'Daniela Hantuchová' (
IPA: ) (pronounced: HAHN-too-khoh-vah; born
April 23,
1983 in
Poprad,
Slovakia) is a
Slovak professional
tennis player. She is currently working with a number of coaches who work under the Sanchez-Casal Academy. Her
WTA Tour mentor in the Partners for Success program was
Martina Navratilova, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. As of August 28, 2007, Hantuchová ranks at No. 11 in singles. She has twice topped the ''ACE ''tennis magazine's
Hot List of the world's sexiest tennis players.
Career
Overall
Hantuchová has won two 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 Hingis again in the fourth round and
Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6-3 6-4 ending a 5-year title drought.
She has reached four 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, and 2006
Zurich Open, losing to
Maria Sharapova).
2002
2002 was Hantuchová's breakout season, in which she won her first tournament at the prestigious
Indian Wells event, defeating
Justine Henin in the fourth round 6-3 6-3 and
Martina Hingis in the final 6-3 6-4. Later on that year, Hantuchová also reached the final in Filderstadt, losing to
Kim Clijsters 4-6 6-3 6-4, the only set Hantuchová took from Clijsters in their nine meetings.
Elsewhere in the year, she made the semifinals in Linz, New Haven, Montreal, and Eastbourne. Hantuchová also made her first two Slam quarterfinals, defeating
Jelena Dokic 6-4 7-5 in the fourth round at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion
Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, and defeated
Justine Henin again in the fourth round at the US Open 6-1 3-6 7-6(4), losing to eventual champion Serena Williams again in the quarterfinals.
Hantuchová went 6-10 against top 10 players; 6-2 in singles Fed Cup play, helping lead Slovakia to their first Fed Cup victory against Spain in the final; 10-6 on indoor carpet, 6-2 on grass, 11-7 on clay, and 29-10 on hardcourts.
2003
Hantuchová started 2003 solidly, 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 (her third Slam quarterfinal in a row), and
Elena Dementieva in Paris 7-5 6-3. Hantuchová reached her first semifinal of the year at her fourth event in Antwerp, losing to Williams again, 6-1 6-4. By then, Hantuchová's ranking was at an all-time high, cracking the top five at No. 5.
Defending a title for the first time in her career, Hantuchová made it to the fourth round in Indian Wells, losing to
Amanda Coetzer 6-4 6-4. Despite a first round loss to
Alicia Molik in Miami, Hantuchová rebounded in the Tier I Charleston event, making her fifth quarterfinal in seven events, losing to
Ashley Harkleroad 6-2 6-1. She made her sixth quarterfinal at her next event in
Amelia Island, losing to eventual champion Dementieva 6-0 6-1.
Hantuchová went undefeated in first round Fed Cup play against Germany, winning both of her matches. Following Fed Cup, she again made it to the quarterfinals for the seventh time of the year at the Tier I Berlin tournament, losing to Kim Clijsters 6-0 6-3.
Hantuchova in 2003
At the French Open, Hantuchová lost in the second round in a marathon match to Harkleroad again 7-6(2) 4-6 9-7 making 101 unforced erros, leading to long-time coach Nigel Sears criticising her attitude publically.
[1] Following the match, her extremely thin physique was noticed for the first time publicly and some wondered about Hantuchová's health.
Kicking off the grass season in Eastbourne, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to
Conchita Martinez, but more famously she lost in the second round of Wimbledon to
Shinobu Asagoe 0-6 6-4 12-10, with Hantuchová breaking down crying during the latter stages of the match in the midst of making 57 unforced errors. Later people theorised that the media frenzy regarding her weight plus her breakdown during the match, along with personal problems of her parents' divorce and feeling the pressure of success at just 19 years old was the reasoning behind the subsequent fall of Hantuchová from the top of women's tennis.
Following Wimbledon Hantuchová went 6-8 for the rest of the year, 0-4 against top 10 players, 28-23 overall going 4-3 on indoor carpet, 10-6 on clay, 2-2 on grass, 12-12 on hardcourts; and fell to No. 17 in the world. Further signs of the pressure and problems she was facing during this period was that in July she made herself unavailable for Slovakia in the Fed Cup in order to concentrate on her singles career and in November she parted company with Sears.
