Amelie Mauresmo, Tennis Player, - Biography,
French tennis player.
A
pic of her
Date of birth July 05, 1979, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Height 1.74 m 5 foot 8 and a half,
Weight 69 kg ( 152 lb )
Turned Pro
1994
Plays Right; One-handed backhand
Career Prize Money $13,342,855
Amélie Simone Mauresmo is a French professional tennis player & is a former world number one. She is currently the fifth ranked player in the world. She has won one Grand Slam singles title.
Biography & career
Early
career
Amélie Mauresmo was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Inspired by
watching Yannick Noah win the 1983 French Open on television, Mauresmo began to
play tennis at the age of 4.
In 1996, Mauresmo captured both the junior French Open & Wimbledon titles. She was named 1996 Junior World Champion by the International Tennis Federation.
Breakthrough & controversy
In
1999, the then unseeded Mauresmo reached the Australian Open final with wins over
three seeds (including world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport), before falling to world
No. 2 Martina Hingis, but she beat her in other events.
It was after her surprise upset of Davenport in their Australian Open semifinal in 1999 that Mauresmo, 19 at the time, came out as a lesbian to the international press.
Mauresmo was only the second French woman to reach the Australian Open final dating back to 1922 (Mary Pierce won it in 1995) & the third French woman to reach any Grand Slam final in the open era.
Climb to the top
Mauresmo rapidly climbed
into the top ten in WTA rankings, & began to win significant events on the
women's tour.
In 2003, she was the leading player on a team that captured the Fed Cup for France. She has won more Fed Cup singles matches than any other French player.
Mauresmo captured a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where she was defeated by Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne in the women's singles final.
On September 13, 2004, Mauresmo became the first French tennis player to become number one since computer rankings began in the 1970s. She held that ranking for five weeks & has maintained a ranking in the top five ever since.
2005 Tour Championships
In 2005, Mauresmo claimed her first
singles title at the WTA Tour Championships. She defeated countrywoman Mary Pierce
in the final 5-7, 7-6, 6-4, thereby avenging losses to Pierce in an earlier round-robin
match & at the U.S. Open.
2006
At the 2006 Australian Open,
Mauresmo captured her first Grand Slam singles title, defeating Belgian former
world number one players Kim Clijsters & Justine Henin en route. Both opponents
retired from their respective matches, Clijsters with a right ankle sprain in
the third set of their semifinal & Henin from gastroenteritis in the final.
Mauresmo was leading in both matches — by 6-1, 2-0 against Henin-Hardenne.
Mauresmo then won her next two tournaments, the Gaz de France tournament in Paris (defeating Pierce in the final) & the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp (defeating Clijsters in the final).
In the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Mauresmo defeated Martina Hingis in a semifinal 6-2, 6-2 but lost to Nadia Petrova in the final 6-3, 7-5. Had she won the final, she would have immediately regained the No. 1 ranking from Clijsters. Nonetheless, the outcome was sufficient to ensure Mauresmo's return to the No. 1 ranking on March 20, 2006. This reflected the fact that neither Mauresmo nor Clijsters participated in the 2006 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. Thus, neither defended her ranking points from the 2005 tournament, which Clijsters won.
Mauresmo then reached the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where she lost to the eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Though now a Grand Slam champion & the top ranked player in the world, Mauresmo once again succombed to the weight of national expectations at the French Open, losing to Czech teen Nicole Vaidišová 6-7(5-7), 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth round in front of a packed Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.
Mauresmo next suffered a first round loss at the Wimbledon warm-up event in Eastbourne. Mauresmo & Kuznetsova won the doubles title there, which was their first as a team & Mauresmo's second overall.
Mauresmo was the top seed at Wimbledon. She defeated Maria Sharapova in a semifinal & then came back from a first set blowout to defeat Henin in the final 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. The victory was Mauresmo's second Grand Slam singles title & first title on grass.
She then pulled out of the Fed Cup World Group I playoff tie against the Czech Republic due to a groin injury sustained during Wimbledon. She also withdrew from the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Her next tournament was the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, where she lost in the quarterfinals to Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-5.
