withdrew from the 10 remaining tournaments of the year in an effort to recover her health and improve her fitness.

2005

Her plan to rejoin the tour at the beginning of 2005 was delayed when she fractured her kneecap in a December 2004 training session.

On 25 March, after more than six months away from competition, Henin returned to the Women's Tennis Association tour at the Miami Masters. She lost to second ranked Maria Sharapova in a quarterfinal. She rebounded at her next tournament, winning the clay court Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She won two more clay court titles before the start of the 2005 French Open. Her victories over top ranked Lindsay Davenport, Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Petrova made her a top contender for the title there.

Henin was seeded tenth at the French Open and defeated the French player Mary Pierce in the final in straight sets to take her second title at Roland Garros. The win marked Henin's 24th consecutive clay court win and her tenth consecutive final win, a streak dating back to Zurich in October 2003. In capturing the title, she defeated Kuznetsova in the fourth round, Sharapova in a quarterfinal, and Petrova in a semifinal. Henin saved two match points to defeat Kuznetsova in the fourth round 7–6(6), 4–6, 7–5 and thus became only the second woman to win the French Open after saving a match point.

With her French Open victory, Henin moved from World No. 12 to World No. 7 in the women's singles rankings. Henin was a perfect 24–0 on clay this year and joined Monica Seles as the only two currently active (in 2005) players on the WTA Tour to have won the French Open at least twice.

At Wimbledon 2005, Henin's win streak of 24 matches was snapped in the first round by Greek Eleni Daniilidou 7–6, 2–6, 7–5. It was the first time that a reigning French Open champion failed to win a match at Wimbledon. A hamstring injury sustained earlier in the year eventually limited her to playing only 11 more matches for 2005.

Henin next played the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she reached the final after beating Mauresmo in a semifinal before losing to Clijsters in straight sets.

She lost in the fourth round of the US Open to eventual finalist Mary Pierce 6–3, 6–2.

Following this, she played in Filderstadt, but after losing her first round match to Flavia Pennetta, she decided not to play for the rest of 2005.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine placed her in 31st place on its list of the 40 Greatest Players for the period 1965 through 2005.

In November, at the 2005 WTA Tour Championships, she was named the inaugural winner of the Whirlpool 6TH SENSE Player of the Year, which honors the player who has demonstrated the most sixth sense intuition, that is to say "heightened intelligence, unbeatable performance and pinpoint precision".

2006

In January, Henin returned to competitive tennis at the tournament in Sydney, a tune-up for the Australian Open. She was seeded fifth and played former World No. 1 (and newly returned to competitive tennis) Martina Hingis in a much hyped first round match. Henin won 6–3, 6–3. She then defeated former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in a semifinal before defeating Francesca Schiavone in the final.

At the Australian Open, Henin defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport and fourth ranked Maria Sharapova in three-set matches to set up a final against third ranked Amélie Mauresmo. While trailing 6–1, 2–0, Henin retired from the match, citing intense stomach pain caused by over-use of anti-inflammatories for a persistent shoulder injury. Henin stated afterwards that she feared possible injury had she continued to play. Henin was criticized by the press because she had stated after her semifinal win against Sharapova that she was at the "peak of her fitness" and was playing the "best tennis of her life". This was only the fourth Grand Slam women's singles final to end by retirement since 1900 and the first in the open era.

Henin captured her second title of the year at a Tier II event in Dubai, defeating Sharapova 7–5, 6–2. This was her third Dubai title, having won previously in 2003 and 2004. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Henin lost in the semifinals to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 2–6, 7–5, 7–5 after leading 6–2, 5–2 and serving for the match twice. Henin also lost in the second round of the Tier I Miami Masters to Meghann Shaughnessy 7–5, 6–4.

On clay, Henin failed to retain her title at the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, losing in the semifinals to third-seeded Patty Schnyder 2–6, 6–3, 6–2. It was her first career defeat at this tournament and the end of her 27-match winning streak on clay. Henin then helped Belgium defeat defending champion Russia in a Fed Cup quarterfinal. She beat fifth ranked Nadia Petrova 6–7, 6–4, 6–3, and ninth ranked Elena Dementieva 6–2, 6–0. Petrova had come into the tie with two consecutive clay court tournament victories and a 10-match clay court winning streak, while Dementieva had defeated Henin in their last meeting in Indian Wells and defeated second ranked Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters on the first day of the tie. Three weeks later, Henin played the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open, defeating Mauresmo in a semifinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Petrova in a three-set final.

At the French Open, Henin defeated second seeded Clijsters in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2. She then defeated Kuznetsova in the final to win her third French Open singles title in four years. Henin captured the title without losing a set and became the first French Open champion to defend her title successfully since Steffi Graf in 1996.

At the Eastbourne grass court tournament just before Wimbledon, Henin defeated Anastasia Myskina in the final in three sets.

Henin was the third seed going into Wimbledon and advanced to her third consecutive Grand Slam final without losing a set. She defeated Clijsters (who was seeded second) in a semifinal 6–4, 7–6(4) but lost the final to Mauresmo. The final featured two finesse players who used their all-court games, a break from recent years that featured a succession of power baseliners claiming the title. At almost every point throughout the match, both players approached the net to volley. Tipped as the tournament favorite, Henin won the first set. But Mauresmo recovered to win the next two sets and her second Grand Slam singles title and deny the Belgian a career Grand Slam. This was the only Wimbledon final of the decade that did not involve Venus Williams and/or Serena Williams.

Henin withdrew from Tier I events in San Diego and Montreal because of injury but played the tournament in New Haven, Connecticut. There, she defeated Kuznetsova and Davenport en route to the title. It was her 28th WTA tour title. She returned to the World No. 2 ranking and crossed over US$12 million in career prize money.

At the US Open, Sharapova defeated Henin in the final after Henin had defeated Davenport in the quarterfinals and Jelena Janković in the semifinals 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. Henin became the first woman since Hingis in 1997 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year.

Henin won both of her singles matches during the Fed Cup final against Italy in Charleroi, Belgium. However, Henin retired from the deciding doubles match because of a knee injury while she and her partner Kirsten Flipkens were trailing 3–6, 6–2, 2–0, giving Italy the championship.

Henin guaranteed her year-end World No. 1 ranking by reaching the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships, defeating Sharapova in the semifinals 6–2, 7–6(5). Henin then defeated Mauresmo and won the tournament for the first time in her career.

Henin was the first player since Hingis in 2000 to win the WTA Tour Championships and end the year as the top ranked player. Henin was the first woman to win at least one Grand Slam singles title in four consecutive years since Graf from 1993 through 1996. Her prize money earnings for the year totaled $4,204,810.

2007

On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the Australian Open and the warm-up tournament in Sydney to deal with the break-up of her marriage. Not playing those tournaments caused Henin to lose the World No. 1 ranking to Maria Sharapova.

In Henin's first tournament of the year, she lost in the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France in Paris to Czech Lucie Šafářová 7–6(5), 6–4. She then won two hardcourt tournaments in the Middle East, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open (for the fourth time in five years) over Amélie Mauresmo and her first Qatar Total Open title in Doha, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. She also reached US$14 million in career prize money and on 19 March, regained the World No. 1 ranking.

At the Miami Masters, Henin reached the final for the first time in her career, where she lost to Serena Williams 0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after holding two match points at 6–0, 5–4. Her next tournament was the J&S; Cup in Warsaw, Poland, which she won, beating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the final, 6–1, 6–3. Later, at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin won her quarterfinal against Jelena Janković 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 after being behind 4–0 in the third set, only to lose her semifinal against Kuznetsova 6–4, 5–7, 6–4. The loss was only her second to Kuznetsova in 16 career meetings.

At the French Open, Henin was the two-time defending champion and top seed. In a highly-anticipated quarterfinal match against Serena Williams, Henin won 6–4, 6–3. She then defeated Janković in the semifinals 6–2, 6–2. In the final, Henin defeated Ana Ivanović in straight sets, 6–1, 6–2 to claim her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Seles's open era record. She also surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set and had not lost a set at this tournament since the 2005 French Open quarterfinals. She had not lost a match at the French Open since 2004.

The International Women's Open in Eastbourne was Henin's first grass court tournament of the year. She and Mauresmo reached the final, which was the first time in nearly 30 years that the Eastbourne final included both finalists from Wimbledon the previous year. Henin recovered from a breakdown in the final set to win in a third-set tiebreak for the second consecutive year.

At Wimbledon, Henin lost to Marion Bartoli in the semifinals 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, one day after Henin defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. It was Henin's first win over the American on a surface other than clay. In the semifinal, Henin was up a break at 1–0 and 4–3 in the second set, but could not hold the lead.

In August, Henin won the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Janković in the final. The tournament championship was Henin's 35th on the WTA tour, moving her past Clijsters who retired with 34 tournament championships.

At the US Open, Henin defeated her first four opponents in straight sets, with a 6–0 set in each match. Henin then faced Serena Williams in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive time in a Grand Slam tournament, and for the third time, Henin won, 7–6(3), 6–1. In the semifinals against Venus Williams, Henin was up a break in the first set but could not hold it. She finally won the set in a tiebreak. In the second set, Henin was ahead 3–0 before Williams leveled the set at 3–3. Williams then had three break points on Henin's service but could not convert and lost the game. Henin then broke Williams's serve and held her own serve to go up 5–3. Williams then broke Henin to pull within 5–4 but Henin broke Williams again in the last game to win the match 7–6(2), 6–4. Henin became only the second player to defeat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam tournament (after Martina Hingis at the 2001 Australian Open). In the final, Henin won her second US Open singles title, defeating Kuznetsova in straight sets, 6–1, 6–3. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set.

Henin won her next tournament, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, defeating Tatiana Golovin in the final. Two weeks later, Henin won the Zurich Open, her ninth title of the year, by again defeating Golovin in the final.

At the WTA Tour Championships, Henin won all three of her round robin matches, defeating Anna Chakvetadze, Janković, and Bartoli. Going into the match against Bartoli, Henin had won 22 consecutive matches since Bartoli defeated her in the 2007 Wimbledon semifinals. Although Henin had already clinched a spot in the semifinals, both Henin and Bartoli did not know Bartoli had to replace Serena Williams until several hours before the match and lost 6–0, 6–0. In the semifinals, Henin defeated Ivanović 6–4, 6–4. In the final, Henin overcame Sharapova in three sets in a match that lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes. Sharapova won the first set on her eighth set point in the 12-minute last game. Henin won the match on her fifth match point in the final game of the match. This was Henin's longest ever match, the longest final in tournament history, and the twelfth longest women's match ever.

This victory extended Henin's winning streak to 25 matches. She only lost three sets after Wimbledon. This victory made her the sixth player to successfully defend her title at the WTA's season-ending championship and the first player to claim at least 10 tour titles in a year since Hingis won 12 in 1997. She also became the first woman to break the US$5 million barrier in prize money in a year, and by crossing US$19 million, Henin is now ranked fifth on the all time prize money list.

Henin ended the year ranked World No. 1 for the third time in her career, having done so previously in 2003 and 2006. She was the first player since Martina Hingis to end the year ranked World No. 1 consecutively for two years (Hingis was ranked year-end World No. 1 in 1999–2000). She also ended the year with a 63–4 record, having lost to only four players: Lucie Šafářová, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Marion Bartoli.