[2]
2004
Hantuchova in US Open 2004
2004 proved to be largely a continuation of Hantuchová's poor second half of '03 with all the same struggles (she briefly hired Harold Soloman, who had previously coached her friend
Jennifer Capriati as well as
Anna Kournikova before re-hiring Sears in March
[3]), she reached just three quarterfinals, her first of which at the first Tier I event in Tokyo was not until halfway through the season. At Tokyo, however, she garnered her thus far only victory over
Maria Sharapova in the second round, falling to Davenport 6-2 6-2 in the quarters. The tournament that saved her from a completely disastrous 2004 was Eastbourne, in which she defeated
Ai Sugiyama in the quarterfinals 6-1 7-6(7) and
Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals 4-6 6-4 6-4 before losing to
Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third final of her career, 2-6 7-6(2) 6-4. However, Hantuchová was serving for the championship, up 6-2 6-5, but got broken.
Hantuchová was ranked No. 54 as she entered Eastbourne, but found herself ranked No. 38 as she went into Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Sharapova in the third round 6-3 6-1. Hantuchová would make one more quarterfinal at New Haven, losing to
Lisa Raymond 6-4 6-3. At the US Open one week later, Hantuchová lost 7-6 in the third to
Patty Schnyder in the third round.
Hantuchová finished the year ranked No. 31, with a 24-24 win-loss ratio going 3-3 on indoor carpet, 6-3 on grass, 2-5 on clay, and 13-13 on hardcourts. She finished 1-4 against top 10 players overall, the sole victory over Mauresmo.
2005
Hantuchová reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Dementieva in a tight three-setter, 7-5 5-7 6-4. Following that, she made her first quarterfinal of the year in Tokyo for the second straight year, losing to Kuznetsova 7-6(4) 7-6(4). At her next event she reached the semifinals in Doha, losing to Sharapova 6-2 6-4. Then she made another quarterfinal at her next tournament in Dubai, losing to Serena Williams 6-4 6-3; at Dubai also, in the first round, she garnered her 10th top 10 victory over No. 8
Alicia Molik 7-6(8) 6-2.
Hantuchová made the third round at the French and Wimbledon, losing to Clijsters 6-4 6-2 in Paris and eventual champion Venus Williams 7-5 6-3 in England.
Hantuchová had a successful US Open series run, where she reached the semifinals in Cincinnati, getting upset by No. 74 Akiko Morigami 6-4 6-4. After Cincinnati, in Stanford, Hantuchová lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6-3 6-1. And after a second round loss in San Diego to Sugiyama, Hantuchová reached her fourth final in Los Angeles, getting a walkover in the quarterfinals over Sharapova, and got revenge against Dementieva in the semifinals, defeating her 6-3 6-4 (Hantuchová stands 2-0 against Dementieva in semifinals). In the final, for the seventh time in their head-to-head, Clijsters defeated Hantuchová 6-4 6-1. For the third time at the event, Hantuchová made the quarterfinals in New Haven, losing to Davenport 6-2 7-6(5).
Hantuchová would lose to eventual quarterfinalist Venus Williams in the third round at the US Open.
In Luxembourg, Hantuchová made her eighth quarterfinal of the season, losing to
Nathalie Dechy 6-1 6-4. In Filderstadt the following week, Hantuchová made the semifinals, her third of the year, defeating No. 10 Patty Schnyder in the second round and
Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals; she lost to Davenport in the semifinals. And at the final Tier I event of the year, Hantuchová pushed Davenport to three sets in Zurich before losing 3-6 7-5 6-2. And in her final event of the year, in Linz, Hantuchová made her 10th quarterfinal, losing to Schnyder 6-2 6-1.
Hantuchová finished 2005 with a 3-10 record against the top 10, 37-25 overall record with 2-1 on indoor carpet, 3-4 on clay, 2-3 on grass, 30-17 on hardcourts, reaching 10 quarterfinals, three semifinals, and one final.
