2004 French Open
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Date:		24 May – 6 June
Edition:		103rd
Category:		Grand Slam (ITF)
Surface:		Clay
Location:		Paris (XVIe), France
Venue:		Stade Roland Garros
Champions
Men's Singles
Gastón Gaudio
Women's Singles
Anastasia Myskina
Men's Doubles
Xavier Malisse / Olivier Rochus
Women's Doubles
Virginia Ruano Pascual / Paola Suárez
Mixed Doubles
Tatiana Golovin / Richard Gasquet
French Open  < 2003 2005 >

The 2004 French Open was the 103rd edition of the tournament. Gastón Gaudio became the first men's Open Era Grand Slam title winner to save match points (2) in the final; the last time that had happened was 70 years earlier. Gaudio also became the first Argentine man since Guillermo Vilas to win a grand slam, in 1979. Fellow Argentine Guillermo Coria, widely regarded as the favourite and best clay court player in the world coming into the tournament, was seeded 3rd for the event, whereas Gaudio was unseeded and with only two titles to his name, both of which he had won over two years before. After winning the first two sets convincingly, Coria began suffering from leg cramps. Gaudio won the next two sets; however, Coria came back and was up two breaks of serve in the final set. Coria had two match points at 6–5 before Gaudio prevailed 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6. Gaudio also became the first man to win a Grand Slam after being bagelled in the first set. The tournament was noted for the excellent performance of the Argentine players – in addition to the two finalists, there were a semifinalist (David Nalbandian) and a quarterfinalist (Juan Ignacio Chela). It was also highlighted by a 1st round match between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clément, lasting 6 hours and 33 minutes and ending in Clement's defeat 6–4, 6–3, 6–7, 3–6, 16–14, breaking the record for the longest singles match in the open era. However this record has recently been broken in the 2010 Wimbledon with John Isner's and Nicolas Mahut's first-round match.

In the women's draw, Anastasia Myskina became first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam title. The next two Grand Slams were also won by Russian women (Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon; Svetlana Kuznetsova, U.S. Open). She also became the first French Open women's title winner after having saved match point en route to the title (against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 4th round).

In the mixed doubles, French players Tatiana Golovin and Richard Gasquet (aged 16 and 17 respectively) won the tournament after entering as wildcards. France also saw success in the boy's singles, where Gaël Monfils won.

The tournament is also notable for being the last Grand Slam event at which Roger Federer failed to reach at least the semi-finals before his record-breaking run of 23 successive Grand Slam semi-finals, ending at the 2010 French Open.

Seniors[link]

[edit] Men's Singles^[1]

Gastón Gaudio^[2] def. Guillermo Coria 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6

• It was Gaudio's 1st title of the year, and his 3rd overall. It was his 1st career Grand Slam title.

Women's Singles[link]

Anastasia Myskina^[3] def. Elena Dementieva 6–1, 6–2

• It was Myskina's 2nd title of the year, and her 8th overall. It was her 1st career Grand Slam title.

Men's Doubles[link]

Xavier Malisse / Olivier Rochus def. Michaël Llodra / Fabrice Santoro 7–5, 7–5

• It was Malisse and Rochus' 1st career Grand Slam title.

Women's Doubles[link]

Virginia Ruano / Paola Suárez def. Svetlana Kuznetsova / Elena Likhovtseva 6–0, 6–3

Mixed Doubles[link]

Tatiana Golovin / Richard Gasquet def. Cara Black / Wayne Black 6–3, 6–4

Top 5 Seeds[link]

Juniors[link]

Boys' Singles[link]

Gaël Monfils def. Alex Kuznetsov, 6–2, 6–2

Girls' Singles[link]

Sesil Karatantcheva def. Mădălina Gojnea, 6–4, 6–0

Boys' Doubles[link]

Pablo Andújar / Marcel Granollers-Pujol def. Alex Kuznetsov / Mihail Zverev, 6–3, 6–2

Girls' Doubles[link]

Kateřina Böhmová / Michaëlla Krajicek def. Irina Kotkina / Yaroslava Shvedova, 6–3, 6–2

Notes[link]

1. ^ This was the first ever all-Argentinean Men's Singles final.
2. ^ Gaudio became the first Argentine player since Guillermo Vilas (in 1977) to win the Men's Singles title.
3. ^ Myskina became the first female player from Russia to win a Grand Slam title.

French Open Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros
120px
Official website
Location	Paris(XVIe)  France
Venue	Tennis Club de Paris, at Auteuil (some of the years from 1891–1908) Île de Puteaux (some of the years from 1891–1908) Racing Club de France (some of the years from 1891–1908, then 1910 to 1924, 1926 ) Société Athlétique de la Villa Primrose in Bordeaux (1909) Stade Français (1925, 1927) Stade Roland Garros (1928–present)
Surface	Sand – Île de Puteaux Clay – All other venues (Outdoors)
Men's draw	128S / 128Q / 64D
Women's draw	128S / 96Q / 64D
Prize money	€18,718,000 (2012)[1]
Grand Slam
Australian Open French Open Wimbledon US Open
Current
2012 French Open

The French Open, often referred to as Roland Garros (French: Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros, IPA: [ʁɔlɑ̃ ɡaʁɔs]), named after the famous French aviator Roland Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam held on clay and ends the spring clay court season.

