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Daniela Hantuchova

Hantuchová at the 2009 Brisbane International
Nickname(s)	Danka (in Slovak) Dani (in English)
Country	Slovakia
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth	April 23, 1983 (1983-04-23) (age 26)
Place of birth	Poprad, Slovakia, (then CSSR)
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	62 kg (140 lb; 9.8 st)1
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right-handed; Two-handed backhand
Career prize money	$6,293,457
Singles
Career record	363–227
Career titles	3 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 5 (January 27, 2003)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (2008)
French Open	4R (2002, 2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2002)
US Open	QF (2002)
Doubles
Career record	203–143
Career titles	8 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 5 (August 26, 2002)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2002, 2009)
French Open	F (2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2005)
US Open	3R (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008)
Mixed Doubles
Career record	38–13
Career titles	4
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	W (2002)
French Open	W (2005)
Wimbledon	W (2001)
US Open	W (2005)
Last updated on: June 22, 2009.

Daniela Hantuchová (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈdanɪjɛla ˈɦantuxɔvaː]; born April 23, 1983 is a Slovak professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first Tier I tournament and ended the year in the top ten.

She is currently coached by Albert Portas.² Her WTA Tour mentor in the "Partners for Success" program was Martina Navratilova, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. As of June 22, 2009, Hantuchová is ranked World No. 32 in singles.³

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Career 2.1 Overall 2.1.1 Doubles 2.2 2002 2.3 2003 2.4 2004 2.5 2005 2.6 2006 2.7 2007 2.8 2008 2.9 2009 3 Endorsements 3.1 Product endorsement and equipment 3.2 Video games 4 Major finals 4.1 Grand Slam finals 4.1.1 Doubles: 3 (0-3) 4.1.2 Mixed doubles: 5 (4-1) 5 Career finals 5.1 Singles: 9 (3-6) 5.2 Doubles wins (8) 5.3 Doubles runner-ups (11) 6 ITF titles (4) 6.1 Singles (3) 6.2 Doubles (1) 7 Singles performance timeline 8 Achievements 8.1 Team achievements 8.2 Special achievements 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

Personal life

Hantuchová was born in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) to father Igor, a computer scientist and mother Marianna, a toxicologist.⁴ Her tour debut and early results were auspicious. Her performance temporarily dipped, as a result of her parents splitting up in 2003.⁵ At the Wimbledon that year, she lost to the 81st ranked player in the world, failing to convert match points and weeping on court. She suffered from weight problem during this period.⁶⁷ She was also suspected of being anorexic,⁵⁸ however Hantuchová denied this.⁹

Hantuchová speaks six languages and was trained as a classical pianist.⁵ She is thought to be a perfectionist and places a lot of pressure on herself during her training.⁵ She qualified for university in Slovakia but deferred it to pursue tennis.^{citation needed}

She appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition alongside Maria Kirilenko and Tatiana Golovin in a pictoral entitled Volley of the Dolls.¹⁰

Career

Overall

Hantuchová has won three WTA singles tournaments in her career, the first in 2002 at the Tier I Pacific Life Open, defeating Martina Hingis 6–3 6–4 in the final, and in 2007 at the same tournament, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6–3 6–4 ending a five-year title drought. Her most recent title came at the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria, where she defeated Patty Schnyder 6–4, 6–2 in the final.

She has reached six other finals in her career — Filderstadt 2002 losing to Kim Clijsters, Eastbourne 2004 losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova, Los Angeles 2005 where she lost to Clijsters again, the 2006 Zurich Open losing to Maria Sharapova, in Bali 2007 losing to Lindsay Davenport and Luxembourg 2007 to Ana Ivanović.

She has also achieved reasonable results in the Grand Slam events. Her career-best is a semifinal appearance at the 2008 Australian Open. As well as this, she has reached three other Grand Slam quarterfinals: at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2002 and the Australian Open in 2003. She has reached three Grand Slam doubles finals and is only one of five women to have a career Mixed Doubles Grand Slam.

