Dinara Mubinovna Safina (, ; ; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 26 weeks, and world No. 8 in doubles. Safina won twelve WTA Tour-level singles titles and nine in doubles, including the women's doubles title at the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy. She was the runner-up at three major singles tournaments: the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and 2009 French Open, and won an Olympic silver medal in singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Safina officially retired in 2014 due to a long-term back injury. She is the younger sister of former world No. 1 men's player Marat Safin; the brother–sister pair are the first to both achieve the No. 1 singles rankings.
Biography Early life
Safina was born in Moscow to Tatar parents. Her mother Rauza Islanova was her trainer when she was younger; while her father is director of the Spartak tennis club in Moscow. Her brother Marat is a former world No. 1 on the ATP Tour. Speaking of growing up in such a successful tennis family, Safina stated: "Being the little sister in such a big tennis family is not an easy situation. Maybe that's why it took me longer to develop. My father is very competitive, but my parents didn't put pressure on me. I wanted to find my identity. I wanted to be something by myself, like being a big player by myself. So at the beginning I was putting too much pressure on myself. But then gradually I found myself, and I learned how to do better with that situation." At age eight, Safina and her family moved to Valencia, Spain, and as a result Safina speaks fluent Spanish as well as Russian and English.
Playing style Safina was coached by Glen Schaap, former coach of Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova, and Željko Krajan, who worked with her during her rise to No. 1 in 2009. From May 2010, she began working with Gastón Etlis. Their partnership ended after several months and in February 2011 she began working with Davide Sanguinetti.
Tennis career 2002 Safina made her debut in the main draw of a WTA Tour tournament in May 2002, on clay at Estoril, where she lost in the semifinals. She won her first title in Sopot, defeating two seeds – including world No. 24 Patty Schnyder – en route to the final, which she won when opponent Henrieta Nagyová retired during the second set. In doing so, she became the youngest Tour champion in four years and the first qualifier to win a title in three years. She entered the top 100 on the WTA rankings as a result of this win. Later that year, Safina made her debut at a Grand Slam tournament, losing in the second round of the US Open to top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams. In October at Kremlin Cup, she defeated a top 20 player for the first time, world No. 14 Silvia Farina Elia. She finished the season as world No. 68.
2003 Safina won her second title over Katarina Srebotnik at Palermo in July 2003. She lost in the first round in her debuts at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, although she reached the fourth round at the US Open before losing to second seed and eventual champion Justine Henin. She also made the quarterfinals in Doha, Sopot and Shanghai. She beat world No. 11 Magdalena Maleeva in Moscow, her best win at that point. She finished the season as world No. 54.
2004 At the Australian Open, Safina defeated a seed at a major event for the first time, upsetting 27th seed Amanda Coetzer in the second round before losing to second seed Kim Clijsters in the third round. However, she failed to make an impact at any of the other Grand Slam tournaments, losing in the second round of the French Open and the first round of both Wimbledon and the US Open, although she pushed eventual runner-up Elena Dementieva to three sets in the latter. She made the third final of her career and first off of clay in October at Luxembourg, losing to Alicia Molik. She finished the season as world No. 44, her first time finishing in the world's top 50.
2005: Fed Cup crown Safina continued to climb the rankings in 2005. At the Australian Open, she lost in the second round to Amélie Mauresmo. However, she defeated Mauresmo in the final in Paris three weeks later, in order to win the third title of her career. This marked her first win over a player ranked in the top 5. Following her win, Safina remarked: "You can't imagine how happy I am. I can't find words to explain how I feel right now. It's by far the best day of my career. I played well, took my chances and beat a top 5 player. It's just too much in one day."
Safina won her second title of 2005 in May at Prague, defeating Zuzana Ondrášková in the final. However, she then lost in the first round of the French Open to Virginie Razzano. She won a match at Wimbledon for the first time, eventually losing in the third round to top seed Lindsay Davenport.
After losing in the first round of the US Open to Maria Elena Camerin, Safina made three semifinals in the fall – in Luxembourg, the Tier I Moscow and Hasselt. In Moscow, she defeated world No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, her first victory over a number one player. She also played a key role in Russia's victory against France in the Fed Cup, partnering Elena Dementieva to win the doubles rubber. Speaking in 2008, Safina stated: "that was a great experience in my life [...] it also boosted my confidence because I showed I could play well even with the [French] crowd against me." Safina finished the year ranked world No. 20, by far her highest finish.
2006: Top 10 debut, first Grand Slam final in doubles Safina started 2006 by losing in the second round of the Australian Open to Sofia Arvidsson. The highlight of the remainder of the spring hardcourt season was a run to the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, defeating fifth seed Anastasia Myskina before losing to Martina Hingis. On clay, Safina reached her first final at a Tier I tournament in Rome, defeating top 10 players Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, before being defeated by Hingis.
