Kimiko Date is a Japanese former professional tennis player.
103 Facts About Kimiko Date
2.
Kimiko Date reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times.
3.
Kimiko Date reached a career-high ranking of world No 4 in 1995, and retired from professional tennis in November 1996.
4.
Kimiko Date returned to tennis nearly 12 years later, announcing an unexpected comeback in April 2008.
5.
Kimiko Date then won her eighth WTA title at the 2009 Korea Open, becoming the second-oldest player in the Open era, after Billie Jean King, to win a singles title on the WTA Tour.
6.
In 1992, Kimiko Date defeated Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the Pan Pacific Open and reached the semifinals.
7.
Kimiko Date won the Japan Open, reached the semifinals in the Mizuno World Ladies Open and reached the fourth round at Roland Garros.
8.
Kimiko Date participated in the Barcelona Olympics, losing in the second round.
9.
Kimiko Date was runner-up in the Asia Women's Open and the Nichiray Ladies Cup.
10.
Kimiko Date reached the semifinals in the Lipton Championships defeating Mary Joe Fernandez.
11.
In 1994, Kimiko Date won the Sydney International in January, defeating world No 4, Conchita Martinez, and Mary Joe Fernandez on her way to the title, after which she entered the world's top 10 for the first time.
12.
Kimiko Date beat Martinez again the following week at the Australian Open on the way to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
13.
Kimiko Date won her first, and only, Tier I tournament at the Pan Pacific Open in 1995, defeating Martinez and Lindsay Davenport to the title.
14.
Kimiko Date was runner-up in the tier one Miami Open, defeating Sabatini before losing to Graf in straight sets.
15.
Kimiko Date defeated Davenport again on her way to the semifinals of the French Open, reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, and was runner-up in Tokyo and Strasbourg, reaching a career-high ranking of No 4 in November 1995.
16.
In 1996, Kimiko Date won both singles and doubles in the Japan Open.
17.
Kimiko Date defeated Martinez in the semifinals and world No 2, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, in the finals of San Diego.
18.
On 6 April 2008, nearly 12 years after retiring, Kimiko Date announced she would return to the professional tour at the age of 37.
19.
In only her fourth match on the tour for eleven years, Kimiko Date won in three sets.
20.
At the quarterfinal stage, Kimiko Date came up against world No 80 and fellow Japanese, Aiko Nakamura, whom she beat in three sets.
21.
Kimiko Date won the doubles title at that tournament with teenage and fellow Japanese partner Kurumi Nara, defeating Melanie South and Nicole Thyssen in a match tie-breaker.
22.
Kimiko Date defeated both Nicole Kriz and Rika Fujiwara to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to Aiko Nakamura in straight sets.
23.
Kimiko Date then defeated Shiho Hisamatsu and Zhou Yimiao to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to Tomoko Yonemura in straight sets, in another tournament in Japan, a 50k event in Kurume.
24.
Kimiko Date made her WTA Tour comeback at the Tier-I event in Tokyo where she has been awarded a wildcard into the qualifying tournament.
25.
Kimiko Date won through to the final round of qualifying after defeating Mari Tanaka of Japan and Australian Casey Dellacqua.
26.
Kimiko Date lost in the final round to Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada in straight sets.
27.
Kimiko Date was in the main draw for the Japan Open but lost in the first round to Shahar Pe'er.
28.
Kimiko Date received a wildcard entrant to the main draw of the Auckland Open where she was overpowered by Jill Craybas in the first round.
29.
Kimiko Date then played in the main draw of the International event in Pattaya City.
30.
Kimiko Date then reached the quarterfinals of an ITF event in Clearwater, Florida, beating Lauren Embree of the US and fellow Japanese player Aiko Nakamura before losing to third-seeded Slovak Jarmila Groth in three sets.
31.
Kimiko Date then played at a $25k event in Hammond, Louisiana where she breezed past qualifier Heidi El Tabakh.
32.
Kimiko Date then beat American Lauren Albanese in the round of 16 for a place in the quarterfinals where she lost to qualifier Lindsay Lee-Waters in three sets.
