Trend of Sports: Elena Vesnina

Elena Vesnina

Residence: Sochi, Russia

DOB: August 1, 1986

Birthplace: Lvov, Ukraine

Height: 5' 7 3/4" (1.76 m)

Weight: 132 lbs. (60 kg)

Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Status: Pro (2002)

Year In Detail

JANUARY - Reached 2r at Auckland (as No.7 seed, ret. vs. Halep w/GI illness); reached 2r at Hobart (l. to No.1 seed Bartoli); fell 1r at Australian Open (l. to Razzano).

FEBRUARY - Fell 1r at Paris [Indoors] (l. to No.7 seed Wickmayer); fell 1r at Dubai (l. to Vinci); fell in Doha qualifying.

MARCH - Fell 1r at Indian Wells (l. to Oudin); won fourth WTA doubles title at Indian Wells (w/Mirza); reached 3r at Miami (d. No.23 seed Wickmayer en route; l. to Medina Garrigues).

APRIL - Runner-up at Charleston (d. No.14 seed Mattek-Sands, No.2 seed Stosur, No.12 seed Goerges and No.11 seed Peng en route to final; l. to top seed Wozniacki); won fifth WTA doubles title at Charleston (w/Mirza); withdrew from Fes w/right wrist injury; reached 2r at Estoril (as No.6 seed, l. to Barrois); reached 2r at Madrid (l. to No.2 seed Zvonareva); made doubles Top 10 debut on May 9 (rose from No.11 to No.10).

MAY - Reached 3r at Rome (d. No.8 seed A.Radwanska en route, falling to Arn 36 76(3) 76(3); held 2mp at 5-3 third set); withdrew from Strasbourg w/low back injury; fell 1r at Roland Garros (l. to qualifier Soler-Espinosa).

JUNE - Fell in Eastbourne qualifying; reached 2r at Wimbledon (l. to No.2 seed Zvonareva)

Career In Review

2002 - Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Egypt.

2003 - Played first WTA qualifying at Moscow and Tashkent; won two singles titles and three doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2004 - Played first WTA main draw at Québec City, falling 1r (as qualifier); fell in qualifying twice; won three doubles titles on ITF Circuit.

2005 - QF twice, at Tashkent and Québec City; reached 2r twice; fell 1r twice and in qualifying six times (incl. US Open); won one WTA doubles title.

2006 - First Top 100 season; QF twice, at Strasbourg and Forest Hills; reached 4r once (Australian Open), 3r twice and 2r 10 times (incl. Wimbledon); fell 1r ine times (incl. other two majors) and in qualifying twice; made Top 100 debut on January 16 (rose from No.102 to No.100) and Top 50 debut on July 24 (rose from No.51 to No.50).

2007 - Another Top 100 season; SF twice, at Forest Hills (l. to Razzano) and Tashkent (l. to Azarenka); QF three times, at Gold Coast, Strasbourg and Cincinnati; reached 3r once (Wimbledon) and 2r six times (incl. Australian Open); fell 1r 10 times (incl. other two majors) and in qualifying three times; won one WTA doubles title.

2008 - Another Top 100 season; QF at Hobart; reached 4r once, 3r twice (incl. Australian Open) and 2r three times (incl. Wimbledon, US Open); fell 1r 12 times (incl. Roland Garros) and in qualifying twice; won one WTA doubles title; doubles-only member of Russian Olympic team (w/Zvonareva; reached QF); member of Russian Fed Cup team that won title (went 1-0 in 4-0 win over Spain in final).

2009 - First Top 30 season; runner-up twice, at Auckland (l. to Dementieva in final) and New Haven (l. to Wozniacki in final); SF at Ponte Vedra Beach (l. to Wozniacki 26 63 76(4); held 4mp - 2mp at 5-3 and 2mp at 6-5 third set); QF twice, at Dubai and Charleston; reached 4r once (Wimbledon), 3r four times (incl. US Open) and 2r three times (incl. Roland Garros); fell 1r seven times (incl. Australian Open) and in qualifying once.

2010 - Fifth straight Top 100 season; runner-up twice, at Istanbul (l. to Pavlyuchenkova in final) and Tashkent (l. to Kudryavtseva in final); SF at Ponte Vedra Beach (l. to Wozniacki); reached 3r four times and 2r four times; fell 1r 11 times (incl. all four majors); withdrew from Indian Wells w/left hip injury.

Biography

Coached by father, Sergej Vesnin ... Mother, Irina, is a teacher; brother, Dmitriy, also plays tennis and is a student ... Introduced to tennis by mother at age 7; began playing at sport school in Sochi (first coach was Jurij Vasiljevich, who also coached Sharapova) ... Admires Martina Hingis ... Favorite surfaces are clay, hard ... Other sports interests are soccer, basketball, ice hockey ... Enjoys reading, shopping, movies, music, dancing, going out to the sea with friends, travelling ... Favorite types of music are rap, pop, R&B; favorite artists are Maroon 5 and 50 Cent ... Favorite movie is Men In Black; favorite actors are Will Smith, Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt ... Favorite cities are Rome and Sochi ("the two most beautiful and warmest cities in the world").

Career Highlights

SINGLES

Winner: 2003 - ITF/Balaschika-RUS, ITF/Tbilisi-GEO.

Finalist (5): 2011 - Charleston; 2010 - Istanbul, Tashkent; 2009 - Auckland, New Haven.

DOUBLES

Winner (5): 2011 - Indian Wells, Charleston (both w/Mirza); 2008 - Indian Wells (w/Safina); 2007 - Hobart (w/Likhovtseva); 2005 - Québec City (w/Rodionova); 2004 - ITF/Marseille-FRA (w/Peer), ITF/Balashikha-RUS (w/Golovoznina), ITF/Tbilisi 2-GEO (w/Kustava); 2003 - ITF/Balaschika-RUS (w/Chemarda), ITF/Bucharest 1-ROU, ITF/Bucharest 2-ROU (both w/Bastrikova).

Finalist (9): 2011 - Roland Garros (w/Mirza); 2010 - Wimbledon (w/Zvonareva); 2009 - Roland Garros (w/Azarenka); 2008 - Amelia Island (w/Azarenka), Stanford (w/Zvonareva); 2007 - Antwerp, Warsaw (both w/Likhovtseva); 2006 - Bangalore (w/Rodionova), Beijing (w/Chakvetadze).

MIXED DOUBLES

Finalist (1): 2011 - Wimbledon (w/Bhupathi).

ADDITIONAL

Russian Fed Cup Team, 2006-08; Russian Olympic Team, 2008.