97 Facts About Elena Dementieva

1.

Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva is a Russian former professional tennis player.

2.

Elena Dementieva won the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

3.

Elena Dementieva won 16 WTA singles titles, reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open and reached seven other Grand Slam semifinals.

4.

Elena Dementieva achieved a career-high ranking of world No 3, which was accomplished on 6 April 2009.

5.

Elena Dementieva announced her retirement on 29 October 2010, after her final match at the 2010 WTA Championships.

6.

Elena Dementieva is considered to be one of the most talented players never to have won a Grand Slam tournament.

7.

Elena Dementieva was rejected by Dynamo Sports Club and the Central Red Army Tennis Club at the age of seven, before enrolling at Spartak Tennis Club, where she was coached for three years by Rauza Islanova, the mother of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina.

8.

Elena Dementieva then moved to the Central Red Army Club with Sergei Pashkov, when she was eleven.

9.

Elena Dementieva was later coached by her mother Vera and her older brother Vsevolod.

10.

Elena Dementieva has homes in Monte Carlo, Moscow and Boca Raton, Florida.

11.

On 16 July 2011, Elena Dementieva married hockey player Maxim Afinogenov in Moscow.

12.

Elena Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petits As in France at the age of 13.

13.

Elena Dementieva turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999.

14.

Elena Dementieva played her first Grand Slam main draws, qualifying for the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, along with receiving a direct entry into the US Open.

15.

Elena Dementieva 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 US Open.

16.

Elena Dementieva became the first woman from Russia to reach the US Open semifinals in singles, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport.

17.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Elena Dementieva won the silver medal, losing to Venus Williams in the final.

18.

In 2000, Elena Dementieva was named the WTA Tour's Most Improved Player.

19.

Elena Dementieva played the most tournaments among year-end top 10 players and won $869,740 in prize money.

20.

Elena Dementieva was the lowest seed to win the tournament in its 24-year history.

21.

Elena Dementieva won back-to-back titles in Bali and Shanghai, defeating Chanda Rubin in both finals.

22.

Elena Dementieva finished the year in the top 10 for the first time.

23.

Elena Dementieva summed up her performance by saying: "I just don't know how to serve".

24.

Later that year at the US Open, after first round losses at Wimbledon to Sandra Kleinova and the Summer Olympics to eventual bronze-medalist Alicia Molik, Elena Dementieva reached her second Grand Slam final, defeating Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati en route, both in third set tie-breaks.

25.

In 2005, Elena Dementieva reached six semifinals, the most important being at the US Open.

26.

At the Pacific Life Open, despite double faulting 79 times in six matches, Elena Dementieva reached the final.

27.

Elena Dementieva defeated Sania Mirza, Ana Ivanovic, and Li Na along the way.

28.

Elena Dementieva then reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal before losing to fourth seeded Sharapova.

29.

At the US Open, Elena Dementieva reached the quarterfinals for the fourth time, losing to Jankovic in straight sets.

30.

Elena Dementieva had lost her last nine matches played there.

31.

Elena Dementieva won two titles, reached three semifinals and five quarterfinals, and reached the fourth round at the Australian Open.

32.

Elena Dementieva won her fourth event back on tour at the Tier III event in Istanbul, her first career singles title on red clay.

33.

Elena Dementieva was upset in the third round of the French Open by Marion Bartoli the following week.

34.

Elena Dementieva lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Tamira Paszek in three sets.

35.

At the latter event, Elena Dementieva defeated Amelie Mauresmo and Daniela Hantuchova before losing to world No 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals.

36.

Elena Dementieva then reached the fourth round of the Australian Open before losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.

37.

Elena Dementieva then travelled to Paris for the Tier II Open Gaz de France indoor tournament.

38.

Elena Dementieva reached the semifinals before succumbing to seventh-seeded Agnes Szavay from Hungary.

39.

At the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Dementieva lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Jankovic.

40.

At the Tier I Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Elena Dementieva lost in the semifinals to compatriot Vera Zvonareva dropping her ranking to world No 9.

41.

Elena Dementieva was the seventh-seeded player at the Tier I German Open in Berlin but reached the final, where she lost to 13th-seeded Dinara Safina.

42.

Elena Dementieva defeated fourth-seeded Jankovic in the quarterfinals and second-seeded Ivanovic in the semifinals.

43.

Elena Dementieva reached the final but was unsuccessful in her attempt to win a singles title at the same tournament in consecutive years, which would have been a career first.

44.

At the French Open, Elena Dementieva defeated 11th-seeded Zvonareva in the fourth round, but lost her quarterfinal match against Safina.

45.

Elena Dementieva played three hard court tournaments during the summer and was seeded fifth at all three.

46.

Elena Dementieva began her summer season by losing to Dominika Cibulkova in the second round of the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal.

47.

At the Beijing Olympics, Elena Dementieva was down a set and a break before defeating fourth-seeded Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

48.

Elena Dementieva then defeated compatriot Zvonareva in the semifinals and Safina in the three set final to win the gold medal.

49.

At the US Open, Elena Dementieva was one of six players with the opportunity to be ranked world No 1 upon completion of the tournament.

50.