2008: Retirement

Henin started the year as the World No. 1. 14 January marked Henin's 100th career week as World No. 1, and on 10 March, Henin became only the seventh female player to be ranked World No. 1 for 12 consecutive months.

The Medibank International in Sydney was Henin's first tournament of the year. She defeated Ana Ivanović in the semifinals 6–2, 2–6, 6–4. She then defeated World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, overcoming an 0–3 deficit in the final set.

At the Australian Open in Melbourne, Henin won her 32nd consecutive match in the fourth round, defeating Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan 6–2, 6–2. The winning streak ended in the quarterfinals when Sharapova, the eventual winner, defeated Henin 6–4, 6–0. This was Henin's first 6–0 loss since the 2002 French Open and the first time since the 2005 US Open that Henin had been defeated in a Grand Slam singles tournament before the semifinals.

At the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Henin defeated Karin Knapp in the final. This was Henin's second singles title in her native Belgium. Two weeks later at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Henin was the defending champion but lost for the first time in eight meetings to Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals 7–6(3), 7–6(4). Henin had struggled for three hours in her first match against Katarina Srebotnik, eventually winning 7–5, 6–7, 6–3.

After taking a four week break, Henin's next tournament was the Tier I Miami Masters. She lost in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams 6–2, 6–0. Henin then withdrew from the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina because of an injury to her right knee.

At the Tier I, clay court Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin lost in the third round to Dinara Safina 5–7, 6–3, 6–1, in what turned out to be her last match before retirement. In their five previous career matches, Henin had never lost a set to Safina. The day after her defeat, Henin withdrew from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, citing fatigue.

Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis on 14 May 2008, and requested the Women's Tennis Association to remove her name from the rankings immediately. Her announcement was a surprise because Henin was still ranked World No. 1 and was considered the favorite for the 2008 French Open, where she would have been the 3-time defending champion. She said she felt no sadness about her retirement because she believed it was a release from a game she had focused on for twenty years. She also said that in the future, she will be concentrating on charity and her tennis school.

2010: Return

Belgian newspaper, Vers l'Avenir, reported on Tuesday 22 September 2009 that Henin would formally announce her return to competitive tennis after 16 months of retirement. Later that day, Justine Henin confirmed her return to competition. Henin mentioned seeing Roger Federer finally complete the grand slam of titles by winning the French Open in 2009 had been an inspiration, as had Kim Clijsters return to the tour and her victory at the US Open.

Henin made her return to tennis at the 2010 Brisbane International where she was given a wildcard. She defeated No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova, Sesil Karatantcheva, No. 7 seed Melinda Czink and No. 3 seed Ana Ivanović to make it to the final. She then lost to her Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters in the final, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6) in a 2 hour, 23 minute match.

At the 2010 Australian Open, Henin was given a wildcard as an unranked player. Henin started off with a straight sets victory over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens. She set up the most highly anticipated second round match of the tournament with No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva, whom she defeated 7–5, 7–6(5). Lasting two hours and fifty minutes, commentators felt this match was worthy of a final. Henin approached the net forty-three times, winning thirty-five of those points. In the third round, she defeated No. 28 seed Alisa Kleybanova from Russia; where she made a comeback to win 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the fourth round she faced World No. 16 and fellow Belgian, Yanina Wickmayer, defeating her in 3 sets 7–6, 1–6, 6–3. She then defeated No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova from Russia in the quarter-finals. Henin won 7–6, 7–5 after having been down 0–3 in the second set. She then went on to defeat Zheng Jie from China in the semi-finals in convincing fashion 6–1, 6–0, setting up a clash with World No. 1 Serena Williams in the 2010 Australian Open ladies final. This was the first time in their long rivalry that Henin and Serena Williams met in a Grand Slam Final. Henin would eventually fall to Serena Williams in 3 sets 6–4, 3–6, 6–2.

A wildcard was granted for Henin to compete at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, a Premier Mandatory tournament. In the first round, Henin defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková 6–2, 6–2 in a little over an hour. Henin then lost to Gisela Dulko, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, in a 2 hour match. The result gave her a new rank of World No. 33 as of 22 March 2010. She defeated Jill Craybas of USA 6–2,6–2 in the first round of Sony Ericsson Open. In the second round, Henin defeated World No. 6 Elena Dementieva 6–3, 6–2 in 90 minutes. In the third round, Henin defeated Dominika Cibulková in 93 minutes, 6–4, 6–4 advancing to the quarterfinals where Henin thrashed Vera Zvonareva 6–1, 6–4 to set up a meeting in the quarterfinals with World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki. After defeating World No. 2 Wozniacki in a three-set match, she fell to compatriot Kim Clijsters in a semifinal battle, 2–6, 7–6 (3), 6–7 (6). Following her Sony Ericsson Open performance, Henin moved into the top 25 for the first time since her comeback.

Henin's next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Henin played through this tournament injured, having previously broken her left pinkie during Fed Cup practice. In the first round, Henin saw off German qualifier Julia Görges 7–6 (3), 6–1. In her second round, she defeated World No. 12 and fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, defeating her for the 2nd consecutive time, 6–3, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, she defeated fourth seed and World No. 7 Jelena Janković 3–6, 7–6 (4), 6–3 for the tenth time in her career. She defeated World No. 20 Shahar Pe'er in the semifinals, 6–3, 6–2, and reached her third final in five tournaments this year. She faced World No. 10 Samantha Stosur. Henin won the final 6–4, 2–6, 6–1 in 100 minutes, to procure her first title in 2010 (in her 3rd final). Winning this tournament also sent Henin into the Top 20 for the first time since her comeback.

At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open she was defeated in the first round by eventual champion Aravane Rezaï 4–6, 7–5, 6–0. As a result of this shock loss, Henin dropped out of the Top 20 to No.23. Henin then participated at the 2010 French Open, seeded 22nd, the second grand slam of the year where she has won four previous titles. In the 1st round, she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in 89 minutes, 6–4, 6–3. In the 2nd round, Henin faced Klára Zakopalová and defeated her 6–3, 6–3. In the third round, facing former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova, Henin ended her streak of consecutive sets at 40, losing the 2nd set to Sharapova but going on to win 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. She had then tied the number of consecutive sets won at the French Open with Helen Wills Moody. She lost to World No. 7 Samantha Stosur 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 in the fourth round, her first defeat at Roland Garros since 2004.

Henin began the grass court season at the 2010 UNICEF Open, where she was the top seed for the first time since her return. In the first three rounds she defeated Angelique Kerber, Roberta Vinci, and Kristina Barrois in straight sets. She then demolished No. 5 seed Alexandra Dulgheru in the semifinals, 6–2, 6–2. In the final, she defeated No. 7 seed Andrea Petkovic to win her 43rd career title and second of the year.

At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Henin was the No. 17 seed. In the third round, she had a convincing victory over Nadia Petrova, winning 6–1, 6–4. Justine was eventually defeated in the fourth round by Kim Clijsters 2–6, 6–2, 6–3, after claiming a convincing first set win. Midway through the first set, Henin slipped on the court, injuring her right elbow. Further examinations revealed a partial ligament fracture in her elbow, causing her to end her 2010 season prematurely.

2011: Second retirement

Henin started her season at the 2011 Hopman Cup. She did not lose any sets in the competition earning comfortable victories over Alicia Molik from Australia, Sesil Karatantcheva from Kazakhstan, Ana Ivanović of Serbia and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA in the final.

Henin was the 11th seed and a defending finalist at the 2011 Australian Open. Henin defeated Sania Mirza from India in the first round 5–7, 6–3, 6–1 and Elena Baltacha in the second round, 6–1, 6–3. She then fell to 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round 4–6, 6–7(8).

After that defeat, Henin announced her definitive retirement from professional tennis on 26 January 2011, due to a new injury of the elbow that she had injured the year before at Wimbledon. At the 2009 US Open – Girls' Doubles the Ukrainian tennis player Maryna Zanevska became the first "6th Sense player" to win a Grand Slam title.

On 30 November 2007, Henin opened her own tennis academy Club Justine N1 (in French, "N1" is pronounced almost exactly the same as "Henin").

On 14 May 2008, Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis. She was 25 years old and ranked World No. 1 at the time. She announced her return to competitive tennis on 22 September 2009.

After retiring, Henin became involved in two Belgian reality shows in 2009. In May, she starred in ''De Twaalf Werken van Justine Henin'' – ''Les 12 travaux de Justine Henin'' (''The 12 Labors of Justine Henin''). The show followed Henin as she completed 12 personal challenges. In June 2009, she hosted a musical TV show that revolved around Belgian-Italian singer Lara Fabian.

Career statistics

Records

These records were attained in the open era of tennis.

width=50 2005–07 2006, 07 2007

width=200	Grand Slam	Years ||	Record accomplished	Player tied
French Open	|	3 consecutive singles titles	Monica Seles
French Open	|	List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions#Straight sets Grand Slam tournament wins (Open Era)>Won the French Open twice without losing a set	Stands alone
Grand Slam	|	List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions#Straight sets Grand Slam tournament wins (Open Era)>Won two different Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year without losing a set	Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf Martina Hingis Serena Williams

Open era record for most consecutive sets won at the French Open: 40 (2005–2010). Also tied with Helen Wills Moody for the all-time record for the number of consecutive sets won at the French Open.

Awards and honors

2002 UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year. 2003

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.

ITF World Champion.

UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year. 2004

WTA Player of the Year (for 2003).

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.

2005

Family Circle/State Farm "Player Who Makes A Difference".

Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year.

2006 Appointed UNESCO Champion for Sport.

ITF World Champion.

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

Member of the Belgian Sporting Team of the Year (Fed Cup – Team) UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year. 2007

Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year.

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.

Belgian Sports Personality of the Year (career award).

ITF World Champion.

USSA Female Athlete of the Year. EFE Sportsperson of the Year. UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year. 2008 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

WTA Player of the Year (for 2007).

2010

WTA Comeback Player of the Year

See also

List of female tennis players

List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions

Belgium at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Henin – S. Williams rivalry

Clijsters–Henin rivalry

References

;Notes

External links

{{navboxes|title=Justine Henin Achievements |list1= }} }}

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:Belgian expatriates in Monaco Category:Belgian female tennis players Category:French Open champions Category:Olympic gold medalists for Belgium Category:Olympic tennis players of Belgium Category:Order of the Crown (Belgium) recipients Category:People from Liège (city) Category:People from Monte Carlo Category:People from Namur (province) Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:Walloon sportspeople Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:Olympic medalists in tennis

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Coordinates	55°45′0″N37°36′57″N
name	Lindsay Davenport
country
residence	Laguna Beach, California
birth date	June 08, 1976
birth place	Palos Verdes, California
high school	Murrieta Valley High School
height
weight
turnedpro	1993
retired	2011
plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
careerprizemoney	US$22,144,735(4th in all-time rankings)
singlesrecord	753–194 (79.5%)
singlestitles	55
highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (October 12, 1998)
australianopenresult	W (2000)
frenchopenresult	SF (1998)
wimbledonresult	W (1999)
usopenresult	W (1998)
othertournaments	Yes
wtachampionshipsresult	W (1999)
olympicsresult	20px Gold medal (1996)
doublesrecord	382–115
doublestitles	38 (1 ITF)
highestdoublesranking	No. 1 (October 20, 1997)
grandslamsdoublesresults	3
australianopendoublesresult	F (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005)
frenchopendoublesresult	W (1996)
wimbledondoublesresult	W (1999)
usopendoublesresult	W (1997)
updated	April 14, 2008 }}

}}

Lindsay Ann Davenport (born June 8, 1976 in Palos Verdes, California) is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, ''TENNIS Magazine'' ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years. She is one of only four women (the others being Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert) since 1975 who has been the year-end World No. 1 at least four times. Davenport finished 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005 as the top ranked player.

