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- published: 09 Dec 2011
- views: 40174
- author: Craigrena4
Country | Australia |
---|---|
Residence | Sydney and Tampa, Florida, U.S. |
Born | (1971-03-26) 26 March 1971 (age 41) Sydney, Australia |
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
Weight | 65 kg (143 lb) |
Turned pro | 1992 |
Retired | 2011 |
Plays | Right-handed |
Career prize money | US$5,198,172 |
Singles | |
Career record | 186–176 |
Career titles | 0 WTA, 2 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 64 (14 October 1996) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | 2R (1989, 1992, 1996) |
French Open | 1R (1992, 1996) |
Wimbledon | 2R (1992, 1995) |
US Open | 1R (1995, 1996) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 809 - 361 |
Career titles | 60 WTA, 10 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (21 August 2000) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (2000) |
French Open | F (2002) |
Wimbledon | W (2001, 2004) |
US Open | W (2001) |
Mixed Doubles | |
Career titles | 2 |
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (2000) |
French Open | F (2000) |
Wimbledon | SF (2010) |
US Open | W (2001) |
Last updated on: 19 November 2011. |
Rennae Stubbs (born 26 March 1971 in Sydney) is an Australian tennis player. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[1] She has won several Grand Slam doubles titles and represented Australia at four successive Olympic Games; Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Stubbs has recorded more doubles triumphs than any other Australian woman—60 from 1992 to the conclusion of the 2010 WTA Tour—enjoying success with eleven different partners. She also won two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles with male partners. In 2001, Stubbs won the season-ending WTA Championships with regular partner Lisa Raymond and the pair were named ITF World Champions.[2]
Stubbs is the longest-serving member of the Australia Fed Cup team, having played for 17 years since 1992, with a 28–9 win/loss record in doubles; the second highest in Australian Fed Cup Team history behind Wendy Turnbull (29–8). She retired after the 2011 Fed Cup tie with Italy.[3] However, Stubbs suddenly came back to the WTA Tour by playing at the Miami Masters with Jill Craybas.
Contents |
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Runner-up | 1995 | US Open | Hard | Brenda Schultz-McCarthy | Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva |
7–5, 6–3 |
Winner | 2000 | Australian Open | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Martina Hingis Mary Pierce |
6–4, 5–7, 6–4 |
Winner | 2001 | Wimbledon | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama |
6–4, 6–3 |
Winner | 2001 | US Open | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Kimberly Po Nathalie Tauziat |
6–2, 5–7, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 2002 | French Open | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 6–2 |
Winner | 2004 | Wimbledon | Grass | Cara Black | Liezel Huber Ai Sugiyama |
6–3, 7–6(5) |
Runner-up | 2009 | Wimbledon | Grass | Samantha Stosur | Serena Williams Venus Williams |
7–6(4), 6–4 |
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Winner | 2000 | Australian Open | Hard | Jared Palmer | Todd Woodbridge Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
7–5, 7–6(3) |
Runner-up | 2000 | French Open | Clay | Todd Woodbridge | David Adams Mariaan de Swardt |
6–3, 3–6, 6–3 |
Winner | 2001 | US Open | Hard | Todd Woodbridge | Lisa Raymond Leander Paes |
6–4, 5–7, [11–9] |
Legend: Before 2009 | Legend: Starting in 2009 |
---|---|
Grand Slam tournaments (3/4) | |
Olympic Gold (0/0) | |
WTA Championships (1/4) | |
Tier I (19/9) | Premier Mandatory (0/0) |
Tier II (26/14) | Premier 5 (0/2) |
Tier III (8/5) | Premier (1/2) |
Tier IV & V (1/1) | International (0/0) |
Other (0/1) |
Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Winner | 1. | 9 February 1992 | Osaka | Carpet | Helena Suková | Sandy Collins Rachel McQuillan |
3–6, 6–4, 7–5 |
Winner | 2. | 3 May 1992 | Hamburg | Clay | Steffi Graf | Manon Bollegraf Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
4–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 3. | 14 June 1992 | Birmingham | Grass | Lori McNeil | Sandy Collins Elna Reinach |
5–7, 6–3, 8–6 |
Winner | 4. | 23 August 1992 | Montreal | Hard | Lori McNeil | Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva |
3–6, 7–5, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 1. | 17 January 1993 | Sydney | Hard | Lori McNeil | Pam Shriver Elizabeth Smylie |
7–6(4), 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2. | 1 February 1993 | Tokyo | Carpet | Lori McNeil | Martina Navratilova Helena Suková |
6–4, 6–3 |
Winner | 5. | 15 March 1993 | Indian Wells | Hard | Helena Suková | Ann Wunderlich Patricia Hy |
6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 6. | 2 May 1993 | Hamburg | Clay | Steffi Graf | Larisa Neiland Jana Novotná |
6–4, 7–6(5) |
Runner-up | 3. | 1 August 1993 | San Juan | Hard | Gigi Fernández | Ann Wunderlich Debbie Graham |
5–7, 7–5, 7–5 |
Winner | 7. | 10 February 1994 | Osaka | Carpet | Larisa Neiland | Pam Shriver Elizabeth Smylie |
6–4, 6–7(2), 7–5 |
Winner | 8. | 22 May 1994 | Strasbourg | Clay | Lori McNeil | Patricia Tarabini Caroline Vis |
6–3, 3–6, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 4. | 5 February 1995 | Tokyo | Carpet | Lindsay Davenport | Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva |
6–0, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 5. | 19 February 1995 | Paris | Carpet | Manon Bollegraf | Meredith McGrath Larisa Neiland |
6–4, 6–1 |
Runner-up | 6. | 22 May 1995 | Edinburgh | Clay | Manon Bollegraf | Meredith McGrath Larisa Neiland |
6–2, 7–6(2) |
Winner | 9. | 12 June 1995 | Birmingham | Grass | Manon Bollegraf | Nicole Bradtke Kristine Kunce |
3–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 7. | 10 September 1995 | US Open | Hard | Brenda Schultz-McCarthy | Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva |
7–5, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 8. | 5 November 1995 | Quebec City | Hard (i) | Lisa Raymond | Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf |
7–6(6), 4–6, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 9. | 3 March 1996 | Linz | Carpet | Helena Suková | Meredith McGrath Manon Bollegraf |
6–4, 6–4 |
Winner | 10. | 3 November 1996 | Chicago | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Angela Lettiere Nana Miyagi |
6–1, 6–1 |
Winner | 11. | 17 November 1996 | Philadelphia | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Nicole Arendt Lori McNeil |
6–4, 3–6, 6–3 |
Winner | 12. | 26 October 1997 | Quebec City | Hard (i) | Lisa Raymond | Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat |
6–4, 5–7, 7–5 |
Winner | 13. | 16 November 1997 | Philadelphia | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Lindsay Davenport Jana Novotná |
6–3, 7–5 |
Winner | 14. | 22 February 1998 | Hanover | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Elena Likhovtseva Caroline Vis |
6–1, 6–7(4), 6–3 |
Runner-up | 10. | 5 April 1998 | Hilton Head | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini |
3–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 11. | 14 June 1998 | Birmingham | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Els Callens Julie Halard-Decugis |
2–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
Winner | 15. | 16 August 1998 | Boston | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Mariaan de Swardt Mary Joe Fernandez |
6–4, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 12. | 25 October 1998 | Moscow | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Mary Pierce Natasha Zvereva |
6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 16. | 28 February 1999 | Oklahoma City | Hard (i) | Lisa Raymond | Amanda Coetzer Jessica Steck |
6–3, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 13. | 11 April 1999 | Amelia Island | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Conchita Martínez Patricia Tarabini |
7–5, 0–6, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 14. | 15 August 1999 | Los Angeles | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Larisa Neiland |
6–2, 6–7(5), 6–0 |
Winner | 17. | 29 August 1999 | New Haven | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Elena Likhovtseva Jana Novotná |
7–6(1), 6–2 |
Winner | 18. | 17 October 1999 | Zürich | Hard (i) | Lisa Raymond | Nathalie Tauziat Natasha Zvereva |
6–2, 6–2 |
Winner | 19. | 24 October 1999 | Moscow | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Julie Halard-Decugis Anke Huber |
6–1, 6–0 |
Winner | 20. | 14 November 1999 | Philadelphia | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Chanda Rubin Sandrine Testud |
6–1, 7–6(2) |
Winner | 21. | 30 January 2000 | Australian Open | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Martina Hingis Mary Pierce |
6–4, 5–7, 6–4 |
Winner | 22. | 21 May 2000 | Rome | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Magüi Serna |
6–3, 4–6, 6–2 |
Winner | 23. | 28 May 2000 | Madrid | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Gala León García María Sánchez Lorenzo |
6–1, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 15. | 25 June 2000 | Eastbourne | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Ai Sugiyama Nathalie Tauziat |
2–6, 6–3, 7–6(3) |
Winner | 24. | 6 August 2000 | San Diego | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Lindsay Davenport Anna Kournikova |
4–6, 6–3, 7–6(6) |
Runner-up | 16. | 12 November 2000 | Philadelphia | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova |
6–2, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 17. | 14 January 2001 | Sydney | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Anna Kournikova Barbara Schett |
6–2, 7–5 |
Winner | 25. | 4 February 2001 | Tokyo | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Anna Kournikova Iroda Tulyaganova |
7–6(5), 2–6, 7–6(6) |
Winner | 26. | 4 March 2001 | Scottsdale | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Kim Clijsters Meghann Shaughnessy |
walkover |
Runner-up | 18. | 1 April 2001 | Miami | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Nathalie Tauziat |
6–0, 6–4 |
Winner | 27. | 22 April 2001 | Charleston | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Virginia Ruano-Pascual Paola Suárez |
5–7, 7–6(5), 6–3 |
Runner-up | 19. | 26 May 2001 | Madrid | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Virginia Ruano-Pascual Paola Suárez |
7–5, 2–6, 7–6(4) |
Winner | 28. | 23 June 2001 | Eastbourne | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
6–2, 6–2 |
Winner | 29. | 8 July 2001 | Wimbledon | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama |
6–4, 6–3 |
Winner | 30. | 9 September 2001 | US Open | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Kimberly Po Nathalie Tauziat |
6–2, 5–7, 7–5 |
Winner | 31. | 4 November 2001 | Munich | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
7–5, 3–6, 6–3 |
Winner | 32. | 13 January 2002 | Sydney | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova |
walkover |
Winner | 33. | 3 February 2002 | Tokyo | Carpet | Lisa Raymond | Els Callens Roberta Vinci |
6–1, 6–1 |
Winner | 34. | 3 March 2002 | Scottsdale | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
6–3, 5–7, 7–6(4) |
Winner | 35. | 16 March 2002 | Indian Wells | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová |
7–5, 6–0 |
Winner | 36. | 1 April 2002 | Miami | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Virginia Ruano-Pascual Paola Suárez |
7–6(4), 6–7(4), 6–3 |
Winner | 37. | 21 April 2002 | Charleston | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Alexandra Fusai Caroline Vis |
6–4, 3–6, 7–6(4) |
Runner-up | 20. | 9 June 2002 | French Open | Clay | Lisa Raymond | Virginia Ruano-Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 6–2 |
Winner | 38. | 22 June 2002 | Eastbourne | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
6–7(5), 7–6(6), 6–2 |
Winner | 39. | 28 July 2002 | Stanford | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Janette Husárová Conchita Martínez |
6–1, 6–1 |
Runner-up | 21. | 12 January 2003 | Sydney | Hard | Conchita Martínez | Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama |
6–3, 6–3 |
Winner | 40. | 2 February 2003 | Tokyo | Carpet | Elena Bovina | Lisa Raymond Lindsay Davenport |
6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 41. | 10 August 2003 | Los Angeles | Hard | Mary Pierce | Elena Bovina Els Callens |
6–3, 6–3 |
Winner | 42. | 12 October 2003 | Filderstadt | Hard (i) | Lisa Raymond | Cara Black Martina Navratilova |
6–2, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 22. | 2 November 2003 | Philadelphia | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Lisa Raymond Martina Navratilova |
6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 43. | 12 January 2004 | Sydney | Hard | Cara Black | Dinara Safina Meghann Shaughnessy |
7–5, 3–6, 6–4 |
Winner | 44. | 3 February 2004 | Tokyo | Carpet | Cara Black | Elena Likhovtseva Magdalena Maleeva |
6–0, 6–1 |
Runner-up | 23. | 22 May 2004 | Vienna | Clay | Cara Black | Lisa Raymond Martina Navratilova |
6–2, 7–5 |
Winner | 45. | 21 June 2004 | Wimbledon | Grass | Cara Black | Liezel Huber Ai Sugiyama |
6–3, 7–6(5) |
Winner | 46. | 26 July 2004 | San Diego | Hard | Cara Black | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
4–6, 6–1, 6–4 |
Winner | 47. | 4 October 2004 | Filderstadt | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Anna-Lena Grönefeld Julia Schruff |
6–3, 6–2 |
Winner | 48. | 18 October 2004 | Zürich | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 24. | 8 November 2004 | Los Angeles | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy |
7–5, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 25. | 2 April 2005 | Miami | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Svetlana Kuznetsova Alicia Molik |
7–5, 6–7(5), 6–2 |
Winner | 49. | 18 June 2005 | Eastbourne | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Elena Likhovtseva Vera Zvonareva |
6–3, 7–5 |
Winner | 50. | 25 July 2005 | Stanford | Hard | Cara Black | Elena Likhovtseva Vera Zvonareva |
6–3, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 26. | 2 October 2005 | Luxembourg City | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Samantha Stosur Lisa Raymond |
7–5, 6–1 |
Runner-up | 27. | 16 October 2005 | Moscow | Carpet | Cara Black | Samantha Stosur Lisa Raymond |
6–2, 6–4 |
Winner | 51. | 25 October 2005 | Zürich | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Daniela Hantuchová Ai Sugiyama |
6–7(6), 7–6(4), 6–3 |
Winner | 52. | 31 October 2005 | Philadelphia | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur |
6–4, 7–6(4) |
Runner-up | 28. | 13 November 2005 | Los Angeles | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Samantha Stosur Lisa Raymond |
6–7(5), 7–5, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 29. | 7 January 2006 | Gold Coast | Hard | Cara Black | Dinara Safina Meghann Shaughnessy |
6–2, 6–3 |
Winner | 53. | 17 January 2006 | Sydney | Hard | Corina Morariu | Paola Suárez Virginia Ruano Pascual |
6–3, 5–7, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 30. | 5 February 2006 | Tokyo | Carpet | Cara Black | Samantha Stosur Lisa Raymond |
6–2, 6–1 |
Runner-up | 31. | 12 February 2006 | Paris | Carpet | Cara Black | Émilie Loit Květa Peschke |
7–6(5), 6–4 |
Winner | 54. | 31 July 2006 | San Diego | Hard | Cara Black | Anna-Lena Grönefeld Meghann Shaughnessy |
6–2, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 32. | 8 October 2006 | Stuttgart | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur |
6–3, 6–4 |
Winner | 55. | 22 October 2006 | Zürich | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Liezel Huber Katarina Srebotnik |
7–5, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 33. | 12 November 2006 | Madrid | Hard (i) | Cara Black | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur |
3–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 34. | 4 February 2007 | Tokyo | Carpet | Vania King | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur |
7–6(6), 3–6, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 35. | 23 June 2007 | Eastbourne | Grass | Květa Peschke | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur |
6–7(5), 6–4, 6–3 |
Winner | 56. | 19 August 2007 | Los Angeles | Hard | Květa Peschke | Alicia Molik Mara Santangelo |
6–0, 6–1 |
Winner | 57. | 14 October 2007 | Stuttgart | Hard (i) | Květa Peschke | Chan Yung-jan Dinara Safina |
6–7(5), 7–6(4), [10–2] |
Winner | 58. | 21 October 2007 | Zürich | Carpet | Květa Peschke | Lisa Raymond Francesca Schiavone |
7–5, 7–6(1) |
Winner | 59. | 24 February 2008 | Doha | Hard | Květa Peschke | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
6–1, 5–7, [10–7] |
Runner-up | 36. | 21 June 2008 | Eastbourne | Grass | Květa Peschke | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
2–6, 6–0, [10–8] |
Runner-up | 37. | 5 October 2008 | Stuttgart | Hard (i) | Květa Peschke | Patty Schnyder Anna-Lena Grönefeld |
6–2, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 38. | 11 November 2008 | Doha | Hard | Květa Peschke | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
6–1, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 39. | 20 June 2009 | Eastbourne | Grass | Samantha Stosur | Ai Sugiyama Akgul Amanmuradova |
6–4, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 40. | 4 July 2009 | Wimbledon | Grass | Samantha Stosur | Serena Williams Venus Williams |
7–6(4), 6–4 |
Runner-up | 41. | 23 August 2009 | Toronto | Hard | Samantha Stosur | Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez |
2–6, 7–5, [11–9] |
Winner | 60. | 19 June 2010 | Eastbourne | Grass | Lisa Raymond | Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik |
6–2, 2–6, [13–11] |
Runner-up | 42. | 8 August 2010 | San Diego | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Maria Kirilenko Zheng Jie |
6–4, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 43. | 15 August 2010 | Cincinnati | Hard | Lisa Raymond | Victoria Azarenka Maria Kirilenko |
7–6(4), 7–6(8) |
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.
Tournament | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | QF | A | 3R | 2R | A | SF | SF | W | 1R | SF | QF | 1R | 2R | QF | 1R | QF | 3R | SF | 1R | 41–19 |
French Open | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | QF | 3R | 3R | 3R | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | SF | F | 1R | 3R | QF | QF | 3R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 39–21 |
Wimbledon | A | 1R | 2R | QF | QF | 3R | 3R | 3R | A | SF | 3R | SF | W | QF | 1R | W | 1R | SF | QF | 3R | F | QF | 1R | 54–19 |
US Open | A | 2R | 1R | QF | QF | A | F | 2R | 3R | SF | 3R | QF | W | 3R | QF | 3R | QF | QF | SF | 1R | SF | QF | 54–19 | |
Win–Loss | 0–1 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 10–3 | 12–4 | 4–2 | 12–4 | 6–4 | 2–1 | 15–3 | 9–4 | 18–4 | 19–4 | 17–4 | 8–4 | 11–4 | 9–4 | 17–4 | 11–4 | 9–4 | 13–4 | 12–4 | 2–3 | 188–78 |
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.
Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | W–L | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | A | A | 1R | 1R | QF | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | W | SF | 1R | SF | 1R | QF | QF | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 20-18 | |
French Open | 1R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 1R | A | 2R | A | F | QF | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | QF | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | 15-20 | |
Wimbledon | A | QF | 3R | 3R | A | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | A | 2R | 2R | 3R | 1R | QF | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 3R | SF | 1R | 19-18 | |
US Open | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | 1R | SF | SF | SF | W | 1R | 2R | SF | QF | 1R | 1R | QF | QF | 1R | A | 26-17 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rennae Stubbs |
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Persondata | |
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Name | Stubbs, Rennae |
Alternative names | |
Short description | Tennis player |
Date of birth | 26 March 1971 |
Place of birth | Sydney, Australia |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
Kim Clijsters at the 2011 Open GDF Suez |
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Country | Belgium |
---|---|
Residence | Bree, Belgium |
Born | (1983-06-08) 8 June 1983 (age 29) Bilzen, Belgium |
Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) |
Weight | 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st) |
Turned pro | 17 August 1997 |
Retired | 6 May 2007 Returned 11 August 2009 |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
Career prize money | US $24,271,348 (3rd in overall earnings) |
Singles | |
Career record | 513–124 |
Career titles | 41 WTA (10th in overall rankings) 3 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (11 August 2003) |
Current ranking | No. 47 (28 May 2012)[1] |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | W (2011) |
French Open | F (2001, 2003) |
Wimbledon | SF (2003, 2006) |
US Open | W (2005, 2009, 2010) |
Other tournaments | |
Championships | W (2002, 2003, 2010) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 131–54 (70.81%) |
Career titles | 11 WTA, 3 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (4 August 2003) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | QF (2003) |
French Open | W (2003) |
Wimbledon | W (2003) |
US Open | QF (2002) |
Mixed Doubles | |
Career titles | 0 |
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
Wimbledon | F (2000) |
Last updated on: 28 May 2012. |
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters[3] (Dutch pronunciation: [kɪm ˈklɛistərs] ( listen); born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 28 May 2012, Clijsters is ranked no. 47 in singles. Clijsters is a former world no. 1 in both singles and doubles.
Clijsters has won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She has won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009, and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She has also been runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments, and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003, and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007,[4] but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season.[5] In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.[6]
In June 2011, TIME magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".[7] According to Forbes in August 2011, she became the fifth highest-paid female athlete over the past year.[8]
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Clijsters is recognized for her powerful groundstrokes, as well as for her backhand slices and drop shots.[9] She is also recognized for her all-court defense, characterized by her speed, slides, and athleticism.[10] Maria Sharapova, interviewed after losing to Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, said, "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back".[11]
Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Limburg, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. She is the daughter of Lei Clijsters, a former international footballer, and Els Vandecaetsbeek, a former national gymnastics champion. Lei Clijsters died of lung cancer on 4 January 2009.[12] Clijsters says that she inherited footballer's legs from her father and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother.[13] Kim's younger sister Elke finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion and retired in 2004 after back injuries.
In December 2003, Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004.[14] Clijsters is still affectionately nicknamed "Aussie Kim" by Australians. In October 2006, Clijsters announced her engagement to American basketball player Brian Lynch, who is based in Clijsters' hometown of Bree. In an interview with Sportweekend (a sports programme on Belgian Flemish television), Clijsters said that she was retiring to start a family.[4] Clijsters and Lynch married privately on 13 July 2007, at 6 am at the Bree city hall. She was married by the mayor, with sister Elke, Lynch's brother Pat Lynch, and both sets of parents present.[15]
Clijsters gave birth to daughter, Jada Elle, on 27 February 2008, at 1:35 pm at the Vesalius hospital in Tongeren, Belgium.[16]
Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In singles, she finished as runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event,[17] finishing 11th in the year-end singles ranking.[18] In the same year in doubles, Clijsters won the French Open title with Jelena Dokić, defeating Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova in the final,[19] as well as the US Open with Eva Dyrberg, defeating former partner Dokic in the final.[20] Clijsters ended the season as no. 4 in the International Tennis Federation junior doubles world ranking.[18]
In 1999, Clijsters made her breakthrough professionally. At her first WTA tournament in Antwerp, she qualified and lost to the eventual finalist Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor in the quarterfinal, after failing to convert a match point.
Playing through the qualifying rounds at Roehampton, she made it to the main draw of Wimbledon.[21] Clijsters won six matches in a row, while only losing 25 games. She defeated no. 10 Amanda Coetzer en route to the fourth round, during which Clijsters lost to her childhood idol,[22] Steffi Graf, in straight sets, in difficult rainy circumstances.[21] Later that summer, Clijsters reached the third round of the US Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams after serving for the match. In the autumn, Clijsters won her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles title in Luxembourg. She followed up with her first WTA doubles title in Bratislava, partnering Laurence Courtois. At the end of the year, she was granted the WTA Most Impressive Newcomer award, the only Belgian player to have received this trophy.
Clijsters climbed up the rankings over the next couple of years. In 2001, she reached her first Tier I final at the tournament in Indian Wells, California, losing to Serena Williams in a match overshadowed by controversy. Clijsters also reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati, 10–12, in the third set. This two-hour, 21-minute match featured the longest third set in a French Open women's final. Clijsters was four times within two points of winning, before Capriati prevailed. Her next important breakthrough came at the end of 2002, when she won the year-end Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles, defeating top ranked Serena Williams in the final. This was only the fifth defeat of the year for Williams and snapped her 18-match winning streak. On her way to the final, Clijsters defeated fourth-ranked Justine Henin and second-ranked Venus Williams, becoming just the fourth player to beat both of the Williams sisters in the same event. She also equaled the event's record for the fewest games dropped.
Clijsters started her season at the Adidas International, where she won her first tournament of the year, defeating Lindsay Davenport in straight sets in the final.[23] Clijsters reached the final after defeating Patty Schnyder,[24] Chanda Rubin[25] and Justine Henin.[26] At the Australian Open, Clijsters lost in the semifinal to Serena Williams 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, after leading 5–1 in the final set and holding two match points.[27][28] On the way to the semis Clijsters lost just fifteen games beating Samantha Reeves[29] and completing a double bagel (wherein the opposing player fails to win a single game) against Petra Mandula.[30] She then continued by winning in straight sets against Tatiana Poutchek,[31] Amanda Coetzer, and Anastasia Myskina.[32] At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final.
Clijsters reached the final of the WTA German Open, after defeating Jennifer Capriati 6–4 in the final set.[33] In the final, she played Justine Henin and squandered three match points to lose the final set, 5–7.[34] To compound the day, Clijsters also lost the doubles final 4–6 in the final set.[35]
Clijsters’ third title of the year came at the Telecom Italia Masters in Rome, where she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final.[36][37] Clijsters had defeated Myskina[38] and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama to make the final.[39]
At the French Open, Clijsters reached the final for the second time in three years, after defeating Nadia Petrova.[40] In the final, Clijsters lost to Henin 0–6, 4–6,[41] and again at the US open, 5–7, 1–6. She also lost in the semifinal at Wimbledon to Venus Williams, after leading by a set and a break.
On 11 August 2003, Clijsters attained the world no. 1 ranking, holding the spot for 12 non-consecutive weeks during the remainder of the year, and was the first player to be top ranked by the WTA without first winning a Grand Slam singles title.
On 18 August 2003, Clijsters also attained the world no. 1 ranking in doubles, joining a very select group of only four players—Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, and Lindsay Davenport—having reached the world no. 1 ranking in singles and doubles simultaneously. By 2010, only Serena Williams had managed to join this group.
The world no. 1 ranking was again at stake in October during the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany. Clijsters rallied from a set down to beat Henin. The match marked only the eighth time that the top two players battled for the top ranking.[42] Even though Clijsters won that match, she finished the year ranked world no. 2, just behind Henin.
Clijsters started 2004 by playing in the Hopman Cup. During the tie against Australia, Clijsters injured her ankle against Alicia Molik.[43] Clijsters was on crutches for a few days and feared she might need surgery. Clijsters pulled out of the Adidas International due to the injury.[44] Clijsters did recover in time to reach her fourth career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost once more to Henin.[45] After defeating Marlene Weingärtner, Maria Elena Camerin (with a double bagel),[46] Dinara Safina,[47] Silvia Farina Elia,[48] Anastasia Myskina (during the match Clijsters aggravated her ankle injury),[49] and Patty Schnyder to reach the final. Clijsters then won two consecutive titles in Paris and Antwerp. In Paris, Clijsters defeated local favourite Mary Pierce in the final.[50] To reach the final, Clijsters defeated Maria Sanchez Lorenzo,[51] Farina Elia,[52] and Safina.[53] While defending her Tier I title at the Pacific Life Open, Clijsters injured her wrist during her win against Angelika Roesch in her first match. Clijsters withdrew before her second match with the injury described as a bruised bone.[54] Clijsters withdrew from the event in Miami the next week[55] Clijsters then appeared six weeks later in her home town of Bree to play in a Fed Cup tie against Croatia,[56] winning both of her rubbers. Clijsters returned to the tour in Berlin and needed three sets to see Marta Marrero off.[57] Clijsters then pulled out of her second match and then was told to rest for five weeks, causing her to miss the French Open.[58] Clijsters then had surgery to remove a cyst, causing her to miss three months of the tour, including Wimbledon and the US Open.[59][60] Clijsters also missed the Olympics, but she had already decided not to play the tournament after a dispute about clothing sponsors.[61] Clijsters returned to the Tour at the Gaz de France Stars.[62] She made the semifinals, defeating Iveta Benešová[63][64] and Magdalena Maleeva,[65][66] before pulling out in the second set against Elena Bovina.[67][68] Clijsters had aggravated the injury and although she did not need surgery, she was out for the rest of the season.[69] She played down fears that the injury might force her retirement from tennis.[70]
Clijsters missed the Australian Open due to injury.[71] In February, after four months out, Clijsters returned to the tour by participating in the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. Her first match back was against Jelena Kostanić, which she won in straight sets,[72] before losing to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.[73][74]
Clijsters completed her comeback in March and April, when she won, as an unseeded player, 17 matches in a row to claim two Tier I titles and regain a top-20 ranking. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Clijsters was ranked world no. 133. The Belgian began by beating Nicole Pratt,[71] Shinobu Asagoe,[75] Anna Chakvetadze,[76] and Evgenia Linetskaya,[77] all without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Clijsters defeated world no. 5 Elena Dementieva in straight sets[78] and world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final in three sets.[79] The week after that win, Clijsters defeated four top-6 players in straight sets to win the NASDAQ-100 Open. To win the title, Clijsters defeated Sandra Kloesel,[80] Amy Frazier,[81] Nathalie Dechy,[82] Anastasia Myskina,[83] Elena Dementieva, Amélie Mauresmo,[84] and Maria Sharapova,[85] going the whole tournament without dropping a set.
Turning her attention to clay, Clijsters’ winning streak continued at the J&S Cup. Clijsters defeated Tatiana Perebiynis,[86] Maria Kirilenko,[87] and Elena Bovina. Against Bovina, Clijsters’ picked up a minor shoulder injury.[88] Clijsters’ 17 match winning streak was finally ended by Svetlana Kuznetsova.[88] Playing next at the WTA German Open Clijsters defeated Yuliana Fedak[89] and Dinara Safina in straight sets before, hurting her right knee[90] and retiring against Patty Schnyder.[91] Clijsters recovered in time to play in the French Open.[92] Playing in the French Open for the first time in two years, Clijsters defeated Meilen Tu,[93] Cervanová, and Daniela Hantuchová[94] to advance to the fourth round, where she lost to Davenport 1–6, 7–5, 6–3 after leading 3–1 in the second set.[95]
Clijsters got off to the best possible start for her grass-court season at the Hastings Direct International Championships by winning the tournament. Clijsters defeated Jelena Janković,[96] Conchita Martínez, Mashona Washington,[97] Kuznetsova[98] and Vera Dushevina to claim her third title of the year.[99] At Wimbledon, Clijsters defeated Katie O'Brien,[100] Marissa Irvin,[101] and Roberta Vinci,[102] before facing Davenport in the round of 16 for the second Grand Slam in a row. The result was the same as the French Open, with the American winning.[103]
After Wimbledon, Clijsters went on an amazing run of form, where she lost just once between July and October. Clijsters’ run began at the Bank of the West Classic against Ai Sugiyama,[104] and she defeated Daniela Hantuchová,[105] Anna-Lena Grönefeld, and Venus Williams to win her fourth title of the year.[106] Clijsters’ streak continued in San Diego, as she defeated Marta Domachowska[107] and Janković,[108] before suffering her only defeat in this run to Shuai Peng.[109]
After the defeat to Peng, Clijsters continued the run, as she won 22 matches in a row, collecting four straight titles along the way, including her maiden Grand Slam title. The 22-match streak started against Karolina Šprem,[110] with victories over Safina, Nadia Petrova,[111] and Francesca Schiavone.[112] Clijsters collected her fifth title of the year.[113] The streak continued in Toronto as Clijsters beat Virginie Razzano,[114] Ana Ivanovic (via a walkover),[115] Flavia Pennetta,[116] Anastasia Myskina[117] and Justine Henin-Hardenne to win the Rogers Cup.[118] After winning three of her four US Summer Hard court tournaments, Clijsters won the US Open Series, which links all the US summer hard courts together and doubles the winners prize money at the US Open. Giving Clijsters a chance to double the $1.1 million US Open winners prize to $2.2 million.[119]
Clijsters won her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, after having reached four Grand Slam finals previously. Clijsters started by defeating Martina Müller,[120] Fabiola Zuluaga,[121] Ai Sugiyama[122] and María Vento-Kabchi[123] in straight sets to reach the quarter finals. There, Clijsters defeated tenth-seeded Venus Williams in the quarter-finals 4–6, 7–5, 6–1, winning 11 of the last 13 games after being down 6–4, 4–2.[124] Clijsters squandered five match points in the second set of her semi against Sharapova but eventually won 6–2, 6–7(4), 6–3.[125] In her fifth attempt, Clijsters won her first Grand Slam final, defeating Mary Pierce in straight sets. By winning the US Open Series Clijsters doubled her US$1.1 million in prize money she received for winning the US Open, to US$2.2 million.[126][127] The pay check was the largest payday in women's sports history.[128]
On 15 September, a week after her US Open victory, it was announced that Clijsters and her coach, Marc Dehous, had parted company, which was due in part to her paying him only $9,000 of her $2,200,000 US Open winnings.[129][130]
Clijsters’ hot streak continued as she extended her streak to 21 wins, even without a coach at the Fortis Championships. Clijsters beat Klara Koukalová,[131] Schiavone,[132] Dechy and Lena Groenefeld all without dropping a set to win her eighth title of the year.[133] The title was Clijsters’ fourth consecutive title.[134] At the Porsche Grand Prix Clijsters defeated Šprem[135] for her twenty second consecutive match win before Dementieva ended the streak.[136]
Clijsters then won her ninth and final tournament of the year at the Gaz de France Stars, defeating Schiavone in the final, to go the whole tournament without dropping a set.[137] Clijsters defeated Ekaterina Bychkova,[138] Šprem,[139] Julia Schruff[140] and Safina[141] to make the final.
At the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, Clijsters was eliminated in the group stage. Clijsters lost her first match, a rematch of the US Open final, to Pierce 6–1, 4–6, 7–6[142] and her second match to Mauresmo 6–3, 7–6. This left the Belgian needing to win and hope that the results in the other matches went her way.[143] Although results did not go her way and Clijsters was eliminated with one match still to play,[144] she finished her season by defeating Dementieva in straight sets.[145] Clijsters ended the year ranked World No. 2.
Clijsters started the year by from her semifinal match at the WTA tournament in Sydney, citing a left hip muscle strain.
At the Australian Open, Clijsters defeated former champion Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4, before retiring from her semifinal match with Amélie Mauresmo. Despite the loss, the ranking points she accumulated were enough to regain the world no. 1 ranking, a position she last held on 9 November 2003. She was the first tennis player, male or female, to rise from outside the top 100 (world no. 134) to world no. 1 in less than a year. Clijsters' loss to Mauresmo in the Australian Open semifinal was due to an ankle injury. Although she had been expected to miss at least eight weeks to recover, Clijsters returned two weeks later at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She lost the final of that tournament to Mauresmo in three sets.
Clijsters won her first title of the year at a clay court event in Warsaw, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the French Open in May, Clijsters reached the semifinals without losing a set, defeating Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 6–1. However, she lost to Justine Henin in the semifinal, 3–6, 2–6, on her 23rd birthday. She was seeded second going into Wimbledon, but was again eliminated in the semifinal by Henin, also in straight sets, 4–6, 6–7(4).
Clijsters collected her second title of the year as the top seed in Stanford, defeating Patty Schnyder in the final. Clijsters then reached the final in San Diego, falling to second-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets. This was her first loss to Sharapova in five career meetings.
On 16 August, after receiving a first-round bye at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Clijsters faced Canadian Stéphanie Dubois in the second round. Having won the first set 6–1 and trailing 2–3 in the second set, Clijsters slipped and fell on her left wrist and was forced to retire from the match. On 18 August 2006, Clijsters announced on her official website that the condition of her wrist was worse than she had expected and that she would be unable to defend her title at the US Open. She also missed the Fed Cup final against Italy, which Italy won 3–2.[146]
Playing in Paris at the Gaz de France Stars tournament, her first event in more than two months, Clijsters successfully defended her title by beating qualifier Kaia Kanepi in the final. At the year-end WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters lost a semifinal to Mauresmo, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6, after defeating Dementieva and Kuznetsova and losing to Sharapova in the round-robin phase of the tournament.
2007 was to be Clijsters’ final year on tour, as she had planned in 2005 to retire at the end of the 2007 season.[147] Clijsters started the year by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title, she defeated Zheng Jie, Patty Schnyder, and top-ranked Maria Sharapova. Clijsters then won the Medibank International in Sydney, defeating Nicole Pratt,[148] Shahar Pe'er,[149] Li Na, and[150] Jelena Janković to claim the title, after being match point down in the final.[151]
At the Australian Open, Clijsters was the fourth seed. The Belgian started by giving a double bagel to Vasilisa Bardina, before going on to defeat Akiko Morigami,[152] Alona Bondarenko,[153] and Daniela Hantuchová[154] in straight sets. Clijsters then defeated sixth seed Martina Hingis in three sets,[155] before losing to Sharapova in the semifinals.[156]
Clijsters next played in Belgium at the Proximus Diamond Games, after pulling out of the Open Gaz de France with a hip injury.[157] While Clijsters said that she was fit, she hinted that she might miss the French Open.[158] Clijsters defeated Olga Poutchkova,[159] Ana Ivanovic,[160] and Tatiana Golovin[161] to reach the final without dropping a set, though she lost there to Amélie Mauresmo.[162][163][164]
After this event, Clijsters confirmed that she would miss the French Open[165] and US Open, making Wimbledon her last Grand Slam event. The Belgian also added that her last two tournaments would be in Luxembourg and at the WTA Tour Championships in Stuttgart.[166][167]
At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Clijsters lost in the fourth round to Li Na in three sets,[168] after beating Akiko Morigami[169] and Samantha Stosur.[170] A month later in her first clay tournament of the year in Warsaw, Clijsters failed to defend her title, when she lost to Julia Vakulenko 6–7(3), 3–6.[171]
On 6 May 2007, citing injuries, Clijsters announced on her official website that she was cutting short her season and bringing forward her plans to retire from professional tennis. Clijsters decided to retire immediately from the sport.[172]
Almost two years after her retirement and one year after the birth of her daughter in February 2008, it was announced that Clijsters, along with Tim Henman, Steffi Graf, and Andre Agassi, would play an exhibition event on Wimbledon's Centre Court in May, in order to test the new roof.[173]
While preparing for the exhibition at Wimbledon, Clijsters called a press conference on 26 March, and then announced that she was returning to professional tennis. She said that she had been inspired when preparing for the Wimbledon roof event during January 2009. Clijsters stated that she had asked for wildcards for the Cincinnati and Toronto tournaments.[174] Additionally, Clijsters had also asked for a wildcard at the US Open, after which she planned to evaluate the comeback in terms of success and the feasibility of combining it with her family life. Clijsters also stated that she preferred to think of it as a "second career" instead of a comeback, because so many factors (marriage, a baby, the recent death of her father) were different from her first career.[175]
At the Wimbledon exhibition, Clijsters and Henman won 7–6 in a tiebreak against Graf and Agassi.[176] Clijsters also played a singles rubber against Graf, winning 6–4.[177] Clijsters said at the event that she had been practicing for a month and had started to feel good again at the start of February.[178] In July, she won both of her doubles matches with the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis.[179]
Clijsters started her second career at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, following the acceptance of her wildcard. She defeated world no. 13 Marion Bartoli in the first round, 6–4, 6–3.[180] In her next two matches, she defeated world no. 20 Patty Schnyder, 6–2, 7–5, and world no. 6 and reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she lost to world no. 1 Dinara Safina, 2–6, 5–7.