It is one of the largest events in tennis,^[2] and the most watched French event in the world.^[3][4] Because of the slow playing surface and the five-set men's singles matches without a tiebreak in the final set, the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.^[5][6]

Currently, the 2012 French Open is being conducted from May 27 to June 10, 2012 in Paris.

History[link]

Officially named in French Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros (the "French Internationals of Roland Garros" or "Roland Garros Tournament" in English), the tournament is often referred to in English as the "French Open" and alternatively as "Roland Garros", which is the designation used by the tournament itself in all languages, including English. In French, a hyphen is inserted after death, hence the French spelling "Roland-Garros". ^[7]

In 1891, a national tennis tournament began to be held, that was open only to tennis players who were members of French clubs. It was known as the Championnat de France, which is commonly referred to in English as the French Championships. The first women's tournament was held in 1897. This "French club members only" tournament was played until 1924. This tournament had four venues during those years:

• Île de Puteaux, in Puteaux, played on sand laid out on a bed of rubble.

• The Racing Club de France (in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris), played on clay.

• For one year, 1909, it was played at the Société Athlétique de la Villa Primrose in Bordeaux, on clay.

• Tennis Club de Paris, at Auteuil, Paris, played on clay.

Another tournament, the World Hard Court Championships held on clay courts at Stade Français in Saint-Cloud from 1912 to 1914, then in 1920, 1921 and 1923, and at Brussels, Belgium in 1922, is sometimes considered as the precursor to the French Open as it was open to international competitors. Winners of this tournament included world no. 1's such as Tony Wilding from New Zealand (1913, 1914) and Bill Tilden from the US (1921). In 1924 there was no World Hard Court Championships due to the tennis being played at the Paris Olympic Games.

Suzanne Lenglen Court at Roland Garros.

In 1925, the French Championships became open to all amateurs internationally. This tournament was held at the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud (site of the previous World Hardcourt Championships) in 1925 and 1927, on clay. In 1926 the Racing Club de France hosted the event in Paris, again on clay (site of the previous "French club members only" Championship). In 1928, the Roland Garros stadium was opened and the event has been held there ever since.^[8] After the Mousquetaires or Philadelphia Four (René Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, and Jacques Brugnon) won the Davis Cup on American soil in 1927, the French decided to defend the cup in 1928 at a new tennis stadium at Porte d’Auteuil. The Stade de France had offered the tennis authorities three hectares of land with the condition that the new stadium must be named after the World War I pilot, Roland Garros. The new Stade de Roland Garros, and its Center Court, which was named Court Philippe Chatrier in 1988, hosted that Davis Cup challenge.

From 1946 through 1947, the French Championships were held after Wimbledon, making it the third Grand Slam event of the year.

In 1968, the French Championships became the first Grand Slam tournament to go open, allowing both amateurs and professionals to compete.^[8]

Court number 2 at the French Open.

Since 1981, new prizes have been presented: the Prix Orange (for the player demonstrating the best sportsmanship and cooperative attitude with the press), the Prix Citron (for the player with the strongest character and personality) and the Prix Bourgeon (for the tennis player revelation of the year).

In another novelty, since 2006 the tournament has begun on a Sunday, featuring 12 singles matches played on the three main courts.

Additionally, on the eve of the tournament's opening, the traditional Benny Berthet exhibition day takes place, where the profits go to different charity associations.

In March 2007, it was announced that the event would provide equal prize money for both men and women in all rounds for the first time.^[9] In 2010, it was announced that the French Open was considering a move away from Roland Garros as part of a continuing rejuvenation of the tournament.^[10]

Surface characteristics[link]

Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce when compared to grass courts or hard courts. For this reason, clay courts take away some of the advantages of big serves and serve-and-volleyers, which makes it hard for serve-based players to dominate on the surface. For example, Pete Sampras, a player known for his huge serve, never won the French Open (nor even advanced to the final) in his entire career. Many players who have won multiple Grand Slam events have never won the French Open, including John McEnroe, Venus Williams, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova. Andy Roddick, who once held the record for the second-fastest serve (249 km/hr) in the history of professional tennis and who has reached at least the semifinals of the other three Grand Slams multiple times, has never advanced past the fourth round at the French Open.

