Anastasia Myskina

Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina (Анастасия Мыскина; in Russian) (ah-nass-tah-SEE-ya MISH-kee-nah) (born July 8, 1981, Moscow, Russia) is a professional tennis player from Russia.

Tennis career

Myskina turned professional in 1998, the year in which she broke into the WTA top 500. The very next year, she entered the top 100 and went on to end 2002 in the top 20 and 2003 in the top 10.

Myskina has won 10 WTA tour singles titles in her career. In 2004 she won the French Open, her first grand slam title. To reach the final she defeated former world number ones Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati. She routed fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-2 in the final to become the first Russian woman to win a grand slam singles event. She led the Russian team to its first Fed Cup title in a dramatic final against France in the same year, winning all three points for her country (she teamed with Vera Zvonareva in the doubles rubber).

Myskina, who has won over 5 million USD in career prize money, reached a career high ranking of No. 2 on September 13, 2004. She finished the 2004 season at #3 and was named the 2004 ITF world champion.

By losing her opening match at the French Open 2005 against Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (4-6, 6-4, 0-6), however, she became the first woman in the history of the event to lose as a defending champion in the first round.

It soon transpired that the reason for Myskina's relatively poor 2005 results was her mother's battle with cancer in Moscow while Myskina was travelling on the WTA Tour. As her mother's health recovered, so did Myskina's form.

En route to her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, she posted stunning victories over Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva (saving match points in the second set tiebreak). Myskina lost to Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, but it marked a turning point in her 2005 results.

Following her quarterfinal rebound at Wimbledon, she beat the reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in three sets during a Fed Cup semifinal. The win gave Russia the first point in the tie against the USA. Myskina followed with a straight sets victory over then World #60 Jill Craybas to give Russia its first victory over the USA in Fed Cup competition.

After her solid Wimbledon and Fed Cup results, Myskina reached the Stockholm final (losing to Katarina Srebotnik) and participated in the team that successfully defended its Fed Cup title against France (though she lost both her rubbers). She then went on to win her only singles title of 2005 in Kolkata, where she also won the doubles title (teaming with Elena Likhovtseva). She backed this up with a second doubles title of the year, winning in Filderstadt with Daniela Hantuchova.

2006 has seen more consistent results for Myskina, including fourth round appearances at the Australian and French Opens, and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. She has also had two runner-up appearances, first at Istanbul on clay where she lost a close final to Shahar Peer, and then at Eastbourne on grass where she lost a riveting three set match to Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Playing style

Myskina is one of the better baseline players in the game today, as shown with her French Open title in 2004. Despite this she prefers faster court surfaces, and her game is characterized by a combination of consistent rallying and aggressive baseline points. Her backhand is her best shot, as her forehand tends to break down during matches. She is adept at using the 'angles' of the court to exploit slower opponents, and is able to mix the pace of her groundstrokes during a point. The major weaknesses in her game are her second serve, her forehand, and occasional inconsistency.

Personal life

Her German coach, Jens Gerlach, is also a former boyfriend Myskina's current boyfriend is HC Dynamo Moscow hockey player Alexandr Stepanov [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/5086960.stm

In October 2002, Myskina had a series of photo's taken for GQ magazine by the photographer Mark Seligerfor a spread in the October 2002 edition of GQ, in which one approved photo of her fully clothed was published. The set included some topless shots, including some of her astride a horse 2004, the topless pictures were published in the July/August 2004 issue of the Russian magazine Medved (Bear). In August 2004, she filed an $8 million USD lawsuit against the men's magazine GQ for allowing her topless photographs to appear in a Russian magazine Medved without her consent. On June 19, 2005 U.S District Judge Michael Mukasey ruled that Anastasia Myskina could not stop the distribution of the topless photos, because she had signed a release. Myskina had claimed that she did not understand the photo release form and that she was not fluent in English at the time [http://www.waleg.com/archives/000141.html" target="_blank" >^*

