In a 3.5-hour thriller she defeated a Czech woman Lucy Shafarova. But if Maria loses before the semifinals, then starting next week there will not be a single Russian woman left in the top ten. However, Maria has a difficult schedule of clay tournaments ahead, and even a victory in Stuttgart under certain circumstances will not save her from leaving the top 10 in the near future. If this happens, then for the first time since May 2003 there will be no place for a single representative of Russia in the top ten. It's time to remember everyone who forged the glory of Russian women's tennis at the beginning of the century.
1. Serena Williams (USA)
2. Kim Clijsters (Belgium)
3. Venus Williams (USA)
4. Justine Henin (Belgium)
5. Amelie Mauresmo (France)
6. Lindsay Davenport (USA)
7. Jennifer Capriati (USA)
8. Chanda Rubin (USA)
9. Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia)
10. Elena Dokic (Australia).
At the beginning of 2001 I walked along the beaten path of Kurnikova. The first entry into the top 10 was short-lived - Dementieva was displaced within a week Serena Williams. However, best achievements Elena was just ahead. Since 2003, the Russian woman has only finished the year outside the top ten once, and even then in 11th place. During her brilliant career, Dementieva won 16 WTA tournaments, and in 2009, after a series of successful results, she reached the highest third place in the rating list.
The last of the Mohicans to date, burst into the top ten on a dashing horse after winning Wimbledon. After her tremendous success in London, Sharapova won each of the Grand Slam tournaments three more times and eventually collected a complete collection of the most prestigious tennis trophies. Sharapova managed to reach the top of the rating list. In total, Maria was in the lead for 21 weeks.
The year 2004 in the WTA was marked by the dominance of Russian tennis players. In August, half of the top ten represented Russia. This became possible after Myskina, Dementieva, Sharapova and Kuznetsova joined Zvonareva. The best period in Vera’s career came in 2010. Two Grand Slam finals in a row allowed the Russian to soar to second position in the table of ranks, but, as often happens, the athlete at her peak was ruined by injuries. Zvonareva is still making attempts to return, but for the third year now she has not been able to get rid of the consequences of a series of injuries.
Two years later, there were again five Russians in the top ten. after a successful performance at the tournament in Montreal, she beat Lindsay Davenorth and ranked 10th. Dinara never conquered the Grand Slam tournaments - she had three unsuccessful finals. On the other hand, in terms of the number of weeks on the first line of the WTA rankings, she continues to be the best Russian woman. Dinara was the world number one for 27 weeks.
The penultimate Russian woman in the top 10 today is . Unfortunately, she never fully realized her enormous potential. The year 2007 was marked for Chakvetadze with five titles and fifth place in the rating list. Starting in 2009, Anna began to have health problems, which soon forced her to...
Best places Russian women in the top 10 with the date of first entry:
Anna Kournikova - 8 (November 2000). E
Lena Dementieva - 3 (April 2009).
- 2 (September 2004).
- 3 (May 2006).
Svetlana Kuznetsova - 2 (September 2007).
Maria Sharapova - 1 (August 2005).
- 2 (October 2010).
- 1 (April 2009).
- 5 (September 2007).
- 10 (June 2013).
Six years later I reached the top ten and Maria Kirilenko. Russian for a long time was in the top 20, but to achieve cherished goal It didn't work out at all. Maria had her long-awaited breakthrough at Roland Garros. The Russian noted that she had been working towards this achievement all her life: “Throughout my entire career, many people said that I am a top ten player, when will I become one of them, that I have the potential of a top tennis player, and so on. Everything has its time. With good play and victories, I finally entered the top 10. I’ve done a lot of work, and over the past couple of years my level of play has risen,” Kirilenko commented on her success.
Kirilenko only in the quarterfinals Victoria Azarenka, but the points were enough to briefly glance into the cohort of the best. Alas, Maria did not last even a month in the top ten - this was due to her elimination in the first round of Wimbledon.