Following Cincinnati, Clijsters played at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on another wildcard. She defeated British qualifier Elena Baltacha in the first round. In the second round, she defeated world no. 9 Victoria Azarenka, 7–5, 4–6, 6–1, but lost to world no. 4 Jelena Janković in the third round, 6–1, 3–6, 5–7, after serving for the match at 5–3.
She then received a wildcard to play in the main draw of the US Open. She won her first-round match over Viktoriya Kutuzova, 6–1, 6–1. She won her second round match, defeating world no. 14 Marion Bartoli for the second time in three weeks, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated compatriot Kirsten Flipkens, 6–0, 6–2, in the third round. She went on to upset world no. 3 Venus Williams in the fourth round, 6–0, 0–6, 6–4.[181] This was only Clijsters' 11th competitive match since coming out of retirement. Clijsters beat 18th seed Li Na in straight sets, 6–2, 6–4, to reach the semifinals, where she faced defending champion and world no. 2 Serena Williams, winning 6–4, 7–5 after Williams was given a point penalty on match point after a dispute with an official over a foot-fault call.[182] Clijsters became the first unseeded finalist at the US Open since Venus Williams in 1997, and the first wildcard to ever reach the US Open final. With her victory over Serena, Clijsters became the only player to have beaten both Williams sisters in the same tournament twice. In the final, she defeated ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki, 7–5, 6–3, to win her second US Open title.[183] Her US Open victory placed her in the top 20 in the world rankings. She also became the first wildcard champion in US Open history and the first mother to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980.
Clijsters is popularly known as one of the "comeback queens" of tennis.[184]
Clijsters then received a wildcard to play at the 2009 BGL Luxembourg Open in Luxembourg as the second seed. She eased through her opening match, 6–2, 6–2, against Meghann Shaughnessy, but fell to Patty Schnyder in a close second-round encounter, 4–6, 6–3, 6–7.[185]
Playing an exhibition match in Antwerp, Belgium on 10 December, Clijsters defeated Venus Williams 6–1, 7–5.[186] She finished the year ranked no. 18.
In March 2010, Clijsters won her first Laureus World Sports Award, for her remarkable 2009 US Open comeback. She also won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year and the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award for the seventh time.
Clijsters started her 2010 campaign at the Brisbane International in Australia as the top seed. She defeated Tathiana Garbin[187] and Alicia Molik[188] in the first two rounds, without dropping a set. She then defeated Lucie Šafářová in three sets[189] to advance to the semifinals, where she defeated Andrea Petkovic to set up a final with her compatriot Justine Henin.[190] Clijsters led 6–3, 4–1, before Henin won eight consecutive games to take the second set and lead 3–0 in the final set. Clijsters trailed 5–3, saved two match points before breaking back and forcing a final set tie break. During the tiebreak, Clijsters struck a backhand that appeared to land inside the line, sealing the championship. She raised her hands in the air in celebration, before the call was overruled by the umpire, who claimed the ball was out. Despite being rattled by the call, Clijsters was unfazed and remained focused, going on to win the match, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6).[191]
Clijsters' next tournament was the 2010 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season where she was seeded 15th. Clijsters advanced to the third round with straight-sets wins over Valérie Tétreault[192] and Tamarine Tanasugarn.[193] In the third round, Clijsters lost to world no. 20 Nadia Petrova, winning just one game in the worst defeat of her career.[194]
Clijsters did not play competitively again until March at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She was seeded 14th, but fell to 23rd seed Alisa Kleybanova in the third round, losing a final-set tiebreak.[195] Clijsters found form at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, as she went on to win the title. As the 14th seed, she only dropped three games while defeating Petra Kvitová[196] and Shahar Pe'er.[197] Clijsters then defeated the defending champion Victoria Azarenka, losing just four games.[198] Next she defeated world no. 10 Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals[199] and Justine Henin in a final set tiebreak to reach the final.[200] Clijsters went on to beat Venus Williams in straight sets in the final, ending the American's 15-match unbeaten streak. As a result of winning the title for the second time, Clijsters' ranking rose to world no. 10.[201]
Playing her first clay tennis match in three years at the Andalucia Tennis Experience as the third seed, Clijsters advanced to the second round after beating Alexandra Dulgheru in three sets. However in the second round, Clijsters lost to the world no. 258 Beatriz García Vidagany.[202] Clijsters played in Belgium's Fed Cup tie against Estonia, easily defeating Maret Ani, 6–4, 6–2, in her opening singles match. However, it was discovered that she had torn a muscle in her left foot, causing her to pull out of her next match against Kaia Kanepi. Doctors ruled her out for six weeks, but Clijsters hoped to make an early recovery.[203] She later announced in a press conference that she would have to withdraw from the rest of the clay-court season, including the 2010 French Open.[204]
Clijsters returned to action at the start of the grass-court season in Eastbourne as part of her Wimbledon warm-up, where she was victorious in 2005. Clijsters, as the fifth seed, defeated compatriot Yanina Wickmayer and Šafářova[205] to reach the quarterfinals, losing just three games, before losing in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka.[206] Despite this loss, Clijsters’ ranking rose to world no. 8, and she was seeded 8th at her first Wimbledon Championships since 2006. She started well, with a straight-sets wins over Maria Elena Camerin,[207] Karolina Šprem,[208] and Maria Kirilenko[209] to set up a fourth round clash with 17th seed Justine Henin. Clijsters came back from a set down to beat Henin, 2–6, 6–2, 6–3.[210] Clijsters lost in the quarterfinals to 21st seed and eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva in three sets.[211]
In between Wimbledon and the US hard-court season, Clijsters participated in the record-breaking Best of Belgium, an exhibition extravaganza. Clijsters defeated Serena Williams in straight sets, improving her head-to-head record since her comeback against the Williams sisters to 5–1 (3–1 against Venus who won against Clijsters at the Billie Jean Cup 2010, 2–0 against Serena).[212]
Clijsters played her next event at the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, where she had made her comeback the previous year. This was her first event of the 2010 US Open Series. After a first-round bye, Clijsters, as the 4th seed, defeated former world no.1 Dinara Safina,[213] Christina McHale,[214] and Flavia Pennetta[215] in straight sets to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, Clijsters was leading 2–1 when her opponent, Ana Ivanovic, had to retire due to a foot injury.[216] In the final, Clijsters faced 10th seed Maria Sharapova and after losing the first set, Clijsters found herself down 3–5 in the second set. She managed to save three match points on her own serve, before rain interrupted play. Clijsters came back to take the second set into a tie-break, and despite being down 0–3, she came back to win the tie-break and then claim a 2–6, 7–6(4), 6–2 victory.[217] This win propelled her ranking to world no. 4[218] with her 38th singles title of her career.
Clijsters played her final event of the US Open Series in Montreal at the 2010 Rogers Cup, where she was seeded 5th. After coming back from 4–6, 1–4 down in the opening round to defeat Bethanie Mattek-Sands,[219] Clijsters reached the quarterfinals, before losing to Vera Zvonareva in three sets.
Clijsters then competed in the 2010 US Open, where she was second seed. Clijsters advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set, defeating Gréta Arn, Sally Peers, Petra Kvitová, and Ana Ivanovic. There Clijsters came from a break down in the third set to defeat 5th seed Samantha Stosur, 6–3 in the final set to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Clijsters faced Venus Williams, winning the match in the final set to extend her US Open match winning streak to 20,[220] second only to Chris Evert's 31-match winning streak from 1975–1979 and tying with Venus and Monica Seles. In the final, Clijsters faced seventh seed Vera Zvonareva in a rematch of their Wimbledon quarterfinal meeting. Clijsters won, only dropping three games, to defend her US Open title, winning it for the third time and her second as a mother. The win also extended her US Open winning streak to 21 matches and was her 27th victory of her last 28 matches at the tournament, the only loss came from compatriot and rival Justine Henin in the '03 final. By winning US$2.2 million, she equalled her own 2005 record of the largest payday in women's sports history. Injury then kept Clijsters out until the WTA Championships.
At the year-end championship, Clijsters advanced to the final, after defeating Janković[221] and Azerenka to qualify for the semifinals. Clijsters lost her final group game to Zvonareva.[222] In the semifinals, Clijsters beat Stosur in straight sets, after surviving a car crash.[223][224] In the championship match, Clijsters faced world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in a rematch of the 2009 US Open final. Clijsters finished the year at world no. 3, after defeating the Dane in three sets to clinch her third WTA Championship and fifth title of the year.[225][226]
Clijsters' final match of 2010 was a repeat of what the Best of Belgium should have been, a match against Justine Henin. The match took place at the Diamond Games in front of a Belgian crowd. Clijsters came out the winner, winning the match tie-breaker 10–5.[227]
For her performance during the season, Clijsters received the WTA Player of the Year award for the second time (first one in 2005), the first player ever to win this award in the year following the win of the Comeback Player of the Year.
Clijsters' first competitive outing of the year was the Medibank International Sydney in Australia. In the first round, Clijsters defeated Alexandra Dulgheru in two sets, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Victoria Azarenka, and Alisa Kleybanova to advanced to the final, where she was defeated by world no. 11 Li Na, 6–7(3), 3–6, despite leading 5–0 in the first set.[228]
Clijsters started a strong campaign at the 2011 Australian Open as the tournament favourite with an emphatic 6–0, 6–0 victory over former world no. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round. This was the first time in tennis' open era that a former world no. 1 player received a double bagel loss in a Grand Slam tournament. Clijsters then defeated Carla Suárez Navarro, 6–1, 6–3, and Alizé Cornet, 7–6(3), 6–3, before winning a fourth-round match against Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, 7–6(3), 6–2. In the quarterfinals, Clijsters continued her progress without dropping a set by beating the twelfth seed Agnieszka Radwańska, 6–3, 7–6(4).
She defeated world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva, 6–3, 6–3, guaranteeing her accession to world no. 2, her highest ranking since her return to the tour. Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open singles by beating Li Na, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3.[229] It was her first major win outside the US and her fourth overall. Clearly emotional, Clijsters declared that she finally had earned the title "Aussie Kim."[229]
Clijsters next traveled to play at the indoor tournament in Paris. After defeating Jelena Dokić in the quarterfinals, Clijsters returned to the top of the WTA rankings for the first time in almost five years, overtaking Caroline Wozniacki.[230] Clijsters eventually progressed to the final of the competition, but was beaten by third seed Petra Kvitová in straight sets, 4–6, 3–6.
Up next for Clijsters was the Indian Wells Masters in California, where she was seeded second. After receiving a bye in the first round, she faced Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and defeated her, 6–2, 6–0. In the third round, she beat the Italian Sara Errani in three sets, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4. Clijsters had to retire in her next match against Marion Bartoli at 6–3, 1–3 with a shoulder injury.
Clijsters was the defending champion in Miami and the second seed. After defeating Anastasiya Yakimova, 6–1, 6–2, and María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3, in the second and third round, respectively, she came back from 1–5 0–40 in the final set against Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round, winning the match, 7–6(4), 3–6, 7–6(5). She eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, 3–6, 3–6.
On 21 April 2011, Clijsters was elected number 16 on the Time Top 100 list of most influential people, the first sports person on the 2011 listing. Her sportsmanship, involvement in charity, success as a mother combined with her anti-diva no-nonsense attitude led to her election.[231]
Clijsters suffered an ankle injury while dancing at a wedding and missed most of the clay-court season before the 2011 French Open.[232] Clijsters was the second seed in the Roland Garros draw. She was defeated by Arantxa Rus in the second round, 6–3, 5–7, 1–6, after leading 6–3, 5–2 and having two match points.[233] Clijsters suffered a further ankle injury in the UNICEF Open, which forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon.[234]
Clijsters returned to the tour at the 2011 Rogers Cup. She received a bye into the second round, where she played qualifier Zheng Jie. She won the first set 6–3, but retired three games into the second due to an abdominal injury.[235] The injury caused her to pull out of the 2011 Western & Southern Open,[236] and then the 2011 US Open, where she was the two-time defending champion.[237]
She announced on her blog that she was dropping the rest of the season to fully recover in order to get ready for 2012, the year of the Olympic Games, and that she may come back in December 2011 in Antwerp for the Diamond Games.[238] After a four-month lay-off, Clijsters returned successfully to the court, beating top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki 6–2, 7–6 (7–5) at the Diamond Games exhibition.[239]
Clijsters began her 2012 season at the Brisbane International. She defeated Simona Halep in the first round, followed by a 6–1, 1–6, 6–3 defeat of Ana Ivanovic in the second round. She comfortably won her quarterfinal match against Iveta Benesova, 6–3, 6–2. Clijsters met Daniela Hantuchova in her semifinal match. Leading 7–6, 1–2, Clijsters received a medical timeout for a hip spasm. She played only one game afterward, retiring to hand the match to Hantuchova, 6–7, 3–1.[240]
Clijsters entered the 2012 Australian Open, the last appearance in the event before her expected retirement.[241] As 11th seed. Clijsters defeated Maria João Koehler and Stephanie Foretz Gacon in the first round and second round, respectively. In the third round, she defeated Daniela Hantuchova, 6–3, 6–2, in a rematch of their semifinal encounter at the Brisbane International only a fortnight earlier. Clijsters played Li Na in the fourth round, whom she defeated to win the title in 2011. At 3–3 in the first set, Clijsters rolled her ankle and required a medical timeout. Despite being severely hindered in her movement, Clijsters played on, but quickly lost the first set 4–6. She recovered from a break down in the second set to force a tiebreak. Down four match points at 2–6 in the second set tiebreak, she reeled off six consecutive points to take the second set tiebreak, 8–6. She took a 5–1 lead in the final set, but Li recovered, bringing the match to 5–4. However, Clijsters rallied, serving out the match, 4–6, 7–6, 6–4.[242] Clijsters then defeated top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 6–3, 7–6, seemingly unhampered by the ankle sprain she sustained in the previous round. She lost in the semifinals to third seed and eventual winner Victoria Azarenka, 4–6, 6–1, 3–6. Clijsters' ranking dropped to no. 30 after failing to defend her points from winning the title in 2011.[243]
Clijsters withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open after exacerbating the ankle injury she sustained at the Australian Open.[244] Clijsters' next tournament was at the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. She lost to fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the third round, 4–6, 6–7. Following the match, Clijsters announced that she was suffering from a hip injury and would not compete for at least four weeks.[245] At the time, she hoped that she would be back for the Madrid Open, starting in May; however on 17 April 2012, Clijsters announced that she will skip the clay-court season, including the French Open, because her injury had not sufficiently healed. She will from now on focus on the grass season to prepare for Wimbledon and the London Olympics. Her next tournament will be Rosmalen.[246]
On May 20, 2012, Clijsters who had previously announced that 2012 would be her last season, revealed that she will stop after the US Open.[247]
Clijsters and Justine Henin met 25 times over a period of 12 years. Their matches ended 13–12 in Clijsters' favour.
Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva first played each other in 2002. Clijsters leads their matches 7–3.[248]
Prior to her first retirement in 2007, Clijsters won all five of her matches with Zvonareva. The women met again during the 2010 season, when Zvonareva won three of their four matches—the exception being the US Open final. Zvonareva's first victory against Clijsters came at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Their only match of 2011 was won by Clijsters at the Australian Open.
Clijsters and Amélie Mauresmo met 15 times over eight years. Their matches ended 8–7 in Clijsters' favour. Prior to the 2005 WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters lead the series 8–2. Mauresmo won their final five matches from 2005 to 2007, including the final of the Proximus Diamond Games in 2006 and 2007.
Clijsters and Venus Williams have met 13 times since 2001. Clijsters currently leads their matches 7–6. Clijsters has not lost to Williams since the 2005 Proximus Diamond Games, when the matches were 6–2 in Williams' favour. She has since defeated Williams five consecutive times, including three times at the US Open. They last played in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open, with Clijsters winning 4–6 7–6 6–4.
Clijsters and Serena Williams have met a total of nine times since 1999. Williams leads their matches 7–2, with Clijsters winning their last encounter at the 2009 US Open, their only match since the Belgian's comeback in 2009.
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Tournament | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | SR | W–L |
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Australian Open | A | A | A | 1R | 4R | SF | SF | F | A | SF | SF | A | A | 3R | W | SF | 1 / 10 | 43–9 |
French Open | A | A | A | 1R | F | 3R | F | A | 4R | SF | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 0 / 7 | 23–7 |
Wimbledon | A | A | 4R | 2R | QF | 2R | SF | A | 4R | SF | A | A | A | QF | A | 0 / 8 | 26–8 | |
US Open | A | A | 3R | 2R | QF | 4R | F | A | W | A | A | A | W | W | A | 3 / 8 | 37–5 | |
Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 2–4 | 17–4 | 11–4 | 22–4 | 6–1 | 13–2 | 14–3 | 5–1 | 0–0 | 7–0 | 13–2 | 8–1 | 5–1 | 4 / 33 | 129–29 |
WTA Tour Championships | A | A | A | QF | SF | W | W | A | RR | SF | A | A | A | W | A | 3 / 7 | 19–7 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kim Clijsters |
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Persondata | |
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Name | Clijsters, Kim |
Alternative names | |
Short description | Belgian tennis player |
Date of birth | 8 June 1983 |
Place of birth | Bilzen, Belgium |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
Serena Williams at the 2011 AEGON International |
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Country | United States |
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Residence | Palm Beach Gardens, Florida[1] |
Born | (1981-09-26) September 26, 1981 (age 30) Saginaw, Michigan |
Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
Weight | 70.3 kg (155 lb) |
Turned pro | September 1995 |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
Career prize money | US$ 36,019,574 (1st all-time among women athletes and 4th all-time among tennis athletes) |
Singles | |
Career record | 523–106 (83%) |
Career titles | 41 WTA[1] (10th in overall rankings) |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (July 8, 2002) |
Current ranking | No. 5 (May 28, 2012) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | W (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010) |
French Open | W (2002) |
Wimbledon | W (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010) |
US Open | W (1999, 2002, 2008) |
Other tournaments | |
Championships | W (2001, 2009) |
Olympic Games | QF (2008) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 153–20 (88.4%) |
Career titles | 20 |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (June 7, 2010) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | W (2001, 2003, 2009, 2010) |
French Open | W (1999, 2010) |
Wimbledon | W (2000, 2002, 2008, 2009) |
US Open | W (1999, 2009) |
Other Doubles tournaments | |
Olympic Games | Gold medal (2000, 2008) |
Mixed Doubles | |
Career record | 27–3 (90%) |
Career titles | 2 |
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
Australian Open | F (1999) |
French Open | F (1998) |
Wimbledon | W (1998) |
US Open | W (1998) |
Last updated on: May 28, 2012. |
Olympic medal record | ||
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Women's tennis | ||
Competitor for the United States | ||
Gold | 2000 Sydney | Doubles |
Gold | 2008 Beijing | Doubles |
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on November 2, 2009.[2] She is the only female player to have won over $35 million in prize money.
