"Amélie Mauresmo"

Amélie Simone Mauresmo French pronunciation: [ameli simɔn moʁɛsmo]; (born 5 July 1979) is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon.

Mauresmo first attained the top ranking on 13 September 2004, holding it for five weeks on that occasion. She was the fifteenth world no. 1 in women's tennis since the computer rankings began. She is well known for her powerful one-handed backhand and strong net play. She officially announced her retirement from professional tennis on 3 December 2009, ending a career of ten years. She returned to Wimbledon in 2010, acting as a grass court advisor for Frenchman and 2007 Wimbledon doubles champion Michaël Llodra.

Mauresmo was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She began playing tennis at the age of four, after being inspired by Yannick Noah's win in the 1983 French Open on television. It was after his win that her parents bought her her first tennis racket. Later on in 1998 Yannick Noah picked her on the French team for the Fed Cup. Her mother, Françoise is a homemaker and her father Francis, who died in March 2004, was an engineer. She also has a brother Fabien who is an engineer.

In 1996, Mauresmo captured both the junior French Open and Wimbledon titles. She was named 1996 Junior World Champion by the International Tennis Federation.

The unseeded Mauresmo reached the Australian Open final in 1999 with wins over three seeded players, including world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport, before falling to world no. 2 Martina Hingis. Mauresmo was only the second Frenchwoman ever to reach the Australian Open final; (Mary Pierce was the first, winning the championship in 1995). She was only the third Frenchwoman to reach any Grand Slam final during the Open Era.

Mauresmo defeated Hingis later in the year, en route to the final of the Paris indoor event.

After the defeat of Davenport at the Australian Open Mauresmo, 19 at the time, came out as a lesbian to the international press.

At the Brisbane International tournament, Mauresmo defeated world no. 177 Jelena Dokić in the first round, 7–6(9), 7–6(5), before defeating French compatriot Julie Coin in the second round, 5–7, 6–2, 7–6(11) in 3 hours, 14 minutes. The fifth-seeded Mauresmo then upset top-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals, 6–3, 6–2, before retiring in her semifinal match against third-seeded Frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli, while trailing 0–4 in the first set. At the Australian Open, Mauresmo lost in the third round to Victoria Azarenka.

Mauresmo won her first tournament since 2007 by defeating Elena Dementieva in the final of the Open GDF SUEZ tournament in Paris.

Mauresmo lost in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Premier Mandatory event of the year, to Li Na, 5–7, 2–6. The next event on the WTA tour was another Premier Mandatory tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Mauresmo was seeded 20th there and lost in the fourth round to unseeded Australian Samantha Stosur, 4–6, 4–6, but ended up winning the doubles event with her tennis partner Svetlana Kuznetsova, after ousting the world champions on their way to the cup.

At the Madrid Masters, Mauresmo defeated Zheng Jie in the second round, 6–2, 7–5. She then came from behind to defeat Elena Dementieva, 1–6, 6–4, 6–2, and Ágnes Szávay, 5–7, 6–1, 6–1, in the third round and quarterfinal respectively. She lost against fast-rising teenager star Caroline Wozniacki, 6–7(1) 3–6, in the semifinals.

Mauresmo lost against Anna-Lena Grönefeld, 4–6, 3–6, in the first round of the French Open.

Mauresmo was the 17th seed at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. She opened with a 6–1, 4–6, 6–2 win over Melinda Czink. She then defeated Kristína Kučová and Flavia Pennetta. Her fourth round match against the first seed Dinara Safina became a part of tennis history as it was the first competitive match in which the new, multimillion-pound roof closed due to rain. Mauresmo went on to lose the match, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6.

At the 2009 US Open, Mauresmo was the 17th seed, but lost to unseeded Aleksandra Wozniak, 4–6, 0–6, in the second round.

Mauresmo announced at a press conference on 8 October 2009 that she was considering retiring from tennis. On 3 December 2009, she officially announced her retirement from tennis at a press conference in Paris.

In June and July 2010, Mauresmo temporarily coached fellow French male player Michaël Llodra during the grass season. On 7 November, Mauresmo ran her first marathon at the 2010 New York City Marathon, finishing 3hr: 40m: 20s.

At the 2011 French Open, Mauresmo was set to be reunited with Llodra, making her professional return in the mixed doubles competition, but was disqualified before competing, as she had not re-registered for the anti-doping procedures required to compete on the tour.

Although Mauresmo had been one of the top singles players for several years, she did not have success in winning Grand Slam tournaments until 2006. Her talents were never questioned, but Mauresmo was criticized for her mental strength after succumbing to nerves in those events. In consecutive Wimbledon championships, she lost to Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport after leading comfortably. Before her 2006 Australian Open title, 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."



Mauresmo is one of the few tennis players, male or female, to have reached the top ranking without first winning a Grand Slam singles title. Other players who had done 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 U.S. Open; Ivan Lendl, who first reached world no. 1 in 1983, before winning any of his eight Grand Slam singles titles; Marcelo Ríos of Chile, who reached world no. 1 in 1998 but never won a Grand Slam singles title; Jelena Janković of Serbia who reached world no. 1 in 2008 without winning a Grand Slam singles title; Dinara Safina, who reached World No. 1 in 2009 without winning a Grand Slam singles title; and Caroline Wozniacki, who reached world no. 1 in 2010.


source : http://en.wikipedia.org