Since May 19, 2003, there has not been a single week in the WTA without Russian representatives in the top ten. Unfortunately, best years Russian women's tennis has passed, and now comes a time of mysterious instability. At the same time, it is extremely difficult to predict the name of the 11th Russian woman in the top 10. It seems that the closest ones are Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova And Ekaterina Makarova, but both cannot produce a whole series of successful tournaments, although they have been among the top thirty for several years now. But the rest of the Russian women from the top hundred have much less real chance of a breakthrough. However, you can and should always rely on young people, especially since Russians are still often in the lead roles at junior competitions.
This ranking presents the most successful domestic tennis players of the 20th and 21st centuries. The criteria for assessing the success of athletes were participation in the finals and semi-finals of Grand Slam tournaments and total number victories in singles tournaments of the ATP series (English Association of Tennis Professionals - Association of Professional Tennis Players).
7th place: (born December 12, 1982, Moscow) - Russian tennis player who won 7 tournaments in men's singles. Tursunov does not perform very well at Grand Slam tournaments; his highest achievement is only the 1/8 finals at Wimbledon. Dmitry has been living and training in the USA since he was 12 years old, but competes under the Russian flag.
6th place: (born February 2, 1966, Moscow) - Soviet and Russian tennis player who won 7 tournaments in men's singles. At Grand Slam tournaments, Chesnokov's highest achievement was reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros in 1989.
5th place: (born June 25, 1982, Moscow) - Russian tennis player who won 10 tournaments in men's singles and reached the semi-finals twice (in 2006 and 2010) Open Championship USA.
4th place: (born November 2, 1944, Tbilisi) - Soviet tennis player who won 5 tournaments in men's singles. Metreveli was the first Soviet tennis player to play in the final of a Grand Slam tournament - in 1973 at Wimbledon. He also reached the semi-finals at the French Open (1971) and Australian Open (1972). Since 1991, Metreveli has been a citizen of Georgia, but lives permanently in Moscow and works as a tennis commentator on NTV+
3rd place: (born June 2, 1981, Severodonetsk) - Russian tennis player who won 21 tournaments in men's singles. At Grand Slam tournaments, Davydenko’s highest achievements were the semi-finals at Roland Garros (2005, 2007) and the US Open (2006, 2007).
2nd place: Marat Safin(born January 27, 1980, Moscow) is a Russian tennis player who won 15 tournaments in men's singles. Safin is the second Russian after Yevgeny Kafelnikov to become the first racket of the world. Marat played in the finals of Grand Slam tournaments more often than any other domestic tennis player (4 times). Safin won two finals (at the US Open in 2000 and the Australian Open in 2005) and lost two (at the Australian Open in 2002 and 2004). Marat is the brother of tennis player Dinara Safina, who also became the first racket of the world. These are the only siblings in history to become the first rackets in the world.
The most titled Russian tennis player (born February 18, 1974, Sochi), who won 26 tournaments in men's singles and became the first Russian - the first racket of the world. Kafelnikov - Olympic champion tennis 2000. Evgeniy played in Grand Slam finals three times, winning twice (French Open in 1996 and Australian Open in 1999) and losing once (Australian Open in 2000). After leaving professional tennis, Kafelnikov took up golf and in 2011 became the Russian champion in this sport.
Last weekend, the rising tennis star, 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina, reached the semi-finals of the tournament in St. Petersburg and rose to a record 45th place in the WTA rankings. Sportbox.ru decided to find out who will compete with the Russian in the future.
So, through simple manipulations, five athletes of teenage age were found in the top hundred of the world rankings - besides Kasatkina, there is already an established top tennis player and three girls who are ready to make themselves known.
https://twitter.com/BelindaBencic/status/696049572427210752A country: Switzerland
Age: 18 years old (03/10/1997)
Bencic, who beat Kasatkina in St. Petersburg, but then lost to Roberta Vinci (the Italian is almost twice as old as the junior), stands apart on this list. If only simply because reaching the St. Petersburg final allowed her to enter the top ten strongest in the world.