Early and personal life

Davenport is the daughter of Wink Davenport, who was a member of the U.S. volleyball team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and Ann Davenport. She attended both Chadwick School in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California and Murrieta Valley High School in Murrieta, California.

Davenport married Morgan Stanley investment banker and former University of Southern California All-American tennis player, Jonathan Leach, in 2003. Davenport took a break from competitive tennis in late 2006 and much of 2007 to have a baby. On June 10, 2007, she gave birth to a baby boy, Jagger Jonathan, in Newport Beach, California. She gave birth to a baby girl, Lauren Andrus, on June 27, 2009 in Newport Beach, California. She currently owns a home in the Irvine, California neighborhood of Shady Canyon and also in Laguna Beach, California.

Playing style

Davenport's game is built largely around her groundstrokes, including her two-handed backhand, and serve, which she hits with excellent placement and at its best was called "rock solid". At her peak during her Grand Slam tournament winning years of 1998 through 2000, Davenport's game was arguably the greatest combination of consistency and power on the WTA Tour. Her lack of court speed and mobility was her greatest weakness until she overhauled her conditioning program and lost 30 pounds beginning in 1995, and became mentally stronger. An excellent doubles player, Davenport did not feel comfortable playing at the net in singles until her increased speed allowed her to approach the net and volley more quickly.

Career

1991–1993

While Davenport's first play dated back to 1991, she officially became a professional two years after her first professional-level matches. Davenport's doubles success in 1993 was a 17–16 record while she reached the top 100 in doubles rankings. She reached the third round at the 1993 Australian Open doubles competition with Chanda Rubin. Davenport entered the top 20, despite coming into her first tournament that year ranked 162. She qualified for the 1993 Australian Open, reaching the third round before falling to Mary Pierce. At the Indian Wells Masters, Davenport reached the quarterfinals ranked 99, but lost to 7th-ranked and future doubles partner Mary Joe Fernandez. Later that year, Davenport won her first Tier III title at the European Open where she beat Nicole Bradtke in three sets in the finals. She reached the third round at the 1993 Wimbledon Championships, and at the 1993 US Open, the American reached the fourth round ranked 24.

1994

Davenport won the first tournament she entered, in Brisbane, Australia. At the Australian Open, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, defeating fifth ranked Mary Joe Fernandez in the fourth round before losing in the quarterfinals to top ranked Steffi Graf. Davenport then reached the semifinals at Indian Wells, California and Miami and won the title in Lucerne. At Wimbledon, Davenport reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Ranked ninth, Davenport defeated tenth ranked Gabriela Sabatini before losing to third ranked Conchita Martínez, who went on to win the tournament. In November she reached her first WTA Tour Championship final losing to Sabatini.

In doubles, Davenport won Indian Wells with Lisa Raymond and reached the French Open doubles final with Raymond, where they lost to Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva. Davenport teamed with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario to win the title in Oakland, defeating Gigi Fernández and Martina Navratilova in the final.

1995

Davenport started the year by reaching the final of the tournament in Sydney, where she lost to Gabriela Sabatini. Davenport again reached the Australian Open quarterfinals and the following week, lost to Kimiko Date in the final of the tournament in Tokyo.

On clay, Davenport won the tournament in Strasbourg on her first attempt, defeating Date in the final. Date, however, turned the tables at the French Open, defeating Davenport in the fourth round.

At Wimbledon, Davenport was upset in the fourth round by Mary Joe Fernandez. At the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open, Davenport was again upset, this time in the second round by Zina Garrison Jackson.

In doubles, Davenport and Jana Novotná started the year by winning the tournament in Sydney. Davenport and Lisa Raymond then lost in the Australian Open semifinals to the top seeded team of Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva. Davenport teamed with Nicole Arendt to reach the French Open semifinals, where they lost to the top seeded team of Novotná and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. At Wimbledon, Davenport and Raymond, the fourth seeded team, were upset in the first round. At the US Open, Davenport and Raymond were again the fourth seeded team and were upset in the third round by fifteenth seeded Lori McNeil and Helena Suková. In other tournaments, Davenport and Raymond won in Indian Wells, and Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez won in Tokyo (the non-Tier I tournament) and Strasbourg.

1996

Davenport's year began with a runner-up finish in Sydney. She was a Quarterfinalist at the Australian Open. Davenport then reached the semifinals of the tournament in Indian Wells, California, where she lost to Steffi Graf.

On clay, Davenport won the Strasbourg tournament and reached the French Open quarterfinals, losing to Conchita Martínez.

During the summer, Davenport won the tournament in Los Angeles, defeating Graf for the first time in her career in the semifinals before defeating Anke Huber in the final. Davenport then won the gold medal at the Summer Olympics, defeating Mary Joe Fernandez in semi-final and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final.

In doubles, Davenport teamed with Mary Joe Fernandez to win the tournament in Sydney before losing in the final of the Australian Open to Chanda Rubin and Sánchez Vicario. Davenport and Fernandez then won the French Open doubles title, defeating Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva in the final. The two also won the tournament in Oakland and the year-ending Chase Championships together. Davenport partnered with Zvereva to win the tournament in Los Angeles.

1997

Davenport lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Kimberly Po. She then won the tournaments in Oklahoma City and Indian Wells, California for the first time in her career.

Davenport began her clay court season by winning the tournament in Amelia Island, Florida. However, she lost to Iva Majoli, the eventual champion, in the fourth round at the French Open.

At Wimbledon, Davenport lost to Denisa Chládková in the second round. She then lost to Monica Seles in the final at Los Angeles after beating top-ranked Martina Hingis in the semifinals. After winning in Atlanta, Davenport reached the US Open semifinals, losing again to Hingis. Davenport won the titles in Zürich and Chicago before losing the Philadelphia final to Hingis in a third set tie-break.

In doubles, Davenport was the runner-up in Sydney with Natasha Zvereva and at the Australian Open with Lisa Raymond. She won the US Open with Czech partner Jana Novotná. Davenport's other doubles titles were in Tokyo, Indian Wells, Amelia Island, and Berlin.

1998

Davenport started 1998 by reaching the singles semifinals of the Australian Open, which was her second consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinal. At the tournament in Tokyo, Davenport, ranked second, defeated Martina Hingis, ranked first, in the final. Davenport then lost in the Indian Wells, California final to Hingis after defeating Steffi Graf and in the Miami she fell in the quarterfinals to Anna Kournikova. At the French Open, Davenport defeated defending champion Iva Majoli in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. Davenport won titles in San Diego, Stanford, and Los Angeles.

Davenport's next victory on tour was her first Grand Slam singles title at the 1998 US Open, defeating fifth-ranked Venus Williams in the semifinals and top-ranked Hingis in the final.

Davenport then won Zürich and lost to 17th ranked Graf in Philadelphia despite attaining the number 1 ranking. Davenport finished the year with a loss to Hingis in the final of the Chase Championships .

In doubles, Davenport reached the final of the 1998 Australian Open with Natasha Zvereva, where they lost to the wildcard team of Hingis and Mirjana Lučić. Davenport and Zvereva lost to Hingis and Lučić again in the Tokyo final and then won both Indian Wells and Berlin, both times defeating Alexandra Fusai and Nathalie Tauziat in the final.

Davenport and Zvereva then lost to Hingis and Jana Novotná in the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open doubles finals. Davenport won San Diego and Stanford with Zvereva and lost in the US Open doubles final. Davenport won Filderstadt and then the year-end doubles championship with Zvereva, defeating Fusai and Tauziat in three sets. In 1998, Davenport reached all four Grand Slam doubles finals with Zvereva, losing to teams that included Hingis all four times.

1999

Davenport started 1999 by winning the Sydney singles final and reaching the Australian Open singles semifinal before losing to Amélie Mauresmo. She teamed with Natasha Zvereva to reach the doubles final before losing to Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Davenport and Zvereva beat Hingis and Jana Novotná, to whom they had lost in three of the four 1998 Grand Slam doubles finals. Davenport's second singles title of the year was at Madrid where she defeated lucky loser Paola Suárez in the final.

Davenport's next tournament championship was at Wimbledon. In the final, she defeated Steffi Graf in Graf's last career Grand Slam match. Davenport also won the doubles title at Wimbledon with Corina Morariu, defeating Mariaan de Swardt and Elena Tatarkova in the final.

After Wimbledon, Davenport won the singles and doubles titles in Stanford and won San Diego in doubles with Morariu over Serena and Venus Williams in the final. She lost the US Open semifinal to eventual champion Serena Williams. To close the year, Davenport won two additional singles and the Chase Championships with a victory over Hingis in the final.

2000

Davenport started the year by winning the Sydney singles final against Amélie Mauresmo.

Her next event was the 2000 Australian Open, which she won in singles without the loss of a set. Seeded first, Davenport defeated second seeded Martina Hingis in the final. She and Corina Morariu won the doubles semifinals to Hingis and Mary Pierce. Two events later, at the Indian Wells, California tournament, Davenport again defeated Hingis and won the doubles title with Morariu over Anna Kournikova and Natasha Zvereva in the final. Hingis defeated Davenport in the Miami final.

At the French Open, Davenport was upset by the twenty-second ranked Dominique Van Roost in three sets in the first round. Van Roost again beat her at The Hastings Direct International Championships in Eastbourne.

Davenport reached the Wimbledon final, where she was beaten by Venus Williams. Davenport once again lost to Venus in the Stanford final and to Serena Williams in the Los Angeles final. She lost in the US Open final to Venus.

After losing to Hingis in the Zürich final, Davenport won two consecutive titles in Linz, defeating Venus Williams, and in Philadelphia. She upset Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the Chase Championships by serving her all love games then helped the United States win the 2000 Fed Cup over Spain.

2001

Davenport was at least a quarterfinalist in all seventeen of her singles events. She won seven singles titles, with victories in Tokyo, Scottsdale, Eastbourne, Los Angeles, Filderstadt, Zürich, and Linz. She lost in the final of the year-ending Chase Championships. She was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open, a semifinalist at Wimbledon, and a quarterfinalist at the US Open. She lost in the Australian Open doubles final with Morariu to Venus and Serena Williams. She teamed with Lisa Raymond to win the doubles titles in Filderstadt and Zürich.

2002

Davenport did not win a singles title in 2002. She missed the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. She played her first singles event in July, losing in the Stanford semifinals to Kim Clijsters. Davenport then reached the semifinals of the Tier I San Diego tournament, where she lost to Venus Williams. At her next tournament in Los Angeles, she lost in the final to Chanda Rubin. She then lost to Venus in New Haven and to Serena Williams in the US Open semifinals. She reached two more finals during 2002, losing in Moscow to Magdalena Maleeva and in Zürich to Patty Schnyder. At the year-ending Chase Championships, Davenport lost to Monica Seles after holding seven match points, her third loss to Seles, having a match point opportunity on all three occasions.

Davenport played her first doubles tournament of the year in Filderstadt in October, where she partnered with Lisa Raymond to win the title.