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

Elena Dementieva|| 6-1, 6-2

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Titles (14)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (1)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I Event (2)
WTA Tour (7)

Singles (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	Jul 12, 1999	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Angeles Montolio (Spain)	3-6 7-6 6-2
2.	Sep 9, 2002	Bahia, Brazil	Hard	Eleni Daniilidou (Greece)	6-3 0-6 6-2
3.	Feb 10, 2003	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Elena Likhovtseva (Russia)	6-3 6-1
4.	Mar 31, 2003	Sarasota, USA	Hard	Alicia Molik (Australia)	6-4 6-1
5.	Sep 22, 2003	Leipzig, Germany	Hard	Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium)	3-6 6-3 6-3
6.	Feb 29, 2003	Moscow, Russia	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo (France)	6-2 6-4
7.	Mar 1, 2004	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)	4-6 6-4 6-4
8.	May 24, 2004	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Elena Dementieva (Russia)	6-1 6-2
9.	Oct 11, 2004	Moscow, Russia	Hard	Elena Dementieva (Russia)	7-5 6-0
10.	Sep 25, 2005	Kolkata, India	Hard	Karolina Sprem (Croatia)	6-2 6-2

Singles finalist (8)

2002: Birmingham (lost to Jelena Dokic)
2002: Eastbourne (lost to Chanda Rubin)
2002: Leipzig (lost to Serena Williams)
2003: Philadelphia (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)
2004: San Diego (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
2005: Stockholm (lost to Katarina Srebotnik)
2006: Istanbul (lost to Shahar Peer)
2006: Eastbourne (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	Career
Australian Open	4r	4r	QF	QF	2r	-	-	-	0
French Open	4r	1r	W	2r	1r	1r	1r	-	1
Wimbledon	QF	QF	3r	4r	3r	2r	3r	-	0
US Open		3r	2r	QF	3r	1r	1r	2r	0
Grand Slam Win-Loss	3-1	8-4	14-3	12-4	5-4	1-3	2-3	1-1	46-23
WTA Tour Championships		-	SF	1r	4r	-	-	-	0
Finals reached		2	4	5	4	0	0	1	16
Tournaments Won		1	3	4	1	0	0	1	10
Hardcourt Win-Loss	3-1	16-9	32-14	21-13	23-14	8-6	8-11	7-4	128-74
Clay Win-Loss		3-4	12-2	11-6	12-8	3-5	6-6	5-1	52-34
Grass Win-Loss		5-2	2-1	3-2	10-3	3-3	8-3	0-0	31-14
Carpet Win-Loss		2-1	9-1	11-1	5-4	10-4	0-0	7-3	44-14
Overall Win-Loss	'''3-1	'''24-15	'''55-18	'''46-22	'''50-29	'''24-18	'''22-20	'''19-8	'''255-136
Year End Ranking		14	3	7	11	59	58	65	N/A

Doubles (5)

No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner
1.	2004	Moscow, Russia	Indoors	Vera Zvonareva (Russia)
2.	2004	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Ai Sugiyama (Japan)
3.	2005	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard	Daniela Hantuchova (Slovak Republic)
4.	2005	Kolkata, India	Indoors	Elena Likhovtseva (Russia)
5.	2006	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Elena Likhovtseva (Russia)

Trivia

Has twice received the WTA Diamond Aces Award, which is awarded for commitment to promoting the tour.
Boris Yeltsin personally congratulated her on her first Tier I victory at Moscow, and watched her become Russia's first female Grand Slam champion at Roland Garros in 2004.
In the Partners For Success program her mentor was Bulgarian tennis player Katerina Maleeva, a former top 10 player noted for her on-court tenacity. Myskina is often credited with on-court competitive drive by commentators of the sport, particularly Fred Stolle.
Likes sushi, white sausages and gnocchi.
Started her career as a World Team Tennis player for the Springfield Lasers.

External links

Unofficial Anastasia Myskina Website

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