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Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (Russian: born June 27, 1985) is
a Russian professional tennis player.
Kuznetsova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her father
Alexandr Kuznetsov is a cycling coach who has coached to success five Olympic
and world champions. Her father's protégés include her mother,
Galina Tsareva, a six-time world champion and holder of 20 world records,
and Svetlana’s brother, Nikolai Kuznetsov, a silver medallist at the
1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Kuznetsova also tried out cycling in her
early years, but it bored her. She focused on tennis instead and was sent
to Spain when she was 15 years old, for better training and coaching.
Kuznetsova plays mainly from the baseline, is a very good
mover on court and over the years has perfected a heavy and accurate forehand
that troubles her opponents greatly.
She won her first Grand Slam title in the 2004 US Open, where
she defeated countrywoman Elena Dementieva in straight sets in an all-Russian
final (the second in history after Myskina-Dementieva at the French Open
of the same year).
Kuznetsova is also a very active doubles player and as of
January, 2005 ranks third in the doubles rankings. Her second Grand Slam
title came at the 2005 Australian Open's women's doubles event, where she
teamed with Australia's Alicia Molik and defeated Americans Lindsay Davenport
and Corina Morariu in the final. She reached five other Grand Slam doubles
finals, with Martina Navratilova, Elena Likhovtseva and Amelie Mauresmo as
her partners.
A year after her first Grand Slam victory, Kuznetsova became
the first woman during the Open Era to lose in the first round as a defending
women's champion at the 2005 US Open. She was involved in a doping scandal
and was accused of taking efedrine but as the test was taken during unofficial
competition the case was never investigated. Kuznetsova is a proud lesbian,
one more in the growing list of openly lesbian players on the WTA Tour.
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