2003

Davenport started the year by reaching the final of the tournament in Sydney, where she lost to Kim Clijsters. She then reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, where she lost to Justine Henin. Davenport then won in Tokyo and lost in the Indian Wells, California final to Clijsters. At the remaining Grand Slam tournaments of the year, she lost in the French Open fourth round, the Wimbledon quarterfinals, and the US Open semifinals. She was the runner-up at tournaments in Amelia Island, Florida, Los Angeles, and New Haven.

Davenport and Lisa Raymond reached the doubles semifinals of the Australian Open where they lost to Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Davenport and Raymond won Indian Wells, defeating Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama. Davenport and Raymond also won in Amelia Island, over Paola Suárez and Virginia Ruano Pascual, and in Eastbourne, over Jennifer Capriati and Magüi Serna. Davenport and Raymond lost in the Wimbledon semifinals to Clijsters and Sugiyama.

2004

Davenport won a tour-high seven titles, including four straight during the summer (Stanford, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Cincinnati). She also had the most match wins on the WTA Tour, with 63. She finished the year ranked first for the third time in her career. She defeated Venus and Serena Williams for the first time since 2000, which she said instilled belief in her that she could win more Grand Slam tournaments.

2005

Davenport's success continued into 2005 when she reached her first Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open, since the 2000 US Open; she fell to Serena Williams in three sets.

At the tournament in Indian Wells, California in March, Davenport made history by defeating world number three Maria Sharapova 6–0, 6–0. It marked the first time that a player ranked in the top three had ever been "shut out" on the WTA tour and was the first time Sharapova had failed to win a game during a match.

In April, she won the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida for the third time, defeating Silvia Farina Elia in the final. In the quarterfinals of that tournament, Davenport defeated Venus Williams for the fourth consecutive time.

Davenport bypassed the European clay court season and went to the French Open without having played a professional competitive match for weeks. She confounded expectations with a run to the quarterfinals on her least favourite surface, including a come-from-behind victory over Kim Clijsters in the fourth round. Davenport lost to eventual runner-up Mary Pierce.

At Wimbledon, Davenport was the top seed and made it easily to the fourth round, where she was tested again by Clijsters but came through in three sets to win her second successive match against the Belgian. Davenport then reached the semifinals, where her match against Amélie Mauresmo was interrupted by rain and was completed over the course of two days. Davenport eventually defeated Mauresmo and faced 14th seeded Venus Williams in an all-American final. Davenport lead most of the way, as she served for the match at 6–5 in the second set and had a match point at 5–4 in the third set. Williams went on to win 4–6, 7–6, 9–7 in the longest (in terms of time) Wimbledon final in history. In that match, Davenport sustained a serious back injury while leading 4–2 (40–15) in the final set, although she acknowledged after the match that the injury did not cause her defeat and that Williams was the superior mentally strong player on the day. The injury forced Davenport to withdraw from Fed Cup competition. She returned to the tour at the Stanford tournament. After reinjuring her back in a warmup just hours before her match, Davenport retired while trailing 5–0 in the first set. This back injury then forced her to withdraw from other hardcourt events in San Diego and Los Angeles.

Davenport returned to the WTA Tour in August, winning her comeback tournament in New Haven without dropping a set. Davenport then reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, where she held a match point on Elena Dementieva before falling in the third set tie-break. Davenport briefly lost the #1 ranking following the event.

After the loss at the US Open, Davenport captured the title in Bali without dropping a set and subsequently qualified for the WTA Tour Championships. She then won the title in Filderstadt, defeating Mauresmo in the final for the second consecutive year. The win made her only the tenth woman ever to win 50 career WTA singles titles.

In Zürich, Davenport saved two match points while defeating Daniela Hantuchová. The win assured Davenport of recapturing the World No. 1 ranking from Sharapova the following week. In the final, Davenport defeated sixth seeded Patty Schnyder for her fourth title in Zürich and her sixth title of 2005, second only to Clijsters's nine. It was also the first time Davenport had saved match points en route to a victory since the 1999 U.S. Open. The Zürich title left her with eleven Tier I titles, second among active players.

Davenport was a semifinalist at the WTA tour year-ending championships (losing to Pierce in two ti-breaks), which ensured that she finished the year ranked No. 1. 2005 was the fourth time that Davenport ended the year ranked No. 1, joining Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert as the only female players to end a year ranked first at least four times.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked Davenport 29th in its list of the 40 greatest players of the tennis era.

2006

On February 22, 2006, Davenport became just the eighth woman in WTA history to win 700 singles matches, when she handed out her fourth career "double bagel", defeating Elena Likhovtseva in the second round of the Dubai tournament.

At the March tournament in Indian Wells, California, Davenport lost in the fourth round to Martina Hingis. She was then absent from the tour until August because of a back injury. She returned in Los Angeles, losing a second round match to Samantha Stosur. It was Davenport's earliest exit from a tournament since early 2003. Davenport attributed the loss to her having resumed training only three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. Davenport had re-hired Adam Peterson as her coach, with whom she worked during her 2004–05 resurgence.

At the tournament in New Haven, Davenport defeated World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals but was forced to retire with a right shoulder injury while playing Justine Henin in the final.

Despite injury, Davenport reached the US Open quarterfinals, where she again lost to Henin.

Davenport's last competitive match before the announcement of her pregnancy was a quarterfinal loss in Beijing to top ranked Mauresmo. It was Mauresmo's first win over Davenport after nine consecutive losses.

2007

On July 18, 2007, Davenport announced that she would return to the WTA Tour. At her first tournament, she partnered with Lisa Raymond in the doubles competition at New Haven, where they lost in the first round to top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber.

Davenport returned to singles competition in Bali, where she won her first title since 2005, defeating Daniela Hantuchová in the final. En route to the title, Davenport defeated third ranked Jelena Janković, among others. Davenport and her partner Hantuchová also advanced to the semifinals in Bali before withdrawing from the tournament.

Davenport's second tournament was in Beijing, where she defeated fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals before losing to Janković in the semifinals.

Davenport's third tournament was in Quebec City, Canada, defeating second seeded Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals and Julia Vakulenko in the final. This was Davenport's 53rd career singles title and lifted her to #73 in the WTA rankings.

2008

Davenport won the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, the first WTA tour event of the year. Davenport defeated Aravane Rezaï in the final. This raised her ranking to World No. 52. She was the only player in the WTA Top 100 that had fewer than 10 tournaments counting towards her world ranking.

At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open, Davenport lost in the second round to eventual champion Maria Sharapova 6–1, 6–3. This was the first time that Davenport had lost to Sharapova in straight sets.

On January 14, 2008, Davenport surpassed Steffi Graf in career prize money earned on the women's tour, garnering a total of US$21,897,501.

In March, Davenport won her second tournament of the year and 55th career singles title by beating Olga Govortsova in the final of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & The Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee. She tied Virginia Wade for seventh place on the list of most singles titles won during the open era. Davenport also teamed with Lisa Raymond to win the doubles title.

At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Davenport lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Janković 6–2, retired. She retired from the match because of a back injury sustained before the match started. At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Davenport defeated World No. 2 and second-seeded Ana Ivanović in the third round 6–4, 6–2 before losing her fourth round match with Dinara Safina 6–3, 6–4.

In her first clay court tournament since 2005, Davenport reached the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, where she defaulted her match with Sharapova before it began due to illness. Citing undisclosed personal reasons, Davenport withdrew from the French Open five days before the tournament began.

At Wimbledon, Davenport was seeded 25th, won her first round match, and then withdrew from the tournament because of a right knee injury.

On August 8, 2008, Davenport withdrew from the singles competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing because of a lingering knee injury. She and her partner, World No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber, lost in the women's doubles quarterfinals.

At the US Open, Davenport was seeded 23rd and lost to 12th-seeded Marion Bartoli in the third round. Davenport was scheduled to play the Fortis Championships Luxembourg in October, but withdrew before the start of the tournament.

2009

Davenport announced her intention to play in the 2009 Australian Open in January, ending speculation that she would be retiring from the sport; however, she withdrew from the event when she learned that she was expecting her second child. It was announced on June 30, 2009 that Davenport had given birth to a baby girl.

2010

In her first tournament since the 2008 US Open, Davenport played mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Bob Bryan, where they received a wild card. They made it to the second round before falling to Daniel Nestor and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Davenport also announced her intention to play doubles at two tournaments in the American hard court season. The first tournament was the women's doubles event at the 2010 Bank of the West Classic, where she won the title partnering Liezel Huber. She followed this with the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open, again with Huber. They lost in the quarterfinals to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yan Zi.

Martina Hingis has announced the two are considering a future doubles partnership.

Currently, Davenport provides commentary for the Tennis Channel during the Grand Slam tournaments, other tour events, and has participated in a variety of exhibitions.

2011

At the 2011 French Open she won the Women's Legends Doubles event with partner Martina Hingis. Davenport went on to win the 2011 Wimbledon - Women's Legends Doubles, partnering once again with Hingis. World Team Tennis announced that Davenport would not be able to compete for the season because she is pregnant with her third child.

Records

These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.

width=200

width=200	Grand Slam	Record accomplished || width=200|Player tied
Grand Slam (1998, 1999 & 2000)	List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions#Straight sets Grand Slam tournament wins (Open Era)>Won three different slams in straight sets

Awards and accomplishments

Named in 1993 the Rookie of the Year by both TENNIS Magazine and World Team Tennis.

1996 International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Champion in women's doubles.

1998 ITF World Champion in women's singles and doubles.

1998 Tennis Magazine player of the year.

1998 and 1999 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) player of the year.

Diamond ACES award winner in 1998 and 1999.

Named the U.S. Olympic Committee's female athlete of the month for July 1999 after winning the women's doubles and singles at Wimbledon.

Voted by journalists at the 2000 French Open as the winner of the Prix Orange, which goes to the player who has shone in the tennis world the international essence of fairness, kindness, availability, and friendliness.

Re-elected to the WTA player council in 2002.

Voted by the International Tennis Writers Association as a joint winner of the 2004 women's Ambassador for Tennis award.

2007 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Comeback Player of the Year.

Career statistics

See also

List of female tennis players

List of Wimbledon Ladies' Singles champions

List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions

References

External links

{{navboxes|title=Lindsay Davenport in the Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Lindsay Davenport Achievements |list1= }}

Category:American female tennis players Category:American people of English descent Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Olympic tennis players of the United States Category:People from Irvine, California Category:People from Los Angeles County, California Category:People from Orange County, California Category:Tennis people from California Category:Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:United States Open champions (tennis) Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:Olympic medalists in tennis

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Coordinates	55°45′0″N37°36′57″N
Name	Amélie Mauresmo
Country
Residence	Geneva, Switzerland
Birth date	July 05, 1979
Birth place	Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	1994
Retired	3 December 2009
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$14,992,112
Singlesrecord	544–226 (70.65%)
Singlestitles	25 (2 ITF)
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (13 September 2004)
Australianopenresult	W (2006)
Frenchopenresult	QF (2003, 2004)
Wimbledonresult	W (2006)
Usopenresult	SF (2002, 2006)
Othertournaments	Yes |
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2005) |
Olympicsresult	20pxSilver medal (2004)
Doublesrecord	92–62
Doublestitles	3 (2 ITF)
Highestdoublesranking	No. 29 (26 June 2006)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	QF (1999)
Frenchopendoublesresult	2R (1997, 1998)
Wimbledondoublesresult	F (2005)
Usopendoublesresult	3R (1999)
Updated	31 August 2009 }}

}} Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; (born 5 July 1979) is a former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon.