Doubles

Hantuchová's biggest successes have so far come in mixed doubles. In this event, she won the 2001 Wimbledon championships with Leoš Friedl, the 2002 Australian Open with Kevin Ullyett, the 2005 French Open with Fabrice Santoro, and 2005 US Open with Mahesh Bhupathi. She was runner-up at Wimbledon in 2002 with Ullyett, and she reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2004 with Todd Woodbridge. At the 2005 US Open she completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam with Mahesh Bhupathi when they beat Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić in the final in straight sets 6–4, 6–2. She is only the fifth woman (after Hart, Court, King and Navratilova) to complete a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles. In Perth, Western Australia in 2005, Hantuchová won the Hopman Cup with Dominik Hrbatý.

Hantuchová's other achievements include winning eight women's doubles titles. From 2005 to early 2007 she played doubles with Ai Sugiyama, with some fans affectionately referring to the team as "Hantuyama".¹¹ They have won three titles together; in Rome, Doha, and Birmingham, as well as reaching the final at the French Open in 2006 (Hantuchová's first Grand Slam doubles final was in 2002 with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario at the Australian Open). "Hantuyama" won the award for "Fan Favorite Doubles Team of 2005" at the Stars for Stars in Miami.

In early 2007, the partnership between Sugiyama and Hantuchova ended, though the pair continued playing together (at Dubai and Doha) because Hantuchová, eager to play doubles with Martina Hingis, wanted to give Sugiyama time to find a new partner. Hingis and Hantuchova only played once (reaching the semifinals of Miami) due to Hingis's subsequent injury which kept her out until Wimbledon. Thereafter she partnered Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanović in the bigger tournaments before reuniting with Hingis for the summer hardcourt tournaments in North America. They reached the third round of the US Open in their first attempt together at a grand slam. In the absence of Hingis in Bali she played doubles with Lindsay Davenport. Through the start of the 2008 season she played with Davenport, Ivanović, Martina Hingis and rejoined Ai Sugiyama for the 2008 Pacific Life Open and 2009 Australian Open.

2002

2002 was Hantuchová's breakout season, in which she won her first tournament at the prestigious Indian Wells event, defeating Justine Henin in the fourth round 6–3 6–3 and Martina Hingis in the final 6–3 6–4. She was the lowest ranked player (25th) to ever win the Tier I event.¹² Later on that year, Hantuchová also reached the final in Filderstadt, losing to Kim Clijsters 4–6 6–3 6–4, the only set Hantuchová has taken from Clijsters in their nine meetings.

Also that year, she made the semifinals in Linz, New Haven, Montreal, and Eastbourne. Hantuchová also made her first two Slam quarterfinals, defeating Jelena Dokić 6–4 7–5 in the fourth round at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, and defeating Justine Henin again in the fourth round at the US Open 6–1 3–6 7–6(4), losing to eventual champion Serena Williams again in the quarterfinals.

Hantuchová record for the year was 6-10 against top 10 players; 6–2 in singles Fed Cup play (helping lead Slovakia to their first Fed Cup victory against Spain in the final); 10-6 on indoor carpet, 6–2 on grass, 11-7 on clay, and 29-10 on hardcourts.

2003

Hantuchová started 2003 solidly, reaching the quarterfinals at her first three events in Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport 6–4 3–6 7–6(3), Venus Williams 6–4 6–3 at the Australian Open (her third Slam quarterfinal in a row), and Elena Dementieva in Paris 7–5 6–3. Hantuchová reached her first semifinal of the year at her fourth event in Antwerp, losing to Williams again, 6–1 6–4. By then, Hantuchová's ranking was at a career high No. 5.

Defending a title for the first time in her career, Hantuchová advanced to the fourth round in Indian Wells, losing to Amanda Coetzer 6–4 6–4. Despite a first round loss to Alicia Molik in Miami, Hantuchová rebounded in the Tier I Charleston event, making her fifth quarterfinal in seven events, losing to Ashley Harkleroad 6–2 6–1. She made her sixth quarterfinal at her next event in Amelia Island, losing to eventual champion Dementieva 6–0 6–1.

Hantuchová went undefeated in first round Fed Cup play against Germany, winning both of her matches. Following Fed Cup, she again made it to the quarterfinals for the seventh time of the year at the Tier I Berlin tournament, losing to Kim Clijsters 6–0 6–3.

