Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian professional forehand tennis player who is currently ranked as world’s number four champion, has been the ruling queen of tennis grounds ever since her senior counterparts, Arantxa and Martina relegated to the retirement section.
Born as Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova on June 27, 1985 in St. Petersburg, Leningrad, this girl was born with the athletic gene. Her father Alexandr Kuznetsov is a coach by profession who has been responsible for polishing the talent of five Olympic and world cycling champions. In fact, her father's protégés included her mother, Galina Tsareva, a six-time world champion and holder of 20 world records, and Svetlana’s brother, Nikolai Kuznetsov, a silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Upon citing her family example, Kuznetsova also tried out cycling in her early years, but soon got bored of it. Her interests lied in tennis and at the age of 13, she was sent to Sanchez-Casal Academy in Spain for better coaching and guidance facilities.
In less than just two years, Kuznetsova became the number 1 junior player in Spain and started traveling with the troupe of legendary players like Arantxa and Martina, winning many doubles events.
An avid football fan, Svetlana also enjoys snowboarding and is into hip hop big time. Apparently, she never leaves home without her ipod on which she prefers to listen her favorite artist 50 Cent.
Tennis Career
Kuznetsova has a knack for performing better in doubles match, maybe good fortune or her ability to gel down well with her partner; she has managed to secure most wins through partnership matches. In fact, she was ranked as third in the world in June 2004. This girl wonder has won the 2005 Australian Open with Australia's Alicia Molik by defeating Americans Lindsay Davenport and Corina Morariu in the final match. She also succeeded in reaching five other finals namely, 2003 U.S. Open with Martina Navratilova, 2004 Australian Open and 2004 French Open with Elena Likhovtseva and 2005: Wimbledon with Amelie Mauresmo.
Incidentally, in the singles game, the one Grand Slam at the U.S. open 2004 she managed to secure has been against her own country woman, Elena Dementieva in straight sets of 6–3, 7–5.
2005 also became the year for her becoming the first female defending champion at the US Open to lose in the first round. She lost to Ekaterina Bychkova.
The year 2006, however brought her a mixed baggage of both wins and losses. Svetlana won the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida on April 1 beating Maria Sharapova 6–4, 6–3 after remaining in the sidelines for 18 winless months. She would have won at the French open too, where she reached after defeating 17 year old Czech Nicole Vaidisova in the semifinals 5–7, 7–6(5), 6–2 had it not been for Justine Henin.
He took away the series from her in the final with 6–4, 6–4. Later that year, during the Wimbledon, she could not go past the third round losing to Li Na 3–6, 6–2, 6–3.
Owing to her abdominal injuries, she had to take a one month break for recovering after which she entered the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal where she lost a close two-set match to Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals. The next tournaments that followed also saw her feigning defeat before reaching the final stage, Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, Connecticut, semifinals loss to eventual champion Henin and the U.S.Open 2006 loss to Jelena Jankovic. But the tennis pro balanced it well with two wins at the Tier III Wismilak International in Bali, beating Marion Bartoli in the final, and the Tier II China Open in Beijing, defeating Mauresmo in the final.
Tightening her hold over the next set of crucial tournaments, Kuznetsova through her skilled prowess reached Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin and Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome losing to Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Jankovic. Kuznetsova also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon but lost to 26th-seeded and three-time champion Venus Williams 6–3, 6–4.
After securing a win in Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in unusual circumstances, she went on to reach the finals of U.S. Open 2007, the second time after she won them in 2004. Crossing opponents like Klara Zakopalova, Camille Pin, and Anabel Medina Garrigues etc. Svetlana was ready to face once again the indisputable Justin Henin. And as luck would have it she again lost to him by 6–1, 6–3.
Later she won the Fed cup while representing her country Russia. She went on reaching the semifinals in both the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Germany and the Kremlin Cup. Upon losing to Sharapova (5–7, 6–2, 6–2), Ivanovic (6–1, 4–6, 7–5) and Daniela Hantuchova (7-6(7), 6-0) in the round-robin stage, she once again failed to qualify for semi-finals, let alone finals of Sony Ericsson Championships.
In 2008, Kuznetsova lost the Sydney final to the ruling champion Henin. At the Australian open, she made a sudden ouster after being defeated by Agnieszka Radwanska 6–3, 6–4. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Svetlana defeated her opponent Agnieszka Radwanska 6–2, 6–4, Maria Sharapova in the semifinals, 6–3, 5–7, 6–2.. In the final, though, she lost to top-seeded Ana Ivanovic in straight sets.
