Name |
Dinara Safina |
Height |
5 ft 11 in |
Naionality |
Russian |
Date of Birth |
27-April-1986 |
Place of Birth |
Moscow, Soviet Union |
Famous for |
Tennis Player |
Dinara Safina is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1. Safina was runner up in singles at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the 2009 French Open, falling to Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively. She has had success at Grand Slam events in women's doubles by winning the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy. She also won the Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In late 2012 after numerous months off training, Safina's injuries have healed and on a quest to return to the top of the WTA Tour rankings, Safina has enlisted the services of Australian coach Christopher Spencer.
She is the younger sister of former World No. 1 men's player Marat Safin. She and her brother are the first brother-sister tandem in tennis history to both achieve No.1 rankings. Safina made her debut in the main draw of a WTA Tour tournament in May 2002, on clay at Estoril, where she lost in the semifinals. She won her first title of her career in Sopot, defeating two seeds – including World No. 24 Patty Schnyder – en route to the final, which she won when opponent Henrieta Nagyová retired during the second set. In doing so, she became the youngest Tour champion in four years and the first qualifier to win a title in three years. She entered the top 100 on the world rankings as a result of this win. Later that year, Safina made her debut at a Grand Slam, losing in the second round of the US Open to top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams. In October, in Moscow, she defeated a top 20 player for the first time, World No. 14 Silvia Farina Elia.
She finished the season as World No. 68. At the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Safina was defeated by No.2 seed Yanina Wickmayer in the first round. In the 2011 Moorilla Hobart International, facing Marion Bartoli in the first round, she lost again in two sets. At the Australian Open, she was defeated by Kim Clijsters in the first round with a double bagel. This was the first time since the ranking system began in 1975 that a woman who had been ranked number one had been beaten 6-0 6-0 on the WTA tour.
At the 2011 Malaysian Open, Dinara was able to end her 6-match losing streak with her first win since September 2010, defeating Han Xinyun. Then she lost against Safarova. Safina next competed at BNP Paribas Open, where she reached the fourth round, including wins over 26th seed Daniela Hantuchova and world No. 4 Samantha Stosur. Her run came to an end against Maria Sharapova in the fourth round. Safina announced she would not compete for the rest of 2011 because of a persistent back injury (stress fracture).