Her 27 Grand Slam titles places her ninth on the all-time list: 13 in singles, 12 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so. She was also the first woman, along with sister Venus Williams, to hold all four Grand Slam doubles titles simultaneously since Martina Hingis did so in 1998. Her 13 Grand Slam singles titles is sixth on the all-time list.[3] Williams ranks fourth in Grand Slam women's singles titles won during the open era, behind Steffi Graf (22 titles) and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova (18 titles each).[3] She has won more Major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active player, male or female.
Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles.[4] She has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history.[5] Serena has played older sister Venus in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, which was the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together. She is the first player, male or female, to win 5 Australian Open singles titles during the open era.
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Serena Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. She is of African American heritage and is the youngest of Price's five daughters: half-sisters Yetunde (1972–2003), Lyndrea and Isha Price, and full sister Venus.[1] When the children were young, the family moved to the city of Compton in Los Angeles county, where Serena started playing tennis at the age of five.[6] Her father home-schooled Serena and her sister Venus[7] and to this day, Serena Williams was and remains coached by both her parents.[1]
Williams' family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach[8] when she was nine so that she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who would provide additional coaching. Macci spotted the exceptional talents of the sisters. He did not always agree with Williams' father but respected that "he treated his daughters like kids, allowed them to be little girls".[9] Richard stopped sending his daughters to national junior tennis tournaments when Williams was 10, since he wanted them to take it slow and focus on school work. Another motivation was racial, as he had allegedly heard parents of white players talk about the Williams sisters in a derogatory manner during tournaments.[10] At that time, Williams had a 46–3 record on the United States Tennis Association junior tour and was ranked No. 1 among under 10 players in Florida.[11] In 1995, when Serena was in the ninth grade, Richard pulled his daughters out of Macci's academy, and from then on took over all coaching at their home. When asked in 2000 whether having followed the normal path of playing regularly on the junior circuit would have been beneficial, Williams responded: "Everyone does different things. I think for Venus and I, we just tried a different road, and it worked for us."[11]
Williams is primarily a baseline player. Her game is built around taking immediate control of rallies with a powerful and consistent serve (considered by some to be the best in the women's game),[12] return of serve, and forceful groundstrokes from both her forehand and backhand swings. Williams' forehand is considered to be among the most powerful shots in the women's game as is her double-handed backhand. Williams strikes her backhand groundstroke using an open stance, and uses the same open stance for her forehand. Williams's aggressive play, a "high risk" style, is balanced in part by her serve, which combines great power and placement with very high consistency.[13] Her serve has been hit as hard as 128 mph (206.5 km/h), the second-fastest all-time among female players (Venus recorded the fastest with 129 mph).[citation needed] Serena also possesses a very solid volley and powerful overhead which is very useful for her net game. Although many think of Williams as only an offensive player, she also plays a strong defensive game.[14]
Williams's first professional event was in September 1995, at the age of 13, at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City. She lost in the first round of qualifying to world no. 149 Annie Miller in less than an hour of play and earned US$240 in prize money.
Williams did not play a tournament in 1996. The following year, she lost in the qualifying rounds of three tournaments, before winning her first main-draw match in November at the Ameritech Cup Chicago. Ranked world no. 304, she upset world no. 7 Mary Pierce and world no. 4 Monica Seles, recording her first career wins over top 10 players and becoming the lowest-ranked player in the open era to defeat two top 10 opponents in one tournament.[1] She ultimately lost in the semifinals to world no. 5 Lindsay Davenport. She finished 1997 ranked world no. 99.
Williams began 1998 at the Medibank International Sydney. As a qualifier ranked world no. 96, she defeated world no. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals. Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open, where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea in the first round, before losing to sister Venus in the second round in the sisters' first professional match.[15] Williams reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them, including her first match against world no. 1 Martina Hingis at the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, and her second match against Venus at the Italian Open in Rome. She failed to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam tournament the remainder of the year, losing in the fourth round of the French Open to Sánchez Vicario, and the third round of both Wimbledon and the US Open, to Virginia Ruano Pascual and Spîrlea, respectively. She did, however, win the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi, completing the Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slam tournaments. Williams won her first professional title in doubles in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title.[1] The Williams sisters won two more doubles titles together during the year. Serena finished the year ranked world no. 20 in singles.
Williams lost in the third round of the 1999 Australian Open to Sandrine Testud. The following month, she won her first professional singles title, when she defeated Australian Open runner-up Amélie Mauresmo, 6–2, 3–6, 7–6, in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. With Venus also winning the IGA Superthrift Classic in Oklahoma City that day, the pair became the first sisters to win professional tournaments in the same week.[16] A month later, Serena won her first Tier I singles title at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California by defeating world no. 7 Steffi Graf, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5, in the final. At the following tournament, the Tier I Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, Williams defeated world no. 1 Martina Hingis in the semifinals, before Venus ended her 16-match winning streak in the first all-sister singles final in WTA history.[1] On April 5, 1999, Serena made her top-10 debut at world no. 9.
Williams played three tournaments during the 1999 European spring clay court season. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Italian Open in Rome to World No. 1 Hingis and in the quarterfinals of the Tier I German Open in Berlin to World No. 7 Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Serena and Venus won the women's doubles title at the French Open, but Serena was upset by Mary Joe Fernandez in the third round of the singles competition. She then missed Wimbledon because of injury.
When she returned to the tour, Williams won a Fed Cup singles match, before playing two tournaments during the 1999 North American summer hard-court season. She won the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, defeating world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and Julie Halard-Decugis in the final. Williams was seeded seventh at the US Open, where she defeated world no. 4 Monica Seles, world no. 2 Lindsay Davenport, and world no. 1 Hingis to become the second African-American woman (after Althea Gibson in 1958) to win a Grand Slam singles tournament.[1] The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at this tournament, their second Grand Slam title together.
To complete 1999, Williams won a doubles match in the Fed Cup final against Russia, her third tournament of the year at the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, and lost in the second round of the tournament in Filderstadt. Williams ended the year ranked world no. 4 in just her second full year on the main tour.
Williams started 2000 by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to 16th seeded Elena Likhovtseva. She failed to defend her titles in Paris and Indian Wells, although she did win the Faber Grand Prix in Hanover. Williams missed the French Open because of injury. She returned at Wimbledon, where she lost to eventual champion Venus in the semifinals after Serena had lost just 13 games in advancing to the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. The Williams sisters teamed to win the doubles title at the event. Williams successfully defended her title in Los Angeles in August, defeating world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals and world no. 2 Davenport in the final. She reached the final of the Du Maurier Open in Montreal, Canada the following week, where an injury forced her to retire from her match with Hingis. Her defense of the US Open title ended when she lost in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Davenport. Williams teamed with Venus to win the gold medal in doubles at the Sydney Olympics in September. She then won her third singles title of the year the following week at the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo. She finished the year ranked world no. 6.
Williams played two tournaments in Australia at the beginning of 2001, losing to world no. 1 Hingis in the quarterfinals of both the tournament in Sydney and the Australian Open. Serena and her sister Venus won the women's doubles title at the latter tournament, becoming only the fifth doubles team in history to win all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles during their career, a "Career Grand Slam".
She did not play again until March, when she defeated Kim Clijsters in the final of the Tier I Tennis Masters Series in Indian Wells, California. She advanced to the final there when Venus withdrew just before the start of their semifinal match. Venus claimed that an injury prevented her from playing, but the withdrawal was controversial. Neither Williams sister has entered the tournament since.[17] The following week at the Tier I Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Williams lost to Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals.
Williams did not play a clay-court tournament before the 2001 French Open, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati, 2–6, 7–5, 2–6. Williams also did not play a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon, where she again lost in the quarterfinals to Capriati, 7–6, 5–7, 3–6, marking the fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament at which Williams had exited in the quarterfinals.
Williams played three tournaments during the 2001 North American summer hard-court season. After losing in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Los Angeles, Williams captured her second title of the year at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Seles in the semifinals and world no. 3 Capriati in the final. Williams was seeded tenth at the US Open, where she defeated world no. 6 and Wimbledon runner-up Justine Henin in the fourth round, world no. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals, and world no. 1 Hingis in the semifinals, before losing to sister Venus in the final. That was the first Grand Slam final contested by two sisters during the open era.
At the 2001-ending Sanex Championships in Munich, Williams defeated Silvia Farina Elia, Henin, and Testud en route to the final. She then won the championship by walkover when Davenport withdrew before the start of the final because of a knee injury. Williams finished 2001 at world no. 6 for the second straight year.
Injury forced Williams to retire from her semifinal match at the Medibank International Sydney and to withdraw from the 2002 Australian Open. She won her first title of the year at the State Farm Women's Tennis Classic in Scottsdale, USA, defeating world no. 2 Jennifer Capriati in the final. She then won the Tier I Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne for the first time, becoming one of three players in the open era to defeat the world's top 3 at one tournament,[1] after beating world no. 3 Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, world no. 2 and sister Venus in the semifinals, and world no. 1 Capriati in the final. Her 6–2, 6–2 win over Venus was her second career win over her sister.
Williams played three clay court tournaments before the 2002 French Open. Her first tournament was at Charleston, where she was the third seed. Serena reached the quarterfinals after wins over Jennifer Hopkins and Nathalie Dechy, but eventually lost to world no. 30, Patty Schnyder, 6–2, 4–6, 5–7. She reached her first clay-court final in May, at the Eurocard German Open in Berlin, losing to Justine Henin in a third set tiebreak. The following week, Williams won her first clay court title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Capriati in the semifinals and Henin in the final.[18] This raised her ranking to a new high of world no. 3. Williams, as the third seed at the French Open, made the last eight at the tournament with wins over Martina Sucha, Dally Randriantefy, Janette Husárová, and a three-set win over Vera Zvonareva. In her quarterfinal match, she defeated '00 champion, Mary Pierce, 6–1, 6–1. In the semifinals, she faced defending champion and world no. 1, Jennifer Capriati. After an outstanding display of tennis, Williams advanced to her first French Open final, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2. In the final, she faced world no. 2 and older sister, Venus. Serena won in the final, 7–5, 6–3, to claim her second Grand Slam title, her first in almost two and a half years. Serena rose to a career high of no. 2 after the win, second only to older sister Venus
At the 2002 Wimbledon Championships, Williams defeated Evie Dominikovic, Francesca Schiavone, Els Callens, and Chanda Rubin to reach her third Wimbledon quarterfinal. In her next match, Williams breezed past Daniela Hantuchová, 6–3, 6–2, and Amélie Mauresmo, 6–2, 6–1, to reach the final for the first time. There, she again defeated defending champion and no. 1 Venus, 7–6, 6–3, to win a Grand Slam singles title without dropping a set for the first time in her career. This victory earned Williams the world no. 1 ranking, dethroning her sister and becoming only the second African-American woman to hold that ranking.[1] The Williams sisters also won the doubles title at the tournament, the fifth Grand Slam doubles title for the pair.
Williams played just one tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open, losing in the quarterfinals of the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles to Chanda Rubin, ending a 21-match winning streak. As the top-seeded player at the US Open, she defeated Corina Morariu, future rival Dinara Safina, Nathalie Dechy, and Dája Bedáňová to make her fourth consecutive quarterfinal, where she crushed Daniela Hantuchová, 6–2, 6–1, to book a place in the semifinals against former champion and no. 1 Lindsay Davenport. It marked the fourth consecutive time she face Davenport at the US Open. After a tight second set, Serena made her third US Open final in four years, where she faced Venus once more. Serena won the US Open title for the second time with a 6–4, 6–3 win in the final, making it her fourth Grand Slam singles title to date.
Williams won two consecutive singles titles in the fall, defeating Kim Clijsters to win the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo, and Anastasia Myskina to win the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany. She reached the final at the year-end Home Depot Championships, where she lost to fifth seeded Clijsters in straight sets, ending her 18-match winning streak.
Williams finished 2002 with a 56–5 record, eight singles titles, and the world no. 1 ranking. She was the first African-American (male or female) to end a year with that ranking since Althea Gibson in 1958. She was the first woman to win three Grand Slam titles in one year since Hingis in 1997.[1]
At the 2003 Australian Open, Williams went on to reach the semifinals for the first time, where she recovered from 5–2 down in the third set and saved two match points, before defeating Clijsters. She faced her sister Venus for the fourth consecutive Grand Slam final and won, 7–6, 3–6, 6–4, to become the sixth woman in the open era to complete a Career Grand Slam, joining Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Margaret Court. She also became the fifth woman to hold all Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously, joining Maureen Connolly Brinker, Court, Graf, and Navratilova.[19] The Williams sisters won their sixth Grand Slam doubles title together at this event.
Williams then captured singles titles at the Open Gaz de France in Paris and the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, defeating Clijsters in the semifinals and Capriati in the final. The following week, Williams lost the final at the clay-court Family Circle Cup in Charleston, USA to Henin, her first loss of the year after 21 wins. She also lost to Mauresmo in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Despite these losses, Williams was the top seed at the French Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Henin, 2–6, 6–4, 5–7, marking Williams's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2001. The match was controversial, as Williams questioned Henin's sportsmanship, and spectators applauded Williams's errors.[20] She was know to be dating [Larar Arrington] at the time.
Williams rebounded from the loss at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Henin in the semifinals and Venus in the final, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. This was Williams' second consecutive Wimbledon title and her sixth Grand Slam singles title overall. This was her last tournament of the year, as knee surgery prevented her from competing in the year's remaining events, including the US Open. As a result, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Clijsters in August, having held it for 57 consecutive weeks. Williams finished the year ranked world no. 3 and with four titles. On September 14, 2003, while Williams was still recovering from surgery, her sister Yetunde Price was murdered.
Williams withdrew from the Australian Open to continue rehabilitating her left knee. She then withdrew from further tournaments, which generated speculation that she was losing interest in the sport.[21] After eight months away from the tour, Williams began her comeback at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where she defeated 16-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova in the fourth round and world no. 8 Elena Dementieva in the final. This was the third consecutive year that Williams had won this tournament.
She then played three clay-court tournaments leading up to the French Open. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, and, the following week at the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, she withdrew before her third-round match because of an injured knee. She was away from the tour for four weeks before playing the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she lost to world no. 9 Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals, 4–6, 4–6. Although ranked world no. 7, she was seeded second at the French Open. She won her first four matches over players ranked outside the top 50, before Capriati beat her in the quarterfinals,3–6, 6–2, 3–6. This was the first time she had lost before the semifinals at a Grand Slam singles tournament since Wimbledon in 2001.
She was seeded first at Wimbledon, even though her ranking had dropped to world no. 10. She reached the final, where she was defeated by 13th-seeded Sharapova 1–6, 4–6. This loss caused her ranking to drop out of the top 10 for the first time since early 1999.
Williams reached her third final of the year at the JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles on hard courts. She lost there to Lindsay Davenport, 1–6, 3–6, which was her first loss to Davenport since the 2000 US Open. Williams then withdrew before her quarterfinal match at the Acura Classic in San Diego with another left knee injury. This injury caused her to miss both the Tier I Rogers AT&T Cup in Montreal and the Athens Olympics. She returned for the US Open, where she was seeded third even though she was ranked world no. 11. She lost there in the quarterfinals to world no. 8 Capriati, 6–2, 4–6, 4–6. This match featured several missed line calls, including one that led to the suspension of the chair umpire for the remainder of the tournament. This match is commonly referred to as the impetus for the current challenge system.[22][23]
Williams played only three tournaments the remainder of the year. She won her second title of the year at the China Open in Beijing, in which she defeated US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. Five weeks later, she lost in the second round of the tournament in Linz, Austria to world no. 73 Alina Jidkova, but still qualified for the WTA Tour Championships. In the round-robin phase of the tournament, she defeated world no. 5 Dementieva, lost to world no. 1 Davenport, and defeated world no. 3 Anastasia Myskina. She lost to world no. 6 Sharapova in the final, 6–4, 2–6, 4–6. Williams trailed 5–2 in the second set, when she asked for treatment of an abdominal injury that caused her to serve around 65 mph. She led 4–0 in the third set, before Sharapova won the last six games of the match.[24] Williams finished 2004 ranked world no. 7, but did not win a Grand Slam singles tournament for the first time since 2001.
At the 2005 Australian Open, Williams rejected suggestions that she and sister Venus were a declining force in tennis, following Venus's early exit at the tournament.[25] In the quarterfinals, Williams defeated second-seeded Mauresmo, 6–2, 6–2. In the semifinals, she saved three match points in defeating fourth-seeded Sharapova, 2–6, 7–5, 8–6. In the final, Williams defeated world no. 1 Davenport, 2–6, 6–3, 6–0, to win her second Australian Open singles title and seventh Grand Slam singles title. The win moved Williams back to world no. 2, and she stated that she was now targeting the no. 1 spot.[26]
She did not, however, reach the final at any of her next five tournaments. She withdrew before her quarterfinal match at the Open Gaz de France in Paris, citing a stomach illness.[27] Three weeks later, she retired from her semifinal match with Jelena Janković at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, citing a strained tendon in her right shoulder.[28] Four weeks later, she lost to sister Venus for the first time since 2001 in the quarterfinals of the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, 1–6, 6–7. The following week, a left ankle injury forced her to retire from her quarterfinal match on clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island. Five weeks away from the tour did not improve her results, as she lost in the second round of the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome to Francesca Schiavone, 6–7, 1–6. The ankle injury also caused her to miss the French Open.[29]
She returned for Wimbledon as the fourth seeded player, but, after struggling through her first two matches in three sets, she was defeated in the third round by world no. 85 Jill Craybas, 3–6, 6–7.
After winning her first match at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, a recurrence of her left knee injury caused her to withdraw from the tournament. At the US Open, Williams lost to her sister Venus in the fourth round, 6–7, 2–6. This was the earliest the sisters had met in a Grand Slam tournament since their first meeting at the 1998 Australian Open. Williams played just one more match the remainder of the year, a loss to world no. 127 Sun Tiantian at the tournament in Beijing. She failed to qualify for the year-end championship for the first time since 1998. She finished the year ranked world no. 11, her first time finishing outside of the top 10 since 1998.
Williams did not participate in any of the official warm-up tournaments for the 2006 Australian Open.[30] Williams was the defending champion at the Australian Open, but fell to world no. 17 Daniela Hantuchová in the third round, 1–6, 6–7.[30] She then withdrew from tournaments in Tokyo (citing her lack of fitness)[31] and Dubai and from the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne (citing a knee injury and lack of fitness).[32] On April 10, her ranking fell out of the top 100 for the first time since November 16, 1997. Shortly after, she announced that she would miss both the French Open and Wimbledon because of a chronic knee injury. She said that she would not be able to compete before "the end of the summer", on doctor's orders.[33]
Williams returned to the Tour in July at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati. Ranked world no. 139 because of her inactivity, she defeated world no. 11 Myskina in the first round, 6–2, 6–2, before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva. She also reached the semifinals in Los Angeles, losing to world no. 28 Janković in straight sets.
At the US Open, Williams was unseeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 1998 and needed a wildcard to enter the tournament because her ranking was too low. She lost to top-seeded Mauresmo in the fourth round, 4–6, 6–0, 2–6.[30] She did not play again in 2006, ending the year ranked world no. 95. This was her lowest year-end ranking since 1997. Williams played just four tournaments in 2006.