2006
In 2006 Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of Sydney with a win over top 10 player
Patty Schnyder and got to the semifinals of Auckland. She continued this form at the Australian Open with her third round 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory over defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner
Serena Williams, who had entered the tournament with a lack of match practice and questions over her fitness. This victory (the first and only over Serena in her career) ensured Daniela progressed to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in three years. She lost to 4th-seeded
Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the fourth round.
Thereafter she was unable to find a consistent level of form. She reached the fourth-round at the Australian Open, but prior to the clay court season she parted company for a second time (and permanently) with Sears.
[4] He was replaced by Angel Giminez. After the split with Sears she played her first Fed Cup matches for Slovakia in almost 3 years (Slovakia had slipped from being winners in 2003 to languishing in the Europe/Africa zone having being relegated every year in Hantuchová's absence). It was a successful return with Hantuchová winning her both singles and doubles matches against
Luxembourg, her singles match against
The Netherlands and the decisive singles rubber in the tie against
Great Britain. With the help of Hantuchová's 4-0 record over the 6-day period Slovakia booked a place in the World Group II play-off against
Thailand.
Despite disappointing results in the warm-up tournaments she equalled her Australian Open performance by getting to the fourth round of both the French Open and Wimbledon before extending her 2006 Fed Cup record to 6-0 by winning both her singles matches in Slovakia's 5-0 rout of Thailand, which ensured their promotion to the World Group II. Her fourth-round streak at Grand Slams ended when she was beaten by a resurgent Serena Williams at the second round of the US Open, which was the culmination of a very disappointing American hard court season (her record was 7-6 including the US Open, failing to get past the last 16 of any of the tournaments she entered).
Daniela showed what she is capable of producing the week before Stuttgart beating an in-form Tatiana Golovin in straight sets before losing out to Dinara Safina. The following week she reached the quarterfinals of Stuttgart with an easy victory over the now top 10 player Safina in the 2nd round, the same player to whom she had lost convincingly the previous week. This was both her first victory over a top 10 player and appearance in a quarter final since January. In October 2006, Hantuchová reached the final of the Zurich Open. In the first round, she upset 6th seed
Patty Schnyder. In the second round, she defeated her doubles parter
Ai Sugiyama. Daniela was then scheduled to play World No.1
Amelie Mauresmo in the quarter finals. However, Mauresmo withdrew due to a right shoulder injury. In the semi finals, Daniela upset World No.4
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-2 to reach the final of the Tier I event. In the final, Daniela lost in a tight 3 setter to 2nd seed
Maria Sharapova. Sharapova winning 6-1 4-6 6-3. The results in this tournament were the culmination of Hantuchová's up turn of form which kept her in the world's top 20 as she had arrived in Zurich outside the top group for the first time in over 11 months. The injury she suffered to her right rib,
[5] after Mary Pierce hit a shot at her in doubles, caused her her most serious injury of her career and also forced her to retire in her match against Vesnina the following week in Linz.
Hantuchová finished the year ranked 17th in the world with a 34-25 record. She went 24-17 on hard courts, 5-4 on clay, 3-2 on grass and 2-2 on carpet. She was 4-6 against top 10 players beating Schnyder (twice), Safina and Kuznetsova, with losses to Sharapova (twice), Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Dementieva and Nadia Petrova.
2007
Hantuchová's first event of 2007 was in
Auckland,
New Zealand, where she lost in the second round to
Virginie Razzano 6-1 7-5 after defeating countrywoman
Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 3-6 6-2. For the rest of her Australian summer stretch she lost to
Nicole Vaidišová in the first round of the
Sydney tournament and reached her second consecutive Australian Open fourth round, where she defeated
Ashley Harkleroad in the third round 6-7(6) 7-5 6-3 and lost to
Kim Clijsters 6-1 7-5.
