Elena Dementieva

Elena Dementieva

Elena Dementieva at the Canadian Open - Rogers/AT&T - Montreal 2002 Canadian Open
Country (sports)	Russia
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	August 25, 1998
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Prize money	$8,289,362
Singles
Career record	416 - 217
Career titles	7 WTA, 3 ITF titles
Highest ranking	No. 4 (October 25, 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	4th (2002, 2005, 2007)
French Open	F (2004)
Wimbledon	QF (2006)
US Open	F (2004)
Doubles
Career record	150 - 84
Career titles	6 WTA, 3 ITF titles
Highest ranking	No. 5 (April 14, 2003)
Last updated on: September 22, 2007.

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Representing Russia
	2000 Sydney	Singles

Elena Vyacheslavovna Dementieva (pronounced: L-e-nuh de-MENT-ye-vuh Russian: ); born October 15, 1981, Moscow), is a professional tennis player from Russia.

Tennis career

Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petit As, in France at the age of 13. In 1997, she entered the WTA top 500. She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999.

1999-2002

In 1999, Dementieva represented Russia in the Fed Cup final against the United States, scoring Russia's only point when she upset Venus Williams 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), recovering from a 4-1 third set deficit. She played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon and receiving a direct entry into the U.S. Open. She reached the second round at the Australian Open and French Open, made a first round exit at Wimbledon, and reached the third round of the U.S. Open.

In 2000, she entered the top 20 by winning more than 40 singles matches for the second straight year and earned more than U.S. $600,000. She became the first woman from Russia to reach the U.S. Open semifinals, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Dementieva won the silver medal, losing to Venus Williams in the gold medal match 6-2, 6-4. In 2000, Dementieva was named the WTA tour's Most Improved Player.

2001 was the second straight year in which Dementieva finished in the WTA's top 20. During the year, she became the top ranked Russian player, a position previously held by Anna Kournikova since December 1997. Dementieva, however, suffered a shoulder injury in Australia. To keep playing matches, she altered her serve, adding slice and changing her motion. After her shoulder healed, her service motion stayed the same, and many consider it the worst serve among the top players. She has double faulted as many as 19 times in a match and hit 50 mph first and second serves. Where the ball toss should be in the "1 o'clock position" (if a clock was placed above the server's head, the ball should be tossed where 1 o'clock was) she was tossing them at 2 o'clock.

In 2002, Dementieva and her partner Janette Husarova of Slovakia reached the final of the U.S. Open and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. In singles, Dementieva defeated a top ranked player for the first time, beating world No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-2 in a quarterfinal in Moscow. Dementieva reached the final of that tournament, losing to Jelena Dokic.

2003

In 2003, Dementieva played the most tournaments among top ten players (27) and won approximately U.S. $900,000 in prize money. At Amelia Island, she won her first WTA tour title, defeating Amanda Coetzer, Daniela Hantuchová, Justine Henin, and second ranked Lindsay Davenport. Dementieva was the lowest seed (10th) to win the tournament in its 24-year history. She also won back-to-back titles in Bali and Shanghai, defeating Chanda Rubin in the final in both events. Dementieva finished 2003 in the top 10 for the first time (No. 8). In addition, she reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon doubles with her friend and compatriot Lina Krasnoroutskaya, beating the Venus and Serena Williams team along the way.

2004

Dementieva's breakthrough year was 2004. In Miami, she defeated Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Nadia Petrova in the semifinals. Dementieva then lost to the top seeded and two-time defending champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-1. On April 5, she reached her highest singles ranking at sixth in the world. With fifth ranked Anastasia Myskina and ninth ranked Petrova, it was the first time that three Russians appeared in the Women's Tennis Association top 10 simultaneously.

In May at the French Open, Dementieva reached her first Grand Slam final, defeating former top ranked Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round, Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, and Paola Suarez in the semifinals, all in straight sets. Dementieva lost to compatriot Myskina in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final. (The last female Russian Grand Slam finalist was Dementieva's coach at the time, Olga Morozova, at 1974's French Open and Wimbledon.)

