Elena Dementieva: the life of a famous tennis player

We all like sports. Someone likes to be engaged in them and conducts an active way of life, and someone adores to be cheerful for the favorite command or the sportsman. Among all sports there are a number of such sports, which are of special interest, for example, tennis. Many Wimbledon champions and the Olympic Games, of course, among them were the Russians. One of the brightest stars is the tennis player Elena Dementieva.

Family, childhood and the first steps in sport

Born a famous tennis player in Moscow, October 15, 1981. Her father was an electrical engineer, and for many years her mother was practically her personal trainer. The girl received a good education (at the moment she is fluent in English and French). In sports she was led by her mother. Lena was then only seven years old, but already then she was noticed and taken to the sporting society "Spartak". The first coach for her was Rauza Islanova, who accompanied the young talent until 1996, when Dementieva moved to the sports society of CSKA. The family strongly supported Elena in her sporting endeavors.

Youth

Elena Dementieva until 1995 played exclusively with her peers, showing good results, and eventually reached the tour of senior juniors.

Here she faced more qualified rivals, which allowed not only to gain experience, but also to get to the final in a single tournament at the Indonesian G3 competitions. The following year became also indicative, Dementieva increasingly appears in status tournaments, and her position in the rating is gradually growing. In 1997, she plays in the doubles tournament. Her partner was Anastasia Myskina, together they managed to reach the semifinals in Milan. On this their duet did not fall apart, in the same year they helped to defeat the national team in the Junior Federation Cup. The end of the 1997 season was successful, Elena Dementieva was able to reach the semifinals at such serious competitions as the Orange Bowl. 1998 began with several major junior tournaments, to which the Muscovite was purposefully preparing. On one of them, namely Roland Garros, Lena played both singles and doubles. And I got to the semifinals. Her partner this time was Nadezhda Petrova. Another serious tournament, the European Championships, was also successful. Dementieva and then showed herself the best way, again getting to the semifinals. The last in this season and in the youthful career of Muscovites became Orange Bowl, where she won a deserved victory, winning six matches in a row.

Style of play

From the very beginning of her career tennis player Dementieva Elena was different for her features in the game. They include both advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of the Muscovite has always been her excellent physical preparation, which allowed her to work most effectively on the entire court area.

Sometimes it was a key moment, especially during long matches, when in the end the opponent could no longer actively reflect the filing of Elena. The shortcomings include the instability of the psychological state, which was noticed by specialists in 2000. Also, this can be considered a weak supply, which was often the cause of the defeats. However, in the future Muscovite made a lot of efforts to overcome its shortcomings and turn them into advantages. Among other things, it can be noted that the manner of playing Dementieva is precisely the attacker.

Adult tour

In the adult tournament, the Russian first appeared in 1995. It happened at the Moscow ITF tournament, where Dementieva not only was able to exceed all expectations, but also easily win the tournament. Participation in matches of this level did not pass unnoticed, because gaining experience in professional competitions, the Muscovite achieved ever greater success and won more and more titles. Already played duet with Anastasia Myskina brought them an unqualified victory in many competitions. But Elena received the status of a professional player directly in 1998. And this was the beginning of a series of new victories, which her biography is full of. Elena Dementieva from the first time qualified to participate in the WTA tournament, which was held in Prague. Here she managed to show herself in the best possible way, playing alongside Amelie Mauresmo, the 34th racket of the world. In general, this year was successful, because by the end Elena managed to win back a little more than 150 positions, which allowed her to enter the Top-200 rating.

The next stage of Dementieva's career was the qualification for the Grand Slam tournament in 1999. In the same year she entered the adult national team of Russia, and at the Federation Cup helped to earn a point against the American women. She was barely 18 at the time, but she has already achieved high results and has established herself as a professional. The season of 2000 Elena Dementieva finished in the rank of the twelfth racket of the world, which was a huge achievement for her career that had just started. In 2003, the tennis player also visited Wimbledon, where she entered the semifinals. Elena's further career is connected not only with singles, but also with the Russian national team. So, for example, in 2005 she wins the Fed Cup.

Olympic Games

Since 2000, Dementieva three times in a row qualifying competitions for participation in the Olympic tennis tournaments. In Australia, to the great surprise of many, she managed to get to the final, although at that time in the ranking she was only in the seventeenth place. For gold, she had to fight with an American, the second racket of the world Venus Williams. However, Elena lost to her and took second place on the Olympic pedestal.

At the Olympic tournament in Greece Elena failed to perform well. But as for the last Olympic Games, which the Muscovite performed, then already she showed herself in all its glory, having won gold. In the photo of Elena Dementieva you can see how happy she is to receive such a high award. In principle, in Beijing, managed to excel all Russian women, because they took the whole pedestal.

Impairment of results

Shortly before the last Olympics, in 2007, Dementieva's career experienced a sharp decline. It was then, for the first time in her career, she could not get to the WTA championship. It became a powerful blow. Most likely, the decrease in the characteristics of the tennis player was affected by injuries, which literally haunted her recently. However, this did not stop Elena from getting together and performing brilliantly in Beijing in 2008.

End of career

2010 was the final year in Dementieva's tennis career - she spent the last season as a professional. At that time, she still held the rating of the ten strongest tennis players on the planet, but health problems prevented her from moving on. At first she did not think about leaving, but the first pass for the first time in 11 years already said that she can not play at the same pace. In May, Elena made her last attempt to reach the final of the Grand Slam tournament, however, already in the semi-final, due to pain she had to withdraw from participation. It was an emotional act, not every athlete will decide on this, so says Elena Dementieva. The latest news about her sports career was that she decided to take part in the Perth Hopman Cup. However, the thought that this is the last tournament in such a brilliant career, of course, was pressed by a stone load, it was hard not to play physically, but emotionally.

Awards and merits

Throughout her career, Dementieva has earned many awards, including the orders that she was given personally by the President of the Russian Federation. It is worth noting that she made a huge contribution to the development of physical culture and sports in Russia. In total, she received three awards of the highest standard: the Order of Friendship, the Order of Honor and the Order "For Services to the Motherland", Elena received them in 2001, 2009 and 2010. In 2011 she is a member of the Russian Tennis Hall of Fame.

Personal life

High-level athletes, as a rule, take care of their personal lives in the last place. This was also the difference between Elena Dementieva. Wedding, children and quiet family life could exist for her so far only in dreams. All the forces went to prepare for and participate in competitions.

The personal life of the sportswoman was never disclosed. Therefore, a very long time relationship Elena Dementieva and the famous hockey player Maxim Afinogenov were hidden from the general public. They were familiar since 2004, with the tournament Roland Garros, where Maxim was present as a fan. Direct acquaintance occurred at a party about the victory of Russian tennis players at the French Championships. Their relationship could be called more romantic, because they were separated by huge distances most of the time. However, despite remoteness, they continued to keep in touch, and even occasionally met.

Noticing Elena and Maxim together in 2007, journalists hastened to announce their engagement, but the information was not entirely accurate. At that time there was an active preparation for the Olympic Games, in which Elena Dementieva took part, and Afinogenov, at the same time, was bound by a contract and could not give himself up completely to his private life. But the wedding did take place, however, in 2011. Immediately after announcing the end of her sports career Elena went to Moscow, where the wedding took place.

Last news

Even as spouses, Elena and Maxim do not live in the same city. Afinogenov continues to make a career as a hockey player in St. Petersburg, and the eminent tennis player studies at the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Journalism and works on television. Most importantly, they are happy. Literally one of these days it became known that Elena Dementieva gave birth. A beautiful girl was born on April 20. It remains only to wish this sporting family happiness.