On the other hand, players whose games are more suited to slower surfaces, such as Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Rafael Nadal, and Mats Wilander, and on the women's side Justine Henin, have found great success at this tournament. In the open era, the only male players who have won both the French Open and Wimbledon, played on faster grass courts, are Rod Laver, Jan Kodeš, Björn Borg, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

2010 French Open

Expansion vs. relocation[link]

In 2009 the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) announced that it had determined that the French Open's venue had become inadequate, compared to other major tennis tournament facilities. As a result, it had commissioned the French architect Marc Mimram (designer of the Passerelle des Deux Rives footbridge across the Rhine River in Strasbourg^[11]) to design a significant expansion of Stade Roland Garros. On the current property, the proposal calls for the addition of lights and a roof over Court Philippe Chatrier. At the nearby Georges Hébert municipal recreation area, east of Roland Garros at Porte d'Auteuil, a fourth stadium will be built, with a retractable roof and 14,600 seating capacity, along with two smaller courts with seating for 1,500 and 750.^[12]

In 2010, faced with opposition to the proposed expansion from factions within the Paris City Council, the FFT announced it is considering an alternate plan to move the French Open to a completely new, 55-court venue outside of Paris city limits. Three sites reportedly being considered are Marne-la-Vallée (site of the Euro Disney resort), the northern Paris suburb of Gonesse, and a vacant army base near Versailles.^[13] Amid charges of bluffing and brinkmanship, a spokesman explained that Roland Garros is less than half the size of other Grand Slam venues, leaving the FFT with only two viable options: expansion of the existing facility or relocation of the event.^[14]

In February 2011, the decision was taken to keep the French Open at its current location near the Porte d'Auteuil. The venue will undergo major renovations by 2016. Court n°1 will be demolished, while 2 new courts will be built. In addition, a retractable roof will be installed on the Philippe Chatrier court, and the size of the venue will be expanded by 60%.

Ball Boys and Ball Girls[link]

At the 2010 French Open there were 250 "ramasseurs de balles" which in English translates literally as "gatherers of balls". They are aged between 12 and 16 years old, and dress in matching shirts and shorts. The 250 ball boys and ball girls are chosen to take part in the French Open by an application and selection process, which in 2010 had approximately 2,500 applicants from across France.^[15] Upon selection the ball boys and ball girls participate in preparatory training in the weeks leading up to the French Open to ensure that they are prepared for the day they set foot on the professional tennis court in front of a global audience.

Prize money and ranking points[link]

For 2012, the prize money purse was increased to €18,718,000 from €17,520,000 in 2011. The prize money and points breakdown is as follows:^[16]

_{* per team}

Champions[link]

• Men's Singles, winner of the Coupe des Mousquetaires
• Women's Singles, winner of the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen
• Men's Doubles, winners of the Coupe Jacques Brugnon
• Women's Doubles, winners of the Coupe Simone Mathieu
• Mixed Doubles, winners of the Coupe Marcel Bernard
• Singles Finals, records and statistics

The trophies are all made of pure silver with finely etched decorations on their side, each new singles winner gets his or her name written on the plate holding the trophy.

Winners receive a replica of the won trophy. Pure silver replicas of the trophies are fabricated and engraved for each winner by the Maison Mellerio, located in the Rue de la Paix, Paris.

Current champions[link]

• 

  Rafael Nadal won his sixth French Open title, and the tenth slam title of his career.

• 

  Li Na won her first-ever Grand Slam tennis singles title, and the first-ever Grand Slam singles title for Asia and China.

• 

  Daniel Nestor was part of the winning men's doubles team. Nestor won his third French Open Men's Doubles title, and the seventh slam title in that discipline.

• 

  Max Mirnyi was part of the winning men's doubles team. Mirnyi won his third French Open Men's Doubles title, and fifth Major title in that discipline.

• 

  Andrea Hlaváčková was a member of the victorious Women's Doubles team, claiming her first Major title. She and her partner were unseeded in the Women's Doubles draw.

• 

  Lucie Hradecká was a member of the victorious Women's Doubles team, claiming her first Grand Slam tournament title. She and her partner were unseeded in the Women's Doubles draw.

• 

  Casey Dellacqua was part of the winning mixed doubles team. Dellacqua won her first French Open Mixed Doubles title, and the first slam title in mixed doubles.

• 

  Scott Lipsky was part of the winning mixed doubles team. Lipsky won his first French Open Mixed Doubles title, and his first slam title in mixed doubles.

Event	Champion	Runner-up	Score
2011 Men's Singles	Rafael Nadal	Roger Federer	7–5, 7–6(7–3), 5–7, 6–1
2011 Women's Singles	Li Na	Francesca Schiavone	6–4, 7–6(7–0)
2011 Men's Doubles	Daniel Nestor Max Mirnyi	Juan Sebastián Cabal Eduardo Schwank	7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–4
2011 Women's Doubles	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	Sania Mirza Elena Vesnina	6–4, 6–3
2011 Mixed Doubles	Casey Dellacqua Scott Lipsky	Katarina Srebotnik Nenad Zimonjić	7–6(8–6), 4–6, [10–7]

Records[link]