At the 2006 U.S. Open, Mauresmo lost to Sharapova in a semifinal 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. It was the first time in the open era that a female semifinalist here lost two sets at love.
Mauresmo then reached the final of the China Open, losing to Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-0. During the tournament, Mauresmo won 137 ranking points to help preserve her World No. 1 ranking & ended a nine match losing streak to Davenport. The last time Mauresmo had defeated Davenport was in Sydney in January 2000.
To conclude the year, Mauresmo reached the final of the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, losing to Henin & finishing the year ranked No. 3 behind Henin & Sharapova.
2007
Mauresmo started 2007 with a quarterfinal loss to Serb
Jelena Jankovic in Sydney.
At the 2007 Australian Open, Mauresmo lost in the fourth round to Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-3 after winning her first three matches in straight sets.
Mauresmo's next tournament was the Open Gaz de France, where she lost a long semifinal match to Nadia Petrova 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(7) after Mauresmo led 4-1 in the final set & had a match point in the tiebreak. This was Mauresmo's third loss in the last four matches with Petrova.
In her next tournament at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, Mauresmo defeated the home favorite Kim Clijsters in the final 6-4, 7-6(5). This was Mauresmo's third consecutive title there, earning her the diamond encrusted racquet that comes with winning the title at least three times in five years. The trophy cost US$1.3 million. Mauresmo then played the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open, where she lost to Justine Henin in the final 6-4, 7-5.
On March 16, 2007, she received the Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur from President Jacques Chirac.
Mauresmo was scheduled to play the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, but was forced to withdraw because of acute appendicitis. She also withdrew from the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida for the same reason. Although she had resumed training, she was not fit enough to compete at the J & S Cup in Warsaw, Poland.
At the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Mauresmo lost in the third round to Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine.
At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Mauresmo lost in the second round to Australian Samantha Stosur 5-7, 6-7(4), 7-6(7) after Mauresmo led 5-3 in the third set & had a match point.
Going into the 2007 French Open, Mauresmo had played only three tournaments since the end of February. Mauresmo lost to Czech Lucie Safarova in the third round 6-3, 7-6(4), committing eight double faults & 49 unforced errors.
Mauresmo has recently left Dunlop for HEAD. The partnership began immediately & will run through 2010. This is the second top 10 player who recently joined HEAD (Ivan Ljubicic joined in late December 2006).
Performance at Grand Slam events
Although
Mauresmo has been one of the top players for several years, she did not have success
in winning Grand Slam events until 2006. Her talents were never questioned, but
Mauresmo was criticized for her mental strength after succumbing to nerves in
Grand Slams. In consecutive Wimbledon championships, she lost to Serena Williams
& Lindsay Davenport after leading comfortably. Before her 2006 Australian
win, Mauresmo was often touted as "the greatest women's player never to win
a Grand Slam." After winning the 2006 Wimbledon title, Mauresmo openly joked,
"I don’t want anyone to talk about my nerves any more." [2]
Mauresmo is one of the few tennis players, male or female, to have reached the top ranking without first winning a Grand Slam singles event. Other notable players who did so were Belgian Kim Clijsters, who ascended to the top spot in 2003, two years before winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2005 US Open, & Ivan Lendl, who first reached number 1 in 1983, before winning any of his eight Grand Slam singles titles.
As a result of her victory in the 2006 Australian Open, there is no women's singles World No. 1 player, past or present, without a Grand Slam championship. In the men's singles, Marcelo Rios of Chile reached no. 1 in 1998 & never won a Grand Slam title.
Grand Slam singles finals
Wins
(2)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2006 Australian
Open Justine Henin 6-1, 2-0 retired
2006 Wimbledon Justine Henin 2-6, 6-3,
6-4
Runner-up (1)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1999 Australian Open Martina Hingis 6-2, 6-3
WTA Tour Championships singles finals
Wins (1)
Year Venue Opponent in Final Score in Final
2005
Los Angeles Mary Pierce 5-7, 7-6, 6-4
Runner-ups (2)
Year Venue Opponent
in Final Score in Final
2003 Los Angeles Kim Clijsters 6-2, 6-0
2006 Madrid
Justine Henin 6-4, 6-3
This site was written in June 2007
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