At the French Open, Hantuchová lost in the second round in a marathon match to Harkleroad again 7–6(2) 4–6 9–7 making 101 unforced errors, leading to long-time coach Nigel Sears criticising her attitude publicly.¹³ Following the match, her extremely thin physique was noticed for the first time publicly and some wondered about Hantuchová's health.

Kicking off the grass season in Eastbourne, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to Conchita Martínez, but more famously she lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Shinobu Asagoe 0–6 6–4 12-10, with Hantuchová breaking down crying during the latter stages of the match in the midst of making 57 unforced errors. Some theorized that the media's continued interest regarding her weight and the pressure of success at 19 years of age, in addition to her on-court breakdown and her parents' divorce,her coach walked out during the middle of the match. This helped to explain subsequent fall of Hantuchová from the top of women's tennis. Following Wimbledon Hantuchová went 6–8 for the rest of the year, 0–4 against top 10 players She ended the year with an overall record of 28-23 and she fell to No. 17 in the world. Further signs of the pressure and problems she was facing during this period was that in July she made herself unavailable for Slovakia in the Fed Cup in order to concentrate on her singles career and in November she parted company with Sears.¹⁴

2004

2004 proved to be a continuation of Hantuchová's poor second half of 2003, with many of the same struggles (she briefly hired Harold Soloman, who had previously coached her friend Jennifer Capriati as well as Anna Kournikova before re-hiring Sears in March),¹⁵ She reached just three quarterfinals, her first of which at the first Tier I event in Tokyo was not until halfway through the season. At Tokyo, however, she garnered her thus far only victory over Maria Sharapova in the second round, falling to Davenport 6–2 6–2 in the quarters. The tournament that saved her from a poor 2004 was Eastbourne, in which she defeated Ai Sugiyama in the quarterfinals 6–1 7–6(7) and Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals 4–6 6–4 6–4 before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third final of her career, 2–6 7–6(2) 6–4. However, Hantuchová was serving for the championship, up 6–2 6–5, but got broken.

Hantuchová was ranked No. 54 as she entered Eastbourne, but found herself ranked No. 38 as she went into Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Sharapova in the third round 6–3 6–1. Hantuchová would make one more quarterfinal at New Haven, losing to Lisa Raymond 6–4 6–3. At the US Open one week later, Hantuchová lost in three sets to Patty Schnyder in the third round. She finished the year ranked No. 31, with a 24-24 win-loss record. She finished 1–4 against top 10 players overall, the sole victory over Mauresmo.

2005

Hantuchová reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Dementieva in a tight three-setter, 7–5 5–7 6–4. Following that, she made her first quarterfinal of the year in Tokyo for the second straight year, losing to Kuznetsova 7–6(4) 7–6(4). At her next event she reached the semifinals in Doha, losing to Sharapova 6–2 6–4. Then she made another quarterfinal at her next tournament in Dubai, losing to Serena Williams 6–4 6-3; at Dubai also, in the first round, she garnered her 10th top 10 victory over No. 8 Alicia Molik 7–6(8) 6–2.

Hantuchová made the third round at the French Open and Wimbledon, losing to Clijsters 6–4 6–2 in Paris and eventual champion Venus Williams 7–5 6–3 in England.

Hantuchová had a successful US Open series run, where she reached the semifinals in Cincinnati, getting upset by No. 74 Akiko Morigami 6–4 6–4. After Cincinnati, in Stanford, Hantuchová lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6–3 6–1. And after a second round loss in San Diego to Sugiyama, Hantuchová reached her fourth final in Los Angeles, getting a walkover in the quarterfinals over Sharapova, and got revenge against Dementieva in the semifinals, defeating her 6–3 6–4 (Hantuchová stands 2–0 against Dementieva in semifinals). In the final, for the seventh time in their head-to-head, Clijsters defeated Hantuchová 6–4 6–1. For the third time at the event, Hantuchová made the quarterfinals in New Haven, losing to Davenport 6–2 7–6(5).

Hantuchová would lose to eventual quarterfinalist Venus Williams in the third round at the US Open.