Hantuchová was then upset in the first round of the first Tier I event of 2007 losing to
Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-4. At her next two events in Dubai and Doha she reached her first two quarterfinals of the year and first semifinal of the year. In Dubai she came from a set down in the second round against
Maria Kirilenko 2-6 6-4 7-6(4) and lost a tight match against
Amelie Mauresmo 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the quarterfinals. In Doha she reached the semifinals defeating
Martina Hingis in the quarterfinal for the second time in four matches 1-6 6-4 6-4, coming back from 1-6 1-4 down. She lost her semifinal match against
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-2.
In her seventh event of the year Hantuchová won just her second title at the same tournament she had won five years prior in Indian Wells, California. She defeated
Kaia Kanepi 6-1 2-6 6-2,
Francesca Schiavone 6-2 7-6(3),
Martina Hingis 6-4 6-3,
Shahar Peer 6-2 5-7 7-6(5),
Li Na 7-5 4-6 6-1 and
Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-4.
She was upset by in-form players Zvonareva 6-2 6-4 and Bammer 2-6 6-2 6-2 in the third round of Miami and quarterfinal of Amelia Island respectively. She lost both of her Fed Cup matches against the Czech Republic losing to Safarova 7-6(1) 4-6 6-3 and Vaidišová 6-2 6-7(1) 6-3. Hantuchová proceeded to lose her fourth consecutive match in a row in Berlin losing to Zuzana Ondraskova 6-1 6-3.
Hantuchová reached her first clay semifinal at the tournament in Rome defeating
Aravane Rezai 4-6 6-1 6-2, Bammer 6-1 6-2, Chakvetadze 6-2 6-3 and clay-court specialist
Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-6(8) 7-5. She lost to Kuznetsova in the semifinal 6-4 6-2. At the French Open she exited in the third round losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues 4-6 7-6(2) 7-5.
After defeating
Eleni Daniilidou in the round of 16 at the
2007 DFS Classic Hantuchová was guaranteed a return to the top 10 for the first time since August 2003. She proceeded to lose to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals in another tight three setter, 5-7 6-4 7-5. The following week in s'Hertogenbosch, Hantuchová returned to top form by breezing past Olga Poutchkova, overcoming an in form Meghann Shaugnessy and recording a straight-sets win over second seed (and world number six)
Ana Ivanović in the quartefinals. She lost in the semifinals to Anna Chakvetadze.
Hantuchová breezed past her first round opponent at Wimbledon
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-1 in less than an hour. She went on to defeat
Elena Likhovtseva of
Russia 7-5, 7-6(3) in the second round,
Katarina Srebotnik of
Slovenia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the third before losing to
Serena Williams of
USA 2-6, 7-6 (2), 2-6 in the fourth. Following Wimbledon Daniela participated in Slovakia's Fed Cup World Group II play-off against
Serbia. She beat
Ana Timotić 6-1, 6-2 and
Vojislava Lukić 6-0, 6-2 helping Slovakia retain their place in the second tier of Fed Cup tennis. Daniela started the US Open Series hardcourt season with a semifinal showing at
Stanford where she eventually fell to Anna Chakvetadze in three sets. This result put her back in the top 10, where she stayed after reaching the last 16 of
San Diego (losing to Venus Williams 6-0, 6-3) and
Los Angeles (retired whilst losing to Elena Dementieva 6-3, 4-1) but fell to 11th following
New Haven, where following a bye to the last 16 she lost to Hungarian qualifier, and eventual finalist,
Ágnes Szávay 7-5, 6-3.
At the
U.S. Open Hantuchová crashed out to Ukraine's
Julia Vakulenko in the first round in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. It was Hantuchová's earliest loss at the U.S. Open since her debut in 2001, and her earliest loss at a Grand Slam since the
2004 French Open.
Hantuchová's WTA win-loss record for 2007 currently stands at 36-20 and 5-8 versus top 10 players with two victories over Hingis, one against Kuznetsova, one over Ivanović and one against Chakvetadze. The losses were to Clijsters, Mauresmo, Chakvetadze twice, Kuznetsova twice, Vaidišová and Serena Williams. She is 11th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings and 10th in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships Singles Standings as of 27th August.
