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World number one tennis player: What Marat Safin's sister Dinara Safina looks like now?

 

Dinara Safina repeated the success of her brother and also became the World number one tennis player. She is in great shape today. Will Dinara return to court? Dinara Safina's career was predetermined from birth, as she grew up in a sports family. Dad is the director of a tennis club in Moscow, and mom, Rauza Islanova, is a former Soviet tennis player, an international master of sports. Later, Dinara's mother became a children's coach and worked with such future stars as Elena Dementyeva, Anastasia Myskina and Anna Kournikova, as well as with her own children, Marat and Dinara.

Well, the most famous member of this sports family is Dinara's older brother, Marat Safin (the age difference is 6 years and 3 months). Marat has always been a guiding star in life and in sports for Dinara. At the age of 14, he went to study at the tennis academy in Valencia. Dinara followed there at an even younger age to hone her skills. At the age of 14, Safina won the prestigious children's international tournament in France - Les Petits As. And a year later she reached the final of junior Wimbledon, where girls under 18 are fighting.

In adult tennis, Dinara was also able to reach the final of the Grand Slam tournament. It happened on clay courts "Roland Garros" -2008. Safina, seeded 13th, sequentially knocked out of the grid all the Russians that came her way - in the fourth round, Maria Sharapova (1st seed), then, having recouped from the matchball in the second set, Elena Dementyeva (7) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (4). However, in the final, Dinara could not cope with the Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic (2), who, in addition to the title, also received the title of the World number one tennis player.

Photo: Getty Images

The following year at the Australian Open, already being the 3rd seeded, Dinara was able to withstand a difficult 4th round match with Frenchwoman Alize Cornet (15), and then a difficult psychologically fight with Australian Elena Dokich, who was supported by the entire stadium ... In the semifinals, Dinara defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva (7), and in the final she met with Serena Williams (2) herself, whom no one could stop that day.

Серена Уильямс и Динара Сафина на Australian Open-2009

Serena Williams and Dinara Safina at the 2009 Australian Open Photo: Getty Images

Dinara had a third attempt just 4 months later. The Russian woman had an excellent clay run and performed at Roland Garros as the first seed. In the third round, she knocked out the young Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27), then defeated the Frenchwoman Aravan Rezai, in the quarterfinals she was able to recoup from 0-1 in sets in the match with Victoria Azarenka (9), followed by the Slovakian Dominika Tsibulkova (20) and made her way for the third time to the final on helmets. But there was no equal to the Russian woman Svetlana Kuznetsova (7).

Photo: Getty Images

In 2008, Dinara made her debut at the Olympic Games - so much so that everyone is envy. In doubles in the Olympic Beijing, she performed with Svetlana Kuznetsova. The girls were seeded at number 1. The busy schedule of the tennis tournament, accompanied by rains and transfers, did not allow the Russians to pass the Chinese pair in the quarterfinals - 8:10 in the third set. But in singles, Safina (6) was able to remove two Chinese women from the road - Zheng Jie in the 3rd round and Li Na in the semifinals, as well as Serbian Elena Jankovic (2) in the quarterfinals. In the decisive match, two Russians met - Safina and Elena Dementieva (5). Dementyeva, who had the experience of two Olympics behind her and played in Beijing only in singles, was able to save more strength for the final and won gold, having won back from 0-1 in sets. Well, Dinara became a silver medalist at the only Olympics for her. Bronze went to another representative of Russia - Vera Zvonareva. The entire podium in Beijing 2008 was taken by Russians!

Динара Сафина, Елена Дементьева и Вера Звонарёва на пьедестале Олимпиады-2008

Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva on the podium of the 2008 Olympics Photo: RIA Novosti

Despite defeats in important finals, Dinara Safina was able to win many major titles - for example, tournaments of the highest 1st category in Berlin, Montreal and Tokyo-2008, and See also Rome and Madrid 2009 on ground. In total, the Russian woman has 12 titles in singles and 9 in doubles, including the US Open-2007 (together with Frenchwoman Natalie Deshi) and Indian Wells-2008 (with Elena Vesnina). In May 2008, Dinara was able to become the 8th World number one tennis player in doubles.