Mauresmo first attained the top ranking on 13 September 2004, holding it for five weeks on that occasion. She was the fourteenth World No. 1 in women's tennis since the computer rankings began. She is well known for her powerful one-handed backhand and strong net play. She officially announced her retirement from professional tennis on 3 December 2009, ending a career of ten years. She returned to Wimbledon in 2010, acting as a grass court advisor for Frenchman and 2007 Wimbledon doubles champion Michaël Llodra.

Biography

Early life

Mauresmo was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She began playing tennis at the age of four, after being inspired by Yannick Noah's win in the 1983 French Open on television. It was after his win that her parents bought her her first tennis racket. Later on in 1998 Yannick Noah picked her on the French team for the Fed Cup. Her mother, Françoise is a homemaker and her father Francis, who died in March 2004, was an engineer. She also has a brother Fabien who is an engineer.

In 1996, Mauresmo captured both the junior French Open and Wimbledon titles. She was named 1996 Junior World Champion by the International Tennis Federation.

Career

The unseeded Mauresmo reached the Australian Open final in 1999 with wins over three seeded players, including World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, before falling to World No. 2 Martina Hingis. Mauresmo was only the second Frenchwoman ever to reach the Australian Open final (Mary Pierce was the first, winning the championship in 1995). She was only the third Frenchwoman to reach any Grand Slam final during the open era.

Mauresmo defeated Hingis later in the year, en route to the final of the Paris indoor event.

After the defeat of Davenport at the Australian Open Mauresmo, 19 at the time, came out as a lesbian to the international press.

2003

In 2003, Mauresmo was on the team that captured the Fed Cup for France.

In May, she defeated Venus Williams in the final of the J&S; Cup in Warsaw. Two weeks later in an Italian Open semifinal, Mauresmo defeated Serena Williams for the first time but lost in the final to Kim Clijsters. In November, Mauresmo defeated Anastasia Myskina in the final of the tournament in Philadelphia.

2004

Mauresmo reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, where she lost to Serena Williams in three sets after Mauresmo had won the first set and was up a break in the second set. Mauresmo reached the quarterfinals of the three other Grand Slam tournaments and won three Tier I titles in Rome, Berlin, and Montreal.

Mauresmo won a silver medal in singles at the Olympic Games in Athens, where she was defeated by Belgian Justine Henin in the final.

On 13 September 2004, Mauresmo became the first French tennis player to become World No. 1 since the computer rankings began in the 1970s. She held that ranking for five weeks and was the second woman, after Kim Clijsters, to have attained the top spot without having won a Grand Slam title.

2005

At the US Open, Mauresmo lost to Mary Pierce in the quarterfinals 6–4, 6–1.

Mauresmo claimed her first singles title at the WTA Tour Championships. She defeated Pierce in the final after losing to Pierce in a round robin match at that tournament 2–6, 6–4, 6–2.

2006

At the Australian Open, Mauresmo captured her first Grand Slam singles title, defeating Belgian former World No. 1 players Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin en route. Both opponents retired from their respective matches, Clijsters with a right ankle sprain in the third set of their semifinal and Henin from gastroenteritis in the final. Mauresmo was leading in both matches at the time of the retirements, by 6–1, 2–0 against Henin.

Mauresmo then won her next two tournaments, the Open Gaz de France tournament in Paris (defeating Mary Pierce in the final) and the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp (defeating Clijsters in the final).

At the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Mauresmo defeated Martina Hingis in a semifinal 6–2, 6–2 but lost to Nadia Petrova in the final. Had she won the final, she would have immediately regained the World No. 1 ranking from Clijsters. Nonetheless, the outcome was sufficient to ensure Mauresmo's return to the World No. 1 ranking on 20 March 2006.

Mauresmo then reached the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where she lost to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Mauresmo lost in the fourth round of the French Open to Czech teenager Nicole Vaidišová 6–7(5–7), 6–1, 6–2. Mauresmo next suffered a first round loss at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Eastbourne. However, Mauresmo and Kuznetsova won the doubles title there, their first as a team and Mauresmo's second overall.

Mauresmo was the top seed at Wimbledon. She defeated Anastasia Myskina in a quarterfinal and Maria Sharapova in a semifinal and then came back to defeat Henin in the final. The victory was Mauresmo's second Grand Slam singles title and the first on grass. She was also the first Frenchwoman since Suzanne Lenglen to win Wimbledon.

She then pulled out of the Fed Cup World Group I playoff tie against the Czech Republic due to a groin injury sustained during Wimbledon. She also withdrew from the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

Her next tournament was the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 7–5.

At the US Open, Mauresmo lost to Sharapova in the semifinals 6–0, 4–6, 6–0. This was the first time in the open era that a female had lost two sets at love in a US Open semifinal.

Mauresmo then reached the final of the China Open, losing to Kuznetsova. During the tournament, Mauresmo won 137 ranking points to help preserve her World No. 1 ranking and ended a nine-match losing streak to Davenport stretching back to January 2000 in Sydney.

To conclude the year, Mauresmo reached the final of the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, losing to Henin, 6–4, 6–3. Mauresmo finished the year ranked World No. 3, behind Henin and Sharapova.

2007

Mauresmo started the year in Australia with a quarterfinal loss to Jelena Janković at the tournament in Sydney. At the Australian Open in Melbourne, Mauresmo lost in the fourth round to Lucie Šafářová 6–4, 6–3 after winning her first three matches in straight sets.

Mauresmo's next tournament was the Open Gaz de France, where she lost in the semifinals to Nadia Petrova 5–7, 6–4, 7–6(7) after Mauresmo led 4–1 in the final set and had a match point in the tiebreak. This was Mauresmo's third loss in the last four matches with Petrova. In her next tournament at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, Mauresmo defeated Kim Clijsters in the final. This was Mauresmo's third consecutive title there, earning her the diamond encrusted racquet that comes with winning the title at least three times in five years. The trophy cost US$1.3 million. Mauresmo then played the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, where she lost to Justine Henin in the final.

On 16 March 2007, Mauresmo received the Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur from President Jacques Chirac.

Mauresmo was scheduled to play the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida but was forced to withdraw because of acute appendicitis. She also withdrew from the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida for the same reason. Although she had resumed training, she was not fit enough to compete at the J & S Cup in Warsaw, Poland.

At the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Mauresmo lost in the third round to Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine, and at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome, she lost in the second round to Australian Samantha Stosur 5–7, 6–7(4), 7–6(7) after Mauresmo led 5–3 in the third set. Going into the French Open, Mauresmo had played only three tournaments since the end of February. Mauresmo lost to Czech Lucie Šafářová in the third round 6–3, 7–6(4), committing eight double faults and 49 unforced errors.

After losing to Henin in the final of the International Women's Open in Eastbourne 7–5, 6–7(4), 7–6(2), after being up 4–1 in the deciding set, defending champion Mauresmo went into Wimbledon saying that she was ready to win another major title. However, she lost her fourth round match with Czech teen Nicole Vaidišová 7–6(6), 4–6, 6–1. The loss dropped her to World No. 6, her first time outside the top 5 since November 2003.

Mauresmo withdrew from the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open, because of a lack of fitness.

She made her return to the tour at the China Open in Beijing. However, she lost in the quarterfinals to homecrowd favourite Peng Shuai. She then entered the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where she lost to Elena Dementieva in straight sets. At the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Mauresmo lost in the first round to Vera Zvonareva. In Zürich, Mauresmo lost in the second round to Alona Bondarenko in three sets.

Mauresmo left Dunlop for HEAD. The partnership will run through 2010.

2008

Her first tournament of the year was the Tier III Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts in Gold Coast, Australia, where she lost in the quarterfinals to fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder. At the Australian Open in Melbourne, Mauresmo lost in the third round to Australian Casey Dellacqua 3–6, 6–4, 6–4.

At her next tournament, the Tier II Open Gaz de France in Paris, Mauresmo lost in the quarterfinals to Anna Chakvetadze 3–6, 6–3, 6–3.

Mauresmo played both of the tournaments in the Middle East. At the Tier I Qatar Total Open in Doha, she lost in the second round to Tamarine Tanasugarn 7–6(7), 7–5. At the Tier II Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Mauresmo reached her third quarterfinal of the year, but was unable to hold off second seed and eventual finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, losing 6–1, 7–6.

Mauresmo then lost in the third round of both the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, both of which were Tier I events.

On clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, Mauresmo lost in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Dominika Cibulková.

At the French Open, Mauresmo lost in the second round to a Spanish qualifier, Carla Suárez Navarro, 6–3, 6–4.

At the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, United Kingdom, Mauresmo defeated sixth-seeded French woman Alizé Cornet in the first round 6–1, 4–6, 7–5 but lost in the second round after retiring due to injury from her match with Australian Samantha Stosur while Mauresmo was leading 2–1.

At Wimbledon, Mauresmo lost in the third round to two-time former champion Serena Williams 7–6(5), 6–1. Hampered by a thigh injury, Mauresmo trailed 5–0 in the second set before breaking Williams's serve only to be broken herself in the next game and lose the match. Mauresmo said after the match, "I was not 100% in my movement but overall I thought there were some good moments in the first set. But I really started to feel the injury in the tiebreak, and I'm not going to talk about the second set."

Mauresmo declined the nomination by the French Tennis Federation to play in the Olympic Games after Mary Pierce withdrew. Pauline Parmentier was then nominated.

Mauresmo, after a two-month hiatus from tennis due to a thigh injury sustained at Wimbledon, lost in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, Ohio to Nathalie Dechy 6–4, 3–6, 6–2. After the match, Mauresmo, sounding optimistic about her chances at the upcoming US Open, said "I got four matches in this week, which is what I was looking for. It would have been great to play five but I'll go to New Haven (Connecticut) hoping to find a little more rhythm and build up to the US Open." Mauresmo then lost in the semifinals of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament (in New Haven) to top-seeded Chakvetadze 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. At the US Open, Mauresmo lost in the fourth round to 16th-seeded Flavia Pennetta 6–3, 6–0.

On 29 September, Mauresmo announced that she would split from her long-time coach, Loic Courteau.

Mauresmo lost in the first round at Tokyo and Beijing both times in long three set defeats by Dominika Cibulková. She reached the 2nd round in Moscow, falling to Dinara Safina (6–7(2), 6–4, 6–4) and fell in the first round at Zurich to Belyrussian teenager Victoria Azarenka.

She ended her year with a quarterfinal result at Luxembourg, losing to eventual champion Elena Dementieva. Mauresmo ended the year ranked World No. 24 with a singles record of 32–19.

2009

At the Brisbane International tournament, Mauresmo defeated World No. 177 Jelena Dokić in the first round 7–6(9), 7–6(5) before defeating French compatriot Julie Coin in the second round 5–7, 6–2, 7–6(11) in 3 hours, 14 minutes. The fifth-seeded Mauresmo then upset top-seeded Ana Ivanović in the quarterfinals 6–3, 6–2, before retiring in her semifinal match against the third-seeded Frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli, while trailing 0–4 in the first set. At the Australian Open, Mauresmo lost in the third round to Victoria Azarenka.

Mauresmo won her first tournament since 2007 by defeating Elena Dementieva in the final of the Open GDF SUEZ tournament in Paris.

