Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova (born October 18, 1956) is a Czech American and former Czechoslovak tennis player and a former World No. 1. Billie Jean King said about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."

Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including 9 consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record 9 times. She and King each won 20 Wimbledon titles, an all-time record. Navratilova is one of just three women to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (called the Grand Slam "boxed set") a record she shares with Margaret Court and Doris Hart. She holds the open era record for most singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177). She recorded the longest winning streak in the open era (74 consecutive matches) and three of the six longest winning streaks in the women's open era. Navratilova, Margaret Court, and Maureen Connolly share the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (six). Navratilova reached 11 consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, second all-time to Steffi Graf's 13. In women's doubles, Navratilova and Pam Shriver won 109 consecutive matches and won all four Grand Slam titles in 1984. Also the pair set an all time record of 79 titles together and tied Louise Brough Clapp's and Margaret Osborne duPont's record of 20 Grand Slam women's doubles titles as a team.

Originally from Czechoslovakia, she was stripped of her citizenship when, in 1975 at the age of 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residency. At the time, Navratilova was being told by the Czechoslovakian Sports Federation that she was becoming too Americanized and that she should go back to school and make tennis secondary. Navratilova became a US citizen in 1981, but on January 9, 2008, she had her Czech citizenship restored. She stated she has not renounced her American citizenship nor does she plan to do so and that the restoration of her Czech citizenship was not politically motivated.
Navratilova is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy. She also serves the Health and Fitness Ambassador for AARP in an alliance created to help AARP's millions of members lead active, healthy lives.

In September 1992, Navratilova played Jimmy Connors in the third Battle of the Sexes tennis match at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Connors was allowed only one serve per point and Navratilova was allowed to hit into half the doubles court. Connors won 7–5, 6–2.

statics
Country : Czechoslovakia
United States
Residence : Sarasota, Florida
Date of birth : October 18, 1956 (1956-10-18)
Place of birth : Prague, Czechoslovakia
Height : 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight : 65.5 kg (144 lb; 10.31 st)
Turned pro : 1975
Retired : 2006
Plays : Left-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money : US$21,626,089
(5th in all-time rankings)

Tamira Paszek

Tamira Shelah Paszek (born December 6, 1990 in Dornbirn, Austria) is a professional tennis player from Austria. As of September 11, 2009, she is the third ranked tennis player from Austria in the WTA ranking, at No. 88.

She was introduced to tennis by her mother, Françoise Paszek, at age four-and-a-half. Her mother is Chilean born, and her father is Ariff Mohamed, who is Tanzanian-born, Kenya-raised and lived in Canada. Both her paternal grandparents are from India. She is currently being coached by Angel Giminez having previously been coached by Larri Passos (former coach of former ATP No.1 Gustavo Kuerten).

She then entered 2010 Wimbledon, qualified but lost to Kurumi Nara in second round 7-5 6-4.

She tried to qualify in Budapest defeating Eleni Danilidou and Jessica Moore but lost to Andreja Klepac 5-7 6-2 6-1. Her next tournament will be 2010 ECM Prague Open. She entered qualifing. Tamira defeated Tadeja Majeric 6-4 6-0 and then crushed first seed Anastasia Rodionova. She than lost to Liana Ungur 2-6 3-2. After losing the first set 6-2, Tamira went to play better breaking Ungur serve and lead 2-0.On the other side Ungur came back broke twice to lead 3-2. Tamira then retired because of heat and stomach inyuri.But,because Gisela Dulko withdrew Tamira gained her chance to enter to the main draw. She faced French star Alize Cornet and lost 7-6 6-7 6-4 in match that last 3 hours and 40-minutes.

Her next tournament will be 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open where she defeated Jelena Kostanić Tošić 7-5 6-2 for her first main draw win since Ponte Vedra Beach in 2009. She faced Stefanie Voegele and lost 7-5 6-4.

After some bad losses in qualifying of the Premier tournaments, Tamira found her form in the 2010 US Open where she entered qualifying. She defeated Michaella Krajicek, Koreas Kim So- Jing and Russias Evgeniya Rodina to reach the main draw. In the final qualifying round, Paszek trailed Rodina 2-6 after the first set before coming back to win the second and blank the Russian in the third. In the 1st round of the main draw, she defeated 26th seed Lucie Šafářová despite being down 2-6 1-4 in the second set. She lost to Chan Yung-jan in the second round.

Her next tournament will be 2010 Bell Challenge. She defeated Marina Erakovic 6-0 6-4 and Jill Craybas in the second round 6-2 6-3.In her first quarter-final of the 2010 she defeated No.8 seed Sofia Arvidsson 6-3 6-4.She than crushed Christina McHale in the semifinal to book her place in the final where she won the title by beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6(6) 2-6 7-5.
She will be in the 100 rankings again.



stats
Country : Austria
Residence : Dornbirn, Austria
Date of birth : December 6, 1990 (1990-12-06)
Place of birth : Dornbirn, Austria
Height : 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight : 60 kg (130 lb; 9.4 st)
Turned pro : October 26, 2005
Plays : Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Melanie South

Melanie Jayne South (born 3 May 1986 in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey) is an English tennis player. She is currently the British number 8 and ranked 259 in the world (as of 4 October 2010). So far in her career she has won a total of 6 ITF singles titles, 15 ITF doubles titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of world number 99 (achieved 2 February 2009).