“I think Bencic has already proven that she is a force to be reckoned with. She defeated top players and won titles. Belinda is not a rising star - she has already risen.
This opinion is shared by Maria Sharapova, who beat the Swiss representative in the fourth round of the last Australian Open. And it’s hard to disagree with the Russian woman - after all, the attempt to take the title in St. Petersburg was already Bencic’s sixth, and she won two titles.
By the way, contrary to the opinion of many, Bencic is not of Yugoslav origin - her parents emigrated from Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring, when they themselves were still children. Belinda first picked up a racket at the age of four, and another former Czechoslovakian, Melanie Molitor, better known in the world as the mother of Martina Hingis, was involved in this. She is still involved in the athlete’s training, but her main coach is now her father Ivan - a typical picture for many girls who come from Eastern Europe.
Bencic went through the junior level with fire and sword - at the age of 16, she produced a streak of 38 victories in a row, which included triumphs at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, after which she finally switched to adult tennis. Belinda made her debut on the WTA tour at age 14, won her first victory a year later, and in 2014 she moved from 212th to 33rd place in the ranking. Now Bencic is a formidable opponent for any opponent, she already has victories over Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza and Angelique Kerber. This means that we will hear about her more than once in the near future.
https://www.instagram.com/p/3Zcp6_nLLM/A country: Croatia
Age: 18 years old (12/27/1997)
The Croatian tennis player, who managed to play as a pair with Bencic a couple of years ago, does not yet have such high-profile achievements, although she already won her first title in her career - at a tournament in Nottingham in 2015.
In the same 2013, when Bencic won two junior Grand Slam tournaments in a row, the remaining two - the Australian Open and the US Open - remained with Konyukh, and in Melbourne the Croatian also took the main prize in doubles. This allowed her to rise to the top of the world rankings, from where she was later displaced by Bencic.
In general, the native of picturesque Dubrovnik began playing sports at the age of six. Her idols were Roger Federer, whom she considers the god of tennis, and Kim Clijsters. At 11 she moved from hometown to the tennis academy in Zagreb. IN adolescence She began to progress quickly - at the age of 14 she successfully played against 18-year-olds, at 15 she made her debut in the national team and beat Ursula Radwańska in a Fed Cup match.
But after a fairly successful transition to the adult level - Konyukh in 2014 made it from the third hundred in the ranking to the top 100, her progress slowed down. Last season she played inconsistently, often crashing out at the start of tournaments, and at the Grand Slams only once in her career did she advance beyond the second round. In September last year in New York and in January this year in Melbourne, the Croatian lost to Kasatkina without any special options. However, in spite of everything, Konyukh, like Borna Coric in men, is the main tennis hope of Croatia.
https://www.instagram.com/p/_XZIHLEkSi/A country: Latvia
Age: 18 years old (06/08/1997)
And this pretty girl is the future of Latvian tennis. And by the way, the first Wimbledon winner in her country. She won the grass-based youth major in 2014, a year later than Bencic. This allowed her to become the second racket in the world at her age.
Ostapenko grew up in a tennis family - both her father Evgeniy and her mother, also Elena, who now coaches her daughter, once played as amateurs. As often happens, the unfulfilled ambitions of the parents were embodied in the child.
“It seems to me that Lenka first appeared on the court when she was smaller than the racket,” recalls Elena Sr. “I started training seriously when I was five.”
By the age of 14, Ostapenko had already declared herself in the world of tennis, at 15 she made her debut at the adult level and almost immediately began winning titles at ITF tournaments, of which she already has seven. And in 2015, the Latvian representative made a leap from the fourth hundred in the world classification to 79th place at the end of the year, playing her first final on the WTA tour.