Later that year at the U.S. Open, after a first round loss at Wimbledon to Sandra Kleinova, Dementieva reached her second Grand Slam final, defeating Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati en route. Countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Dementieva in straight sets in the final, becoming the third consecutive Russian Grand Slam winner. Following the U.S. Open, Dementieva won her first title in Hasselt and reached the Moscow finals for the second time, losing to Myskina.

2005

In 2005, Dementieva reached six semifinals, the most important being at the U.S. Open. She also reached the final in Charleston, losing to Justine Henin, and Philadelphia, losing to Amelie Mauresmo despite serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set. In the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, Dementieva defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) for her second victory over a current No. 1 player. In the semifinals, she lost to Mary Pierce 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The momentum of the match with Pierce changed in Pierce's favor when, with Dementieva up a set, Pierce received 12 minutes of on-court medical treatment. Partnering Flavia Pennetta of Italy, Dementieva reached her second doubles final at the U.S. Open.

Following the U.S. Open, Dementieva helped Russia repeat as Fed Cup champions, beating France 3-2 in the final. All three points came from Dementieva, as she avenged her loss to Pierce at the U.S. Open, beat Mauresmo, and then won the deciding doubles match with partner Dinara Safina. At the WTA Tour Championships, Dementieva lost all three round robin matches against Mauresmo, Pierce, and Kim Clijsters with the same score each time: 6-2, 6-3.

2006

After losing to Kim Clijsters in an exhibition in Hong Kong, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Julia Schruff. But immediately following that tournament, Dementieva won her first Tier I event, the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. On the run to the title, she defeated Katarina Srebotnik, Nicole Vaidišová, and Anastasia Myskina, all in three sets. She then defeated the resurgent Martina Hingis, with Hingis saying after the match, "If she played like that all the time, she'd win Grand Slams."

At the Pacific Life Open, despite double faulting 79 times in six matches, Dementieva reached the final. She defeated rising stars Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanović, and Na Li along the way. Dementieva then upset Justine Henin in a semifinal 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. The victory was her fourth three set match of the tournament, and fatigue contributed to her 6-1, 6-2 loss to Maria Sharapova in the final.

On grass, Dementieva reached the s'Hertogenbosch semifinals, losing to Michaella Krajicek despite holding a match point, and the Wimbledon quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, Dementieva lost to fourth seeded Sharapova 6-1, 6-4.

In August, Dementieva won the tournament in Los Angeles by defeating Jelena Janković in the final 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. En route to her sixth career title, she defeated everyone who had beaten (or, in the case of the U.S. Open, would beat) her at the 2006 Grand Slam tournaments—Schruff in the second round, Peer in the third round, Sharapova in a semifinal (for the first time since 2003), and Janković in the final.

At the 2006 U.S. Open, Dementieva reached the quarterfinals for the fourth time, losing to Janković 6-2, 6-1. The three games she won were all breaks of serve. Dementieva remarked afterwards, "Yeah, it is disappointing, you know. I'm getting older, and I haven't won a Grand Slam, so that's really what I'm thinking about all the time. I feel like I was in a good shape here. That's why it's sad." [1]. She relinquished to Sharapova, who won the tournament, the distinction of being the Russian player to have won the most career prize money.

Dementieva qualified for the year-ending WTA Tour Championships for the seventh straight time, the only active player to do so. She lost to all three players in her round robin group: Sharapova 6-1, 6-4; Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-3; and Clijsters 6-4, 6-0. Her career win-loss record at this tournament fell to 3-14. She had lost her last 9 matches played there.

2007

Dementieva's first official tournament of the year was in Sydney, Australia, where she lost in the second round to Li Na 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 after being up 5-2 in the third set and holding five match points.

At the 2007 Australian Open, Dementieva matched her career best result at this tournament by reaching the fourth round, where she lost to Nicole Vaidišová 6-3, 6-3.