Williams began 2007 with renewed confidence, stating her intention to return to the top of the rankings,[34] a comment former player and commentator Pat Cash branded "deluded."[35]
Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Hobart, Australia, a warm-up for the Australian Open.[36] Williams was unseeded at the Australian Open because of her world no. 81 ranking and was widely regarded as "out of shape."[37] In the third round, however, Williams defeated fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova, which was her first win over a top-10 player since defeating Lindsay Davenport in the 2005 Australian Open final. In the final, Williams defeated top-seeded Maria Sharapova, 6–1, 6–2[38] to win her third Australian Open singles title and her eighth Grand Slam singles title. Williams dedicated the title to her deceased sister Yetunde.[38] Her performance in the final was described by TENNIS.com as "one of the best performances of her career"[37] and by BBC Sport as "arguably the most powerful display ever seen in women's tennis."[39]
Williams next played at the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida in late March. In the final, Williams defeated world no. 1 Justine Henin, 0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after saving 2 match points at 40–15 in the second set.[40]
At the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina on clay courts, Williams retired from her second-round match because of a groin pull. The following week, Williams won her first singles match in the first round Fed Cup tie against Belgium on hard courts,[41] but withdrew from the second singles match to rest her knee. Williams played only one clay-court tournament in Europe before the French Open. In Rome at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Williams lost to 14th-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in the quarterfinals, 3–6, 6–2, 6–7.[41] After the tournament, however, she re-entered the top 10 at world no. 9. As the eighth seed at the French Open, Williams lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Henin, 4–6, 3–6.[41] Williams said her performance was "hideous and horrendous" and worse than ever.[42] She also said that she felt "violated".[43]
Despite the loss, Williams was one of the favorites for the Wimbledon title.[44] During her fourth round match against Daniela Hantuchová, Williams collapsed from an acute muscle spasm at 5–5 in the second set. After a medical timeout and holding serve to force a tiebreak, rain forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours. When the players returned, Williams won the match, 6–2, 6–7, 6–2.[45] Williams then lost her quarterfinal match with world no. 1 Henin, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6. Williams started the match with a heavily taped calf and was forced to use a one-handed backhand slice because of a left thumb injury. Williams was criticized for claiming after the match that she would have beaten Henin had Williams been healthy.[46] After Wimbledon, Williams moved up to world no. 7, her highest ranking since 2005.
Because of the thumb injury, Williams did not play a tournament between Wimbledon and the US Open.[41] At the US Open, she beat 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli in the fourth round,[41] but lost her third consecutive Grand Slam singles quarterfinal to Henin, 6–7, 1–6.[41]
In October, Williams lost in the quarterfinals of the tournament in Stuttgart to world no. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova.[41] Williams then reached her third final of the year at the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, defeating Kuznetsova in the semifinals, before losing to Elena Dementieva.[41] Nevertheless, Williams's performances at these tournaments raised her ranking to world no. 5 and qualified her for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. Her participation there was short. Because of injury, she retired from her first match with Anna Chakvetadze, after losing the first set, and then withdrew from the tournament.[47] Williams finished 2007 as World No. 7 and the top-ranked American for the first time since 2003.[41]
Williams started 2008 by participating on the U.S. team that won the Hopman Cup for the fifth time in Perth, Australia.[48] Williams was the seventh seed at the Australian Open, but lost in the quarterfinals to world no. 4 and third-seeded Jelena Janković, 3–6, 4–6.[49] This was her fourth straight loss in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament. In the women's doubles event, Serena and her sister Venus lost in the quarterfinals to the seventh-seeded team of Zheng Jie and Yan Zi.
Williams then withdrew from three tournaments because of an urgent need for dental surgery.[50] Upon her return to the Tour, Williams won three consecutive singles titles. At the Tier II tournament in Bangalore, India, Serena defeated sister Venus in the semifinals, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6,[49] after Serena saved a match point at 6–5 in the third set. This was the first time they had played each other since the fourth round of the 2005 US Open. Serena then defeated Schnyder in the final.[49] At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Williams won her fifth career singles title there, tying Steffi Graf for the most singles titles at this tournament. Williams defeated world no. 1 Henin in the quarterfinals, world no. 3 Kuznetsova in the semifinals, and world no. 4 Janković in the final.[49] This was her 30th career singles title.
At the clay-court Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Williams defeated, for the fourth consecutive time, second-seeded Sharapova in the quarterfinals.[49] In the final, Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva[49] to capture her tenth career Tier I title and first clay-court title since the 2002 French Open. Her 17-match winning streak was ended by Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, 6–2, 1–6, 6–7.[49] Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and made it to the quarterfinals, where Alizé Cornet received a walkover over Williams[49] because of a back injury.
Williams was the fifth-seeded player at the French Open. Although she was the only former winner of this tournament in this year's draw, following the sudden retirement of four-time champion Henin, she lost in the third round to 27th-seeded Katarina Srebotnik, 4–6, 4–6.[49]
At Wimbledon, the sixth-seeded Williams reached the finals for the first time in four years. She defeated former world no. 1 and 2006 Wimbledon champion Amélie Mauresmo in the third round, before losing the final to her older sister Venus in straight sets.[49] This was the first Grand Slam final in which the Williams sisters had played each other since 2003. Serena and Venus then teamed to win the women's doubles title without dropping a set the entire tournament, their first Grand Slam women's doubles title since 2003.
Williams then played four World Team Tennis matches for the Washington Kastles,[51] contributing 49 points for her team.
Williams was seeded first at the tournament in Stanford, California, but retired from her semifinal match against qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak while trailing 6–2, 3–1[49] because of a left knee injury. That injury caused Williams to withdraw from the tournament in Los Angeles the following week.
Playing in the singles draw at the Olympics for the first time in Beijing, Williams was the fourth-seeded player in singles, but lost to fifth-seeded and eventual gold-medalist Dementieva in the quarterfinals, 6–3, 4–6, 3–6.[49] Serena and her sister Venus won the gold medal in doubles to add to their victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, beating the Spanish team of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the final.
Williams was seeded fourth at the US Open and defeated her seventh-seeded sister Venus in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 7–6. Serena trailed 5–3 in both sets and saved two set points in the first set and eight set points in the second set. Williams then defeated Safina in the semifinals and second-seeded Jelena Janković, 6–4, 7–5, in the final, after saving four set points at 5–3 in the second set. This was her third US Open and ninth Grand Slam singles title. This victory returned her to the world no. 1 ranking for the first time since 2003.[52]
At the Tier II Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Williams was the top seed, but lost to world no. 30 Li Na in the second round, 6–0, 1–6, 4–6. Serena also played doubles there with her sister Venus, but they withdrew after winning their first round match because of a left ankle injury to Serena. On October 3, Williams announced her withdrawal from the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, citing a continuing left ankle injury and a desire to give her body time to recover from a packed playing schedule.[53] Because of her withdrawal, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Janković.
Williams defeated Safina in her first round-robin match at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, before losing to her sister Venus, 5–7, 6–1, 6–0 in her second round-robin match. She then withdrew from her match against Dementieva, citing a stomach muscle injury. She ended the year ranked world no. 2 and with four singles titles, her strongest performance in both respects since 2003.
At the Medibank International in Sydney, top-seeded Williams lost in the semifinals to Russian Elena Dementieva for the third consecutive time, 3–6, 1–6.
Williams was seeded second at the Australian Open. She claimed her tenth Grand Slam singles title by defeating Dinara Safina in the final, 6–0, 6–3, in 59 minutes. This win returned her to the world no. 1 ranking and resulted in her becoming the all-time career prize money leader in women's sports, overtaking golfer Annika Sörenstam. In women's doubles, Serena and her sister Venus captured the title for the third time.
At the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, Williams withdrew from the tournament before her scheduled semifinal with Dementieva because of a knee injury. Williams was the top seed at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Premier 5 event on the tour. She defeated former world no. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals, before losing to her sister Venus in the semifinals, 1–6, 6–2, 6–7.
At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, a Premier Mandatory event, Williams was upset in the final by 11th seeded Victoria Azarenka. This was the first of four consecutive losses for Williams, the longest losing streak of her career.[54] She was defeated in her opening match at her first three clay-court events of the year, including the Premier 5 Internazionali d'Italia in Rome and the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. She lost the world no. 1 ranking to Safina on April 20. Despite not having won a match on clay in 2009 before the French Open, she reached the quarterfinals there, before losing to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–7, 7–5, 5–7. This ended her 18-match Grand Slam tournament winning streak.
She rebounded at Wimbledon, saving a match point in defeating fourth seeded Dementieva in the semifinals, 6–7, 7–5, 8–6. In the final, Serena defeated her sister Venus, 7–6, 6–2, to win her third Wimbledon title and her 11th Grand Slam singles title. Although Williams was now holding three of the four Grand Slam singles titles, she continued to trail Safina in the WTA rankings, a fact Williams publicly mocked.[55] Williams and her sister Venus teamed to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year, their ninth Grand Slam title in women's doubles.
Following Wimbledon, Williams played two Premier 5 tournaments before the US Open. She lost in the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati and in the semifinals, to world no. 5 Dementieva, of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
She was seeded second at the US Open, where she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Kim Clijsters amid controversy involving shouting at a line judge when defending match point, an offense which ultimately cost Williams the point and therefore the match. She continued in the doubles competition, teaming up with Venus to win their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year and tenth of their career.[56][57]
Williams played only two tournaments after the US Open. At the Premier Mandatory China Open in Beijing, she was defeated in the third round by Nadia Petrova. Williams won all three of her round-robin matches at the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar, defeating world no. 7 Venus Williams, world no. 5 Dementieva, and world no. 3 Kuznetsova. She saved a match point against Venus, before winning in a third-set tiebreak. She then advanced to the final, when US Open runner-up Wozniacki retired from their semifinal match while trailing, 6–4, 0–1. In the final, Williams played Venus for the second time in four days, winning once again, 6–2, 7–6, against her tired and error-stricken sister.[58] This was Serena's second singles title at this event.
Williams finished the year ranked world no. 1 for the second time in her career, having played in 16 tournaments, more than any other year. She also broke the record previously set by Justine Henin for the most prize money earned by a female tennis player in one year, with Williams earning $6,545,586. In doubles, the Williams sisters finished the year ranked world no. 2, despite playing only six tournaments as a pair. She won five Grand Slam titles, putting her total Grand Slam titles at 23.
Williams was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press[59] in a landslide vote (66 of 158 votes – no other candidate received more than 18 votes). She also was the International Tennis Federation World Champion in singles and doubles.[60]
Williams's first scheduled tournament was the Medibank International Sydney. She defeated Frenchwoman Aravane Rezaï in the semifinals, 3–6, 7–5, 6–4, after trailing 5–2 in the second set and being two points from defeat. She then lost the final to world no. 5 and defending champion Elena Dementieva, 3–6, 2–6.
At the Australian Open, Williams was the defending champion in both singles and doubles. She reached the singles quarterfinals without losing a service game or a set, where she eliminated Victoria Azarenka, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2, after trailing 4–0 in the second set. In the semifinals, Williams defeated 16th seeded Li Na, 7–6, 7–6, on her fifth match point to reach her fifth final in Melbourne and her fifteenth Grand Slam singles final. She then defeated 2004 champion Justine Henin, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, for her twelfth Grand Slam singles title. This was the first time that Henin and Williams had played each other in a Grand Slam tournament final.[61] Williams is the first female player to win consecutive Australian Open singles titles since Jennifer Capriati in 2001–02.[3] In doubles, Serena and Venus successfully defended their title by defeating the top-ranked team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the final, 6–4, 6–3.
A leg injury then caused Williams to withdraw from five consecutive tournaments, including the Premier 5 Dubai Tennis Championships and the Premier Mandatory Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. She returned to the WTA Tour at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she lost to Jelena Janković in the semifinals, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(5–7), after failing to convert a match point while serving at 5–4 in the third set, and then surrendering a 5–2 lead in the deciding tiebreaker.
At the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, she received a first-round bye. In her first match, she made 73 unforced errors in defeating Vera Dushevina in the longest match of her career, 3 hours, 26 minutes, 6–7, 7–6, 7–6. Williams saved a match point at 6–5 in the second set, then injured her upper leg early in the third set. She then fell to 16th seeded Nadia Petrova, 6–4, 2–6, 3–6. Williams won only two of her eighteen opportunities to break Petrova's serve. She teamed with Venus to win the doubles title.
At the French Open, she lost to Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals, 3–6, 7–6, 6–8. Williams made 46 unforced errors and squandered a match point at 5–4 in the final set. It was the first Grand Slam tournament that Williams had not won or been defeated by the eventual champion since the 2008 French Open. Williams had not advanced past the quarterfinals at this event since 2003. She also played doubles with Venus as the top seeds. Their defeat of Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the semifinals improved their doubles ranking to world no. 1. They then defeated 12th seeds Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik in the final, 6–2, 6–3, to win their fourth consecutive Grand Slam women's doubles title.
Her next tournament was Wimbledon, where she defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva in the final, 6–3, 6–2, without facing a break point and breaking the serve of Zvonareva three times.[62][63] She did not lose a set in the tournament.[64] After the match, Martina Navratilova said that Williams is in the top 5 of all the women's tennis players in all of history, which she said that "it's not just about how many Slams you win or how many tournaments you win—it's just your game overall. And she’s definitely got all the goods."[63] Serena was the defending champion in doubles with her sister Venus, winning the last two years. They lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Vesnina and Zvonareva, 6–3, 3–6, 4–6.
In Munich on July 7, Williams stepped on broken glass while in a restaurant.[65] She received 18 stitches, but the following day she lost an exhibition match to Kim Clijsters, 3–6, 2–6, in Brussels before a world-record crowd for a tennis match, 35,681 at the King Baudouin Stadium.[66] The cut foot turned out to be a serious injury, requiring surgery and preventing her from playing for the remainder of 2010. As a result, she lost the world no. 1 ranking to Dane Caroline Wozniacki on October 11, 2010[67] and ended the year ranked no. 4 in singles, despite having played only six tournaments, and no. 11 in doubles after four tournaments.
Because of her continuing rehabilitation for her foot injury, Serena withdrew from the 2011 Hopman Cup and the 2011 Australian Open.[68][69] On March 2, 2011, she confirmed that she had suffered a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism.[70][71][72] She made her first appearance on the WTA tour in almost a year at the 2011 AEGON International in Eastbourne,[73] winning her first match since Wimbledon, against Tsvetana Pironkova, but lost to top-seeded world no. 3 Vera Zvonareva in the second round, in a match that lasted over three hours.
Her next tournament was Wimbledon, where she was the defending champion. Despite being ranked no. 26, she was seeded seventh. In her first round match, she defeated French no. 2, Aravane Rezai. She then won her second round match against Simona Halep, and her third round against Maria Kirilenko. Her tournament ended when she lost to ninth seed, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in the round of 16.
Williams then played in Stanford as an unseeded player. She won her opening-round match against Anastasia Rodionova. In her second-round match, she took out Maria Kirilenko in three sets to set up a meeting with Wimbledon finalist Maria Sharapova. Serena won in straight sets. In the semifinals, Serena took on Wimbledon semifinalist, Sabine Lisicki and also defeated her in two sets. Serena won her first final of the season, against Marion Bartoli in two sets. Serena won her 38th career WTA singles title and her first title in 2011.
In her next tournament, Williams won the Rogers Cup, Serena started off strongly by beating Alona Bondarenko. In her second-round match, she beat Julia Goerges in straight sets, as well. After back-to-back three-setters against Jie Zheng and Lucie Safarova, the semifinals matched Serana against one of the most consistent players of the year, Viktoria Azarenka. Serena won, advancing to her second consecutive final. In the final, Serena defeated Samantha Stosur to win her second consecutive title and her 39th career title overall. At the Cincinnati Open, Serena defeated Lucie Hradecka, only to withdraw the next day, citing a right toe injury.
Next on her schedule was the US Open. She was seeded 28th and faced Bojana Jovanovski in the first round, winning the match easily. She next faced Michaëlla Krajicek, winning in two sets. In the third round she defeated Azarenka. She moved into the finals with two set wins over Ana Ivanovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. She lost the final, 2–6, 3–6, to Samantha Stosur, during a match which featured her verbally abusing the chair umpire.
The US Open final turned out to be Williams' last match in 2011, and she ended the year ranked world no. 12 with 2 titles and with a 22–3 record for the season. She only participated in six tournaments throughout the season.
Williams started the year by playing her debut at Brisbane International as her preparation for the Australian Open.[74] She defeated Chanelle Scheepers in the first round and Bojana Jovanovski in the second. However, during her match against Jovanovski, she injured her left ankle when serving for the match late in the second set. As a result, Williams was forced to withdraw from the tournament.[75] Next she participated at the Australian Open where she was seeded 12th. She defeated Tamira Paszek in the first round and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová in the second round.[76] She beat Hungarian Greta Arn in the third round.[77] Williams was knocked out of the Australian Open by Ekaterina Makarova 6–2, 6–3. Serena however, came back from her loss at the Australian Open, by cruising to a 5–7, 6–1, 6–1, victory over Anastasiya Yakimova, completing the U.S sweep over Belarus in the Fed Cup.
Williams returned to competition in Miami where she was seeded 10th. She avenged her US Open final loss to Samantha Stosur by beating her 7–5, 6–3 in the fourth round in a match where she fired 20 aces. Her quarterfinals berth brought her back to the top 10 of the world ranking. Her run, however, ended in the quarterfinals where Caroline Wozniacki defeated her 4–6, 4–6. A week later, she made her first final appearance of the season in Charleston where she defeated Sam Stosur convincingly 6–1, 6–1 in the semifinals. She went on to win her first title of the season, her 40th career title, after defeating Lucie Šafářová 6–0, 6–1 in the final. Her success at Family Circle Cup brought her ranking up to No. 9 in the world.
Williams started her European clay court season in Madrid as the ninth seed where she advanced to her second consecutive final following a third round victory against Caroline Wozniacki by 1–6, 6–3, 6–2 and world no. 2 , Maria Sharapova, in the quarterfinals by 6–1, 6–3. Her run to the final assured her ranking to increase to world no. 6 [78]. She eventually won her 41st title after defeating the world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, 6–1, 6–3, in the final. A week later, she participated in Rome as the ninth seed where she reached the semifinals. She withdrew before her semifinals match against Li Na citing a lower back injury. Her run, however, will bring her ranking to world no. 5.
On May 29th, 2012 lost in the first round of a major tournament for the first time in her career, falling to Virginie Razzano of France 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 Tuesday at the French Open. The fifth-seeded Williams was two points from victory nine times in the second set, including leading 5-1 in the tiebreaker. But Razzano won six straight points to force a third set, and then took control of the match.