Elena Dementieva defeated Schnyder in the quarterfinals but lost to Jankovic in the semifinals.

51.

Elena Dementieva was up a break in each set but committed 42 unforced errors and lost each of her last five service games.

52.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Elena Dementieva was seeded third and qualified for the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships with a second-round victory against Alize Cornet.

53.

At the Tier II Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Elena Dementieva was seeded fourth.

54.

Elena Dementieva won her first match by defeating Sybille Bammer, but was upset in the quarterfinals by Victoria Azarenka.

55.

Elena Dementieva defeated Srebotnik in the second round and Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals.

56.

Elena Dementieva committed 31 unforced errors in the second and third set.

57.

Elena Dementieva won her next event, the Fortis Championships Luxembourg, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in three sets in the final.

58.

At the WTA Tour Championships held in Doha, Qatar, Elena Dementieva was seeded fourth.

59.

Elena Dementieva began her season by winning the ASB Classic in Auckland.

60.

Elena Dementieva then won her second consecutive tournament by defeating compatriot and second-seeded Dinara Safina in the final.

61.

Elena Dementieva was seeded fourth at the Australian Open and was one of three players who had a chance of being ranked world No 1 at the end of this tournament.

62.

At the Sony Ericsson Open, another Premier Mandatory event, Elena Dementieva was seeded fourth but committed 45 unforced errors, while losing to 13th seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round.

63.

Elena Dementieva began the spring clay-court season at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, a Premier event.

64.

Elena Dementieva lost there in the semifinals Wozniacki in a nearly three-hour match.

65.

Elena Dementieva was seeded third for the Madrid Open but was upset by former world No 1, Amelie Mauresmo, in the third round.

66.

At the French Open, Elena Dementieva lost to Samantha Stosur in the third round.

67.

At the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Elena Dementieva defeated Serena Williams to reach her fourth final of the year.

68.

In 2009 after the US Open, Elena Dementieva was awarded the Order of Honour by the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin in Moscow.

69.

Elena Dementieva defeated Li Na on her way to the quarterfinals before losing in straight sets to Agnieszka Radwanska.

70.

Elena Dementieva finished 2009 as the world No 5, one spot lower from 2008 year end ranking.

71.

Elena Dementieva began the year representing Russia in the Hopman Cup partnering Igor Andreev.

72.

Elena Dementieva lost her opening match in the round-robin stage to Sabine Lisicki before defeating Yaroslava Shvedova and Laura Robson.

73.

Elena Dementieva defeated world No 1 Serena Williams in the final, successfully defending her title.

74.

Elena Dementieva is the first woman since Martina Hingis in 2001 and 2002 to win the Medibank International in consecutive years.

75.

Elena Dementieva was then the fifth seed at the Dubai Championships.

76.

Elena Dementieva then played at the inaugural Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

77.

Elena Dementieva then took part in the Premier Mandatory events in North America.

78.

At the BNP Paribas Open, Elena Dementieva lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals.

79.

Elena Dementieva represented Russia in the semifinal round of the 2010 Fed Cup against the United States.

80.

Elena Dementieva defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Melanie Oudin in her two singles matches.

81.

At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where Elena Dementieva was the sixth seed, she lost in the third round to a resurgent Ana Ivanovic for the first time.

82.

Elena Dementieva lost to Alexandra Dulgheru in the second round even after serving for the match.

83.

Elena Dementieva defeated Petra Martic in the first round and Anabel Medina Garrigues in the second round.

84.

Elena Dementieva booked her place in the semi-finals of the tournament, where she faced Italian 17th seed Francesca Schiavone, after comeback from a set down to win over Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals.

85.

Elena Dementieva retired after Schiavone won the first set in a tie break with a torn left calf muscle which was sustained in the second round, and subsequently withdrew from Eastbourne and Wimbledon.

86.

Elena Dementieva started her hard-court campaign at Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, California, where she was the second seed.

87.

Elena Dementieva lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round at Cincinnati.

88.

Elena Dementieva did not repeat as champion at the Rogers Cup after suffering a two-sets loss to Zheng Jie in the third round.

89.

Elena Dementieva defeated Olga Govortsova, Sybille Bammer and 24th seed Daniela Hantuchova to advance to the 4th round where she wasted four match points before falling to fifth seed Samantha Stosur.

90.

Elena Dementieva defeated Yaroslava Shvedova, Flavia Pennetta, second seed Vera Zvonareva and fifth seed Francesca Schiavone, but eventually lost to Wozniacki.

91.

On 9 October 2010, it was announced that Elena Dementieva had qualified for the year-ending Tour Championships for the tenth time in her career.

92.

Elena Dementieva then faced Francesca Schiavone and lost in two sets.

93.

Elena Dementieva ended her career ranked world No 9, with 16 WTA singles titles and 2 Grand Slam final appearances.

94.

Elena Dementieva said in her speech that it had been an honour to be part of the tour.

95.

Elena Dementieva was an offensive baseline player with powerful groundstrokes off both sides and excellent defensive skills.

96.

Elena Dementieva's preferred groundstroke was her forehand, which she hit hard and flat.

97.

Elena Dementieva's record includes singles victories over Venus Williams, Mary Pierce, Amelie Mauresmo and Kim Clijsters.