At the same time, Elena does not limit her life to tennis alone - she played professionally for seven years ballroom dancing, like many residents of Riga, he is a fan of the Dynamo hockey team and attends matches, and enjoys attending music concerts. In addition, Ostapenko at one time refused offers to go to college and move to the United States, choosing a career as a professional tennis player.
The main star of Russian tennis, Maria Sharapova, flew out of the largest Russian tournament “VTB Kremlin Cup”. But Russia is not the only one famous for Sharapova. We decided to remember other Russian women who shone at the Kremlin Cup and international arena not so long ago, and see what happened to them after their careers ended.
Anastasia Myskina
In the early 2000s, the greatest hopes in Russian tennis were pinned on Myskina. In 2004, Anastasia won one of the most prestigious Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros, and at some point rose to second place in the world rankings. It seemed that the first one was not far off, but that was not the case.
The career of a young and promising tennis player was ruined by a leg injury, due to which Myskina entered the court only twice in the entire 2007. Play on top level she no longer had the chance, and Nastya was forced to leave the sport at the age of 25, at that age most tennis players are just beginning to achieve success.
Over the next 10 years, Myskina repeatedly tried to start a career on television - on the Domashny channel she hosted the program “Tell me, what’s wrong?!”, and on NTV-Plus she commented on tennis matches. However, the athlete could not cope with the role of a TV presenter. in the best possible way, and five years later she gave up trying to shine on the screen and returned to the court, only this time as a coach. Here things are going much better for Anastasia - she first became one of the coaches of the Russian women's national team, and then also received the title of captain of the team.
Elena Dementieva
Throughout her entire career, the magnificent Elena Dementieva has not won a single Grand Slam tournament, although she has been in the final four times, but she holds Russia’s only Olympic gold in women’s singles.
Dementieva, like Myskina, had to end her career quite early - at the age of 28. 2010 was the last year in her professional career. Dementieva continued to perform consistently and remain in the top ten tennis players in the world, but she felt that her health no longer allowed her to give her all. After a series of refusals to continue matches due to problems with calf muscle Dementieva announced that she did not want to torture herself or her fans and was leaving the sport.
Leaving sports allowed Dementieva to finally pay attention to her personal life, and just a year later she married hockey player Maxim Afinogenov. The tennis player wanted to be close to her husband so much that she plunged headlong into hockey and even played for a while. own program on the KHL channel.
True, this did not last long - in 2014 Dementieva became a mother and since then has completely disappeared from the screens. Elena is so busy with her family and child that, unlike most modern stars she doesn't even have an Instagram page.
Anna Chakvetadze
Experts called the beautiful Anna Chakvetadze “the new Sharapova”; at just 20, the girl had already won a dozen titles and entered the top five tennis players in the world. But like our other girls, Chakvetadze’s career ended suddenly and very early - at 24 years old.
Unexpectedly for everyone, including herself, the girl began to lose consciousness right in the middle of the matches. The examinations did not yield any results for a long time. In the end, it turned out that Chakvetadze had inflammation of the inner ear, which could affect the functioning of blood vessels and cause fainting. To recover, Anna had to freeze her career for two years, but unlike Sharapova, Chakvetadze was unable to return after such a break.
Chakvetadze married a Swiss banker and owns her own tennis school, where she teaches children. Last year, chess player Sergei Karjakin was physically prepared for the match for the chess crown against Magnus Carlsen. By her own admission, Anna would really like to become a coach either for a professional tennis player or for the Russian national team, but Myskina did not accept her into the team, and there were no offers from tennis players.
Anna Kournikova
During her entire career, Kournikova did not win a single major tournament in singles, however, it was she who made tennis popular in Russia, and in general for a long time she was the face of world tennis.
Her star lit up early - at only 16 years old. The stunning blonde with a powerful and accurate blow was noticed not only by sports experts, but also by modeling agencies, directors and rich, handsome celebrities. In such a situation, there is no time for sports, so Kournikova did not last long at Olympus, and at the age of 21 she gave up her professional career.