Tournament | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | SR | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | 2R | 3R | 4R | QF | A | W | A | W | 3R | W | QF | W | W | A | 4R | 5 / 12 | 54–7 |
French Open | 4R | 3R | A | QF | W | SF | QF | A | A | QF | 3R | QF | QF | A | 1R | 1 / 11 | 39–10 |
Wimbledon | 3R | A | SF | QF | W | W | F | 3R | A | QF | F | W | W | 4R | 4 / 12 | 60–8 | |
US Open | 3R | W | QF | F | W | A | QF | 4R | 4R | QF | W | SF | A | F | 3 / 12 | 58–9 | |
Win–Loss | 8–4 | 11–2 | 12–3 | 18–4 | 21–0 | 19–1 | 14–3 | 12–2 | 5–2 | 19–3 | 19–3 | 23–2 | 18–1 | 9–2 | 3–2 | 13 / 47 | 211–34 |
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winner | 1999 | US Open | Hard | Martina Hingis | 6–3, 7–6(7–4) |
Runner-up | 2001 | US Open | Hard | Venus Williams | 2–6, 4–6 |
Winner | 2002 | French Open | Clay | Venus Williams | 7–5, 6–3 |
Winner | 2002 | Wimbledon | Grass | Venus Williams | 7–6(7–4), 6–3 |
Winner | 2002 | US Open (2) | Hard | Venus Williams | 6–4, 6–3 |
Winner | 2003 | Australian Open | Hard | Venus Williams | 7–6(7–4), 3–6, 6–4 |
Winner | 2003 | Wimbledon (2) | Grass | Venus Williams | 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2004 | Wimbledon | Grass | Maria Sharapova | 1–6, 4–6 |
Winner | 2005 | Australian Open (2) | Hard | Lindsay Davenport | 2–6, 6–3, 6–0 |
Winner | 2007 | Australian Open (3) | Hard | Maria Sharapova | 6–1, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2008 | Wimbledon (2) | Grass | Venus Williams | 5–7, 4–6 |
Winner | 2008 | US Open (3) | Hard | Jelena Janković | 6–4, 7–5 |
Winner | 2009 | Australian Open (4) | Hard | Dinara Safina | 6–0, 6–3 |
Winner | 2009 | Wimbledon (3) | Grass | Venus Williams | 7–6(7–3), 6–2 |
Winner | 2010 | Australian Open (5) | Hard | Justine Henin | 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 |
Winner | 2010 | Wimbledon (4) | Grass | Vera Zvonareva | 6–3, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2011 | US Open (2) | Hard | Samantha Stosur | 2–6, 3–6 |
Serena Williams has played her sister Venus 12 times in Grand Slam singles tournaments and 11 times in other tournaments (including 11 finals). Serena has a three match lead in the head-to-head series, 13–10. They are the only women during the open era to have played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals.
In her 2004 U.S. Open quarterfinal match against Jennifer Capriati, an overrule was made by chair umpire Mariana Alves in Capriati's favor, even though later video review showed this to be clearly in error. Williams attempted to argue the call, but was not successful. Capriati won the match, but tournament officials dismissed the umpire from the tournament. The controversy renewed calls for the adoption of technology like the MacCam and Hawk-Eye systems.[79]
In 2009, Williams again was involved in a controversial U.S. Open match, this time against Kim Clijsters in the semifinal round. The drama began at the end of the first set, when Williams slammed her racquet on the court in frustration over losing the set. She was given a warning, with a potential second violation carrying a one-point penalty. While trailing 4–6, 5–6, 15–30, Williams's second serve was called a foot fault, resulting in two match points for Clijsters. Williams gestured with her racquet to the lineswoman who had made the call and yelled at her, including profanities.[80] During the subsequent on-court conference between the head judge, the lineswoman, US Open officials, and Williams, a television microphone picked up Williams saying to the lineswoman, "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious?"[81] The incident resulted in Williams being penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct — necessitated by the earlier warning for racquet abuse — meaning Clijsters won the match 6–4, 7–5. The following day, Williams was issued the maximum permissible on-site fine of $10,000 (plus $500 for racquet abuse). After further investigation, the Grand Slam Committee in November 2009 fined her $175,000 in lieu of suspending her from the 2010 US Open or other Grand Slam events.[82] They also placed her on a two year probation, so if Williams commits another offense in the next two years at a Grand Slam tournament, she will be suspended from participating in the following US Open. If she commits no offenses in the next two years, her fine will be reduced to $82,500.[82] Williams initially refused to apologize for her outburst, both in her post-match press conference[83] and in an official statement released the following day.[56] She eventually apologized to the lineswoman in a statement two days following the incident.
In the final of the 2011 U.S. Open against Samantha Stosur, Williams again generated controversy. After shouting "Come on!" as the Australian attempted to return a forehand Williams believed to be a winner, chair umpire Eva Asderaki awarded the point to Stosur based on the USTA's deliberate hindrance rule, which states, "If a player commits any act which hinders his opponent in making a stroke, then, if this is deliberate, he shall lose the point or if involuntary, the point shall be replayed."[84] As the point was 30–40 on Williams's serve, the penalty gave the break of serve to Stosur. Williams became angry with the chair umpire and made several gestures and unflattering comments toward her during the next several changeovers, warning her, "Don't look at me," and telling her that if Asderaki ever saw Williams coming toward her, she should "look the other way". She told the umpire that she was "a loser", "a hater" and "unattractive, on the inside". Williams initially gained momentum in the set following the penalty, breaking back in the next game, but eventually flagged and lost the match, 6–2, 6–3. At the end of the match, she declined to offer the customary handshake to Asderaki. Williams mentioned the incident in her post-match speech as the tournament runner-up, claiming, "I hit a winner, but I guess it didn't count," but added, "It wouldn't have mattered in the end. Sam played really well."[85][86] A writer for ESPN suggested that Williams could avoid being found to have violated the terms of the "probation" on which she was placed following her 2009 outburst, as she did not appear to have used profanity in addressing Asderaki during the match.[87] In the end, Williams was fined $2,000 and was not barred from competing in the 2012 US Open because "...Williams's conduct, while verbally abusive, [did] not rise to the level of a major offence under the grand slam code of conduct."[88]
Williams was once known for her unusual and colorful outfits on court. In 2002, there was much talk when she wore a black lycra [[catsuit] at the US Open.[89] At the 2004 US Open, Williams wore denim skirts and knee-high boots—tournament officials, however, did not allow her to wear the boots during matches.[90] At Wimbledon in 2008, the white trench coat she wore during warm-up for her opening match was the subject of much discussion since it was worn despite the sunny weather.[91] Off-court, Williams has also presented new designs. In November 2004, at the London premiere of After the Sunset she wore a red gown that had a near-topless effect.[92]
Williams formerly had a special line with Puma[93] and currently has a line with Nike. The deal with Nike is worth US$40 million and was signed in April 2004.[94] Since 2004, she has also been running her own line of designer apparel called "Aneres"—her first name spelled backward. In 2009 she launched a signature collection of handbags and jewelry.[95] The collection, called Signature Statement, is sold mainly on the Home Shopping Network (HSN).
In early 2010, Williams became a certified nail technician in preparation for her upcoming nail collection with a company called HairTech.[96]
Williams has appeared on television and also provided voice work on animated shows: in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons Serena joined the animation along with sister Venus, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.[97] She has also provided guest voice work in a 2005 episode of Playhouse Disney's animated kids show Higglytown Heroes and a 2007 episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender,[98] which she has described as her "favorite show".[99]
Williams has posed for the 2003 and 2004 editions of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[100] In April 2005, MTV announced plans to broadcast a reality show around the lives of Serena and Venus, which was eventually aired on ABC Family. Williams has appeared twice on MTV's Punk'd and in 2007, appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race. In 2002, she played Miss Wiggins in the season 3 episode "Crouching Mother, Hidden Father" of My Wife and Kids;[101] she has also guest-starred during episodes of The Bernie Mac Show, ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[102] In 2007 Williams appeared in the music video of "I Want You" by the American rapper Common, alongside performers Alicia Keys and Kanye West.[103]
In late 2009, Williams became the first active female professional athlete to appear in a feminine hygiene product advertising campaign. A series of online videos and print advertisements for Tampax Pearl tampons showed her hitting balls at Mother Nature, played by Catherine Lloyd Burns, to prevent Mother Nature giving her a red-wrapped gift, representing her menstrual period. In the online videos, the two have dueling press conferences over the "bad blood" between them. "A lot of celebrities are not open to working with our brand, and we're thrilled that Serena is", said a brand manager for Tampax at Procter & Gamble.[104]
In May 2012, a minute of a new hip-hop track by Serena Williams was leaked, along with reports the sports star was planning to release an album.[105]
In August 2009, Serena and Venus Williams became part-owners of the Miami Dolphins. The formal announcement was made during a press conference overlooking the practice field. The Williams are the first African-American females to obtain ownership in an NFL franchise. Other prominent owners include: Jimmy Buffett, Gloria and Emilio Estefan (the first Cuban-American owners), and Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez . Stephan Ross, the majority owner of the Dolphins, said "We are thrilled to have Venus and Serena join the Dolphins as limited partners. They are among the most admired athletes in the world and have become global ambassadors for the game of tennis. Their addition to our ownership group further reflects our commitment to connect with aggressively and embrace the great diversity that makes South Florida a multicultural gem."[106]
In 2008 Williams helped to fund the construction of the Serena Williams Secondary School in Matooni, Kenya.[107][108] She received a Celebrity Role Model Award from Avon Foundation in 2003 for work in breast cancer.[109] Williams has also been involved in a number of clinics at schools and community centers, particularly those which have programs focusing on at-risk youth.[1] She has also won the "Young Heroes Award" from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater L.A. and Inland (2003) and the "Family Circle and Prudential Financial Player Who Makes a Difference Award" (2004).[1] In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Williams, along with other ATP and WTA stars decided to forego their final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open to form a charity event in which all proceeds will go to the Haiti earthquake victims.[110]
Serena has published along with her sister Venus Williams and author Hilary Beard[111] a book titled Venus & Serena: Serving From The Hip: 10 Rules For Living, Loving and Winning by Boston: Houghton Mifflin in 2005.[111] [112][113][114][115] During the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Williams said that she is in the process of writing a TV show storyline, which will be converted into script form by her agency. She stated that the show will represent subject matter from a mix of popular American television shows such as Desperate Housewives,, and Family Guy.[116] Serena released her first solo published work, an autobiography entitled On the Line, following the 2009 US Open.
Williams has been the target of an alleged stalker, who was arrested at the gate to her Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., neighborhood on Monday, May 2, 2011. Police report that Patenema Ouedraogo, identified as an African who attended college in Texas, is barred from being near Serena by a preliminary injunction. Police say Ouedraogo was able to track Serena's whereabouts using the social networking site Twitter, and got her address from the letter her attorney sent telling him to stay away from her. Police say Ouedraogo once made it all the way to Serena's dressing room when she made an appearance on the Home Shopping Network at their studios in Tampa, Fla., on April 13, 2011.[117]
Tournament Name | Years | Record accomplished | Player tied |
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Hopman Cup | 2003–2008 | Two Hopman Cup Titles won | Dominik Hrbatý Tommy Robredo James Blake Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
Australian Open | 2003–2010 | 5 singles titles during the open era | Stands alone[3] |
Australian Open | 2007 | Unseeded winner of singles title | Chris O'Neil (1978) |
1999 French Open – 2010 French Open | 1999–2010 | Highest streak of consecutive initial Grand Slam finals won (doubles) (12) | Venus Williams |
Grand Slam tournaments | 2002 | Won two Grand Slam singles tournaments in the same calendar year in straight sets | Billie Jean King Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf Martina Hingis Justine Henin |
Grand Slam tournaments | 2000–present | Won 4 Grand Slam singles tournaments in straight sets | Evonne Goolagong |
Sony Ericsson Open (Key Biscayne) | 2002–2008 | 5 singles titles overall | Steffi Graf |
2009 WTA Tour | 2009 | Highest single year earnings at $6,545,586 (2009) | Stands alone |
1995–present | Highest prize money career earnings by a female athlete at $34,962,357 | Stands alone | |
2010 Wimbledon | 2010 | Most aces served by a female at a Grand Slam (89) | Stands alone |
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2012) |
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In 2005, Tennis Magazine ranked her as the 17th-best player in 40 years.[120]
In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.[121]
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Persondata | |
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Name | Williams, Serena Jameka Ross Evelyn |
Alternative names | |
Short description | American tennis player |
Date of birth | September 26, 1981 |
Place of birth | Saginaw, Michigan, United States |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2008) |
Country | Japan |
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Residence | Kanagawa, Japan |
Born | (1975-07-05) July 5, 1975 (age 36) Yokohama, Japan |
Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4.25 in) |
Weight | 55 kg (121 lb) |
Turned pro | October, 1992 |
Retired | October, 2009 |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
Career prize money | US$ $8,128,126 |
Singles | |
Career record | 492–419 |
Career titles | 6 WTA, 1 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 8 (February 9, 2004) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | QF (2000) |
French Open | 4R (1995, 2000, '03) |
Wimbledon | QF (2004) |
US Open | 4R (2003, '04) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 566–295 |
Career titles | 38 (4 ITF titles) |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (October 23, 2000) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | F (2009) |
French Open | W (2003) |
Wimbledon | W (2003) |
US Open | W (2000) |
Last updated on: October 5, 2009. |
Ai Sugiyama (杉山愛, Sugiyama Ai?) (born July 5, 1975 in Yokohama, Japan) is a retired Japanese professional tennis player. She reached No. 1 in women's doubles on the WTA Tour. Her career-high singles ranking was No. 8, achieved on February 9, 2004. She turned professional in 1992. In her career, she won 6 singles titles and 37 doubles titles, including three Grand Slam women's doubles titles (1 with Frenchwoman Julie Halard-Decugis and 2 partnering Belgian Kim Clijsters). Sugiyama has the all-time record, for both male and female players, for her 62 consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearances.[1] She was the first Asian to rank no.1 in either singles or doubles.
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In 1993, at age 17, Sugiyama played tennis legend Martina Navratilova in her native city, losing in three sets. The same year, she made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon but lost in the first round to world number 30 Gigi Fernández in three sets.
In 1994, Sugiyama again reached the main draw at Wimbledon but lost in her first round to world number six and compatriot Kimiko Date. Later that year she reached her first singles final in Surabaya but was forced to retire against Elena Wagner. She went on to win the Japan Open doubles at Tokyo, her first tour title. Later that year, she broke into the WTA Top 100.
In 1995, she won her first Grand Slam match and reached the 4th round of Roland Garros. In the first round, the Japanese player defeated 15th-seeded Grand Slam runner-up and former Top-5 player Helena Suková by 9–7 in the final set, her first victory over a Top-20 player. Two months after, she defeated Amanda Coetzer to reach the third round, while losing to world number four and former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez. In November, she made an impressive run at the Oakland Tier II tournament. While she was only ranked 63, she defeated 22nd-ranked Irina Spîrlea, former Wimbledon runner-up Zina Garrison Jackson, and number ten Lindsay Davenport to reach the second final of her career, where she lost to number seven Magdalena Maleeva. Because of this, Sugiyama broke into the Top 50.
In 1996, she reached the third round at the Australian Open. In Miami, seeded 23rd, Sugiyama reached the fourth round, defeating number ten Jana Novotná, her second Top-10 victory. That moved her into the Top-30. She also reached the semifinals of the Japan Open in Tokyo and the 4th round at Wimbledon, where she defeated number five Anke Huber, her third Top-10 and first Top-5 victory. She represented Japan and reached the 3rd round at the Atlanta Olympics defeating Martina Hingis.
In 1997, Sugiyama began her season by playing her third finals match, losing to Elena Likhovtseva, after defeating Sabine Appelmans in the quarter final. The following week she reached the 2nd round at the Australian Open. In April, she won her first professional title at the Japan Open in Tokyo against Amy Frazier. However, she could not reach a good result in Grand Slam events, with a 2nd round exit at the French Open and US Open and a first round loss at Wimbledon. At the end of the year, she reached her first Tier I final at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, defeating Natasha Zvereva, number 14 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, number 9 and multi-Grand Slam events winner Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Dominique after failing in final against first seed and 2nd-ranked Jana Novotná.
In 1998, she opened with a second singles title in Gold Coast. Then she broke into the WTA Top-20 and reached another semifinal in Sydney, defeating Conchita Martínez. Throughout that year, Sugiyama showed consistency: a third WTA Tour title at the Japan Open, quarterfinals in Tokyo (Pan Pacific), Berlin, defeating number 4 Amanda Coetzer, playing Strasbourg and San Diego, defeating Steffi Graf, Luxembourg, third round in Indian Wells, Miami and Montreal and second round at both French and US Open.
In 1999, she reached the final at the Japan Open, the semifinals in Gold Coast and Tokyo (Princess Cup) defeating number 8 Julie Halard-Decugis, the quarterfinals in Strasbourg and Moscow, defeating number 6 Mary Pierce, 3rd in Indian Wells, Montreal, defeating number 7 Jana Novotná and at the US Open. She also reached the second round at French Open and Wimbledon. The same year, Sugiyama won the US Open mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi (India), her first Grand Slam title.
On July 10 Sugiyama reached the final of the Women's Doubles at Wimbledon, partnered by Julie Halard-Decugis, but lost in straight sets to sisters Venus and Serena Williams 6–3 6–2 after a one-day rain delay.
On September 10 Sugiyama won the Women's Doubles at the US Open, defeating Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6–0 1–6 6–1 in one hour and 19 minutes.
On October 23 she became the first Japanese woman to rank number one in the world in doubles, winning seven titles in the process.
Sugiyama's greatest success was Scottsdale 2003.[citation needed] Beating Lindsay Davenport in the second round, Ai went on to defeat Eleni Danilidou to progress to the semifinals. Scheduling problems forced both the semifinals and finals matches—for both singles and doubles—to be played on the Sunday of the tournament. Thus in a single day, Ai managed to save a matchpoint in the semifinals against Alexandra Stevenson, rally from a set down to defeat doubles partner Kim Clijsters in the final, and then secure victories in both doubles matches to raise both trophies.
2003 proved to be her best year ever, pushing Serena Williams to the limit at Roland Garros and reaching the round of 16 in Wimbledon and US Open where her fourth round loss to Francesca Schiavone at Flushing Meadows was rather controversial.[citation needed] She finished the year ranked tenth, having defeated world number one Justine Henin in the round robin section of the season-ending championships.
She also won a total of 8 doubles titles that year: 7 with Kim Clijsters (Sydney, Antwerp, Scottsdale, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, San Diego, Zurich) and 1 with Liezel Huber (Linz).
Sugiyama began 2005 with four consecutive first-round losses. She lost in the first rounds of the first three Grand Slams; only at San Diego did she really do well, making it to the final, which she lost 0–6 3–6 to Mary Pierce, having defeated Daniela Hantuchová, Sesil Karantacheva and Svetlana Kuznetsova en route. Sugiyama also reached the final in doubles with Hantuchová, losing to Virginia Ruano-Pascual and Conchita Martinez. She broke her Grand Slam "curse", reaching the third round before losing to Clijsters, the eventual champion.
That year, Ai had better results in doubles than in singles. Partnering with Elena Dementieva, she reached the finals of her first tournament, Sydney, losing to Bryanne Stewart/Samantha Stosur. They reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open. She entered a few tournaments with Anastasia Myskina and Elena Likhovtseva, but with poor results. In Berlin, she played again with Daniela Hantuchová, reaching the Semifinal, losing to Black and Huber. At the French, they lost to Birnerová and Vanc in the second round. They won their next tournament, in Birmingham over Daniilidou and Russel 6–2 6–3. At Wimbledon, Hantuchová and Sugiyama reached the Quarterfinal, losing to eventual champions Black and Huber. At the Canadian Open in Toronto, they lost the semifinal to eventual champions Grönefeld and Navratilova. At the US Open, they reached the third round, losing to Zi Yan and Zheng Jie. Ai tried three partners in the next tournaments, before returning to Daniela in Zurich, where they reached the finals (beating top seeds Lisa Raymond and Stosur en route), losing a close match to Black and Rennae Stubbs, 6–7(6) 7–6(4) 6–3. They finished the year ranked #5, failing to qualify for the Year-End Championships.
