Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open, and a career-high ranking of world No. 12, on 19 April 2010. In doubles, she achieved a career-high of world No. 61, on 11 September 2023. She was awarded "Most Improved Player" by the WTA in 2009. Time magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" in June 2011.
Personal life Wickmayer was born on 20 October 1989, to Marc Wickmayer and Daniella Dannevoye. She was introduced to tennis at the age of nine by friends at local courts. Her mother died at an early age shortly thereafter. She is named after Diego Maradona's youngest daughter Gianinna. The surname 'Wickmayer' traces back to Austria through her father Marc. Wickmayer, who fluently speaks Dutch, English, and French, most admires former Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters. In 2017, she announced that Clijsters would be working with her during the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. On 16 July 2017, Wickmayer married long-time boyfriend and former professional football player Jérôme van der Zijl. In April 2021, she gave birth to a daughter.Yanina Wickmayer en haar man verwelkomen dochter Luana Daniëlla
Career
2006-07: First ITF titles
In 2006, Wickmayer recorded her first wins: three singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
In 2007, she continued her success on the ITF Circuit by winning several tournaments in Asia during the fall season (see external links). It was around this time that Wickmayer surpassed Caroline Maes as the No. 2 female Belgian player. At the start of the year, she was No. 534 in the world, but by November 2007, was around No. 170. Wickmayer had won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the circuit. She was also selected by team captain Sabine Appelmans to represent the Belgium in Fed Cup. She lost to Venus Williams, 1–6, 2–6, in her World Group match, before winning one rubber and losing the other against Chinese opposition.
2008: First WTA Tour final In the 2008 Fed Cup tie versus Ukraine, Wickmayer sprang a surprise victory over reigning Australian Open women's doubles champion Kateryna Bondarenko.Wickmayer pulls Belgium level Fed Cup website Wickmayer qualified in singles for the French Open, but lost in the first round to Akgul Amanmuradova. She reached the final of the Birmingham Classic, but lost to Kateryna Bondarenko in a close three-setter.
At Wimbledon, Wickmayer lost in the first round to Ai Sugiyama, in straight sets.
2009: US Open semifinal She started the new year with first-round losses in both Brisbane and the Australian Open. She won her first WTA Tour match of the year at Indian Wells, defeating Magdaléna Rybáriková in straight sets, before she lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the second round, despite holding two match points. She then lost her first-round matches in Miami and Charleston.
Wickmayer won her first WTA Tour singles title in Estoril. She beat third seed Sorana Cîrstea in three sets en route to the final, where she defeated Ekaterina Makarova. At the French Open, she was beaten by Samantha Stosur in the second round.
Wickmayer lost to a newly returned Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals at the Birmingham Classic. At the Rosmalen Open, Wickmayer reached both the singles final and the doubles final, losing to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the singles final. The doubles final was a close contest, in which she lost in three sets to an Italian pairing. At Wimbledon, she lost in the first round to Elena Vesnina.
During the summer hardcourt season, Wickmayer reached the third round in Los Angeles, losing to Vera Zvonareva. She was defeated in the early rounds of her three other summer tournaments. At the US Open, she reached semifinals, losing to Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets.
Wickmayer fell in the first round in Beijing to Alisa Kleybanova but qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Her next tournament was in Linz. She won through to the semifinals, where she upset top seed Flavia Pennetta for her biggest career win. She beat Petra Kvitová in the final, and as a result made it into the top 20 for the first time. One week later at the Luxembourg Open, she reached the semifinals where she was edged by Timea Bacsinszky, in three sets.
At her last tournament of the year in Bali, she was drawn into Group C. Wickmayer defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm in her first match in straight sets. As she was supposed to face Anabel Medina Garrigues next, she was disqualified from the tournament due to doping allegations.
On 1 October 2009, it was announced that Wickmayer and fellow Belgian tennis professional Xavier Malisse were to defend themselves before the Flemish anti-doping tribunal for failing to properly fill out their whereabouts. Wickmayer replied in a press release that the failure to follow procedure was due to her not being able to log on to the relevant website, not being able to contact the right people when needed, and not being in the country when written admonitions arrived by mail from the Flemish anti-doping authorities. At the tribunal on 22 October 2009, the prosecution did not ask for a ban, but rather for a "principal restraint" of the facts that they were being accused of, and as such it was expected that this would not cause any problems for either athlete. However, on 5 November 2009, the decision of the tribunal was announced: an effective one-year ban for both players.Sportwereld – 'Yanina is helemaal gebroken' (Dutch). Nieuwsblad.be (6 November 2009). Retrieved 29 June 2011. Wickmayer, as well as Malisse, appealed this decision (in Brussels), which was initially overturned on 16 December 2009, after the appeal was granted.Individual News Story . Tennis Channel. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
2010: Top 15 ranking
Wickmayer accepted a wildcard into the first tournament of the year, the Auckland Open. Seeded third, she reached the final defeating Julia Görges, Raluca Olaru, wildcard Kimiko Date-Krumm, and Shahar Pe'er. In the final, Wickmayer easily defeated top seed Flavia Pennetta. Wickmayer won the tournament without dropping a set. This title was her first title of the year and third of her career. Due to Wickmayer's suspensions being lifted after the deadline for the Australian Open, she was forced to enter the qualifying draw. After a nervous first-round qualifying, she easily won through to the main draw. Being a dangerous floater, she drew Alexandra Dulgheru in the first round. In a match that included numerous rain delays, she prevailed in the third set tiebreaker. In the second round, she defeated 12th seed Flavia Pennetta. In the third round, she beat Sara Errani in three sets. In the fourth round, Wickmayer lost in three sets to compatriot and former world No. 1, Justine Henin. Despite the loss she moved up to a career-high of No. 15.