Her greatest success in a Grand Slam so far came in the first round of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships when she came back from one set down to beat the world No.14, Francesca Schiavone, 3–6 6–3 6–4, in a match witnessed by tennis legend, Martina Navratilova. At the time, South was ranked at 305 in the world and had reached the main draw courtesy of a wild card. Not since the third round of the 1998 tournament, when Samantha Smith beat the world No.7 Conchita Martínez, had a British woman beaten an opponent of a similar ranking at Wimbledon. She lost in the second round to Shenay Perry, the world No. 62, 6–7(5) 2–6. Outside of Wimbledon, South reached the first round of the 2009 Australian Open without needing to qualify and without a wild card. This was the first time in her career that her ranking was high enough to grant her access to a Grand Slam main draw without a wild card. She lost to world No.17, Marion Bartoli in round one.

South's style of gameplay centres around her powerful serve and her aggressive ground strokes. She regularly serves aces and gets many more free points from other serves which can't be returned, making her a difficult player to break when she's playing at her best. However because her serve is so high-risk, at times she serves a large number of double faults and when a couple of these come in the same game it puts her at a sizable disadvantage. In her first round match at Wimbledon 2008 against Alona Bondarenko she served a total of 10 aces, 7 double faults and won 68% of the points behind her first serve. She also hit 45 winners and 48 unforced errors during this match, a statistic which demonstrates her aggressive, high-risk attitude to tennis. Renowned tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri, saw Mel play during her first round match against his charge, Michelle Larcher de Brito, in the 2008 French Open and commented: "She can serve well and has good ground strokes. She moves well for a big girl but you can see that lateral movement is a problem for her. Whenever she's pushed out wide she can struggle."




stats
Country : United Kingdom Great Britain
Residence : England New Malden, Surrey
Date of birth : 3 May 1986 (1986-05-03)
Place of birth : England Kingston, Surrey
Height : 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro : 2004
Retired : Active
Plays : Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

Casey Dellacqua

Casey Dellacqua (born 11 February 1985) is an Australian professional tennis player who currently resides in Perth, Western Australia. After the 2008 Australian Open, she became Australia's highest-ranked women's player. She was previously coached by former Australian player Nicole Pratt, before the two decided to part ways prior to the Australian Open 2009.
She is of Italian descent through her father and Irish through her mother.

She received a wildcard to the Brisbane International, but lost in the first round to Sesil Karatantcheva 2-6, 6-0, 6-7 (1).

She received a wildcard to the Medibank International tournament in Sydney, but lost in the first round to Vera Dushevina 2-6, 2-6.

In the first round of the Australian Open, she defeated Anastasiya Yakimova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. She faced a tougher opponent in her second round match against Karolina Šprem, but eventually won through in straight sets 7-6, 7-6. Casey was eliminated in the third round by sixth seed Venus Williams 6-1, 7-6.

After representing Australia at the Fed Cup with Samantha Stosur, Alicia Molik and Rennae Stubbs, Dellacqua entered a $25,000 ITF tournament in Mildura, which she won in both singles and doubles (with Jessica Moore).

Her next tournament was a $25,000 ITF tournament in Sydney. She was defeated in the second round in singles, but won the doubles title with compatriot Jessica Moore.

Dellacqua's next tournament will be Wimbledon, where she'll use her protected ranking to gain direct entry into the main draw. Dellacqua was beaten in the opening round 6-1, 6-0, by Bojana Jovanovski.

Dellacqua will be taking the rest of the tour year off and will most likely miss the 2011 Australian Open due to another surgery.












stats
Country : Flag of Australia.svg Australia
Residence : Perth, Western Australia
Date of birth : 11 February 1985 (1985-02-11) (age 25)
Place of birth : Perth, Australia
Height : 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight : 68 kg (150 lb; 10.7 st)
Turned pro : 2002
Plays : Left-handed (two-handed backhand)

Lisa Raymond

Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973 in Norristown, Pennsylvania) is a professional female tennis player from the United States. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles. Her career high singles ranking was fifteenth in October 1997.

Earning more than US$8 million in prize money in her career, Raymond has reached the quarterfinals in singles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon. Raymond, who plays right-handed, has wins over Venus Williams, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis. She also is one of the few (40) players to win a career Grand Slam in doubles.

Of her four singles titles, two have come at the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee.

She has won the career grand slam in women's doubles, being the most recent of 13 to accomplish this feat. She also has won four mixed doubles grand slams in three venues (French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open) as well. In singles, Raymond is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist.



stats
Country : USA
Residence : Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA
Date of birth : August 10, 1973 (1973-08-10) (age 37)
Place of birth : Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA
Height : 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight : 121 lb (55 kg; 8.6 st)
Turned pro : May 1993
Plays : Right-handed