Daniela Hantuchova Bio

Daniela Hantuchová (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈdanÉŞjɛla ˈɌantuxɔvaː]; born April 23, 1983 is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top ten.

She is currently coached by Larri Passos. Her WTA Tour mentor in the "Partners for Success" program was Martina Navrátilová, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. As of August 24, 2009, Hantuchová is ranked World No. 23 in singles and ranked World No. 18 in doubles.

Daniela Hantuchova: Personal life

Hantuchová was born in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to father Igor, a computer scientist and mother Marianna, a toxicologist. Hantuchová's performances temporarily worsened, as a result of her parents splitting up in 2003. At the Wimbledon that year, she lost to the 81st ranked player in the world, failing to convert match points and weeping on court. She also suffered from weight problem during this period. She was suspected of being anorexic, however Hantuchová denied this.

Hantuchová speaks six languages and was trained as a classical pianist. She is thought to be a perfectionist and places a lot of pressure on herself during her training. She qualified for university in Slovakia but deferred it to pursue tennis.

She appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition alongside Maria Kirilenko and Tatiana Golovin in a pictoral entitled Volley of the Dolls.

Daniela Hantuchova: Career

Daniela Hantuchova - Singles

Hantuchová has won three WTA singles tournaments in her career, the first in 2002 at the Tier I Pacific Life Open, defeating Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4 in the final, and in 2007 at the same tournament, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6-3 6-4 ending a five-year title drought. Her most recent title came at the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria, where she defeated Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

She has reached six other finals in her career - Filderstadt 2002 losing to Kim Clijsters, Eastbourne 2004 losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova, Los Angeles 2005 where she lost to Clijsters again, the 2006 Zurich Open losing to Maria Sharapova, in Bali 2007 losing to Lindsay Davenport and Luxembourg 2007 to Ana Ivanovich.

She has also achieved reasonable results in the Grand Slam events. Her career-best is a semifinal appearance at the 2008 Australian Open. As well as this, she has reached three other Grand Slam quarterfinals: at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2002 and the Australian Open in 2003. She has reached three Grand Slam doubles finals and is only one of five women to have a career Mixed Doubles Grand Slam.

Daniela Hantuchova - Doubles

Hantuchová's biggest successes have so far come in mixed doubles. In this event, she won the 2001 Wimbledon championships with LeoĹĄ Friedl, the 2002 Australian Open with Kevin Ullyett, the 2005 French Open with Fabrice Santoro, and 2005 US Open with Mahesh Bhupathi. She was runner-up at Wimbledon in 2002 with Ullyett, and she reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2004 with Todd Woodbridge. At the 2005 US Open she completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam with Mahesh Bhupathi when they beat Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjich in the final in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. She is only the fifth woman (after Hart, Court, King and Navrátilová) to complete a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles. In Perth, Western Australia in 2005, Hantuchová won the Hopman Cup with Dominik Hrbatí˝.

Hantuchová's other achievements include winning eight women's doubles titles. From 2005 to early 2007 she played doubles with Ai Sugiyama, with some fans affectionately referring to the team as "Hantuyama". They have won three titles together; in Rome, Doha, and Birmingham, as well as reaching the final at the French Open in 2006 (Hantuchová's first Grand Slam doubles final was in 2002 with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the Australian Open). "Hantuyama" won the award for "Fan Favorite Doubles Team of 2005" at the Stars for Stars in Miami.

In early 2007, the partnership between Sugiyama and Hantuchová ended, though the pair continued playing together (at Dubai and Doha) because Hantuchová, eager to play doubles with Martina Hingis, wanted to give Sugiyama time to find a new partner. Hingis and Hantuchová only played once (reaching the semifinals of Miami) due to Hingis's subsequent injury which kept her out until Wimbledon. Thereafter she partnered Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanovich in the bigger tournaments before reuniting with Hingis for the summer hardcourt tournaments in North America. They reached the third round of the US Open in their first attempt together at a grand slam. In the absence of Hingis in Bali she played doubles with Lindsay Davenport. Through the start of the 2008 season she played with Davenport, Ivanovich, Martina Hingis and rejoined Ai Sugiyama for the 2008 Pacific Life Open and 2009 Australian Open.

Daniela Hantuchova: Endorsements

Daniela Hantuchova - Product endorsement and equipment

Until the 2009 US Open, Hantuchová was endorsed by Nike sportswear and had her own line with them for her tournament wear, similar to players such as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. From the 2009 US Open onwards, Hantuchová began endorsing Adidas sportswear.

Hantuchová also has endorsed three racquet brands. She was first endorsed by Babolat from being a junior until late 2003, then Yonex until the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo when she then used the Prince Ozone Seven Racquets from the 2007 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Daniela Hantuchova - Video games

Hantuchová has been in many sports/tennis related video games with such players as Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova. Some of the titles are Top Spin (both Xbox and Play Station 2 versions), Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 and Virtua Tennis 3. Hantuchová is currently ranked third behind Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovich in a poll for new downloadable players for Top Spin 3. Hantuchová will be a playable character in the upcoming Virtua Tennis 2009.

Daniela Hantuchova: Achievements

Daniela Hantuchova - Team achievements

• 2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion
• 2002 Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)
• 2004 Hopman Cup Finalist (with Karol Kučera)
• 2004 Athens Olympic Games
• 2005 Hopman Cup Champion (with Dominik Hrbatí˝)
• 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Daniela Hantuchova - Special achievements

• 2001 WTA Newcomer of the Year Award
• 2002 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year Award
• 2003 Laureus World Sports Academy Award nominee for World Newcomer of the Year Award

Daniela Hantuchova: Career statistics

Daniela Hantuchova: See also

• Slovakia Fed Cup team