Record	Era	Player(s)	Num.	Years
Men since 1891
Winner of most men's singles titles	Before 1925:	Max Decugis (French club members only event)	8	1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1913, 1914
	1925–1967:	Henri Cochet	4	1926, 1928, 1930, 1932 Note: Also won World Hard Court Championship in 1922
	After 1967:	Björn Borg Rafael Nadal	6	1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
Winner of most consecutive men's singles titles	Before 1925:	Paul Aymé (French club members only event)	4	1897, 1898, 1899, 1900
	1925–1967:	Frank Parker Jaroslav Drobný Tony Trabert Nicola Pietrangeli	2	1948, 1949 1951, 1952 1954, 1955 1959, 1960
	After 1967:	Björn Borg Rafael Nadal	4	1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Winner of most men's doubles titles	Before 1925:	Max Decugis (French club members only event)	14	1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1920
	1925–1967:	Roy Emerson	6	1960, 1962 with Neale Fraser; 1961 with Rod Laver; 1963 with Manuel Santana; 1964 with Ken Fletcher; 1965 with Fred Stolle
	After 1967:	Paul Haarhuis Yevgeny Kafelnikov Leander Paes	3	1995, 1998 with Jacco Eltingh; 2002 with Yevgeny Kafelnikov 1996, 1997 with Daniel Vacek; 2002 with Paul Haarhuis 1999; 2001 with Mahesh Bhupati; 2009 with Lukáš Dlouhý
Winner of most consecutive men's doubles titles	Before 1925:	Max Decugis (French club members only event)	13	1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914
	1925–1967:	Roy Emerson	6	1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
	After 1967:	Gene Mayer Yevgeny Kafelnikov & Daniel Vacek Jonas Björkman & Max Mirnyi Daniel Nestor & Nenad Zimonjić	2	1978 with Hank Pfister; 1979 with Sandy Mayer 1996, 1997 2005, 2006 2010, 2011
Winner of most mixed doubles titles – Men	Before 1925:	Max Decugis (French club members only event)	7	1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1914 and 1920 with Suzanne Lenglen
	1925-today:	Jean-Claude Barclay	4	1968, 1971, 1973 with Françoise Durr
Winner of most titles (total: singles, doubles, mixed) – men	Before 1925:	Max Decugis	29	1902–1920 (8 singles, 14 doubles, 7 mixed)
	1925-today:	Roy Emerson	8	1960–1967 (2 singles, 6 doubles)
Women since 1897
Winner of most women's singles titles	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	6	1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926 Note: Also won World Hard Court Championship in 1914, 1921, 1922 & 1923
	After 1967:	Chris Evert	7	1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986
Winner of most consecutive women's singles titles	Before 1968:	Jeanne Matthey Suzanne Lenglen	4	1909, 1910, 1911, 1912 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923
	After 1967:	/ Monica Seles Justine Henin	3	1990, 1991, 1992 2005, 2006, 2007
Winner of most women's doubles titles	Before 1968:	Simone Mathieu	6	1933, 1934 with Elizabeth Ryan; 1936, 1937, 1938 with Billie Yorke; 1939 with Jadwiga Jędrzejowska
	After 1967:	/ Martina Navratilova	7	1975 (with Chris Evert); 1982 with Anne Smith; 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 with Pam Shriver; 1986 with Andrea Temesvári
Winner of most consecutive women's doubles titles	Before 1968:	Françoise Durr	5	1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971
	After 1967:	Martina Navratilova Gigi Fernández	5	1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 with Pam Shriver; 1986 with Andrea Temesvári 1991 with Jana Novotná; 1992–95 with Natasha Zvereva
Winner of most mixed doubles titles – women	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	7	1914, 1920 with Max Decugis 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926 with Jacques Brugnon
	After 1967:	Françoise Durr	3	1968, 1971, 1973 with Jean-Claude Barclay
Winner of most titles (total: singles, doubles, mixed) – women	Before 1968:	Suzanne Lenglen	15	1919–1926 (6 singles, 2 doubles, 7 mixed)
	After 1967:	/ Martina Navratilova	11	1974–88 (2 singles, 7 doubles, 2 mixed)
Miscellaneous
Youngest winner	Men:	Michael Chang	17 years and 3 months
	Women:	Monica Seles	16 years and 6 months
Oldest winner	Men:	Andrés Gimeno	34 years and 10 months
	Women:	Chris Evert	31 years and 6 months
Unseeded Winners	Men:	Marcel Bernard Mats Wilander Gustavo Kuerten Gastón Gaudio	1946 1982 1997 2004
	Women:	Margaret Scriven	1933

See also[link]

	Tennis portal
	France portal

• List of French Open men's singles champions
• List of French Open women's singles champions
• List of French Open Men's Doubles champions
• List of French Open Women's Doubles champions
• List of French Open Mixed Doubles champions

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roland Garros

• Official Site
• (French) Roland Garros on France2
• (French) Roland Garros on ina.fr : more than 600 hours of audio/visual archives
• Satellite image of the venue (Google Maps)
• Photos of Roland Garros
• French Open – All winners and runners-up. Reference book
• Roland Garros Draws in Rich CSS

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Coordinates: 48°50′49.79″N 2°14′57.18″E / 48.8471639°N 2.2492167°E / 48.8471639; 2.2492167

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Anastasiya Myskina
Анастасия Мыскина

Country	Russia
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Born	(1981-07-08) July 8, 1981 (age 30) Moscow, Soviet Union
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)
Turned pro	1998
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 5,606,725
Singles
Career record	355–191 (74.89%)
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	No. 2 (September 13, 2004)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2003, 2004)
French Open	W (2004)
Wimbledon	QF (2005, 2006)
US Open	QF (2003)
Doubles
Career record	100–92
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 15 (February 21, 2005)
Last updated on: December 31, 2007.

Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina (Анастасия Мыскина [ɐnəstɐˈsʲijə ˈmɨskʲɪnə]; born July 8, 1981, Moscow, Russia) is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to reach the top three in the history of the rankings. In September 2004 she reached a career high of No.2, but she has not played professional tennis since 2007, and has stated she does not know whether she will return or not. Injury has prevented her from advancing for the past several years.

Tennis career[link]

1999-2001[link]

Myskina turned professional in 2000, the year in which she broke into the WTA top 500. She won her first WTA title in Palermo in only her second appearance in the main draw of a WTA tournament. She made her debut in  a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open and the Fed Cup (playing doubles). In 2000, Myskina scored first career Top 20 victory over number 17 Barbara Schett en route to a Sopot semifinal. She debuted at Roland Garros (which she would later win) and Wimbledon. She played in the Sydney Olympics and reached her first Tier I quarterfinal in Zürich, where she lost to world number 1 Martina Hingis. Myskina was plagued by injury that forced her to miss the Australian Open. As a result, she fell out of the Top 100 Rankings. She then had a solid indoors performance, reaching the quarterfinals in Leipzig (became the first Russian to beat Anna Kournikova) and to the semifinals in Moscow, her first career Tier I SF).

2002[link]

2002 was a breakthrough season for Myskina. She scored her first Top 10 win over defending champion Jelena Dokić in Rome, and entered the Top 20 afterwards. Myskina reached back-to-back grass court finals in Birmingham and Eastbourne, and rose to number 15 in the rankings. She won her first Tier II title in Bahia, and another runner-up finish in Leipzig confirmed her spot in WTA Tour Championships. She finished the 2002 season in the top 15 for the first time in her career.

2003[link]

Myskina obtained an invite from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play The Hong Kong Ladies Chellenge 2003 and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals (her first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance of six). After claiming the title in Doha and defeating friend Elena Likhovtseva in the first all-Russian final in WTA history, she cracked the Top 10. Established her place among the game elite with a win in Sarasota, Myskina also had mediocre results during the summer season were followed by a quarterfinal appearance at the US Open, back-to-back titles in Leipzig (defeating No.1 Kim Clijsters and No.2 Justine Henin) and Moscow, which was her first Tier I title. She became the first Russian woman to win the Kremlin Cup), and she made the finals in Philadelphia. Myskina qualified for the Tour Championships. She earned more than $US1 million in prize money, and finished the year in the Top 10 for the first time in her career.

2004[link]

2004 was Myskina's best season to date. Myskina successfully defended her Doha title, afterwards becoming the second Russian woman to break into the Top 5, the first was Natasha Zvereva, who rose to number 5 in the World in May 1989. The highlight of Myskina's 2004 season was a victory at the French Open, where she saved match points in the fourth round against Svetlana Kuznetsova, then defeated former world number 1 players Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati, en route to a 6–1, 6–2 victory over compatriot Elena Dementieva in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final, thus making her the first female Russian to win a Grand Slam singles title. Prior to her French Open victory, she had never made it past the 2nd round at Roland Garros. Following her win in Paris, she rose to No.3 in the rankings. She reached the final in San Diego, breaking Maria Sharapova's 14-match winning streak that included Wimbledon and beat Vera Zvonareva 17-15 in a third set tie-break, saving 9 match points, winning the longest final set tie-break in WTA Tour history. She lost in the 2004 Athens Olympics semifinal to Justine Henin, having led 5–1 in the final set. She rose to a career-high number 2 in the rankings. Myskina recovered from the tough loss to win the Kremlin Cup for the second straight year, and beat number 2 Lindsay Davenport for the first time in 5 meetings en route to doing so. She finished on the top of her group at the WTA Tour Championships, and scored her second win over a world number 1 by again beating Davenport, but lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion Sharapova. Myskina led Russia to its first Fed Cup title, winning 8 out of 9 matches played, including winning all of her 3 matches in the final. Finished the season as world number 3, a career-best year-end rank for a female Russian, and won over $2 millions in prize money, having scored ten Top 10 wins during the 2004 season.