In Luxembourg, Hantuchová made her eighth quarterfinal of the season, losing to Nathalie Dechy 6–1 6–4. In Filderstadt the following week, Hantuchová made the semifinals, her third of the year, defeating No. 10 Patty Schnyder in the second round and Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals; she lost to Davenport in the semifinals. And at the final Tier I event of the year, Hantuchová pushed Davenport to three sets and had match points in the second set in Zurich before losing 3–6 7–5 6–2. And in her final event of the year, in Linz, Hantuchová made her 10th quarterfinal, losing to Schnyder 6–2 6–1.

Hantuchová finished 2005 with a 3-10 record against the top 10, 37-25 overall record with 2–1 on indoor carpet, 3–4 on clay, 2–3 on grass, 30-17 on hardcourts, reaching 10 quarterfinals, three semifinals, and one final.

2006

In 2006 Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of Sydney with a win over top 10 player Patty Schnyder and got to the semifinals of Auckland. She continued this form at the Australian Open with her third round 6–1, 7–6 (5) victory over defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, who had entered the tournament with a lack of match practice and questions over her fitness. This victory (the only over Serena in her career) ensured Daniela progressed to the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in three years. She lost to 4th-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the fourth round.

Thereafter she was unable to find a consistent level of form. She reached the fourth-round at the Australian Open, but prior to the clay court season she parted company for a second time (and permanently) with Sears.¹⁶ He was replaced by Angel Giminez. After the split with Sears she played her first Fed Cup matches for Slovakia in almost 3 years (Slovakia had slipped from being winners in 2003 to languishing in the Europe/Africa zone having being relegated every year in Hantuchová's absence). It was a successful return with Hantuchová winning her both singles and doubles matches against Luxembourg, her singles match against The Netherlands and the decisive singles rubber in the tie against Great Britain. With the help of Hantuchová's 4–0 record over the 6-day period Slovakia booked a place in the World Group II play-off against Thailand.

Despite disappointing results in the warm-up tournaments she equalled her Australian Open performance by getting to the fourth round of both the French Open and Wimbledon before extending her 2006 Fed Cup record to 6–0 by winning both her singles matches in Slovakia's 5–0 rout of Thailand, which ensured their promotion to the World Group II. Her fourth-round streak at Grand Slams ended when she was beaten by a resurgent Serena Williams at the second round of the US Open, which was the culmination of a very disappointing American hard court season (her record was 7–6 including the US Open, failing to get past the last 16 of any of the tournaments she entered).

Daniela showed what she is capable of producing the week before Stuttgart beating an in-form Tatiana Golovin in straight sets before losing out to Dinara Safina. The following week she reached the quarterfinals of Stuttgart with an easy victory over the now top 10 player Safina in the 2nd round, the same player to whom she had lost convincingly the previous week. This was both her first victory over a top 10 player and appearance in a quarter final since January. In October 2006, Hantuchová reached the final of the Zurich Open. In the first round, she upset 6th seed Patty Schnyder. In the second round, she defeated her doubles parter Ai Sugiyama. Daniela was then scheduled to play World No.1 Amélie Mauresmo in the quarter finals. However, Mauresmo withdrew due to a right shoulder injury. In the semi finals, Daniela upset World No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4 6–2 to reach the final of the Tier I event. In the final, Daniela lost in a tight 3 setter to 2nd seed Maria Sharapova. Sharapova winning 6–1 4–6 6–3. The results in this tournament were the culmination of Hantuchová's up turn of form which kept her in the world's top 20 as she had arrived in Zurich outside the top group for the first time in over 11 months. The injury she suffered to her right rib,¹⁷ after Mary Pierce hit a shot at her in doubles, caused her her most serious injury of her career and also forced her to retire in her match against Vesnina the following week in Linz.

Hantuchová finished the year ranked 17th in the world with a 34-25 record. She went 24-17 on hard courts, 5–4 on clay, 3–2 on grass and 2–2 on carpet. She was 4–6 against top 10 players beating Schnyder (twice), Safina and Kuznetsova, with losses to Sharapova (twice), Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Dementieva and Nadia Petrova.