Wickmayer was selected to represent Belgium at the World Group II Fed Cup tie against Poland. She won both her rubbers against Marta Domachowska and Agnieszka Radwańska, thus allowing Kirsten Flipkens to secure the tie for Belgium with a win against Domachowska, to advance to the World Group playoff. In her next two tournaments, the Open GdF Suez tournament in Paris and the Tennis Championships in Dubai, Wickmayer lost in first-round matches, in Paris to Petra Martić; and in Dubai to Shahar Pe'er. She fared better at the Indian Wells Open, when she won two matches, before losing in the round of 16 to María José Martínez Sánchez. She then traveled to Key Biscayne for the Miami Open. Seeded 12th, Wickmayer reached the quarterfinals after wins over qualifier Elena Baltacha, wildcard Petra Martić, and Timea Bacsinszky. She was defeated in the quarterfinals by 13th seed Marion Bartoli. Despite her loss to Bartoli, her strong performance brought her to a new career-high ranking of world No. 13, moving to 12 without playing the next week.
Wickmayer was again selected to represent Belgium at the Fed Cup World Group playoff tie against Estonia. When Clijsters and Wickmayer won their singles rubbers on Saturday, Belgium was in a comfortable lead. However, Clijsters had injured her foot and had to be replaced by Justine Henin, who herself had been injured earlier that week. Henin lost her rubber, so it fell on Wickmayer to bring home the tie during the fourth, which she did. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix held in Stuttgart, Wickmayer moved to the second round, before falling for the second consecutive time to fellow Belgian Justine Henin, 3–6, 5–7. Her next tournament was the Italian Open in Rome, where she was the 11th seed. She defeated Karolina Šprem and Aravane Rezaï in the first two rounds, before losing to seventh seed and eventual finalist Jelena Janković in the third round, 2–6, 0–6. Wickmayer pulled out of the Madrid Open citing a right elbow injury, and underwent surgery. Though the French Open was only two weeks later, she managed to be fit in time and played there as 16th seed. She defeated Sandra Záhlavová in the first round 6–1, 6–1. In the second round, she beat Sybille Bammer in three sets. Wickmayer fell in the third round to 23rd seed Daniela Hantuchová. Despite her recent injury, this was her best French Open performance to date.
Wickmayer started her grass-court season at the Birmingham Classic. As the third seed, she reached the quarterfinals defeating qualifier Laura Robson and 14th seed Tamarine Tanasugarn. She was stunned in the quarterfinals by qualifier Alison Riske in three sets. The next week, she had 200 ranking points to defend from her reaching the Rosmalen Open final last year. However, Wickmayer decided to play at the Eastbourne International. She was not seeded due to the strong players field. In the first round, Wickmayer lost easily to fifth seed Clijsters, 1–6, 1–6. Wickmayer finished off her grass-court season by competing at the Wimbledon Championships. Seeded 15th in the main draw, Wickmayer beat wild card Alison Riske in the first round. This win marked her first main-draw win at Wimbledon. In the second round, she beat her doubles partner Kirsten Flipkens. In the third round, Wickmayer was defeated by 21st seed and eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva, 6–4, 6–2. The day before their second round match, Flipkens and Wickmayer played doubles together, which they lost in the first round to 13th seed Vera Dushevina/Ekaterina Makarova. Wickmayer also played mixed doubles with her compatriot Dick Norman. They lost in the first round to British wildcards Jonathan Marray/Anna Smith. After Wimbledon, she rose to world No. 16 once again, the third Belgian after Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.
After Wimbledon, Wickmayer moved on to the US Open Series by playing at the Stanford Classic. As the seventh seed, Wickmayer made it to the quarterfinals beating Chan Yung-jan and Dominika Cibulková. In the quarterfinals, she lost in a close match to top seed Sam Stosur. Wickmayer was seeded eighth at the San Diego Open, but fell in the first round to Svetlana Kuznetsova. Seeded 12th at the Cincinnati Open, Wickmayer reached the quarterfinals defeating qualifier Gréta Arn, Gisela Dulko, and eighth seed Li Na. In the quarterfinals, she was defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Seeded 13th at the Rogers Cup, Wickmayer lost in the second round to Ágnes Szávay. Seeded fifth at New Haven, Wickmayer was defeated in the first round by Timea Bacsinszky, 6–3, 6–1. Wickmayer was seeded 15th at the US Open, with semifinal ranking points to defend. Beating Alla Kudryavtseva, Julia Görges, and Patty Schnyder, she reached the fourth round where she lost to 31st seed Kaia Kanepi. As a result, Wickmayer failed to defend her semifinalist points from last year.
Turning to the Asian events, Wickmayer competed at the Pan Pacific Open. She lost in the first round to 11th seed Marion Bartoli.
2011: Continued success