On October 15, Elena Dementieva, a tennis player, Honored Master of Sports and simply the pride of her country, celebrates her birthday. Elena is not only a successful athlete, but also a recognized beauty. However, in our country (where, as is known, the most beautiful girls in the world) there are other tennis players whose appearance has conquered the world. Let's remember the most beautiful ones.
Elena Dementieva was born in 1981 in Moscow. She started playing tennis at the age of seven, when after several training sessions she was enrolled in the sports section"Spartacus".
By 1995, the talented athlete reached the junior tournament, and soon moved on to adult competitions, where she initially played in tandem with Anastasia Myskina.
Elena participated in all the world's largest tennis tournaments (Grand Slam, WTA), represented Russia three times at the Olympics, and in 2010 announced the end of her career. sports career. Later, the girl married hockey player Maxim Afinogenov. She also became a TV presenter and starred in Igor Nikolaev’s video for the song “How Beautiful You Are.”
Anna Kournikova
Anna Kournikova has not played professional tennis for a long time, but is still a sex symbol of Russian sports. She also comes from Moscow, where she was born in 1981. The girl first picked up a racket at the age of 5, and in 1988 she took part in her first tournament in her life.
Kournikova's career immediately began very successfully. In her first year, she won the Orange Bowl tournament, European championships, and the Italian Open Junior Championship.
At 15, Kournikova became the youngest participant Olympic Games in the history of Russia.
Anna was the world number one in doubles (becoming the only Russian woman to achieve this title) and became a two-time winner of the Australian Open in doubles. In 2003, the athlete completed her career.
In addition, she is known for her turbulent personal life. Anna dated hockey player Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure and recently broke off relations with singer Enrique Iglesias, whom she had dated since 2003.
Maria Sharapova
Another blonde in domestic tennis, Maria Sharapova, was born in 1987 in the Siberian town of Nyagan. Having started playing tennis at the age of 4, already at 6 Masha played the first set with the tennis star of that time - Martina Navratilova. She, in turn, advised the girl’s parents to move to the United States and give her to a professional trainer, which the family did.
Maria became the first Russian woman to win the Wimbledon tournament, after which she entered the elite of world women's tennis. Sharapova is the winner of 30 WTA tournaments, the winner of the Career Grand Slam (she won all 4 Grand Slam tournaments) and the silver medalist of the 2012 Olympics.
The girl twice became the first racket of the world - the first among Russians.
In the personal life of the athlete, everything is not easy - she was going to marry basketball player Sasha Vujacic, but recently broke off the engagement.
Maria Kirilenko
Maria Kirilenko is a Muscovite, born in 1987. A beauty in tennis since the age of five, already at the age of 12 she was considered a promising athlete. At the age of 15, Maria became first in the ranking of her age category and second in the category of 18-year-olds.
Kirilenko is not a relative of the famous basketball player Andrei Kirilenko, although there was a rumor about it. The athlete admitted that she and Andrei provoked the rumor with their own joke during their acquaintance.
Masha is a finalist of two Grand Slam tournaments, winner of 18 WTA tournaments, former second racket of the world in junior Orsk ranking and bronze medalist at the Olympic Games last year.
Kirilenko is a happy bride and is preparing for her wedding with one of the most famous Russian hockey players, Alexander Ovechkin.
Vera Zvonareva
In 1984, another beautiful athlete, Vera Zvonareva, was born in Moscow. Her mother was a bronze medalist at the 1980 Olympics in field hockey, and her father competed in the USSR bandy championship.
The girl first started playing tennis at the age of six, and began her professional career in 1999 with a championship in Georgia.
Vera - - h four-time tournament winner"Grand Slam" , winner of 12 WTA singles tournaments and 6 doubles tournaments, bronze medalist of the 2008 Olympic Games in singles, two-time winner of the Fed Cup as part of the Russian national team and two-time winner of the Orange Bowl singles tournament.