Dementieva unsuccessfully attempted to defend her singles title at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, losing her semifinal match to Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-3. Because of an injury, she could not participate in the tournament in Paris. Without having fully recovered, she played again in Antwerp but had to retire from her second round match against Elena Likhovtseva. She then travelled to Indian Wells, California to compete in the Pacific Life Open but withdrew from the tournament at short notice, causing her to lose a lot of points as she is the 2006 runner-up.

Dementieva returned to playing tennis in the Tier II Warsaw event, where she lost in the second round to Venus Williams. At the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Dementieva lost to Nadia Petrova in the third round 6-3, 6-3. At the Tier I Telecom Italia Masters Roma in Rome, Dementieva lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Janković 6-2, 6-1.

In her final tune-up event to the French Open, Dementieva won the Istanbul Cup, defeating Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in the final. This was her seventh career WTA tour singles title. At the French Open, Dementieva reached the third round before being defeated by Marion Bartoli.

At her first event on grass in Eastbourne, Dementieva lost easily in the quarters to eventual Wimbledon finalist Bartoli 6-1, 6-0 and she lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Tamira Paszek 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Her hardcourt season got off to a better start with Elena reaching the semifinals of San Diego (beating Bartoli en route), losing to Patty Schnyder 7-6, 6-0.

At the East West Bank Classic she lost to Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. At the Rogers Cup held in Toronto, she was a shock early casualty when she lost to Francesca Schiavone 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Her last event before the U.S. Open was the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven. She beat Mara Santangelo, Ashley Harkleroad and Marion Bartoli enroute to the semifinals, but retired in her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, the eventual champion.

Her 2007 U.S. Open was cut short by Sybille Bammer in the third round, who handily beat her 6-1, 6-2. Prior to that she had beaten Stephanie Cohen-Aloro and Petra Cetkovská.

She then competed in the Tier II China Open in Beijing, China, losing in the quarterfinals to comeback kid Lindsay Davenport 7-6(1), 6-1. In the second round, she routed Austrian teen Tamira Paszek 6-2, 6-0, and thus avenging her Wimbledon third round loss.

Grand Slam singles finals

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2004	French Open	Anastasia Myskina	6-1, 6-2
2004	U.S. Open	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6-3, 7-5

Titles (12)

Singles

Legend Grand Slam (0) Year-End Championships (0) Tier I (1) Sony Ericsson Tour (6)

Titles by Surface Hard (4) Grass (0) Clay (2) Carpet (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
1.	14 April, 2003	Amelia Island, Florida, U.S.A	Clay	Lindsay Davenport	4-6, 7-5, 6-3
2.	8 September, 2003	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Chanda Rubin	6-2, 6-1
3.	15 September, 2003	Shanghai, China	Hard	Chanda Rubin	6-3, 7-6(6)
4.	27 September, 2004	Hasselt, Belgium	Hard (i)	Elena Bovina	0-6, 6-0, 6-4
5.	5 February, 2006	Tokyo, Japan	Carpet (i)	Martina Hingis	6-2, 6-0
6.	13 August, 2006	Los Angeles, California, U.S.A	Hard	Jelena Janković	6-3, 4-6, 6-4
7.	26 May, 2007	Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Aravane Rezai	7-6(5), 3-0 ret.

Doubles

Legend Grand Slam (0) Year-End Championships (1) Tier I (2) Sony Ericsson Tour (3)

Titles by Surface Hard (2) Grass (1) Clay (1) Carpet (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Parterning	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	May 12, 2002	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Janette Husárová	Daniela Hantuchová & Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	0-6, 7-6(3), 6-2
2.	August 4, 2002	San Diego, California, U.S.	Hard	Janette Husárová	Daniela Hantuchová & Ai Sugiyama	6-2, 6-4
3.	October 6, 2002	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Janette Husárová	Jelena Dokić & Nadia Petrova	2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7)
4.	November 11, 2002	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Carpet	Janette Husárová	Cara Black & Elena Likhovtseva	4-6, 6-4, 6-3
5.	June 21, 2003	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Lina Krasnoroutskaya	Nadia Petrova & Mary Pierce	2-6, 6-3, 6-4
6.	August 14, 2005	Los Angeles, California, USA	Hard	Flavia Pennetta	Bethanie Mattek & Angela Haynes	6-2, 6-4

