Daniela Hantuchova
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Daniela Hantuchova first came to the attention of the worlds media at Wimbledon 2002. She was both front and back-page news, but not for any sporting reason. At the start of the tournament the Slovakian owner of 110 centimetre long legs was being tipped as the “new Anna Kournikova” by the British tabloids. But after a disappointing performance on the court stories of eating disorders began to emerge. Daniela has put these allegations behind her and has steadily rose up the world rankings to become a consistent performer on the WTA Tour and is currently ranked 14th in the world.
Early Life
Daniela Hantuchova was born April 23, 1983 in Poprad, Slovakia. Her Father, Igor, is a computer scientist and her mother, Marianna, is a toxicologist. Her younger brother Igor is also a keen tennis player. But it was her grandmother Helena, a former national tennis champion in Czechoslovakia who introduced her to tennis and coached her through her younger years. Daniela studied classical piano between ages 6 and 14 before moving to Florida to train at the famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
Daniela made her ITF Circuit debut in 1998 and made solid progress over the next 3 years, winning three singles tittles at Jackson, U.S, Fano. Italy and The Bronx, U.S, as well as a doubles success at Civitanova, Italy, partnering Eva Dyrberg. But it was at the 2001 Wimbledon Championship that she made her breakthrough onto the world stage. Partnering Lukas Friedl they overcame Mike Bryan and Liezel Huber in the final 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
WTA Career
She won her maiden WTA Tour singles title in 2002 by beating former world number one Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4 in the final at Indian Wells. In the same year, she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon & the US Open but was beaten by Serena Williams on both occasions. She also enjoyed success in the mixed doubles at the Australian Open taking the title with Kevin Ullyett. Hantuchová's also recorded a record of 6–2 in singles at the Fed Cup, helping lead Slovakia to their first Fed Cup victory against Spain in the final. Her year ending world ranking of Eighth is the highest of her career.
Hantuchova started 2003 with a string of solid displays, reaching the quarterfinals at her first three events in Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport 6–4 3–6 7–6(3), Venus Williams 6–4 6–3 at the Australian Open and Elena Dementieva in Paris 7–5 6–3. Hantuchova reached her first semi final of the year at her fourth event in Antwerp, losing to Venus Williams again, 6–1 6–4. Following Antwerp Hantuchova's ranking rose to an all-time high of No.5. But the remainder of the season saw Hantuchová suffer a dramatic loss of form. Although Daniela has since put this loss of form down to the pressure of being tipped as a future Grand Slam winner as well as personal problems (her parents were going through a divorce) the media began reporting she was suffering from Anorexia. The early months of 2004 were largely a continuation of Hantuchova's poor form, failing to make it past the second round at both the Australian and French Opens. Hantuchova showed a rise in her fortunes when she reached the final at Eastbourne as a wild card, she beat top seed Amelie Mauresmo in the semi-finals 4-6 6-4 6-4. However she lost in the final to Svetlana Kuznetsova after being a set up. A series of more solid displays for the remainder of the season saw her finish the season ranked at 31, a dramatic improvement as she had dropped out of the worlds top 50 for much of the early part of the season. 2006 was a another solid season for Daniela. She progressed to the fourth round of the first three majors of the season, defeating Serena Williams in the third round for the first time in 12 meetings at the Australian open. The rest of the season was hampered by a injury she suffered to her rib cage after being hit by a Mary Pierce shot while playing a doubles match. She finished the year ranked 18th in the world.
The following season was Hantuchová’s most successful to date taking two WTA Tour titles. The first again came at the Pacific Life Open, Indian Wells where she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–4. The second came on the indoor hard courts at the Generali Ladies Linz, Austria where she crushed Swiss number one Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2. This title enabled Hantuchova to qualify for the Sony Ericcson Championships. But She did not progress past the round robin stage in Madrid. Losing to Maria Sharapova 6–4, 7–5 and Ana Ivanovic 6–2, 7–6(9) before beating Kuznetsova 7–6(7), 6–0 she finished third in her group. At the 2008 Australian Open, Hantuchova reached her first Grand Slam semi final. She won her first three matches without dropping a set but lost to Ana Ivanovic in the semi finals 0–6, 6–3, 6–4. Unfortunately she has so far been unable to build on this success failing to make a impact at the seasons three remaining majors. Daniela Hantuchova Links AskMen | BabeInvasion | Bestzilla | Celebrity Link | Chickipedia | Famous Hookups | Free Ones Romanum | Star Pages | Top Celebrity Pages | WomenCelebs 
2005 saw Hantuchova return to the world Top 20. She was runner-up once, at Los Angeles where she was defeated by Kim Clijsters and a semi finalist three times, at Doha, Cincinnati and Filderstadt. She won two mixed doubles majors at Roland Garros (w/Santoro), US Open (w/Bhupathi) becoming only the second woman in the Open Era (Navratilova) and fourth in tennis history (also Court, King) to complete the career Grand Slam in mixed doubles.