33.
Kimiko Date moved onto the $75k in Monzon, Spain, her first European event since July 1996.
34.
Kimiko Date followed that win by beating Arantxa Parra Santonja to reach the final, and she earned a two-set-victory over Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru to claim the biggest title of her comeback that far.
35.
Kimiko Date was awarded a wildcard entry to the Wimbledon Championships.
36.
Kimiko Date then received a wildcard to play at the inaugural Tournament of Champions, the year-end championship, held in Bali, Indonesia.
37.
Kimiko Date started 2010 with participation in Auckland where she received a wildcard to enter the maindraw.
38.
Kimiko Date easily beat former world No 5, Anna Chakvetadze, in the first round, and then recovered from a set down to beat fifth seed Virginie Razzano for her first win over a top-20 player after her comeback.
39.
Kimiko Date competed at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the first time since her comeback that she has had direct acceptance into a Grand Slam main draw.
40.
In February, Kimiko Date played for Japan's Fed Cup team for the first time since 1996.
41.
Kimiko Date defeated Melinda Czink in the first round of the Indian Wells Open, before falling to No 15 seed Francesca Schiavone in the second.
42.
Kimiko Date made it to the second round of the Miami Open by defeating former top-10 player Anna Chakvetadze.
43.
Kimiko Date began her clay-court season at the Estoril Open in Portugal.
44.
Kimiko Date played Anastasija Sevastova in the second round, but retired due to a recurring calf injury.
45.
Kimiko Date was defeated by wildcard Jarmila Groth in the second round.
46.
At the US Open, Kimiko Date received direct entry into the main draw but lost to two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round.
47.
Kimiko Date then traveled to Seoul to defend her title at the Korea Open but lost in the quarterfinals to Agnes Szavay.
48.
Kimiko Date beat Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round, but lost to Elena Dementieva in the second round, in three sets.
49.
Kimiko Date then returned home to compete at the Japan Open in Osaka.
50.
Kimiko Date beat her but lost the final match to unseeded Tanasugarn.
51.
Kimiko Date then received a wildcard to enter the Tournament of Champions in Bali, Indonesia for the second time in a row.
52.
Kimiko Date would go on to lose in both first rounds to Kateryna Bondarenko, then Angelique Kerber the following week.
53.
Kimiko Date earned her first victory of the 2011 season at the Pattaya Open, defeating Renata Voracova.
54.
At Indian Wells, Kimiko Date gained direct entry into the tournament.
55.
Kimiko Date then reached the second round of Miami but again lost to Ivanovic in straight sets.
56.
Kimiko Date then suffered four consecutive losses in her clay-court campaign, in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, and Strasbourg.
57.
Kimiko Date started out the grass-court season with a surprise doubles championship with Zhang Shuai in the Nottingham ITF tournament.
58.
At the HP Open, Kimiko Date again teamed with Zhang Shuai and defeated Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the doubles final to win her first WTA level doubles title since 1996.
59.
Kimiko Date then flew to Europe to participate at the Luxembourg Open but lost in the first round.
60.
Post to that loss, Kimiko Date had good runs participating at three higher-tier tournaments in the ITF Circuit.
61.
Kimiko Date came in victorious in Poitiers and placed runner-up in both Taipei and Toyota.
62.
Kimiko Date started her year participating at a 50k+H event in Quanzhou, China as the first seed in both singles and doubles.
63.
Kimiko Date came in victorious in singles, winning the title by beating Timea Babos in the final; and finished as the runner up in doubles, partnering with Zhang Shuai, to Chan Hao-ching and Rika Fujiwara.
64.
At the Australian Open Kimiko Date lost in the first round to Eleni Daniilidou in singles, and with Zhang Shuai, lost in the first round in doubles to 14th seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Galina Voskoboeva.
65.
Kimiko Date lost in the first round of Monterrey and reached the second round of Indian Wells where she lost to Vera Zvonareva.
66.
Kimiko Date eventually won the title after defeating Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the final.