Mauresmo lost in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Premier Mandatory event of the year, to Li Na 7–5, 6–2. The next event on the WTA tour was another Premier Mandatory tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Mauresmo was seeded 20th there and lost in the fourth round to unseeded Australian Samantha Stosur 6–4, 6–4, but ended up winning the Doubles event with her tennis partner Svetlana Kuznetsova after ousting the world champions on their way to the cup.

At the Madrid Masters, Mauresmo defeated Zheng Jie in the second round 6–2, 7–5. She then came from behind to defeat Elena Dementieva 1–6, 6–4, 6–2, and Ágnes Szávay 5–7, 6–1, 6–1 in the third round and quarterfinal respectively. She lost against fast-rising teenager star Caroline Wozniacki 7–6(1) 6–3 in the semifinals.

Mauresmo lost against Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–4, 6–3 in the first round of the French Open.

Mauresmo was the 17th seed at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She opened with a 6–1, 4–6, 6–2 win over Melinda Czink. She then defeated Kristína Kučová and Flavia Pennetta. Her fourth round match against the number 1 seed Dinara Safina became a part of tennis history as it was the first competitive match in which the new, multi-million pound roof closed due to rain. Mauresmo went on to lose the match 6–4, 3–6, 4–6.

At the 2009 US Open, Mauresmo was the 17th seed, but lost to unseeded Aleksandra Wozniak 6–4, 6–0 in the second round.

Mauresmo announced at a press conference on 8 October 2009 that she was considering retiring from tennis. On 3 December 2009, she officially announced her retirement from tennis at a press conference in Paris, France.

2010–11

In June and July 2010, Mauresmo temporarily coached fellow French male player Michaël Llodra during the grass season. On 7 November, Mauresmo ran her first marathon at the 2010 New York City Marathon, finishing 3hr: 40m: 20s.

At the 2011 French Open, Mauresemo was set to be reunited with Llodra, making her professional return in the mixed doubles competition, but was disqualified before competing, as she had not re-registered for the anti-doping procedures required to compete on the tour.

Performance at Grand Slam tournaments

Although Mauresmo had been one of the top singles players for several years, she did not have success in winning Grand Slam tournaments until 2006. Her talents were never questioned, but Mauresmo was criticized for her mental strength after succumbing to nerves in those events. In consecutive Wimbledon championships, she lost to Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport after leading comfortably. Before her 2006 Australian Open title, Mauresmo was often touted as "the greatest women's player never to win a Grand Slam." After winning the 2006 Wimbledon title, Mauresmo openly joked, "I don’t want anyone to talk about my nerves any more."

Mauresmo is one of the few tennis players, male or female, to have reached the top ranking without first winning a Grand Slam singles title. Other players who had done so were Belgian Kim Clijsters, who ascended to the top spot in 2003, two years before winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2005 U.S. Open; Ivan Lendl, who first reached World No. 1 in 1983, before winning any of his eight Grand Slam singles titles; Marcelo Ríos of Chile, who reached World No. 1 in 1998 but never won a Grand Slam singles title; Jelena Janković of Serbia who reached World No. 1 in 2008 without winning a Grand Slam singles title; Dinara Safina, who reached World No. 1 in 2009 without winning a Grand Slam singles title; and Caroline Wozniacki, who reached World No. 1 in 2010 without winning a Grand Slam singles title.

Career statistics

Fed Cup and Olympic teams

French Fed Cup team: 1998–99, 2001–05.

French Olympic team: 2000, 2004

See also

List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions

References

External links

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:People from Saint-Germain-en-Laye Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions Category:French expatriates in Switzerland Category:French tennis players Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:Olympic silver medalists for France Category:Olympic tennis players of France Category:People from Geneva Category:Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:French female tennis players Category:Olympic medalists in tennis Category:Wimbledon junior champions Category:French Open junior champions

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Coordinates	55°45′0″N37°36′57″N
Name	Jelena Janković Јелена Јанковић
Country	(2000–2003)(2003–2006) (2006–present)
Residence	Dubai, UAE
Birth date	February 28, 1985
Nickname	J.J.Jeca (in Serbia)Jelly (in the UK)
Birth place	Belgrade, Serbia (then SFR Yugoslavia)
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	February 6, 2000
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$12,288,692
Singlesrecord	446–230
Singlestitles	12 WTA, 1 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (August 11, 2008)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 12 (August 29, 2011)
Australianopenresult	SF (2008)
Frenchopenresult	SF (2007, 2008, 2010)
Wimbledonresult	4R (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
Usopenresult	F (2008)
Othertournaments	yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	SF (2008, 2009)
Olympicsresult	QF (2008)
Doublesrecord	45–64
Doublestitles	1 WTA
Highestdoublesranking	No. 43 (November 6, 2006)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	3R (2008)
Frenchopendoublesresult	2R (2007)
Wimbledondoublesresult	3R (2010)
Usopendoublesresult	3R (2006)
| mixed	yes
mixedtitles	1
wimbledonmixedresult	W (2007)
Updated	August 29, 2011 }}

Jelena Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Јанковић, ; born February 28, 1985 in Belgrade) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked World No. 12, being coached by the former ATP top 15 player, Andrei Pavel.

Family and early life

Janković was born in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia, as the third child of Veselin and Snežana, two economists.. She has two brothers, Marko and Stefan. She is a student at the Megatrend University in Belgrade, studying economics; however, she has put her course of study on indefinite hold as she continues to pursue her tennis career. Janković learned her first tennis skills at the Tennis Club 'Red Star'. As a nine-and-a-half year old she was introduced to tennis by her elder brother and fitness coach Marko. With 11 years has won the national championship in the competition to 12 years. She was later trained at the Tennis Academy of Nick Bollettieri. As a junior she won the 2001 Australian Open and junior No. 1 in the world. In 2001, she started to play on the WTA Tour; she reached the second round at her first tournament at the Indian Wells Masters.

Tennis career

In October 2003, Janković entered the top 100 at No. 90 for the first time after winning her first ITF title in Dubai. Three months later, Janković garnered her first top 10 win against Elena Dementieva 6–1, 6–4 in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open. In May, Janković won her first WTA title, a Tier V event, in Budapest, defeating Martina Suchá in the final 7–6, 6–3. Following her win in Budapest, she reached No. 51 in the world. Elsewhere in her 2004 season, she defeated top 20 players Nadia Petrova (twice), Vera Zvonareva, Patty Schnyder and Paola Suárez. Janković finished 2004 ranked No. 28 in the world.

She was ranked World No. 1 for seventeen consecutive weeks until she was overtaken by Serena Williams on February 2, 2009. She was the year-end World No. 1 in 2008, the second player in the history of the WTA tour to do this without winning a Grand Slam title, after Kim Clijsters.

Janković has reached the singles final of the US Open and the singles semifinals of the Australian Open and the French Open. In 2007, she became the first Serbian player to win a Grand Slam Title when she won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with British partner Jamie Murray.

She is one of only seven players who has defeated both Williams sisters at the same tournament and one of three players who were World No.1 and as a junior and a senior. Janković is also known for being one of the most consistent Top 10 players, entering it in early 2007 and the only one never falling out of Top 10 ever since. However this ended, ending her remarkable streak at four years and three months of being in Top 10.

2005

In March, at Dubai, she advanced to the final following Serena Williams's retirement in the semifinal. Janković then lost in the final to Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 3–6, 6–4. She made her first Tier I semifinal in Berlin, losing to Nadia Petrova 6–4, 6–7, 6–3. In June, she reached her first grass court final at Birmingham, but lost to Maria Sharapova 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In October, Janković reached her third final of the year in Seoul, ranked No. 17 in the world, her highest ranking at that time, losing to 16-year-old Nicole Vaidišová 7–5, 6–3. Her ranking at the end of the season eclipsed her 2004 record at No. 22.

2006

Janković lost in the second round of the Australian Open to World No. 188 Olga Savchuk. That was the first of ten straight losses, not winning a match from late January into early May. She later said this run caused her to consider quitting tennis. Janković ended her losing streak by beating World No. 17 Elena Likhovtseva in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, before eventually losing to Venus Williams in three sets in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Janković reached the third round for the first time, where she lost to World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo.

At Wimbledon, Janković surprisingly defeated sixth-seeded and defending champion Venus Williams in the third round in three sets. Competing in the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time, she lost to ninth-seeded Anastasia Myskina 6–4, 7–6(5). In August, Janković reached her fifth career final and first of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, defeating Serena Williams (ranked World No. 108 at the time after a lengthy injury lay-off) in the semifinals before losing to third-seeded Elena Dementieva in the final. The US Open saw Janković defeat World No. 10 Vaidišová in the third round, World No. 7 and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round, and World No. 5 Dementieva 6–2, 6–1 in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In the semifinals, Janković lost to World No. 2 Justine Henin 4–6, 6–4, 6–0 after Janković had led 6–4, 4–2. Janković argued with the chair umpire when the umpire refused to offer an opinion as to whether a service call had been correct, suggesting that Janković use one of her electronic challenges. Janković then lost ten consecutive games.

Janković continued her strong form in the aftermath of the US Open. Of the six tournaments she played during the remainder of the year, she reached the quarterfinals at five. This included a run to the semifinals at the China Open in Beijing, defeating World No. 7 Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals before losing to World No. 1 Mauresmo on a third set tiebreak. Janković finished the year at a career-high ranking of World No. 12.

2007

To begin the year, Janković won the second title of her career at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, defeating Vera Zvonareva in the final. The following week, at the Medibank International in Sydney, Janković defeated World No. 7 and former No.1 Martina Hingis and top-seeded Amélie Mauresmo on the way to the final, where she lost to Kim Clijsters after serving for the match. Janković's strong start to the year meant some considered her a title threat at the Australian Open; however, she was eliminated in the fourth round by the eventual champion Serena Williams 6–3, 6–2. Because of her results at these tournaments, her ranking rose to World No. 10, the first time she had been included in the top ten.

Janković reached two semifinals in the Middle East in the spring, retiring against Mauresmo due to an ankle injury at the Dubai Tennis Championships and losing in three sets to Justine Henin at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar. However, she then failed to reach the semifinals at any of her next three tournaments. Janković rebounded in the clay court season, defeating Venus Williams on a third set tiebreak in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina. She went on to defeat Dinara Safina in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career. On European red clay, after losing to World No. 1 Henin in three sets in both the semifinals of the J&S; Cup in Warsaw and the quarterfinals of the Qatar Telecom German Open (failing to hold a 4–0 lead in the third set in the latter), Janković won her second career Tier I title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. This results meant she entered the top five on the world rankings for the first time. Janković was the fourth seed at the French Open and one of the favorites for the title. After registering her third consecutive victory over Venus Williams in the third round, she went on to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career, but lost there to eventual champion Henin 6–2, 6–2. This improved her ranking to a new career-high of World No. 3.

On grass, Janković captured the DFS Classic title in Birmingham, beating top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the final. Sharapova led 3–0 in the third set before Janković rallied to win the match. This was her first career victory over Sharapova. The next week, Janković reached the final of the Ordina Open in the Netherlands and became the first player since Chris Evert in 1974 to win 50 matches in the first half of a year. Janković, suffering from a hamstring injury, lost the final to Anna Chakvetadze. At Wimbledon, Janković was the third seed but lost in the fourth round to the surprise eventual finalist Marion Bartoli, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3. In the mixed doubles competition at Wimbledon, Janković teamed with doubles specialist Jamie Murray to win the title by beating the fifth-seeded team, Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik, in the final 6–4, 3–6, 6–1.