Doubles
Hantuchová's biggest successes have so far come in
mixed doubles. In this event, she won the 2001
Wimbledon championships with Leoš Friedl, the 2002
Australian Open with
Kevin Ullyett, the 2005
French Open with
Fabrice Santoro, and 2005
U.S. Open with
Mahesh Bhupathi. She was runner-up in the 2002
Wimbledon with Ullyett, and she reached the semi-finals at the
French Open in 2004 with
Todd Woodbridge. At the 2005 U.S. Open she completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam with
Mahesh Bhupathi when they beat Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić in the final in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. This makes her only the 5th women in tennis history (after Hart, Court, King and Navratilova) to complete a career
Grand Slam in mixed doubles. In
Perth, Western Australia also in
2005, Hantuchová won the
Hopman Cup with
Dominik Hrbatý.
Hantuchová's other achievements include winning eight women's doubles titles (as of July 2007). From 2005 to early 2007 she played doubles with
Ai Sugiyama, with some fans affectionately referring to the team as "Hantuyama". They have won 3 titles together in Rome, Doha, and Birmingham, England, 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 title of "Fans favorite doubles team 2005" at the Stars for Stars in Miami.
In early 2007, the partnership between Sugiyama and herself ended after Tokyo though the pair continued playing at Dubai and Doha because Hantuchová (eager to play doubles with
Martina Hingis) wanted to give Sugiyama time to find a new partner. They only played once (reaching the Semi-Finals of Miami) due to Hingis's subsequent injury which kept her out until Wimbledon. Thereafter she partnered
Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanović in the bigger tournaments before reuniting with Hingis on the summer hardcourts in America and reaching the third round of the US Open in their first attempt together at a grand slam.
Grand Slam mixed doubles finals (5)
Wins (4)
Runner-up (1)
Grand Slam doubles finals (2)
Runner-up (2)
WTA Tour titles (10)
Singles (2)
| 'Legend' |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| WTA Championships (0) |
| Tier I (2) |
| Tier II (0) |
| Tier III (0) |
| Tier IV (0) |
Singles runner-ups (4)
★ 2002:
Filderstadt (lost to
Kim Clijsters) 4-6 6-3 6-4
★ 2004:
Eastbourne (lost to
Svetlana Kuznetsova) 2-6 7-6
2 6-4
★ 2005:
Los Angeles (lost to Kim Clijsters) 6-4 6-1
★ 2006:
Zürich (lost to
Maria Sharapova) 6-1 4-6 6-3
Doubles (8)
| 'Legend (Doubles)' |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| WTA Championships (0) |
| Tier I (1) |
| Tier II (4) |
| Tier III (2) |
| Tier IV(1) |
ITF Titles (4)
Singles (3)
Doubles (1)
Singles performance timeline
''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through to the
Canadian tournament, which ended on
19 August,
2007.''
A = did not participate in the tournament
Q = Qualifying round loss
Team achievement
★ 2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion
★ 2002
Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)
★ 2004
Hopman Cup Finalist (with
Karol Kucera)
★ 2004 Athens Olympic Games
★ 2005 Hopman Cup Champion (with
Dominik Hrbatý)
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
References
1. theage.com.au A towering talent
2. news.bbc.co.uk - ''Hantuchova splits with coach''
3. rediff.com - ''Hantuchova rehires Sears''
4. news.bbc.co.uk - ''Hantuchova parts with coach again''
5. tvnz.co.nz – ''Hantuchova through to final'' Accessed 28 June 2007
See also
★
List of famous tall women
External links
★
Daniela Hantuchova official web site
★
★
Daniela Hantuchova sites at the Open Directory Project
★
Andrew Broad's fan site (also contains links to non-English or smaller fansites which didn't make it in Open Directory)
★
Daniela Hantuchova Unofficial fan site
★
Daniela in the new Sony Ericsson k800i Commercial
★
Daniela Hantuchova Unofficial Fan Myspace
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