66 Facts About Dinara Safina

Dinara Mubinovna Safina is a Russian former world No 1 tennis player.

Dinara Safina had success at Grand Slam events in women's doubles by winning the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy.

Dinara Safina won the Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Dinara Safina retired in 2014 after a lengthy absence from the tour since 2011 due to an ongoing back injury.

Dinara Safina is the younger sister of former world No 1 men's player Marat Safin.

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Dinara Safina's brother Marat is a former world No 1 on the ATP Tour.

Dinara Safina was coached by Glen Schaap, former coach of Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova, and Zeljko Krajan, who worked with her during her rise to No 1 in 2009.

Dinara 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.

Dinara Safina won her first title in Sopot, defeating two seeds – including world No 24 Patty Schnyder – en route to the final, which she won when opponent Henrieta Nagyova retired during the second set.

Dinara Safina entered the top 100 on the WTA rankings as a result of this win.

Later that year, Dinara Safina made her debut at a Grand Slam tournament, losing in the second round of the US Open to top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams.

Dinara Safina won her second title over Katarina Srebotnik at Palermo in July 2003.

Dinara Safina lost in the first round in her debuts at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, although she reached the fourth round at the US Open before losing to second seed and eventual champion Justine Henin.

Dinara Safina beat world No 11 Magdalena Maleeva in Moscow, her best win at that point.

At the Australian Open, Dinara Safina defeated a seed at a major event for the first time, upsetting 27th seed Amanda Coetzer in the second round before losing to second seed Kim Clijsters in the third round.

Dinara Safina finished the season as world No 44, her first time finishing in the world's top 50.

Dinara Safina won her second title of 2005 in May at Prague, defeating Zuzana Ondraskova in the final.

Dinara Safina won a match at Wimbledon for the first time, eventually losing in the third round to top seed Lindsay Davenport.

Dinara Safina played a key role in Russia's victory against France in the Fed Cup, partnering Elena Dementieva to win the doubles rubber.

Dinara Safina started 2006 by losing in the second round of the Australian Open to Sofia Arvidsson.

On clay, Dinara Safina reached her first final at a Tier I tournament in Rome, defeating top 10 players Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, before being defeated by Hingis.

At the French Open, Dinara Safina made the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.

Dinara Safina then lost in the third round of Wimbledon, losing to Ana Ivanovic.

Highlight of Dinara Safina's summer hardcourt season was a run to the semifinals of the Tier I Montreal, before ultimately losing to Ana Ivanovic.

Dinara Safina met with greater success in doubles, where she reached the final with partner Katarina Srebotnik.

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Dinara Safina reached the top ten on the singles rankings for the first time in the fall.

Dinara Safina won her first tournament of 2007 in Gold Coast, defeating Martina Hingis in the final.

Dinara Safina then lost in the third round of the Australian Open to Li Na.

Dinara Safina lost in the fourth round of the US Open to world No 1 and eventual champion Justine Henin.

Dinara Safina started 2008 poorly, winning just 11 of her first 21 matches.

Dinara Safina's best result in singles play during this period was a run to the quarterfinals of Miami, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round.

Dinara Safina has admitted that she was considering quitting tennis during this period.

Dinara Safina went on to defeat Serena Williams for the first time in the quarterfinals, ending Williams's 17-match winning streak.

Dinara Safina then defeated Elena Dementieva in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career.

Dinara Safina retrospectively called the tournament "the key to her tennis life".

The following week, Dinara Safina won the Tier I Montreal, defeating Dominika Cibulkova in the final.

Dinara Safina won the US Open Series as a result of this victory.

Dinara Safina went into the US Open as one of five women who could have taken the world No 1 ranking, depending on their results in this tournament.

Dinara Safina finished the year ranked No 3, the first time she had finished a year in the world's top 10.

Dinara Safina began 2009 by representing Russia with her brother Marat Safin in the Hopman Cup.

Dinara Safina played her first WTA Tour tournament of the season in Sydney, where she lost in the final to Elena Dementieva.

Dinara Safina defeated the Australian wild-card entry Jelena Dokic in the quarterfinals and Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals to reach the second Grand Slam final of her career.

Dinara Safina lost to Serena Williams in the final in 59 minutes.

Dinara Safina started the clay season with fresh determination to win a Grand Slam.

The following week in Rome, Dinara Safina defeated Venus Williams in the semifinals, and Kuznetsova in the final.

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Dinara Safina went on to reach the semifinals before losing to Venus Williams.

Dinara Safina's performance invoked criticism about her status as the No 1 player in particular from the new Wimbledon champion and world No 2, Serena Williams who openly mocked her credibility as the top player.

Dinara Safina was the top seed at the US Open, but lost in the third round to Petra Kvitova.

Dinara Safina started 2010 by losing in the quarterfinals to Elena Dementieva in Sydney.

Dinara Safina struggled through the rest of the clay season, losing her opening matches in Rome, Madrid and the French Open, causing her ranking to drop to No 20.

Dinara Safina later withdrew from Wimbledon after being dealt her fifth straight loss at a warm-up tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Dinara Safina began the US Open Series at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, where Safina was given a wildcard.

Dinara Safina played veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round.

Dinara Safina then lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round.

Dinara Safina defeated Schiavone in the first round of the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, but lost to Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals.

At the US Open, Dinara Safina was eliminated in the first round by Daniela Hantuchova.

Dinara Safina accepted a wild card from the Hansol Korea Open, where she defeated qualifier Simona Halep in the first round.

Dinara Safina was unseeded coming into the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she faced Julia Gorges of Germany in the first round, but lost in three sets.

At the Malaysian Open, Dinara Safina was able to end her six-match losing streak with her first win since September 2010, defeating Han Xinyun.

Dinara 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.

Dinara Safina's run came to an end against Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.

Dinara Safina announced she would not compete for the rest of 2011 because of a persistent back injury.

Dinara Safina considers it just to be the end of a period in her life.

Dinara Safina feels good in everyday life, but she simply can't play tennis professionally any more.

Dinara Safina announced on June 12,2012, that she requested wildcards for the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, the Montreal Open, the Cincinnati Open and the US Open.

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In 2014, Dinara Safina officially retired from tennis after the final day of Madrid Open following years of injuries.