2005[link]

Myskina with Zvonareva

2005 brought Myskina mixed fortunes. She spent the first half of 2005 poorly, due to personal issues regarding her mother's health. Myskina surrendered her Doha and Roland Garros titles in the very first round, and became the first Roland Garros champion to lose in the opening round.  Bringing an 8-10 win-loss record to the beginning of the grass court season, Myskina managed to turn it around at Wimbledon by reaching her career-first quarterfinal at the event with three comeback wins over Jelena Janković (from a 1–5 final set deficit), and over Dementieva (being 1–6, 0–3 down and facing match points in the second set tiebreak).  She fell out of the Top 10 in August.  She then won a tenth career title in Kolkata beating lower-ranked opponents. She did, however, beat the 2005 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in Fed Cup semifinals, but then lost both of her matches in the final. Myskina finished inside Top 15 for the fourth straight time.

2006[link]

2006 was another disappointing season for Myskina.  Having had several chances to return to the Top 10, she failed to convert any of them. In Warsaw, she suffered her worst defeat in terms of the rankings on WTA Tour level, falling to a wild card, Agnieszka Radwańska, ranked No. 309. She showed splashes of her old form during the grass season, having reached the Eastbourne final beautifully, losing to Justine Henin in a close final concluded in a third set tiebreak. She made the Wimbledon quarterfinals, but lost to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo in three sets. She had solid performance at the first two Grand Slams, making the 4th round on each occasion. After Wimbledon, her game completely fall apart. Along with second straight runner-up finish at the Tier IV event in Stockholm, she did not manage to win a single match in North America, going 0–3 during the US Open Series.  The downfall reached its nadir with a first round loss at the US Open, having entered the event under an injury cloud carried over from New Haven.  Anastasia sat out for a majority of the indoor season with a foot and toe injury, pulling out of Stuttgart and her home tournament in Moscow.  She returned to play in Zürich, but lost to unknown Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky, 6–3, 6–3.

2007[link]

Myskina only played two singles matches, having been injured. She lost both of those matches; including to Meghann Shaughnessy at the French Open, only winning a game.^[1][2] As of July 25, 2007, Myskina fell to the same ranking as the wildcard she lost to, Agnieszka Radwańska, of Number 309. She also is unranked for doubles. Myskina is taking time off due to a career-threatening injury.^[3][4]

Personal life[link]

Myskina dated HC Dynamo Moscow hockey player Aleksandr Stepanov,^[5]

In October 2002, Myskina had a series of photos taken for GQ magazine by the photographer Mark Seliger for a spread in the October 2002 edition of GQ, in which one approved photo of her fully clothed was published. After she won the French Open in 2004, some photographs from the shoot, in which she appeared topless, were published in the July/August 2004 issue of the Russian magazine Medved (Bear). In August 2004, she filed an $8 million USD lawsuit against the men's magazine GQ for allowing her topless photographs to appear in a Russian magazine Medved without her consent.^[6] On June 19, 2005, U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey, later United States Attorney General, ruled that Anastasia Myskina could not stop the distribution of the topless photos, because she had signed a release. Myskina had claimed that she did not understand the photo release form and that she was not fluent in English at the time.^[7]

Myskina announced that she was pregnant with her first child, due in May 2008. She has previously dated Russian hockey player Konstantin Korneyev, but refuses to state the name of the father.^[8] On April 28, 2008 Myskina gave birth to her first child, a boy named Zhenya (Yevgenyi).^[9]

Major finals[link]

Grand Slam singles final[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2004	French Open	Clay	Elena Dementieva	6–1, 6–2

WTA Tier I singles finals (2 titles, 1 runner-up)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2003	Moscow	Carpet (i)	Amélie Mauresmo	6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	2004	San Diego	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–1, 6–1
Winner	2004	Moscow	Carpet (i)	Elena Dementieva	7–5, 6–0

Career finals[link]

Singles (19)[link]

Wins (10)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	July 18, 1999	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Ángeles Montolio	3–6, 7–6(3), 6–2
2.	September 14, 2002	Bahia, Brazil	Hard	Eleni Daniilidou	6–3, 0–6, 6–2
3.	February 16, 2003	Doha, Qatar (1)	Hard	Elena Likhovtseva	6–3, 6–1
4.	April 6, 2003	Sarasota, USA	Clay	Alicia Molik	6–4, 6–1
5.	September 28, 2003	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet (i)	Justine Henin	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
6.	October 5, 2003	Moscow, Russia (1)	Carpet (i)	Amélie Mauresmo	6–2, 6–4
7.	March 6, 2004	Doha, Qatar (2)	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	4–6, 6–4, 6–4
8.	June 3, 2004	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Elena Dementieva	6–1, 6–2
9.	October 17, 2004	Moscow, Russia (2)	Carpet (i)	Elena Dementieva	7–5, 6–0
10.	September 25, 2005	Kolkata, India	Carpet (i)	Karolina Šprem	6–2, 6–2