2007

Hantuchová's first tournament of the year was at the Tier IV ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, where she lost in the second round to Virginie Razzano. Hantuchová then lost to Nicole Vaidišová in the first round of the Tier II New South Wales Open/Medibank International in Sydney and reached her second consecutive Australian Open fourth round, where she lost to World No. 5 Kim Clijsters 6–1, 7–5.

Hantuchová was then upset in the first round of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo by Roberta Vinci. Three weeks later at the Tier II Dubai Tennis Championships, Hantuchová defeated Maria Kirilenko in the second round 2–6, 6–4, 7–6(4) before losing her quarterfinal match against Amélie Mauresmo in three sets. The following week at the Tier II Qatar Total Open in Doha, Hantuchová trailed World No. 6 Martina Hingis in their quarterfinal match 4–1 in the second set before coming back to win 1–6, 6–4, 6–4. She then lost her semifinal match against World No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In her seventh tournament of the year, Hantuchová won six matches, the last four of which were upsets of higher seeded players, to win the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. She upset Hingis in the fourth round, Shahar Pe'er in the quarterfinals 6–2, 5–7, 7–6(5), Li Na in the semifinals, and Kuznetsova in the final in straight sets.⁵

Hantuchová, however, struggled in her next four events. She was upset in the third round of the Tier I Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida by Vera Zvonareva. On clay at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida, Hantuchová lost to Sybille Bammer in the quarterfinals. Two weeks later, Hantuchová lost both of her Fed Cup matches against the Czech Republic in Bratislava on clay, losing to Vaidišová and Lucie Šafářová. Losing her fourth consecutive match, Hantuchová was upset in the first round of the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin by Zuzana Ondrášková.

Hantuchová then reached her first career clay court semifinal at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. She upset seventh-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the third round before losing to second-seeded Kuznetsova in the semifinals. At the French Open, Hantuchová was upset in the third round by Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 7–6(2), 7–5.

After defeating Eleni Daniilidou in the third round of the Tier III grass court DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Hantuchová was guaranteed a return to the top 10 for the first time since August 2003. She then lost to Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals 5–7, 6–4, 7–5. The following week at the Tier III Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, Hantuchová defeated World No. 6 Ana Ivanović in the quarterfinals before losing to Chakvetadze in the semifinals. This result caused Hantuchová to drop out of the top 10.

Hantuchová was the tenth-seeded player at Wimbledon and did not lose a set in her first two matches. She then defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in the third round 2–6, 6–3, 6–4 before losing to World No. 8 Serena Williams in the fourth round 6–2, 6–7(2), 6–2.

Immediately after Wimbledon, Hantuchová helped Slovakia win its Fed Cup World Group II play-off against Serbia. On an indoor hard court in Košice, she beat Ana Timotić and Vojislava Łukić.

Hantuchová played five tournaments during the North American summer hard court season. She began the US Open Series by losing to Chakvetadze in the semifinals of the Tier II Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. This result put her back in the top 10. At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, she lost to World No. 16 Venus Williams in the second round. The following week at the Tier II JPMorgan Chase Open in Los Angeles, Hantuchová retired from her third round match with Elena Dementieva while trailing 6–3, 4–1. Hantuchová once again fell out of the top 10 after losing in the second round of the Tier II Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut to eventual runner-up Ágnes Szávay. At the US Open, Hantuchová was the ninth-seeded player but lost to Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko in the first round 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. It was Hantuchová's earliest loss at this tournament since her debut in 2001 and her earliest loss at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2004 French Open.

Hantuchová then played four consecutive tournaments. She reached her second final of the year at the Tier III Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali, losing to Lindsay Davenport in three sets. At the Tier III Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India, Hantuchová lost in the semifinals to Maria Kirilenko but reentered the top 10. Traveling back to Europe, Hantuchová played in the Tier II Fortis Championships Luxembourg. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals and Bartoli in the semifinals to advance to her third final of the year for the first time in her career. Hantuchová then lost to World No. 6 Ivanović in the final 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 after leading the match 6–3, 3–0. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Hantuchová defeated Šafářová in the first round but lost in the second round to Dementieva. This loss, however, did not prevent Hantuchová from rising to World No. 9, her highest ranking in over four years.