Sugiyama played mixed doubles at two events: the French & the US Open. At Roland Garros, playing with Mirnyi, she lost in the first round. At the US Open, she partnered with Ullyett. The duo reached the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champions Hantuchová and Bhupathi.
Entering the Doha with an 0–5 singles record, she managed to beat wildcard Selima Sfar 6–3 6–3. In the second round, she surprisingly upset (4) Myskina 7–6(2) 6–7(6) 6–4, needing several match points to close the match out. In her quarterfinal match against Julia Schruff, she had a comfortable 6–3 6–2 win. She lost in the semifinal, in an epic match against Nadia Petrova, 6–1 7–6 (2). At 0–4 in the second, she won five consecutive games to 5–4. She won the doubles title with Hantuchová, defeating Yan and Zheng in the semifinal 6–3 3–6 6–3, and Ting Li and Tiantian Sun 6–4 6–4 in the final.
In Rome 2006 she and Hantuchová won the title, their third as a team and biggest title, beating Li and Sun 6–4 6–1; Black and Stubbs (2) 6–4 6–0, and Květa Peschke and Schiavone (8) 3–6 6–3 6–1.
At the French Open, 22nd seeded Ai beat Daniilidou 6–7 6–0 6–3 in the first round, but lost to French qualifierAravane Rezaï 4–6 6–4 6–3. Deciding not to compete in the mixed, Ai and Daniella beat Caroline Dhenin and Mathilde Johansson 6–4 6–3, then squashed Sofia Arvidsson and Martina Muller 6–1 6–1; they escaped from Marion Bartoli and Shahar Pe'er, 1–6 7–6(3) 6–2. In the quarterfinals, they beat second-seeded Black and Stubbs 6–1 7–6(5). In the semifinals, they beat fourth-seeded Yan and Zheng 6–3 3–6 6–3. They lost 6–3 6–2 in the final to top-seeded Raymond and Stosur.
Wimbledon 2006 saw Sugiyama, the eighteenth seed, defeat 12th seed, Martina Hingis, 7–5 3–6 6–4 to advance to the fourth round.
The summer brought several bad singles losses, as well as doubles upsets. Sugiyama reached the final in Los Angeles, bowing to Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez. In Montréal, she beat Aleksandra Wozniak and Anabel Medina Garrigues before losing to Kuznetsova. In doubles, partnering with Nathalie Dechy, they reached the quarterfinals.
The US Open arrived, and, seeded twenty-eighth, she defeated Zuzana Ondrášková, Tathiana Garbin before falling to second seed Justine Henin 4–6 6–1 6–0.
In Beijing, she beat qualifier Alicia Molik, who was also her doubles partner in the event, in the first round, 6–2 7–6. She then upset fourth-seeded Nicole Vaidišová 6–4 1–6 6–3 before losing to Shuai Peng in another three-set match 6–7 6–3 6–2. She reached the final of a Tier IV event in Seoul, losing to Eleni Daniilidou of Greece in three sets, 3–6 6–2 6–7.
The beginning of 2007 was better than the prior two years. She lost to Anastasiya Yakimova in the second round of the Australian Open (10–8 in the third), before beating her in Miami. Sugiyama and Daniela Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champions Black and Huber. In Tokyo, she reached the quarterfinals, losing to number one Maria Sharapova 4–6, 6–1, 6–0. In Doha, she injured her toe, but recovered to reach the round of 16 in Indian Wells.
In Miami, she fell to Dinara Safina in the third. She went 0–3 in Fed Cup play versus France, losing to both Tatiana Golovin and Dechy, but rebounded to win 50k Gifu with Ayumi Morita. The Japanese duo lost only one set en route to the title. She played in Berlin with Katarina Srebotnik. They swept Lourdez Domínguez Lino and Flavia Pennetta 6–0, 6–0, but then fell to the second seeded Black and Huber 0–6, 6–4, [10–7] the same day.
Her next tournament was Rome, where she beat Maria Kirilenko in 2 hours 49 minutes 6–4, 5–7, 7–5. She lost to Pe'er 6–0, 6–2 in the next round. At Roland Garros, she reached the third round. She defeated Eva Birnerová 6–3, 6–4 in the first round and Meilen Tu 6–3, 1–6, 6–1 in the second round, but then fell to Anna Chakvetadze, the ninth seed, 6-4m 6–4. In doubles, seeded seventh with Srebotnik, she defeated Lucie Hradecká and Renata Voráčová 6–7, 7–5, 6–2 in the first round, Stéphanie Foretz and Camille Pin 6–1, 6–3 in the second round, and Pe'er and Safina 6–1, 6–2 in the third round. They then defeated Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko 4–6, 7–5, 6–3 in the quarterfinals. They upset top seeds and defending champions Raymond and Stosur in the semifinals, winning 1–6, 6–4, 6–3 to reach the French Open finals. They lost in the final to Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo 7–6, 6–4.
At Wimbledon, seeded 26th, she beat wildcard Melanie South 6–3, 6–2 and Alizé Cornet 4–6, 6–0, 6–3. She lost 6–3, 6–3 against the second seeded Sharapova in the third round. In doubles, she and Srebotnik beat Andreea Ehritt-Vanc and Anastassia Rodionova 4–6, 6–3, 6–2; Émilie Loit and Nicole Pratt 6–0, 6–3, and got a walkover from Bartoli and Meilen Tu in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they beat Elena Likhovtseva and Sun Tiantian 6–4, 7–6 (5). They came back from 1–6, 0–3 to beat top-seeded Raymond and Stosur, winning 1–6, 6–3, 6–2. They lost in the final to the second seeded Black and Huber 3–6, 6–3, 6–2.
During the U.S. Open Series, she reached the third round of San Diego, where she defeated Sybille Bammer 6–2, 7–6. She then lost to Chakvetadze 6–4, 6–4. She reached two doubles semifinals in San Diego and Stanford with Srebotnik, losing both times to Victoria Azarenka and Chakvetadze. However, they won Toronto, defeating Peng Shuai and Yan 6–1, 7–5 in the quarterfinal, Molik and Santangelo 6–2, 6–3 in the semifinal and Black and Huber 6–4, 2–6, [10–5] in the final, winning their first title as a team.
At the 2007 U.S. Open, Sugiyama lost in the second round to Ekaterina Makarova. Ai and Srebotnik impressively defeated Sun Shengnan and Ji Chunmei 6–0, 6–1, and eventually defeated Michaëlla Krajicek and Agnieszka Radwańska 5–7, 6–0, 6–2. The team advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Loit and Vania King 6–3, 6–2, but lost to eventual champions Dechy and Safina 7–5, 6–3.
Srebotnik and Sugiyama continued their form and thus qualified for the 2007 WTA Tour Championships, which were held in Madrid. The team, seeded second, defeated the Taiwanese duo of Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung 6–2, 6–2, but lost to Black and Huber in the final 5–7, 6–3, [10–8].[2]
In singles, Sugiyama's season started out badly, as she lost to Azarenka in Gold Coast and Gajdosova in Sydney. However, in Melbourne, her form returned, beating Vera Zvonareva 6–3, 1–1 ret. in the first round and Tatiana Perebiynis 6–4 6–4 in the second round, before losing to 12th seed Vaidišová, 6–3 6–4. In doubles, she and Srebotnik lost in straight sets in Sydney to Yan/Zheng, the eventual champions. In Melbourne, they drew the Williams sisters in the second round and lost 6–2 7–6. Sugiyama's dream of a career slam died.
In doubles, she reached the final in Antwerp with Peschke, as well as the semifinals in Doha and Dubai with Srebotnik.
On March 30 in the third round at the Tier I event in Miami, she upset 8th seeded Hantuchová 6–4, 6–7(8), 7–5 in an epic match. She came back after losing a match point in the second set, as well as having served for the match twice in the second set. In the third set, she was down three to none, but still managed to win. It was her first top ten win since Beijing 2006. In the next round, she lost to Zvonareva 2–6 7–6(5) 0–6. In doubles, she and Srebotnik won the title, beating Akiko Morigami and Alina Jidkova 6–4 6–3, Lucie Hradecká and Renata Voráčová 6–4 6–3, and Davenport and Hantuchová 6–4 3–6 [10–4]. They earned the title by beating Australian runners-up Azarenka and Pe'er 6–0 6–3, and number one team Black and Huber 7–5 4–6 [10–3]. It was their second team title, and Sugiyama's 8th Tier I title.
Sugiyama won her 9th Tier I doubles title with Srebotnik at Charleston at the Family Circle cup, their third team title, scoring 6–2, 6–2 over Edina Gallovits-Hall and Olga Govortsova.
Sugiyama broke the record for consecutive slam appearances woman with 57 as of her appearance in the 2008 Wimbledon tournament. Sugiyama made it to the third round of Ladies' Singles, losing to Alisa Kleybanova of Russia, 6–4, 6–4.
At Stanford, she defeated Alexa Glatch 6–2, 3–6, 7–5, and then crushed world number 11 Hantuchová 6–3, 6–1. In the quarters she beat Dominika Cibulková 6–7, 7–6, 6–3, saving 3 match points in the process.
Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita represented their nation at the 2008 Summer Olympics, losing in the second round to the Williams'.
Ai started with a first round loss to Stosur, and in the women's doubles a semi-final finish losing to Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska in the Brisbane International partnering Hantuchová. In the Medibank International, Sugiyama made the semi-finals eventually losing to Safina 6–4, 7–6(3)
In the 2009 Australian Open, Ai made the third round losing to Jelena Janković 6–4, 6–4. As the 9th seed in doubles playing with Hantuchová, they beat the #1 seeds Black and Huber 6–7(0), 6–3, 7–6(10). In the third set "Hantuyama" were down 5–2, but rallied to take it to a tie-break, where they saved seven match points to win 12–10. In the semi-finals, they beat Dechy and Santangelo 6–4, 6–2 to make it her first women's doubles final there. They were defeated by the Williams in two sets, 6–3, 6–3. A respiratory infection forced her to withdraw from the 2009 Open GDF Suez. Sugiyama entered the 2009 Dubai Tennis Championships and lost in the opening round to Bartoli in a tight 3-set match 0–6, 6–4, 6–7(6). Sugiyama and Hantuchová also played doubles but withdrew because of the infection.
At the 2009 BNP Paribas Open Sugiyama and Hantuchová were seeded 5 in the women's doubles but lost to the pair Alla Kudryavtseva and Rodionova 6–4, 4–6, 16–14 in the first round. In singles, she lost to qualifier Angela Haynes in the second round 4–6, 5–7.
At the Sony Ericsson open she lost her opening matches in singles and doubles, being beaten in the second round in singles after receiving a bye. Her loss in the doubles event with Hantuchová dropped her doubles ranking to number 5.
Sugiyama lost four consecutive singles matches in Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, and Madrid. However alongside Hantuchová, Sugiyama made the finals at the Rome Masters where they lost to the number 7 seeds, Su-Wei Hsieh and Peng. They reached the quarter finals at the 2009 Madrid Masters where they lost to Stosur and Stubbs, whom she and Akgul Amanmuradova beat in the finals at Eastbourne, her 38th doubles title.
On June 22 she extended her record of consecutive Grand Slam appearances to 61 at Wimbledon, defeating the seeded Patty Schnyder in straight sets 6–4 6–4 to break her 11 match losing streak. She lost in the third round to Hantuchová.
In Stanford she lost to Sharapova in three sets 4–6, 7–6, 1–6, saving two match points in the second set. She then lost in the second round in Los Angeles to Radwańska 6–2, 6–0.
Sugiyama retired at the end of the 2009 tennis season after the 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open, held in her native country, Japan. A special ceremony for her was held at center court before the tournament. Ai planned a few months at home before concentrating on teaching youngsters at her tennis academy in Japan.[3]
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Runner-up | 2000 | Wimbledon | Grass | Julie Halard | Serena Williams Venus Williams |
6–3, 6–2 |
Winner | 2000 | US Open | Hard | Julie Halard | Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
6–0, 1–6, 6–1 |
Runner-up | 2001 | Wimbledon (2) | Grass | Kim Clijsters | Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs |
6–4, 6–3 |
Winner | 2003 | French Open | Clay | Kim Clijsters | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–7, 6–2, 9–7 |
Winner | 2003 | Wimbledon | Grass | Kim Clijsters | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4 6–4 |
Runner-up | 2004 | Wimbledon (3) | Grass | Liezel Huber | Cara Black Rennae Stubbs |
6–3, 7–6 |
Runner-up | 2006 | French Open | Clay | Daniela Hantuchová | Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur |
6–3, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2007 | French Open (2) | Clay | Katarina Srebotnik | Alicia Molik Mara Santangelo |
7–6, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 2007 | Wimbledon (4) | Grass | Katarina Srebotnik | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
3–6, 6–3, 6–2 |
Runner-up | 2009 | Australian Open | Hard | Daniela Hantuchová | Serena Williams Venus Williams |
6–3, 6–3 |
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Winner | 1999 | US Open | Hard | Mahesh Bhupathi | Kimberly Po Donald Johnson |
6–4, 6–4 |
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Runner-up | 2003 | Los Angeles | Hard (i) | Kim Clijsters | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 3–6, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 2007 | Madrid | Hard (i) | Katarina Srebotnik | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
5–7, 6–3, [10–8] |
No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the Final | Score |
1. | April 20, 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Amy Frazier | 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
2. | January 11, 1998 | Gold Coast, Australia | Hard | María Vento-Kabchi | 7–5, 6–0 |
3. | April 19, 1998 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Corina Morariu | 6–3, 6–3 |
4. | March 2, 2003 | Scottsdale, USA | Hard | Kim Clijsters | 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 |
5. | October 26, 2003 | Linz, Austria | Hard | Nadia Petrova | 7–5, 6–4 |
6. | January 10, 2004 | Gold Coast, Australia | Hard | Nadia Petrova | 1–6, 6–1, 6–4 |
No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
1. | July 26, 1994 | Surabaya, Indonesia | Hard | Elena Wagne | 2–6, 6–0, ret. |
2. | November 5, 1995 | Oakland, United States | Carpet (I) | Magdalena Maleeva | 6–3, 6–4 |
3. | January 5, 1997 | Gold Coast, Australia | Hard | Elena Likhovtseva | 3–6, 7–6(7), 6–3 |
4. | November 2, 1997 | Moscow, Russia | Carpet (I) | Jana Novotná | 6–3, 6–4 |
5. | October 5, 1999 | AIG Japan Open | Hard | Amy Frazier | 6–2, 6–2 |
6. | August 17, 2005 | Acura Classic | Hard | Mary Pierce | 6–0, 6–3 |
72. | October 1, 2006 | Seoul | Hard | Eleni Daniilidou | 6–3 2–6 7–6 |
Legend (Doubles) |
Grand Slam (3) |
WTA Championships (0) |
Tier I (9) |
Tier II (18) |
Tier III (7) |
Tier IV(1) |
Titles by Surface |
Hard (24) |
Clay (5) |
Grass (4) |
Carpet (5) |
No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponent in the final | Score |
1. | April 10, 1994 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Mami Donoshiro | Yayuk Basuki Nana Miyagi |
6–4, 6–1 |
2. | January 14, 1995 | Hobart, Australia | Hard | Kyoko Nagatsuka | Manon Bollegraf Larisa Neiland |
2–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
3. | April 21, 1996 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Kimiko Date | Amy Frazier Kimberly Po |
7–6, 6–7, 6–3 |
4. | September 21, 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Monica Seles | Julie Halard-Decugis Chanda Rubin |
6–1, 6–0 |
5. | January 10, 1998 | Hope Island, Australia | Hard | Elena Likhovtseva | Park Sung-hee Wang Shi-ting |
1–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
6. | October 31, 1998 | Luxembourg, Luxembourg | Carpet | Elena Likhovtseva | Larisa Neiland Elena Tatarkova |
6–7, 6–3, 2–0 ret. |
7. | November 8, 1998 | Leipzig, Germany | Carpet | Elena Likhovtseva | Manon Bollegraf Irina Spîrlea |
6–3, 6–7, 6–2 |
8. | November 15, 1998 | Philadelphia, United States | Carpet | Elena Likhovtseva | Monica Seles Natasha Zvereva |
7–5, 4–6, 6–2 |
9. | January 16, 1999 | Sydney, Australia | Hard | Elena Likhovtseva | Mary Joe Fernandez Anke Huber |
6–3, 2–6, 6–0 |
10. | May 22, 1999 | Strasbourg, France | Clay | Elena Likhovtseva | Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat |
2–6, 7–6, 6–1 |
11. | January 15, 2000 | Sydney, Australia | Hard | Julie Halard-Decugis | Martina Hingis Mary Pierce |
6–0, 6–3 |
12. | April 2, 2000 | Miami, United States | Hard | Julie Halard-Decugis | Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf |
4–6, 7–5, 6–4 |
13. | June 24, 2000 | Eastbourne, Great Britain | Grass | Nathalie Tauziat | Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs |
2–6, 6–3, 7–6(3) |
14. | August 27, 2000 | New Haven, United States | Hard | Julie Halard-Decugis | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 5–7, 6–2 |
15. | September 10, 2000 | New York, United States | Hard | Julie Halard-Decugis | Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva |
6–0, 1–6, 6–1 |
16. | October 8, 2000 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Julie Halard-Decugis | Nana Miyagi Paola Suárez |
6–0, 6–2 |
17. | October 29, 2000 | Moscow, Russia | Carpet | Julie Halard-Decugis | Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova |
4–6, 6–4, 7–6(5) |
18. | January 13, 2001 | Canberra, Australia | Hard | Nicole Arendt | Esme De Villiers Annabel Ellwood |
6–4, 7–6(2) |
19. | March 17, 2001 | Indian Wells, United States | Hard | Nicole Arendt | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 6–4 |
20. | February 23, 2002 | Memphis, United States | Hard | Elena Tatarkova | Melissa Middleton Brie Rippner |
6–4, 2–6, 6–0 |
21. | January 11, 2003 | Sydney, Australia | Hard | Kim Clijsters | Conchita Martínez Rennae Stubbs |
6–3, 6–3 |
22. | February 16, 2003 | Antwerp, Belgium | Carpet | Kim Clijsters | Nathalie Dechy Émilie Loit |
6–2, 6–0 |
23. | March 2, 2003 | Scottsdale, United States | Hard | Kim Clijsters | Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond |
6–1, 6–4 |
24. | June 8, 2003 | Paris, France | Clay | Kim Clijsters | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–7(5), 6–2, 9–7 |
25. | July 6, 2003 | London, Great Britain | Grass | Kim Clijsters | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
6–4, 6–4 |
26. | August 3, 2003 | San Diego, United States | Hard | Kim Clijsters | Lindsay Davenport Lisa Raymond |
6–4, 7–5 |
27. | October 19, 2003 | Zürich, Switzerland | Hard | Kim Clijsters | Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez |
7–6(3), 6–2 |
28. | October 26, 2003 | Linz, Austria | Hard | Liezel Huber | Marion Bartoli Silvia Farina Elia |
6–1, 7–6(6) |
29. | August 8, 2004 | Montreal, Canada | Hard | Shinobu Asagoe | Liezel Huber Tamarine Tanasugarn |
6–0, 6–3 |
30. | September 19, 2004 | Bali, Indonesia | Hard | Anastasia Myskina | Svetlana Kuznetsova Arantxa Sánchez Vicario |
6–3, 7–5 |
31. | June 12, 2005 | Birmingham, Great Britain | Grass | Daniela Hantuchová | Eleni Daniilidou Jennifer Russell |
6–2, 6–3 |
32. | March 4, 2006 | Doha, Qatar | Hard | Daniela Hantuchová | Li Ting Sun Tiantian |
6–4, 6–4 |
33. | May 21, 2006 | Rome, Italy | Clay | Daniela Hantuchová | Květa Peschke Francesca Schiavone |
3–6, 6–3, 6–1 |
34. | August 19, 2007 | Toronto, Canada | Hard | Katarina Srebotnik | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
6–4, 2–6 [10–5] |
35. | April 6, 2008 | Miami, U.S. | Hard | Katarina Srebotnik | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
7–5, 4–6 [10–3] |
36. | April 20, 2008 | Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. | Clay | Katarina Srebotnik | Edina Gallovits Olga Govortsova |
6–2, 6–2 |