Runner-ups (9)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	June 16, 2002	Birmingham, UK	Grass	Jelena Dokić	6–2, 6–3
2.	June 22, 2002	Eastbourne, UK (1)	Grass	Chanda Rubin	6–1, 6–3
3.	September 29, 2002	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet (i)	Serena Williams	6–3, 6–2
4.	November 2, 2003	Philadelphia, USA	Hard (i)	Amélie Mauresmo	5–7, 6–0, 6–2
5.	August 1, 2004	San Diego, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–1, 6–1
6.	August 14, 2005	Stockholm, Sweden (1)	Hard	Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 6–2
7.	May 27, 2006	Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Shahar Pe'er	1–6, 6–3, 7–6(3)
8.	June 24, 2006	Eastbourne, UK (2)	Grass	Justine Henin	4–6, 6–1, 7–6(5)
9.	August 13, 2006	Stockholm, Sweden (2)	Hard	Zheng Jie	6–4, 6–1

Doubles (6)[link]

Wins (5)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	September 19, 2004	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Svetlana Kuznetsova Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 7–5
2.	October 17, 2004	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Vera Zvonareva	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	6–3, 4–6, 6–2
3.	September 25, 2005	Kolkata, India	Carpet (i)	Elena Likhovtseva	Neha Uberoi Shikha Uberoi	6–1, 6–0
4.	October 9, 2005	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Daniela Hantuchová	Květa Peschke Francesca Schiavone	6–0, 3–6, 7–5
5.	May 7, 2006	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Elena Likhovtseva	Anabel Medina Garrigues Katarina Srebotnik	6–3, 6–4

Runner-up (1)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	October 5, 2003	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Vera Zvonareva	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	6–3, 6–4

Singles performance timeline[link]

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 2007 French Open, which ended on June 10, 2007.

WTA Tour career earnings[link]

Head-to-head record against other players[link]

Myskina's win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked World No. 10 or higher is as follows:

Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface.

Awards[link]

See also[link]

• List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anastasia Myskina

• Anastasia Myskina at the Women's Tennis Association
• Official Anastasia Myskina Website (Russian)
• Official Anastasia Myskina Website (English)

Maria Sharapova

Country	Russia
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, United States
Born	(1987-04-19) April 19, 1987 (age 25) Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight	59 kilograms (130 lb)[1]
Turned pro	April 19, 2001
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$ 19,323,417[2]
Singles
Career record	441–109
Career titles	26 WTA, 4 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 1 (August 30, 2005)
Current ranking	No. 2 (May 28, 2012)[3]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (2008)
French Open	SF (2007, 2011)
Wimbledon	W (2004)
US Open	W (2006)
Other tournaments
Championships	W (2004)
Doubles
Career record	23–17
Career titles	3 WTA
Highest ranking	41 (January 30, 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2003, 2004)
US Open	2R (2003)
Last updated on: May 28, 2012.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (Russian: Мария Юрьевна Шарапова [mɐˈrʲijə ˈjurʲjɪvnə ʂɐˈrapəvə] ( listen), US: /ʃɑrəˈpoʊvə/, UK: /ʃærəˈpoʊvə/; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and former world no. 1. A United States resident since 1994,^[4] Sharapova has won 26 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open. She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked Sharapova world no. 1 in singles on four separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last regained the ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. As of May 28, 2012, Sharapova is ranked world no. 2. She has been in six Grand Slam finals with the final record 3–3.

Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 at age 17, when she defeated two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She entered the top 10 of the WTA Rankings with the win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the no. 1 ranking, and reached three Grand Slam semifinals, losing to the eventual champion each time. She won her second major at the 2006 US Open defeating then-world no. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals and world no. 2 Justine Henin in the final.

Sharapova's 2007 season was plagued with a chronic shoulder injury and saw her ranking fall out of the top 5 for the first time in two years. She won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final. After reclaiming the no. 1 ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for 10 months. Sharapova returned in May 2009 and was ranked no. 126 in the world due to her extensive lay-off. Since her comeback, Sharapova has won seven singles titles (bringing her career total to 26) and improved her ranking to no. 2 in the world.

Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has been featured in many advertisements, including for Nike, Prince and Canon, and is the face of several fashion houses, most notably Cole Haan. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in 2005 and 2008.^[5][6][7] Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.^[8]

Early life[link]

Maria Sharapova's parents, Yuri and Elena, are from Gomel, Belarus. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Sharapova was born.^[9] When Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi. There her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and became Russia's first no. 1 world-ranked tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father at a local park.^[10] She took her first tennis lessons with veteran Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, who was instantly impressed when he saw her play, noting her "exceptional hand-eye coordination."^[11]

At the age of seven, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova, who recommended professional training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, which had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova.^[10] With money tight, Yuri was forced to borrow the sum that would allow him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to United States, which they finally did in 1994.^[11] Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years.^[9] Arriving in Florida with savings of US$700,^[11] Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dish-washing, to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted to the academy. In 1995, she was signed by IMG, who agreed to pay the annual tuition fee of $35,000 for Sharapova to stay at the academy, allowing her to finally enroll at the age of 9.^[10]