At the Tier I Zurich Open, Hantuchová defeated Dinara Safina in the first round 7–6(2), 7–6(4) before losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. One week later, Hantuchová won her third career title at the Tier II Generali Ladies Linz. In the semifinals, she defeated Vaidišová for the first time in her career 2–6, 6–2, 7–6(3). Hantuchová then defeated Schnyder in the straight-sets final. This title enabled Hantuchová to qualify for the year-ending Sony Ericcson Championships in Madrid. But Hantuchová did not advance past the round robin stage in Madrid. She lost to Maria Sharapova and Ivanović before beating Kuznetsova to finish third in her group.

Hantuchová's win-loss record for 2007 was 52-28. She was 6-11 versus top 10 players, with two victories against Hingis, two against Kuznetsova, one against Ivanović, and one against Chakvetadze. The losses were to Clijsters, Mauresmo, Chakvetadze (twice), Kuznetsova (twice), Vaidišová, Serena Williams, Ivanović (twice), and Sharapova. Hantuchová finished the year at World No. 9, her first top-10 finish since 2002.

2008

Hantuchová started the year at the Medibank International in Sydney. She defeated Russian Dinara Safina in the first round before eventually losing to World No. 12 Czech Nicole Vaidišová in the fourth round.

At the Australian Open, Hantuchová reached her first Grand Slam semifinal.¹⁸ She won her first three matches without losing a set. In the quarterfinals, she beat Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwańska, who had defeated second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova in earlier rounds. Hantuchová then lost to Ana Ivanović in a semifinal 0–6, 6–3, 6–4 despite Hantuchová leading the match 2–0 in the second set. After the match, Hantuchová claimed that Ivanović had been distracting her by squeaking her shoes on the court before serving, a claim Ivanović disputed.¹⁹ Hantuchová's performance at this tournament caused her Women's Tennis Association ranking to improve one spot to World No. 8.

Hantuchová then played two indoor tournaments in Europe. At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, she lost to seventh-seeded Ágnes Szávay of Hungary in the quarterfinals. She was the third-seeded player at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she again reached the quarterfinals. A blister on her right hand caused Hantuchová to retire during the quarterfinal against Timea Bacsinszky.

Hantuchová was then scheduled to play at the Qatar Total Open, the first Tier I event of the year, and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a Tier II event, but withdrew from both because of fatigue.

Hantuchová played both of the two-week Tier I events in the United States. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Hantuchová was the defending champion and fifth seed. She lost to fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. In doubles, Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama lost in the semifinals to Safina and Elena Vesnina, the eventual champions. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Hantuchová failed to reach the fourth round in this event for the ninth consecutive year. She lost to former doubles partner Sugiyama in the third round 6–4, 6–7(8), 7–5 despite leading 3–0 in the third set. In doubles, Hantuchová partnered with Lindsay Davenport to reach the quarterfinals where they lost to Sugiyama and Katarina Srebotnik, who went on to win the event.

The following week at the Tier II Bausch & Lomb Championships on clay in Amelia Island, Florida, Hantuchová was the third seed but lost in the second round to Karolina Šprem.

Hantuchová spent the month of May and most of June recovering from a stress fracture in her right foot, which resulted in her withdrawal from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome,²⁰ the Tier III Istanbul Cup,²¹ the French Open,²²²³ and the Tier III Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. She recovered in time for Wimbledon but lost in the second round to unseeded Alisa Kleybanova 6–3, 4–6, 6–1.

Hantuchová played four hard court tournaments between Wimbledon and the US Open. She lost in the second round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California and in the second round of the following week's tournament, the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. Hantuchová was seeded tenth at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. She defeated Sugiyama in the first round before losing in the second round to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The following week at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, Hantuchová lost in the quarterfinals to Alize Cornet of France. Hantuchová was seeded eleventh at the US Open, where she was upset in the first round by qualifier Anna-Lena Grönefeld.

To end the year, Hantuchová played seven tournaments in Asia and Europe. She lost in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali and in the first round of the Tier I Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo to Francesca Schiavone. In Beijing at the China Open, she lost to World No. 2 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals. After losing in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, the second round of the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, and the second round of the Tennis.com Zürich Open, Hantuchová was seeded third at the Fortis Championships Luxembourg. However, she lost to World No. 39 Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals.