During the North American summer hard court season, Janković reached the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, but lost there to fellow Serb Ana Ivanović having held a match point. The following week, Janković reached the final of the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she lost to Henin on Henin's sixth match point. Janković had led 4–1 in the first set and 4–2 in the second set but was unable to maintain her lead. At the US Open, Janković lost to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals 4–6, 6–1, 7–6(4).

Janković's form tailed off following the US Open. At the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, Janković was upset in the quarterfinals by former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, in Davenport's first singles tournament since giving birth. The following week at the China Open in Beijing, Janković defeated Davenport but lost in the final to Hungarian teenager Ágnes Szávay after Janković had a match point in the second set. Janković finished the year on a six-match losing streak, losing all three of her round-robin matches on her debut at the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, including her seventh loss of the year to Henin. She finished the year ranked World No. 3, her first time finishing the season in the top ten.

Janković had successful nose surgery immediately after Madrid to correct a breathing problem. The surgery prevented her from practicing for three weeks.

Olympic Committee of Serbia has declared for the sportswoman of the year.

2008

Janković lost in the semifinal of the Australian Open to Maria Sharapova 6–3, 6–1. In March, at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Janković lost in the semifinals to fellow Serb Ana Ivanović 7–6(3), 6–3. The following fortnight, Janković reached her first final of the year at the Miami Masters, losing to Serena Williams 6–1, 5–7, 6–3 after Williams was unable to convert on seven match points in the third set.

Janković started the clay court season by losing in the quarterfinals of both the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina and the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. Janković then successfully defended her Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia title in Rome, after defeating Venus Williams in three sets in the quarterfinals, receiving a walkover from the injured Sharapova in the semifinals, and defeating French teenager Alizé Cornet in the final. This was Janković's first singles title of the year. She went in to the French Open among the favorites following the sudden retirement of four-times champion Justine Henin. However, she lost to eventual champion Ivanović 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, after leading by a break in the third set. This marked Janković's fourth defeat in four career Grand Slam semifinals. She would have become the World No. 1 had she reached the final. However, she did reach a new career-high of World No. 2 in the week following the tournament.

At Wimbledon, Janković injured her knee during her third-round match against Caroline Wozniacki. Although she won that match, it visibly hindered her during her fourth round loss to Tamarine Tanasugarn. Janković would have become the World No. 1 had she reached the semifinals of the tournament. However, she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round 6–3, 6–2. Janković squandered two further opportunities to immediately take the World No. 1 position with losses in the semifinals of the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles to Dinara Safina and the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, losing to Dominika Cibulková. Janković did eventually replace Ivanović as the World No. 1 on August 11, 2008. She was the 18th woman to have been ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association, but the first woman to have done so without ever having reached a Grand Slam final and only the third woman (the others being Amélie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters) to have become World No. 1 without first winning a Grand Slam title.

Janković's reign as the World No. 1 lasted only one week, after she lost in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics to eventual silver-medalist Safina. This meant Ivanović reclaimed the World No. 1 position. Janković was the second seed at the US Open, where she defeated Olympic gold-medalist Elena Dementieva in the semifinals to reach her first Grand Slam final. There, she lost to fourth-seeded Serena Williams 6–4, 7–5. Janković would have re-claimed the World No. 1 position if she won the event.

Janković became the World No. 1 again during the fall in the midst of winning three consecutive tournaments. At the China Open, Janković defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–2 to win the title. The following week, Janković played in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, where she defeated Venus Williams in the semifinals 6–7(8), 7–5, 6–2, and Nadia Petrova in the final 6–4, 6–3. In the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Janković defeated defending champion Dementieva in the semifinals 0–6, 6–1, 6–0 before triumphing against Vera Zvonareva in the final, 6–2, 6–4 for her third title in three weeks, the first time for a player on the WTA tour to do so since 2005. As the top seed at the year-ending 2008 WTA Tour Championships held in Doha, Qatar, Janković won two of her three round-robin matches, including only the second win of her career over Ivanović. However, she lost in the semifinals, to eventual champion Venus Williams, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, and ended the year as World No. 1. Janković was later named the ITF World Champion for her performances in 2008. She won four titles during the season, the most of anyone on the tour along with Serena Williams and Safina.

Olympic Committee of Serbia has declared for the best sportswoman two years in a row.

2009

Janković started the year at the JB Group Classic, an exhibition prior to the Australian Open. She was the top seed of ''Team Europe''. She started by winning a doubles match in which she was paired with Portuguese player Michelle Larcher de Brito. The team defeated ''Team Americas''' World No. 6 Venus Williams and newcomer to the women's tour, Coco Vandeweghe, 6–4, 7–5. Janković then lost to Williams in singles 6–2, 6–2. Janković later withdrew from the remainder of the tournament because of illness.

Janković was seeded first at the Australian Open in Melbourne. She shockingly lost to sixteenth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France in the fourth round 6–1, 6–4. Bartoli hit 34 winners compared to Janković's 17 and won 81% of her first serve points compared to Janković's 56%. Janković lost her World No. 1 ranking to Serena Williams as a result.

Her next Women's Tennis Association event was the Open GDF SUEZ tournament in Paris, where she entered as a wildcard and was the second seeded player. In the first round, Janković beat Francesca Schiavone and in the second round, she beat Li Na. In the quarterfinals, she beat fifth-seeded Alizé Cornet 5–7, 6–4, 6–4 but then lost to Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals 6–2, 0–6, 6–1.

Janković had a first round bye at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded third. She was upset by Kaia Kanepi in the third round, 6–2, 7–5, in what she called "the worst match of my career". She was the second seeded player at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, a Premier Mandatory tournament. She received a bye in the first round before losing in the second round to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–4, 6–4. After the match, she conceded that she has been struggling with her confidence, saying "I need a lot of work". Janković then lost in the second round of the next Premier Mandatory tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, to Gisela Dulko 6–4, 7–6(5) after Janković failed to hold leads of 5–2 in the second set and 5–2 in the tiebreaker.

Beginning her spring clay court season at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain, Janković defeated fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro in three sets for her first title of 2009. Jelena Janković has won the third point for Serbia in the Fed Cup play-offs against Spain, which means the national team will play in the 2010 edition of Fed Cup World Group. Jelena beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 in Lleida to bring Serbia team a first ever chance to compete among the world's top-tier women's tennis teams next year. Day before Jelena Janković and Ana Ivanović won their single matches.

Janković was the defending champion at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Seeded third, she lost in the quarter-finals to Flavia Pennetta 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. Janković was also the defending champion at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome but lost in the quarter-finals to eventual finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–1, 7–6(3). Seeded fourth at the inaugural Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, she advanced to the quarter-finals once again but was defeated by Patty Schnyder, 7–6(6), 6–3

Seeded fifth at the French Open, she lost to Sorana Cîrstea of Romania in the fourth round, 3–6, 6–0, 9–7, despite serving for the match in the third set at 5–4.

In her first match on grass at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, third seeded Janković lost in the first round to Russian Anna Chakvetadze, 6–7(5), 6–3, 6–2. Janković was seeded 6th at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She defeated Julia Görges having been trailing 5–2 in the first set. Janković then beat Iveta Benešová in the second round but lost to qualifier Melanie Oudin in the third round, 6–7, 7–5, 6–2.

At the Bank of the West Classic in California, Janković lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Marion Bartoli, despite having two match points. In her next tournament at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, Janković defeated Victoria Azarenka to advance to the quarterfinals where she disposed of Sybille Bammer. In the semi-finals, Janković defeated Elena Dementieva 7–6, 0–6, 7–6 in a match that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes, saving four match points on her way to victory. In the final, Janković won her second title of the year, defeating World No. 1 Dinara Safina 6–4, 6–2. With the win her ranking also went back to World No. 4.

Desptite her good form leading up to the 2009 US Open, Janković's inconsistency continued as she suffered a shock second round defeat to Yaroslava Shvedova 6–3, 6–7(4), 7–6(6) despite having match points in the third set tie-break. Her ranking decreased to World No. 8.

At the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, seeded seventh, Janković defeated Sabine Lisicki and Elena Vesnina in the second and third round respectively after receiving a first round bye. She defeated Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals 6–4,6–3 and Li Na 6–4,6–3 in the semifinals. She faced Maria Sharapova in the final and retired while behind 5–2 because of an arm injury. Because of her semifinal appearance Janković received a first round bye in Beijing. She lost her opening match to home favorite Peng Shuai 4–6, 7–5, 6–2.

Her next tournament was Moscow where she was seeded second. This tournament was her last chance to qualify for Doha. She was in a battle for the last available spot at Doha along with Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwańska. However, things worked for her favor as both Zvonareva and Radwańska fell in their early rounds making Janković to be the last qualified player at Doha. She is now set to face defending champion Venus Williams in the semifinals. Janković lost her first match to Azarenka 6–2, 6–3 but bounced back defeating Safina 1–1, ret and Wozniacki 6–2, 6–2 to clinch the first berth in her group. In her second year ending championship semifinal she lost to Venus Williams 5–7, 6–3, 6–4. She ended year ranked 8th and with a 46–19 record.

2010

Janković started the 2010 season in Sydney. She lost in the first round to Ágnes Szávay, 7–5, 1–6, 5–7 having been seeded 7th for the tournament. During the Australian Open, Janković, seeded eighth, defeated opponents Monica Niculescu and Katie O'Brien in straight sets before losing to number 31-seed Alona Bondarenko in the 3rd round.

Next, Janković represented Serbia in the 2010 Fed Cup. In her first match, she rallied from 4–6, 1–4 down to defeat Alisa Kleybanova 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. In her next Fed Cup match, she defeated reigning French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 4–6, 6–3. In the deciding doubles match, she partnered with Ana Ivanović. Ivanović and Janković fell to Kuznetsova and Kleybanova. Her next scheduled tournament was the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships. Having a first round bye, she defeated Aravane Rezaï 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. She then lost to Vera Zvonareva in the third round, causing her ranking to fall to 9th in the world.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Monterrey Open, where she was the top seed. She fell in the first round. Next, she traveled to Indian Wells, California for the 2010 BNP Paribas Open. At the tournament, she was seeded sixth and defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6–2, 6–4 to take the her 12th title.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was seeded 7th. In the fourth round, she lost to Samantha Stosur 1–6, 6–7(9), ending her 8-match win streak.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Family Circle Cup where she was seeded second. She lost in the quarterfinals to Daniela Hantuchová.

At the Fed Cup qualifying, Janković defeated Slovakia's Magdaléna Rybáriková in her first singles match, but fell to Hantuchová in her second. Janković and Bojana Jovanovski then fell to Rybáriková and Hantuchová in the deciding doubles match.

Janković was the fourth seed at the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She lost against Justine Henin in the quarterfinals 6–3 6–7(4) 3–6, for the tenth time in a row.

Janković was the seventh seed at the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. In the quarterfinals she produced one of her most polished performances to thrash fourth seed Venus Williams 6–0, 6–1, with Williams suffering her heaviest loss in her career, having never won less than two games in a match. She then beat reigning World No. 1 Serena Williams in the semi-finals, after saving a match point and later being down 5–2 in the final set tie-breaker 4–6, 6–3, 7–6(5) in 2 hour and 47 minutes. As a result of defeating these two opponents, she became one of the few women in the history of women's tennis to defeat both Williams sisters in the same tournament. And first player who beat both sisters in less than 24 hours in one tournament. However, she was then shocked by unseeded María José Martínez Sánchez and lost in the final 6–7(5), 5–7. Nevertheless, her ranking increased to world No. 4.