Runner-ups (18)

Singles (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1 October, 2000	Olympics, Sydney, Australia	Hard	Venus Williams	6-2, 6-4
2.	4 March, 2001	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Amanda Coetzer	2-6, 6-1, 6-2
3.	7 October, 2001	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Jelena Dokic	6-3, 6-3
4.	22 June, 2002	s-'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Eleni Daniilidou	3-6, 6-2, 6-3
5.	4 April, 2004	Miami, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Serena Williams	6-1, 6-1
6.	3 June, 2004	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Anastasia Myskina	6-1, 6-2
7.	11 September, 2004	U.S. Open, New York City, USA	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6-3, 7-5
8.	17 October, 2004	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Anastasia Myskina	7-5, 6-0
9.	17 April, 2005	Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.	Clay	Justine Henin	7-5, 6-4
10.	6 November, 2005	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.	Hard (i)	Amelie Mauresmo	7-5, 2-6, 7-5
11.	18 March, 2006	Indian Wells, California, U.S.	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6-1, 6-2

Doubles (7)

• 2001
  • Moscow (w/Krasnoroutskaya) (lost to Hingis & Kournikova)
• 2002
  • Paris (lost to Tu & Dechy)
  • Indian Wells (lost to Raymond & Stubbs)
  • US Open (lost to Ruano Pascal & Suarez)
• 2005
  • Sydney (w/Sugiyama) (lost to Stewart & Stosur)
  • US Open (w/Pennetta) (lost to Raymond & Stosur)
• 2006
  • Berlin (w/Pennetta) (lost to Yan & Zheng)

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or when the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the U.S. Open in New York, USA, which ended on September 9, 2007.

Tournament	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open	A	A	2R	3R	3R	4R	1R	1R	4R	1R	4R	0 / 9	14-9
French Open	A	A	2R	2R	2R	4R	1R	F	4R	3R	3R	0 / 9	19-8
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	1R	3R	4R	4R	1R	4R	QF	3R	0 / 9	17-9
U.S. Open	A	A	3R	SF	4R	3R	4R	F	SF	QF	3R	0 / 9	30-9
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 36	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	4-4	8-3	8-4	10-4	6-4	11-4	14-4	10-4	9-4	N/A	80-35
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	NH	NH	NH	F	NH	NH	NH	1R	NH	NH	NH	0 / 2	5-2
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships	A	A	A	SF	1R	1R	RR	RR	RR	RR	A	0 / 7	3-14
WTA Tier I tournaments
Tokyo	A	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	2R	QF	W	SF	1 / 6	10-5
Indian Wells	A	A	A	SF	QF	3R	4R	A	SF	F	A	0 / 6	20-6
Miami	A	A	A	4R	SF	QF	2R	F	QF	4R	A	0 / 7	20-7
Charleston	A	A	A	4R	A	2R	3R	3R	F	A	A	0 / 5	10-5
Berlin	A	A	A	QF	A	1R	1R	3R	A	3R	3R	0 / 6	7-6
Rome	A	A	2R	2R	A	A	2R	2R	2R	QF	QF	0 / 7	6-7
San Diego1	A	A	A	1R	3R	3R	3R	SF	2R	QF	SF	0 / 8	12-8
Montreal/Toronto	A	A	A	1R	3R	2R	SF	2R	A	A	2R	0 / 6	6-6
Moscow	1R	1R	1R	QF	F	2R	SF	F	SF	SF		0 / 10	17-10
Zürich	A	A	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	SF	QF	2R		0 / 8	5-8
Career Statistics
Tournaments played	1	2	11	20	22	26	27	22	20	21	16	N/A	189
Finals reached	0	0	0	1	2	1	3	5	2	3	1	N/A	18
Tournaments Won	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	2	1	N/A	7
Hardcourt Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	7-6	25-10	17-12	13-11	24-13	26-14	27-14	21-11	17-8	N/A	177-99
Clay Win-Loss	0-0	0-1	5-4	8-4	11-4	11-8	10-6	8-5	12-4	9-5	12-4	N/A	86-45
Grass Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	0-1	0-1	2-2	7-2	7-3	0-1	3-2	6-2	3-2	N/A	28-16
Carpet Win-Loss	0-1	0-1	0-1	5-4	8-4	6-6	8-3	5-3	3-2	11-3	2-2	N/A	48-30
Overall Win-Loss	0-1	0-2	12-12	38-19	38-22	37-27	49-25	39-23	45-22	47-21	34-16	N/A	339-1902
Year End Ranking	355	182	62	11	15	19	8	6	8	8		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.