At the French Open, Safina made the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. In the fourth round, she defeated fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova. In the third set, she trailed 1–5 and was down a match point but won after almost 2½ hours of play. She went on to lose to Kuznetsova in the next round. To kick off the grass court season, she reached her first grass court final at 's-Hertogenbosch, losing to Michaëlla Krajicek. She then lost in the third round of Wimbledon, losing to Ana Ivanovic.
The highlight of Safina's summer hardcourt season was a run to the semifinals of the Tier I Montreal, before ultimately losing to Ana Ivanovic. During the US Open, she again reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, this time losing to top seed Amélie Mauresmo. She met with greater success in doubles, where she reached the final with partner Katarina Srebotnik. Safina reached the top ten on the singles rankings for the first time in the fall. She finished the season world No. 11.
2007: US Open doubles champion Safina won her first tournament of 2007 in Gold Coast, defeating Martina Hingis in the final. Following the match, Hingis praised Safina, saying that "everyone should watch her because she's gonna be maybe even better than her brother", and that she has "more will and desire" than Safin. She also won the doubles title at the tournament. She then lost in the third round of the Australian Open to Li Na.
Safina reached her second final of the year at the Tier I Charleston in April, after retirements from Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. In the final, she lost to Jelena Janković. After reaching the quarterfinals at both Berlin and Rome, Safina lost to Serena Williams in the fourth round of the French Open. During May, she moved up to world No. 9, the highest ranking of her career at the time.
On grass, Safina lost in three sets to Janković in the semifinal of 's-Hertogenbosch, having had a match point in the tiebreaker. Following that loss, she was upset by Akiko Morigami in the second round of Wimbledon.
Safina lost in the fourth round of the US Open to world No. 1 and eventual champion Justine Henin. At the tournament, she partnered Nathalie Dechy to win the women's doubles title, her first Grand Slam title. In October, Safina achieved only her second win over a player ranked in the top 10 that season, defeating world No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze en route to the semifinals of Moscow. She finished the season as world No. 16.
2008: First French Open final, Olympic silver Safina started 2008 poorly, winning just 11 of her first 21 matches. Her best result in singles play during this period was a run to the quarterfinals of Miami, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round. Safina has admitted that she was considering quitting tennis during this period. Meanwhile, she won doubles titles in Gold Coast, partnering Ágnes Szávay; and in Indian Wells, partnering Elena Vesnina.
In May, at the clay-court event in Berlin, Safina defeated world No. 1 Justine Henin in the third round. Safina went on to defeat Serena Williams for the first time in the quarterfinals, ending Williams's 17-match winning streak. She then defeated Elena Dementieva in the final to win the first Tier I title of her career. Safina retrospectively called the tournament "the key to her tennis life". As the 13th seed at the French Open, Safina defeated new world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, having saved a match point. In the quarterfinals, Safina defeated Dementieva, after saving match points again. Then, in her first Grand Slam semifinal, Safina defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, before losing to Ana Ivanovic in the final. Her results at this tournament caused her ranking to rise to world No. 9.
On grass, Safina lost in the final of 's-Hertogenbosch to Tamarine Tanasugarn. At Wimbledon, Safina lost in the third round to Israeli Shahar Pe'er.
At Los Angeles in July, Safina defeated top-seeded Jelena Janković in the semifinals before claiming her second title of the year by defeating Flavia Pennetta in the final. The following week, Safina won the Tier I Montreal, defeating Dominika Cibulková in the final. This marked the first time in her career that she had won titles at back-to-back tournaments, and it moved her up to world No. 6, her highest career ranking at the time. She also won the US Open Series as a result of this victory.
Representing Russia at the Beijing Olympics, Safina defeated world No. 1 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals in three sets, making her the first player in the history of the WTA Tour to defeat three different reigning World No. 1 players in the same year. In the semifinals, she defeated Li Na in straight sets. In the gold medal match, Safina lost to Dementieva in three sets while serving 23 double faults. She went into the US Open as one of five women who could have taken the world No. 1 ranking, depending on their results in this tournament. However, she lost in the semifinals to the eventual champion Serena Williams. After this tournament, her ranking rose to a career high of world No. 5.
Safina won her third Tier I title of the year and fourth title overall in Tokyo in September, defeating Kuznetsova in the final. This win moved her ranking to a new career-high of world No. 3, before later briefly becoming the No. 2 in October. She qualified for the year-ending WTA Championships for the first time in her career, but she lost all three of her round robin matches. She finished the year ranked No. 3, the first time she had finished a year in the world's top 10.
2009: Australian & French Open finals, world No. 1 Safina began 2009 by representing Russia with her brother Marat Safin in the Hopman Cup. They lost to the Slovak team in the final.