Seeded 7th, Janković received a first round bye at the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open and defeated compatriot Ana Ivanović 4–6 6–4 6–1 in the second round after being down 4–6 0–2. She lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champion Aravane Rezaï 5–7, 4–6.

Janković's next tournament was 2010 French Open where she was seeded No. 4. In the first round, she defeated Alicia Molik 6–0, 6–4, then Kaia Kanepi 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 in the second round, and then Alona Bondarenko in the third round 6–4, 7–6(3). In the fourth round, she defeated Daniela Hantuchová 6–4, 6–2, who had already defeated Janković twice that year on clay. In the quarterfinals, Janković defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 7–5, 6–4, for a spot in her third semifinal at Roland Garros. Her run ended in the semifinals to Samantha Stosur, 6–1, 6–2. Two weeks later, her ranking increased to world No. 3.

Janković then played in the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, where she was seeded No. 4 seed. She defeated hometown favorite Laura Robson 6–3 7–6 in the first round and Aleksandra Wozniak in the second round in three sets 4–6 6–2 6–4, after being down 0–2 in the final set. She then beat 28th seed Alona Bondarenko 6–0 6–3 in their third meeting at a Grand Slam this year. Struggling with injuries, Janković retired trailing 21st seed Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round 6–1, 3–0. Although she retired in the fourth round, her ranking increased to World No. 2.

Janković defeated fellow Serb Bojana Jovanovski 6–3 6–3 in the first round of the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open but had to retire in her next match against Anastasiya Yakimova due to twisting her ankle while leading 6–1 2–0, and ultimately retired at 6–1 3–6 0–1. She then traveled to San Diego to play in the 2010 Southern California Open, where she was the top seed. Due to her seeding, she received a bye to the second round, but fell to Russia's Alisa Kleybanova 5–7, 2–6, despite leading 4–0 in the first set and also having 3 set points in the first set.

Janković then traveled to Cincinnati for the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open, where she was the top seed and defending champion. Due to her seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she defeated Vera Dushevina 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. In the third round, Janković failed to defend her title as she had a shocking upset to Akgul Amanmuradova. This will cause her ranking to fall to world #3. Janković then entered 2010 Rogers Cup as the top seed. After receiving a bye in the first round, she was upset by Iveta Benešová, 7–6³, 6–3 in the second round. Due to her early exit, her ranking dropped to No. 5.

Janković then traveled to New York to play in the 2010 US Open where she was seeded No. 4. In the first round, she defeated Simona Halep 6–4, 4–6, 7–5 and defeated Mirjana Lučić in the second round 6–4, 3–6, 6–2. She was defeated by Kaia Kanepi in the third round, losing 6–2, 7–6(1). Had she won the US Open, she would have once again become the No. 1 player in the world.

Janković's next tournament was the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where was seeded No. 3 and was the runner up last year. Due to her seeding, she received a bye in the first round and defeated Alona Bondarenko 6–4, 6–1 in the second round. In the third round, she lost for the second straight time to Kaia Kanepi, 6–4 6–4. She then traveled to China to play in the 2010 China Open, where she was seeded no. 3. In the first round, she defeated Klára Zakopalová 7–5, 7–5, but eventually fell in the third round against fellow Serbian player Bojana Jovanovski in three sets, Janković lost 6–4, 2–6, 2–6.

Despite her recent slump, Janković still qualified for the 2010 WTA Tour Championships as the No. 6 seed. Her next was the 2010 Kremlin Cup, where she was the top seed. Due to her seeding, she received a bye to the second round where her bad form continued as she fell to Kazakhstani qualifier Zarina Diyas 6–1, 6–2.

Janković's final event of the year is the 2010 WTA Tour Championships, where she qualified for the fourth consecutive year, as the No. 6 seed. She was placed in the White Group, consisting of the No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva, No. 3 seed Kim Clijsters, and No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka. After losing her opening match to Zvonareva 3 and 0 Janković reportedly collapsed in the locker room. She was advised to go to hospital but refused and came out to play Clijsters the next day and lost the match. Janković's torrid time in Doha came to an end when she lost her third and final group match to Azerenka. This loss again in straight sets ment that she had lost her last 10 sets of tennis played, bring an end to her 2010 season.

On November 30, Janković played humanitarian match in Pionir Hall. Revenue from tickets is intended to help elementary school in Kraljevo damaged by an earthquake.

2011

At the start of the year, Janković announced her decision to work with Andrei Pavel on a trial basis.

She began 2011 by falling in the first round to France's Aravane Rezaï in three sets at the Medibank International Sydney. Her poor form continued at the Australian Open, losing in the second round against Shuai Peng 7–6 (7–3) 6–3, after defeating the Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in the 1st round.

Despite a dismal start to the season, Janković did well to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships beating Kaia Kanepi and 4th seed Samantha Stosur. However, she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the semi final 7–5, 6–3, despite having a 4–0 head to head against her as well as having four set points in the 1st set. The defeat in the end can be contributed to tiredness Jankovic noted.

Up next for Jankovic was the Qatar Ladies Open. She reached the semi-finals again, losing to Vera Zvonareva 1–6, 6–2, 4–6. The Russian has now beaten the Serb in their last five meetings. She then reached the final of the Monterrey Open, where she was defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–2, 2–6, 3–6, despite being up a set. Indian Wells Masters was next for Jankovic, where she is the defending champion. She was given a bye in the first round and defeated the American wildcard, Coco Vandeweghe 6–2, 6–1. She then defeated German Julia Görges 6–2, 6–4 in the third round. She was defeated by fellow Serb Ana Ivanović in the fourth round, losing 4–6, 2–6.

Jankovic's next tournament was the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she was the sixth seed. She received a bye in the first round and defeated Monica Niculescu 6–3, 6–1, and then defeated Klára Zakopalová 7–5, 6–1 to advance to the fourth round. She then defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–1, 6–3 for a spot in the quarterfinals. She lost to Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals 6–2 2–6 4–6 despite leading 4–2 in the final set.

Jankovic's next tournament is Family Circle Cup in Charleston. After receiving bye in the first round she defeated Tamira Paszek in two sets 6–2 6–3. She next defeated Chanelle Scheepers 6–2 6–2. Jelena easily dispatched Christina McHale 6–2 6–0 in the quarterfinal. She lost in the semifinal to World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki 6–4 6–4.

She then played Fed Cup against Slovakia. She appeared on sunday's singles match against Daniela Hantuchová which she won 6–2 3–6 7–5, despite being down 3–1 in the third set. Later on, she won an epic doubles match with Aleksandra Krunic against Daniela Hantuchová and Magdalena Rybarikova 2–6 7–5 9–7, despite being down 6–2 5–1 30–0 and saving 3 match points. With this, Serbia was placed in World Group I again.

Her next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She was seeded 7th and faced Beatriz Garcia Vidagany in the first round; she won 6–1, 6–2. In the second round, she was defeated by Germany's Andrea Petkovic 6–3, 1–6, 3–6. Next up for Jankovic was the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. She drew Spanish wildcard Laura Pous-Tio in the first round; Jankovic won comprehensively 6–2, 6–0. She lost to Lucie Šafářová in the second round 4–6 6–4 5–7.

However, at 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia Jelena got her revenge to Safarova beating Czech player 6–0 6–3. Jelena won first nine games of the match before Safarova won a single game. She then defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues in the third round 6–4 2–6 6–2. She lost to World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals 3–6 6–1 3–6, third time in the row. Her ranking dropped to No. 10, lowest since the beginning of 2007.

Her next tournament was Brussels Ladies Open. In the first round she defeated Anastasia Rodionova 6–2 6–3 but lost in the second round to Sofia Arvidsson 6–3 3–6 3–6.

Jankovic was the 10th seed at 2011 French Open. In the first round she defeated Alona Bondarenko 6–3 6–1. She then went on and defeated Vera Dushevina in the second round 6–3 6–2. In the third round she defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–2 6–2. Jankovic then fell to 5th seed and defending champion Francesca Schiavone 3–6 6–2 4–6. As result she dropped out of top 10 for the first time since early 2007, with her position being No. 15.

Jankovic was the 15th seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, but lost to María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round, her first opening round exit in a Grand Slam since the 2005 French Open.

Her next tournament was 2011 Rogers Cup where she fell in the first round to Julia Georges 1-6 3-6.

Jankovic was seeded 13th at the 2011 Western & Southern Open, where she defeated Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-3, Jie Zheng 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. She secured a spot in the semifinals in a walkover when Peng Shuai withdrew with injury. She defeated Andrea Petkovic in the semifinal 7-6(4), 6-1. However, Jankovic lost to Maria Sharapova, 6-4, 6-7(3), 3-6. Her improved form is the result of hiring Ricardo Sanchez as her coach again, who once helped her to achieve the World No.1 spot.

Playing style

Jelena Janković is often regarded as a counterpuncher. Jelena is known for being able to slide effectively on all surfaces. Janković has very consistent ground strokes and prefers to go down the line more often than crosscourt. Her signature shot is her two-handed backhand. She also has a decent forehand and a fair net game, being able to hit effective drive, drop and swinging volleys. Her main weakness is her serve. She likes to spin it in on the first and second serve which can lead to her getting broken many times in matches. Her weakest surface is considered grass and her best surface is fast hard court where she can use her defense and speed to win matches.

Personal life

Janković was the subject of the 2008 autobiographical documentary, ''Jelenin svet (Jelena's World),'' featuring Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanović, Elena Dementieva and other notable players. and she will now feature in a TV advertisement. She is also Face of new Orbit endorsement.

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1–0)

Grand Slam record

''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. {|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:98% |- !Tournament!!2000!!2001!!2002!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!SR!!W–L |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Australian Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#efefef|0 / 9 |bgcolor=#efefef|18–9 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|French Open |A |A |A |LQ |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#efefef|0 / 8 |bgcolor=#efefef|23–8 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|Wimbledon |A |A |A |LQ |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#efefef|0 / 8 |bgcolor=#efefef|16–8 |- |bgcolor=#EFEFEF align=left|US Open |A |A | LQ |LQ |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R || |bgcolor=#efefef|0 / 7 |bgcolor=#efefef|21–7 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !1–1 !2–4 !5–4 !11–4 !15–4 !19–4 !9–4 !12–4 !4–3 !0 / 32 !78–32 |}

Awards

;2006

WTA Most Improved Player of the Year

;2007

WTA Tour ACES Award

National Tennis Association Award Best Female Player

;2008

ITF Women's Singles World Champion

Status Magazine's The Personality of the Year

Best European Award

AIPS Best Third Athlete

;2009

Guinness Book of World Records In Making a Photo-Mosaic

Oscar Of Popularity Best Female Athlete

;2010

Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Heart Award

Oscar Of Popularity Best Female Athlete

See also

Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)

Serbia Fed Cup team

List of Wimbledon Mixed Doubles champions

International Tennis Federation

''Jelenin svet''

References

External links

United Athletes Magazine Interview with Janković (from November 2006).

Facebook page of Jelena Janković

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Serbian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Category:Serbian female tennis players Category:People from Belgrade Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic tennis players of Serbia and Montenegro Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic tennis players of Serbia Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Serbia

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Coordinates	55°45′0″N37°36′57″N
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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