¹San Diego was TI from 2004-2007.

²The "Overall Win-Loss" row includes main draw and Fed Cup wins and losses; results from qualifying and ITF, if included, equate to 416-217.

Other notable matches

• 2001 Moscow quarterfinal: defeated a World No. 1 player, Martina Hingis, for the first time in her career 6-2, 6-2.
• 2003 Paris semifinal: lost to Amelie Mauresmo 6-0, 6-0 for the only double bagel defeat of her career.
• 2004 French Open final: lost to Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-2 in her first Grand Slam final. Dementieva cried out, "I hate my serve!" to her mother during the match.
• 2005 Wimbledon fourth round: lost to Myskina for the fourth consecutive time 1-6, 7-6(9), 7-5 after being up 6-1, 3-0, serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set, and with a match point in the second set tiebreak.
• 2005 U.S. Open quarterfinal: defeated World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5). It was the fourth time since the 2004 U.S. Open that she had won a match 7-6 in the third set and fifth time since the 2000 U.S. Open.
• 2005 Filderstadt quarterfinal: defeated Kim Clijsters 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for the second time in nine meetings, halting her 21-match winning streak. Dementieva declared in the on-court interview following the match that it was the best match she had ever played.
• 2006 Tokyo final: defeated Hingis 6-2, 6-0 in 59 minutes to claim her first title since Hasselt in October 2004 and first Tier I title. Dementieva said after the match that she played well only one day a week. Otherwise, she would already be the top ranked player.
• 2006 Indian Wells semifinal: defeated Justine Henin for the second time in nine meetings, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. Dementieva recovered from a 2-6, 2-5 deficit and Henin's twice serving for the match. This was Dementieva's first top 10 win of the year.
• 2006 Los Angeles final: defeated Jelena Janković 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. After being up 5-0 against a visibly fatigued opponent in the third set, Dementieva failed to close out the match on serve twice, breaking for the victory after Janković won four straight games.

Fed Cup

Dementieva is the most successful Russian Fed Cup player. As of April 29, 2007, she is 19-5 in singles and 3-3 in doubles.

Trivia

• Enjoys skiing and chess.
• Once had a large cactus collection.
• Was voted the most stylish player on tour at the 2006 Zurich Open in an online poll.[2]
• Speaks fluent French and has named the French Open as her favorite Grand Slam event.
• Some fans affectionately refer to her as "DD", which stands for "Double faults Dementieva". In recent years, many fans have become Dementieva fans simply because they respect how hard she works to win matches due to such a major flaw (her serve) in her game, and that she can remain a top player on a consistent basis.
• Is currently dating Buffalo Sabres winger Maxim Afinogenov [3]

External links

• Elena Dementieva at the Women's Tennis Association
• Official website
• ElenaD.Ru
• Elena Dementieva Fanclub
• Dementieva.tk
• Elena Dementieva at IMDb
• Dementieva statistics