67.
Kimiko Date then lost first round at Cagnes-sur-Mer when she had to retire against Anastasiya Yakimova.
68.
Kimiko Date then lost in the first found of ten consecutive tournaments all of which were WTA or Grand Slam events except for ITF Nottingham.
69.
Kimiko Date made the quarterfinals of Limoges losing to Stefanie Vogele.
70.
Kimiko Date then lost narrowly in the first round of the ITF event in Poitiers to Elena Vesnina.
71.
From here, Kimiko Date made the finals of each of her next three tournaments.
72.
Kimiko Date lost to Elina Svitolina at the Pune final, and to Stefanie Vogele at the ITF Toyota final.
73.
Kimiko Date then beat Yulia Putintseva to win Al Habtoor Challenge, her last tournament of the year.
74.
Kimiko Date ended the calendar year ranked 99 on 31 December 2012, securing a berth in the upcoming 2013 Australian Open, and finishing in the top 100 for a fourth consecutive calendar year.
75.
At the Australian Open, Kimiko Date won a singles match in this tournament for the first time since 1996, defeating No 12 seed Nadia Petrova in straight sets, and becoming the oldest woman to ever win a main draw singles match in the Australian Open.
76.
Kimiko Date beat Shahar Pe'er in the second round, but then lost to Serbian Bojana Jovanovski.
77.
Kimiko Date went on to lose in the second round of Pattaya City to Ayumi Morita.
78.
Kimiko Date made the second round of Miami losing to Venus Williams.
79.
Kimiko Date retired in her first- and second-round matches at Monterrey and ITF Gifu.
80.
Kimiko Date skipped most of the clay-court season choosing only to participate in one warm-up tournament prior to the French Open.
81.
Kimiko Date began the grass-court season in Birmingham losing first round to Alla Kudryavtseva.
82.
Kimiko Date lost in the quarterfinals of Vancouver and in qualifying at Cincinnati.
83.
Kimiko Date lost in the first round of the US Open to Paula Ormaechea.
84.
Kimiko Date lost in qualifying and early rounds of Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Miami.
85.
Kimiko Date made the semifinals of Monterrey losing to Jovana Jaksic in a close three-setter.
86.
Kimiko Date lost in early rounds of Kuala Lumpur, and Seoul.
87.
Kimiko Date then lost in the first round of the French Open to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
88.
Kimiko Date lost first round of Wimbledon to eventual quarterfinalist Ekaterina Makarova.
89.
Kimiko Date lost in the first round of the US Open to Venus Williams, but made the semifinals of doubles with Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova.
90.
Kimiko Date retired from her second-round match in Hong Kong losing to Francesca Schiavone.
91.
Kimiko Date then lost first round in Tokyo to Victoria Azarenka.
92.
Kimiko Date would go on to reach a new career high of 28 in doubles early the following year.
93.
Kimiko Date played just one match in 2016, at the Australian Open, where she lost to Amandine Hesse.
94.
Kimiko Date then won three qualifying matches for a tournament in Changwon, but lost in the first round to Park So-hyun.
95.
Kimiko Date announced that she would retire after the Japan Women's Open, saying that she had been troubled with ongoing knee and shoulder pain.
96.
Kimiko Date played with short backswings on both forehand and backhand sides.
97.
Kimiko Date's playstyle is representative of those that dominated during her first career in the 1990s using less topspin in favour of a flatter shot.
98.
Kimiko Date is considered to possess the most notable "pancake" forehand in the women's game, with one of the lowest average spin RPM ever.
99.
Kimiko Date relies on her opponent's power to hit sharp angles and catch her opponents off-guard.
100.
Since her comeback, Kimiko Date played the best on grass, and her style was once described as "all stealthy, neat athleticism".
101.
Kimiko Date's father is Juichi and her mother is Masako.
102.
Kimiko Date is left-handed, but was trained to play right-handed to follow Japanese custom.
103.
Kimiko Date currently owns and runs a German bakery in Tokyo named Frau Krumm.