There were a whole host of tennis professionals that attended the recent wedding of Elena Dementieva. Maria Kirilenko, Igo Andreev, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Vera Zvonareva, Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Vesnina and Vera Dushevina, among others.
“They were sitting with us, talking on the microphone, they were dancing together. It was unbelievable. Normally when you go to wedding, you are sitting and watching and it’s kind of boring.”
Kirilenko said that the newlyweds performed a duet, singing a love song to each other while dancing. “Elena told me they practiced a lot. I was surprised she sang well.”
Elena Dementieva is getting married on Saturday to long term boyfriend Maxim Afinogenov. Maxim is a professional ice hockey player who played around 10 years in the NHL and is now back playing in Russia.
Dementieva retired from tennis at the end of last year and at the time talked a lot about starting a family. Guess this is the first step.
Elena Dementieva is out of Wimbledon. Dementieva suffered a calf injury in the second round of Roland Garros and hasnt recovered. The Russian was forced out of her semifinal against eventual winner Francesca Schiavone because of the injury, her first retirement in 43 major appearances.
Last year Elena reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, so with her not playing this year she will most definitely be out of the top 10.
Serena Williams has certainly staked her claim at the top of the women’s’ game after reclaiming her No1 ranking from Dinara Safina after the 2009 US Open. The latter part of the season usually sees players drop their intensity and look forward to the prospect of a holiday. The Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha was more an exhibition of the consequences’ of over playing than a showcase of the best in women’s tennis.
Despite this, Serena Williams looked the freshest of the crop and came through some tough conditions with strapping on her thigh to win the singles. Elena Dementieva said after her 2-6 4-6 defeat, “She’s too good for me” Serena has accelerated her pace at the top of the women’s’ game, it’s reported, with the aid of Power Plate.
“On tour, playing back-to-back matches is tough on your body. Being ready the next day is the difference between winning or losing. If I can accelerate the recovery and healing process, I have a definite advantage. With my Power Plate®, I have that advantage,” Williams says.
Talk of Williams prowess at the Australian Open was accompanied by assurances that she will be around for a few years to come and I wonder if we will see her accelerate away from the rest of the field, or will they match the pace and keep up with her?
Over the years Elena Dementieva has received a lot of stick about her serve. Here is quite a fun video of Dementieva serving. I dont think she actually did this first go, but maybe over the series of several hours!
Over at the DamnGoodList they have profiled the top 25 female tennis players. The list features so big names and some ladies who are still yet to actually make their mark on tour. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Players include:
Elena Dementieva
Tatiana Golovin
Sania Mirza
Marta Domachowska
and more..
Jelena Jankovic has ended the tennis year as the number one tennis player in the world, followed by Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, and Ana Ivanovic.
The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings is the worldwide computer ranking for women’s professional tennis.
The ranking system is a 52-week, cumulative system in which the number of Tournament results that comprise a player’s ranking is capped at 17 Tournament results for Singles and 11 Tournament results for Doubles.
The results used to determine a player’s ranking are the Tournaments yielding the player’s highest Ranking points over the past 52 weeks.
Name: Elena Dementieva Country: Russia Birthdate: October 15, 1981 Birthplace: Moscow, then Russian SFSR, Soviet Union Residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco Plays: Right-handed with a double handed backhand Height: 180 cm or 5ft 11in Website: http://eng.dementieva.ru
Scouting: Elena is a very offensive baseline player with solid groundstrokes on both sides, but her forehand is her main weapon. Elena has a very strong running forehand in particular and she tends to go for it a lot more, but this also means she makes a lot more unforces errors.
Elena is pretty much one of those players who comes to net only once in a match and that is to shake hands. She has great speeds and athleticism around court and her fitness levels are very high.
Elena’s main weakness is her serve. Her serve is very inconsistent at time and especially in tight situation of big matches. Once Elena starts to tire her serve drops a little shorter and with less pace. Her very obvious weakness is her second serve that is nearly always to her opponents forehand, because she cant hit a kick serve and her serves are just slice.