Tennis career[link]

2001–03[link]

Sharapova first gained attention on the tennis scene in November 2000, when she won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in the girls' 16 division at the age of just 13.^[12] She was then given a special award, the Rising Star Award, which is awarded only to players of exceptional promise.^[13] She made her professional debut in 2001 on her birthday on April 19, and played her first WTA tournament at the Pacific Life Open in 2002, winning a match before losing to Monica Seles. Due to restrictions on how many professional events she could play, Sharapova went to hone her game in junior tournaments, where she reached the finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2002. She was the youngest girl ever to reach the final of the Australian Open junior championship at 14 years and 9 months.^[14]

From 2003, Sharapova played a full season, and made a rapid climb into the top 50 by the end of the year.^[15] She made her debuts at both the Australian Open and the French Open, but failed to win a match in either.^[16] It was not until the grass season that she began to fulfill her promise, beating a top-20 player for the first time and reaching her first semifinal at the WTA level. Then, as a wildcard at Wimbledon, she defeated 11th seed Jelena Dokić to reach the fourth round, where she lost in three sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova.^[16]

By the end of September, Sharapova had already captured her first WTA title at a smaller event, the Japan Open Tennis Championships, before winning her second in her final tournament of the season, the Bell Challenge. To cap off her first full season as a professional, she was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year honor.

2004[link]

Sharapova was defeated in the third round of the Australian Open by seventh seed Anastasia Myskina.^[17] The highlight of the remainder of her spring hard-court season was a run to the semifinals at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, where she ultimately lost to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva.^[17]

Sharapova on her way to winning the 2004 Wimbledon Championships

During the spring clay-court season, Sharapova entered the top 20 on the WTA world rankings as a result of reaching the third round of the Qatar Telecom German Open^[17] and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, both of which were Tier I events.^[17] At the latter event, she defeated a player ranked in the top 10 for the first time with a straight-sets win over world no. 10 and 2004 French Open finalist Elena Dementieva. Later that clay-court season, she went on to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, losing there to Paola Suárez.

Sharapova won the third title of her career at the Wimbledon warm-up DFS Classic, defeating Tatiana Golovin in the final.^[17] Seeded 13th and aged 17 at Wimbledon, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal by defeating Ai Sugiyama. There, she came back from a 6–2, 3–1 deficit to defeat fifth seed and former champion Lindsay Davenport. In the final, Sharapova upset top seed and defending champion Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam singles title, and become the third youngest woman to win the Wimbledon title, behind only Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis. Sharapova also became the second Russian woman (after Anastasia Myskina had won the year's previous major at Roland Garros) to win a Grand Slam singles title. The victory was hailed by the media as "the most stunning upset in memory",^[18] with other writers commenting on her arrival as a serious challenger to the Williams' dominance at Wimbledon.^[19] She entered the top 10 in the rankings for the first time as a result of the win.^[17]

Following her Wimbledon win, attention and interest in Sharapova in the media greatly increased, a rise in popularity dubbed as "Maria Mania."^[20] However, on court, she was struggling to achieve results, winning just three of six matches in her preparations for the US Open. At the US Open itself, she reached the third round, before being eliminated by Mary Pierce. In order to regain confidence, Sharapova played and won consecutive titles in Asia in the fall, the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships and the Japan Open Tennis Championships.

In October, Sharapova defeated Venus Williams en route to making the final of a Tier I event for the first time at the Zurich Open, losing in the final to Alicia Molik. She then made her debut at the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. There, she won two of her three round-robin matches (including a win over US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova) in order to advance to the semifinals, where she defeated Myskina. In the final, she defeated Serena Williams, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, after trailing 4–0 in the final set.^[17]

World No 1[link]

Sharapova at Indian Wells in 2005

Sharapova started the year at the Australian Open, where she defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. Sharapova held match points in the third set of her semifinal match, before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.^[21] In February, Sharapova won back-to-back tournaments, the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Qatar Total Open,^[21] allowing her to reach the top 3 in the world rankings for the first time.

In the semifinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open, Sharapova was defeated by Lindsay Davenport, 0–6, 0–6, the first time she had failed to win a game in a match.^[21][22] The following fortnight, she defeated former world no. 1 players Justine Henin and Venus Williams to reach the final at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open, where she lost to Kim Clijsters.^[21]

Sharapova made the semifinals of a clay-court tournament for the first time at the Italian Open, where she lost to Patty Schnyder.^[21] Sharapova would have become world no. 1 for the first time had she won the tournament.^[23] Sharapova then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the second consecutive year, before losing to eventual champion Henin.^[21] On grass, Sharapova won her third title of the year when she successfully defended her title at the DFS Classic, defeating Jelena Janković in the final. As the defending champion at Wimbledon, Sharapova reached the semifinals without dropping a set and losing a service game just once, extending her winning streak on grass to 24 matches. However, she was then beaten by eventual champion Venus Williams.^[21]