37. | October 26, 2008 | Generali Ladies Linz, Austria | Hard(i) | Katarina Srebotnik | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
6–4, 7–5 |
38. | June 20, 2009 | AEGON International, Great Britain | Grass | Akgul Amanmuradova | Samantha Stosur Rennae Stubbs |
6–4, 6–3 |
Tournament | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Career SR | Career Win-Loss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | LQ | LQ | 1R | 3R | 2R | 4R | 1R | QF | 1R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 0 / 14 | 17–14 |
French Open | A | LQ | A | 4R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 2R | 4R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 0 / 15 | 18–15 |
Wimbledon | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 4R | QF | 1R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 0 / 17 | 25–17 |
US Open | LQ | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 4R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 0 / 16 | 22–16 |
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
Indian Wells | Not Tier I | 3R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 4R | 4R | 4R | A | A | 4R | 4R | 3R | 2R | 0 / 12 | 19–12 | |||
Miami | A | A | 1R | 1R | 4R | 3R | 3R | A | 3R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 2R | 3R | QF | 3R | 4R | 2R | 0 / 15 | 18–16 |
Madrid | Not Held | 1R | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | ||||||||||||||||
Beijing | Not Held | Not Tier I | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |||||||||||||||
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dubai | Not Held | Not Tier I | 1R | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | |||||||||||||||
Rome | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 3R | SF | 3R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 13 | 11–13 |
Cincinnati | Not Held | Not Tier I | 1R | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | |||||||||||||||
Toronto/Montréal | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 3R | 3R | 1R | 2R | 3R | A | 3R | 2R | 3R | 1R | QF | 2R | 0 / 12 | 15–12 |
Tokyo | NH | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | QF | 2R | 1R | QF | 1R | 2R | QF | 1R | 1R | QF | 1R | 1R | 0 / 18 | 20–18 |
Former WTA Tier I Tournaments (currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Moscow | NH | Not Tier I | F | 1R | QF | 2R | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | NM5 | 0 / 5 | 7–5 | |||
Charleston | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | 3R | A | A | 2R | 0 / 6 | 5–6 | |
Zürich | NT1 | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | QF | 1R | 2R | LQ | NTI | Not Held |
0 / 17 | 20–17 |
San Diego | Not Tier I | QF | F | 1R | 3R | NTI | 0 / 4 | 9–4 | ||||||||||||
Doha | Not Held | Not Tier I | 3R | 0 / 1 | 2–1 | |||||||||||||||
Berlin | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | QF | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | A | A | 0 / 10 | 5–10 | |
Career Statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
Tournaments Played | 16 | 17 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 26 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 26 | 24 | 27 | 25 | 23 | 24 | 19 | 409 | |
Finals Reached | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | |
Tournaments Won | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
Overall Win-Loss | 23–15 | 21–17 | 19–16 | 18–17 | 24–21 | 32–28 | 37–21 | 29–24 | 20–25 | 28–25 | 37–27 | 44–25 | 33–25 | 31–27 | 30–25 | 22–25 | 29–27 | 8–20 | 492–417 | |
Year End Ranking | 180 | 142 | 72 | 46 | 32 | 20 | 18 | 24 | 33 | 30 | 24 | 10 | 17 | 30 | 26 | 38 | 31 | N/A | N/A |
A = did not participate in the tournament
SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played
LQ = lost in the qualifying tournament
Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Career SR | Career win-loss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | 1R | - | 2R | 2R | 1R | QF | 2R | QF | SF | 3R | QF | SF | 3R | 3R | QF | 2R | F | 0 / 16 | 35–16 |
French Open | - | - | 2R | 2R | 2R | 3R | QF | SF | 3R | SF | W | 1R | 2R | F | F | 2R | 3R | 1 / 15 | 36–13 |
Wimbledon | - | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | F | F | 3R | W | F | QF | 1R | F | 2R | 2R | 1 / 14 | 36–15 |
US Open | - | 2R | 3R | 1R | 2R | – | 1R | W | - | 1R | 2R | SF | 3R | 2R | QF | SF | 3R | 1 / 11 | 27–13 |
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
Indian Wells | Not Tier I | 2R | QF | QF | 2R | W | 2R | F | A | A | QF | 1R | SF | 1R | 1 / 11 | 21–10 | |||
Miami | A | A | QF | 2R | 1R | QF | A | W | 1R | 1R | QF | QF | 1R | QF | 1R | W | 1R | 2 / 14 | 20–12 |
Madrid | Not Held | QF | 0 / 1 | 2–1 | |||||||||||||||
Beijing | Not Held | Not Tier I | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | ||||||||||||||
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
Dubai | Not Held | Not Tier I | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | ||||||||||||||
Rome | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | QF | QF | QF | A | 2R | QF | W | 2R | 2R | F | 1 / 12 | 14–11 |
Cincinnati | Not Held | Not Tier I | QF | 0 / 1 | 1–1 | ||||||||||||||
Toronto/Montréal | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | QF | F | QF | F | A | W | SF | QF | W | QF | SF | 2 / 12 | 28–10 |
Tokyo | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | SF | QF | 1R | SF | 1R | SF | QF | SF | QF | 1R | 1R | F | 0 / 17 | 15–16 |
Former WTA Tier I Tournaments (currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events) | |||||||||||||||||||
Moscow | Not Tier I | SF | 1R | SF | W | A | A | A | SF | A | A | A | A | NM5 | 0 / 5 | 10–4 | |||
Charleston | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 2R | A | A | W | 1 / 5 | 5–4 | |
Zürich | A | A | A | A | 1R | QF | QF | 1R | A | 1R | W | F | SF | QF | SF | NTI | Not Held |
1 / 10 | 14–9 |
San Diego | Not Tier I | 1R | F | QF | SF | NTI | 0 / 4 | 7–4 | |||||||||||
Doha | Not Held | Not Tier I | SF | 0 / 1 | 2–1 | ||||||||||||||
Berlin | A | A | A | 2R | QF | 2R | QF | A | A | F | A | SF | QF | QF | A | A | 0 / 8 | 13–8 | |
Career Statistics | |||||||||||||||||||
Tournaments Played | 11 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 25 | 17 | 26 | 22 | 19 | 23 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 333 | |
Finals Reached | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 | |
Tournaments Won | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 38 | |
Overall Win-Loss | 8–10 | 16–9 | 18–15 | 11–12 | 23–22 | 38–18 | 31–21 | 59–17 | 35–15 | 40–24 | 59–12 | 36–16 | 35–20 | 37–18 | 38–19 | 40–17 | 29–15 | 566–295 | |
Year End Ranking | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1 | ? | 3 | 9 | 14 | 12 | 6 | 11 | ? | N/A | N/A |
Tournament | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Career win-loss |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | - | - | - | 2R | - | 2R | - | 2R | - | - | 2R | - | - | 4–4 |
French Open | 3R | - | - | QF | SF | 1R | - | - | - | 1R | - | 1R | - | 9–6 |
Wimbledon | 1R | - | - | 2R | - | QF | - | - | SF | - | 1R | - | QF | 11–6 |
US Open | - | - | - | W | 1R | SF | - | - | 2R | QF | - | - | 1R | 11–5 |
Year | Grand Slam singles titles |
WTA singles titles |
Total singles titles |
Earnings ($) | Money list rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992–94 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 132,587 | n/a |
1995 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 154,316 | 37 |
1996 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 160,077 | 43 |
1997 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 307,837 | 26 |
1998 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 377,728 | 19 |
1999 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 405,148 | 24 |
2000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 729,635 | 12 |
2001 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 436,427 | 26 |
2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 416,408 | 26 |
2003 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1,254,283 | 7 |
2004 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 736,354 | 17 |
2005 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 495,592 | 25 |
2006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 595,062 | 25 |
2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 691,897 | 21 |
2008 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 757,201 | 18 |
2009 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 477,574 | 44 |
Career | 0 | 6 | 6 | 8,128,126 | 27 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ai Sugiyama |
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Persondata | |
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Name | Sugiyama, Ai |
Alternative names | |
Short description | Tennis player |
Date of birth | July 5, 1975 |
Place of birth | Yokohama, Japan |
Date of death | |
Place of death |
Srebotnik at the 2010 US Open |
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Country | Slovenia |
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Residence | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Born | (1981-03-12) March 12, 1981 (age 31) Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia) |
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
Weight | 67 kg (150 lb; 10.6 st) |
Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
Career prize money | US$5,756,126 |
Singles | |
Career record | 377–281 |
Career titles | 4 WTA, 6 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 20 (7 August 2006) |
Current ranking | no ranking (16 January 2012) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | 3r (2003, 2008) |
French Open | 4r (2002, 2008) |
Wimbledon | 3r (2005, 2006, 2007) |
US Open | 4r (2008) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 521–240 |
Career titles | 30 WTA, 19 ITF |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (4 July 2011) |
Current ranking | No. 4 (16 April 2012) |
Grand Slam Doubles results | |
Australian Open | SF (2006, 2011) |
French Open | F (2007, 2010) |
Wimbledon | W (2011) |
US Open | F (2006) |
Last updated on: 16 January 2012. |
Katarina Srebotnik (born March 12, 1981 in Slovenj Gradec) is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Srebotnik is right-handed, 1.80 m, weighs 65 kg and lives in Dubai. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on August 7, 2006.
Srebotnik won 4 singles titles on the WTA-tour and was a steady top 30 player for several years. However, she had her best results on the doubles circuit, winning 30 titles (as of January 16, 2012), including one doubles Grand Slam title (Wimbledon 2011), as well as five Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles. She reached the No. 1 position on the WTA doubles ranking on July 4, 2011.
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In juniors, she won the 1998 Wimbledon singles title and was singles runner-up at the US Open. Srebotnik attained the second spot on the junior rankings in 1997 and 1998.
Srebotnik made her ITF Debut in 1995. She won the ITF singles tournament in Ismailia (1996), Zadar (1997); Šibenik (1998) and in Dubai (1999). In 1998, Srebotnik won her first Tour doubles title at the Makarska Open (with Tina Križan), and became later that year doubles runner-up at Maria Lankowitz (also with Križan). In 1999, her win at the ITF tournament in Dubai, gave her ‘feed up’ direct entry into her first-ever singles Tour event at Estoril, where she became the fourth player ever to win her Tour debut event by defeating Kuti Kis in the final. She broke into the Top 100 on April 12, 1999 at No.88. Srebotnik reached the semifinal at Palermo, and played in her first Grand Slam main draw at Roland Garros, losing in the second round; but winning the mixed doubles tournament with Norval.
Srebotnik reached her first Tier I semifinal in Tokyo at the Pan Pacific, which she lost to Sandrine Testud. Afterwards, on February 7, 2000, Srebotnik broke into the Top 50 at No.49. She won her fourth career doubles title at Estoril (with Križan). Srebotnik lost in the first round at the 2000 Olympics.
Srebotnik and Križan won their only doubles title of 2001 at Hawaii. They reached their biggest doubles final of their career in Toronto at the Canadian Open by defeating Martina Navratilova/Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinal, and they also became doubles runner-up at Estoril. They qualified for their debut doubles season-ending Championships. Srebotnik reached a career-high doubles of No.19 on October 8.
In 2002, Srebotnik reached the finals at Bogotá (losing to Fabiola Zuluaga) and Acapulco (defeating Paola Suárez) in the final. She reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, which is her career-best Grand Slam. She defeated Gala León García in the first round, Conchita Martínez Granados in the second and Émilie Loit in the third, before falling to No. 9 Jelena Dokić. Srebotnik later achieved her then-best win at Los Angeles by defeating No.6 Kim Clijsters. She reached the semifinal in Luxembourg. First doubles alternate at season-ending Championships with Krizan, losing in the first round.
2003 saw Srebotnik reaching her fourth Tour final at Palermo. She won the Bogotá doubles title with Svensson. Srebotnik reached her second Tier I quarter final in Toronto at the Canadian Open. She won her second Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the US Open, this time with Bob Bryan.
Srebotnik's 2004 season was highlighted by reaching the semifinal at Palermo and the quarterfinal at Strasbourg (losing to Lindsay Davenport) and Forest Hills. She was a member of the Slovenian Fed Cup Team, which suffered from a first round loss against the USA (0–3). Srebotnik was seeded third in Fes, but was upset by homecrowd favourite wildcard Bahia Mouhtassine, who was ranked 183 spots below Srebotnik, in the first round, 3-6, 5-7.
At the 2004 Olympics, Srebotnik lost in the second round in singles and in the first round in doubles (with Krizan). She won her seventh doubles title in Tokyo at the Japan Open (with Shinobu Asagoe) Srebotnik withdrew from the Pan Pacific (Tokyo), Bogotá, Acapulco and Indian Wells with a right elbow injury.
Her best season to date, highlighted by two singles and four doubles titles, and her career-best victory over Amélie Mauresmo.
Srebotnik captured her third and fourth career Tour singles titles at Auckland (defeating Shinobu Asagoe in the final, while she also teamed with Asagoe for the doubles title) and in Stockholm (defeating world No.14 Anastasia Myskina in the final, and teaming with Émilie Loit for doubles title).
Srebotnik was the only player in 2005 to sweep singles and doubles titles twice. She also finished runner-up at Portorož, losing to Koukalová (now Zakopalová ) in three sets in the final. She also became runner-up in doubles with Kostanić.
Srebotnik reached the quarterfinal five times, at Tier II Antwerp (lost to Anastasia Myskina), Tier I Charleston (losing to Elena Dementieva in three sets), Budapest (losing to Laura Pous Tió in a third set tie-break), Tier I Zürich (upset No.4 Amélie Mauresmo 6–2 6–0 for her career-best victory en route; losing to Ana Ivanović) and Hasselt (losing to Safina in a third set tie-break).
Her best Grand Slam finish was the third round at Wimbledon (losing to Maria Sharapova 6–2, 6–4, but she was the only player to break the defending champion's serve before Sharapova's semifinal loss to Venus Williams).
A new career-high singles ranking of No.28 came on November 7.
In addition to Auckland and Stockholm, Srebotnik also won doubles titles at Budapest and Hasselt (both with Émilie Loit). She reached the US Open mixed doubles final (with Zimonjić; losing to Daniela Hantuchová/Mahesh Bhupathi). Srebotnik withdrew from Canberra with a left adductor strain.
This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (September 2009) |
Srebotnik's 2006 highlights are:
Srebotnik teamed up with Květa Peschke in 2010 and won the WTA tournaments of Indian Wells (defeating Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur in the finals) and New Haven (defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy), and reached the final of the WTA Championships in Doha, where they lost to Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 7–5, 6–4.
Srebotnik had an excellent doubles outing at the 2010 French Open. In the Ladies' Doubles, she and Peschke defeated the #2 seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez in the semifinals, but lost to the Williams sisters 2–6, 3–6 in the final. She also partnered with Serb Nenad Zimonjić to win the Mixed Doubles title with a thrilling 4–6, 7–6(5), [11–9] win against Yaroslava Shvedova and Julian Knowle.
She lost in the Rogers Cup final to Dulko and Pennetta, 7–5, 3–6, [12–10]. It was the second time this year that Srebotnik and Peschke reached a Premier 5 tournament final, after Dubai in February.
At the end of the 2010 season, Srebotnik announced that she would focus on doubles for the remainder of her career.
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Runner-up | 2006 | US Open | Hard | Dinara Safina | Nathalie Dechy Vera Zvonareva |
6–7, 5–7 |
Runner-up | 2007 | French Open | Clay | Ai Sugiyama | Alicia Molik Mara Santangelo |
6–7, 4–6 |
Runner-up | 2007 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ai Sugiyama | Cara Black Liezel Huber |
6–3, 3–6, 2–6 |
Runner-up | 2010 | French Open (2) | Clay | Květa Peschke | Serena Williams Venus Williams |
2–6, 3–6 |
Winner | 2011 | Wimbledon | Grass | Květa Peschke | Sabine Lisicki Samantha Stosur |
6–3, 6–1 |
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
Winner | 1999 | French Open | Clay | Piet Norval | Larisa Neiland Rick Leach |
6–3, 3–6, 6–3 |
Runner-up | 2002 | US Open | Hard | Bob Bryan | Lisa Raymond Mike Bryan |
6–7, 6–7 |
Winner | 2003 | US Open | Hard | Bob Bryan | Lina Krasnoroutskaya Daniel Nestor |
5–7, 7–5, 7–6(5) |
Runner-up | 2005 | US Open | Hard | Nenad Zimonjić | Daniela Hantuchová Mahesh Bhupathi |
4–6, 2–6 |
Winner | 2006 | French Open (2) | Clay | Nenad Zimonjić | Elena Likhovtseva Daniel Nestor |
6–3, 6–4 |
Runner-up | 2007 | French Open | Clay | Nenad Zimonjić | Nathalie Dechy Andy Ram |
5–7, 3–6 |
Runner-up | 2008 | French Open | Clay | Nenad Zimonjić | Victoria Azarenka Bob Bryan |
2–6, 6–7(4) |
Runner-up | 2008 | Wimbledon | Grass | Mike Bryan | Samantha Stosur Bob Bryan |
5–7, 4–6 |
Winner | 2010 | French Open (3) | Clay | Nenad Zimonjić | Yaroslava Shvedova Julian Knowle |
4–6, 7–6(5), [11–9] |
Winner | 2011 | Australian Open | Hard | Daniel Nestor | Yung-Jan Chan Paul Hanley |
6–3, 3–6, [10–7] |
Runner-up | 2011 | French Open | Clay | Nenad Zimonjić | Casey Dellacqua Scott Lipsky |
6–7(6), 6–4, [7–10] |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Katarina Srebotnik |
Awards | ||
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Preceded by Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta |
WTA Doubles Team of the Year (with Květa Peschke) 2011 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
Preceded by Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta |
ITF World Champion (with Květa Peschke) 2011 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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Name | Srebotnik, Katarina |
Alternative names | Srebotnik, Katarina |
Short description | Tennis player |
Date of birth | March 12, 1981 |
Place of birth | Slovenj Gradec, Yugoslavia |
Date of death | |
Place of death |