Photo: Getty Images

An important milestone in Dinara Safina's career was her performance in the Russian national team in the Fed Cup. She made her debut in this tournament at the age of 19 and contributed to the victory of the team in the very first draw for herself in 2005. In the away final with the French national team on the famous courts of Roland Garros, Dinara entered the decisive doubles combination with Elena Demetieva, when the score was drawn - 2-2. And the famous Marie Pierce with Amelie Mauresmo were defeated! Dinara also made significant contributions to the victory of the Russian national team in the 2008 Fed Cup

You can watch the video on Twitter at FedCup.

The main success came to Dinara Safina during the 2009 dirt season - the accumulated victories over the past 52 weeks were enough for the Russian woman to rise to the top of the world rankings. On April 20, a week before her 23rd birthday, Dinara became the World number one tennis player.

Before her, only three tennis players from Russia managed to achieve this - Evgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin and Maria Sharapova. In this position, Safina Jr. held out until October, performing in this status at three Grand Slam tournaments in a row. In total, she was the World number one tennis player for exactly six months (26 weeks), ahead of Marat, and Maria, and Eugene in this indicator. By the way, Dinara and Marat together set another unique record - they are the only brother and sister in the world who were the World number one tennis players in singles. In women's tennis, there are two sisters topping the rankings - Serena and Venus Williams. Safins vs. Williams. Choosing your favorite tennis pair of brothers and sisters Or maybe the Murray brothers or the Plishkov sisters? Which of these family duos is the most interesting?

The 2009 season for Dinara began with a landmark event - at the Hopman Cup, the mixed team championship, she performed with her brother. At the group stage, the Safins defeated all rivals from Italy, Taiwan and France, and only in the final lost to a duet from Slovakia - Dominik Khrbaty and Dominik Cibulkov.

Динара Сафина и Марат Сафин

Dinara Safina and Marat Safin Photo: instagram.com/dinarasafinaofficial

Unfortunately, that year ended for Dinara on a minor note - due to constant overloads, the body of the Russian tennis player could not stand it, and at the WTA Final Championship in Doha she starred at the beginning of the starting group stage match from unbearable back pain. Safina played the whole of the next 2010, but the results sharply declined - only in four tournaments she reached the quarterfinals. In 2011, Dinara was already filming during the clay tournaments in Marbella and Fez, and after she lost in the second round of the tournament in Madrid, she did not go to court in official matches anymore.

Photo: instagram.com/dinarasafinaofficial

In October 2014, on the courts of the Moscow sports complex "Olimpiyskiy" in a solemn atmosphere, it was announced the end of the career of Dinara Safina, along with another famous Russian woman - Anna Chakvetadze. Since then, Dinara has been constantly in tennis - she conducts master classes, demonstration, veteran fights with the participation of tennis stars, is engaged in the popularization of this sport, and comments on matches. Safina took part in the Olympic torch relay before the games in Sochi 2014. In April 2015, the Russian woman became the PR director of Masters in Madrid.

Динара Сафина и Анна Чакветадзе

Dinara Safina and Anna Chakvetadze Photo: RIA Novosti

In recent years, Dinara Safina has been actively involved in coaching. According to the Russian woman, she is more interested in junior tennis players: “I think that it would be most comfortable for me to train children aged 15 and over. I believe that I can benefit tennis players who are already close to high performance sports. Where there is a need for constant polishing of the game, tactical analysis of the opponent and other subtleties of tennis ... I want to learn how to help them get rid of the jitters, unnecessary excitement that interferes with the game. For example, through breathing practices in yoga, which help to calm down, ”Dinara said.

Photo: instagram.com/dinarasafinaofficial

Apparently, one of these tennis players, whom Dinara secretly helped, was an American of Russian origin Sophia Kenin. In January 2020, she unexpectedly became the winner of the Australian Open. During the match, Dinara Safina was sitting in Kenin's box, and after the victory and the award ceremony, Sofia happily hugged Dinara in the room under the stands.

You can watch the video on Twitter at the Australian Open. It is curious that Sophia Kenin herself commented on the appearance of Safina in her box during the victorious tournament for her: “Dinara and I follow each other on Instagram, and we are texting. I asked her if she would like to come to my match. She said she was happy. Of course, it's very cool that Dinara was in my box. I am aware of her achievements. "

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