Because she won only 11 of 26 singles matches after the Indian Wells tournament, Hantuchová finished the year ranked World No. 21, her lowest and first finish out of the top 20 since 2004. She was 0–5 during the year versus players ranked within the top 10 at the time the matches were played, with losses to Ivanović, Sharapova, Janković, and Vera Zvonareva (twice).

2009

Hantuchová began the 2009 tour by participating in the Brisbane International as the tournament's fourth-seeded player. She was upset in the first round by Sara Errani 6–7(1), 6–4, 6–0. Hantuchová then played the Medibank International in Sydney where she lost in the second round to sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.

At the Australian Open in Melbourne, the first Grand Slam event of the year, Hantuchová was seeded nineteenth and defeated home favourite Casey Dellacqua in their first round match 7–6(11), 6–4, saving multiple set points in the first set tiebreak. Hantuchová then beat Mathilde Johansson of France in the second round before losing to fifteenth-seeded Alize Cornet of France in the third round 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the doubles competition, Hantuchová and her partner Ai Sugiyama made it to the final, where they lost to Serena Williams and her sister Venus Williams.

At the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, Hantuchová beat Ekaterina Makarova in the first round before losing to Cornet in the second round. This was the third consecutive time she has lost to Cornet.

Hantuchová then played in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where she lost to eventual runner-up Virginie Razzano in the third round. Because of her results at this tournament, Hantuchová's ranking improved five places to World No. 36.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, a Premier Mandatory event, Hantuchová was the only two-time singles champion in the draw. Seeded 30th, Hantuchová fell to Sybille Bammer in the fourth round 6–3, 6–2. Unseeded for the first time since 2001 at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another Premier Mandatory event, Hantuchová lost to 22nd seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the second round 6–3, 6–1.

Starting off the spring clay court season as a wildcard at the MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Hantuchová defeated eighth-seeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round 6–3, 7–5. She then lost to eventual champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals 6–2, 6–2.

Playing in the Fed Cup World Group Play-offs, Hantuchová defeated Alize Cornet 6–7(2), 6–3, 6–4 in the first round rubber but lost to Amelie Mauresmo 7–5, 6–4 in her next match.

Hantuchová played four tournaments before Roland Garros on European clay. She lost in the early rounds of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Rome Masters and the Madrid Masters to Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic respectively. In doubles at Rome, Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama defeated No.1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinals. However, the pair lost to Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai 7–5, 7–6(5) in the final. Her fourth event was the Warsaw Open where she reached her second career clay court semi-final but Hantuchová lost to Romanian qualifier and eventual champion Alexandra Dulgheru 6–4, 6–7(2), 6–1.

Hantuchová was unseeded at the French Open and lost to Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano in the first round 6–3, 6–3.

Seeded sixth at the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Hantuchová lost to No.1 seed Safina 1–6, 6–4, 6–3 in the quarterfinals.

Currently playing at Wimbledon, Hantuchová is unseeded in singles for the first time since 2004. She came from behind to defeat local teenager Laura Robson 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 in the first round. She then upset 16th seed and last year's semifinalist Zheng Jie 6–3, 7–5 and doubles partner Sugiyama 6–4, 6–3. However, Hantuchová fell to No.2 seed Serena Williams in the fourth round 6–3, 6–1.

Endorsements

Product endorsement and equipment

Hantuchová endorses Nike sportswear and has her own line with them for her tournament wear, similar to players such as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

Hantuchová also has endorsed three racquet makers. She was first endorsed by Babolat from being a junior until late 2003, then Yonex until the 2007 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo when she then used the Prince Ozone Seven Racquets from the 2007 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Video games

Hantuchová has been in many sports/tennis related video games with such players as Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova. Some of the titles are Top Spin (both Xbox and Play Station 2 versions), Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 and Virtua Tennis 3. Hantuchová is currently ranked third behind Serena Williams and Ana Ivanović in a poll for new downloadable players for Top Spin 3. Hantuchová will be a playable character in the upcoming Virtua Tennis 2009.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 3 (0-3)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez	Anna Kournikova Martina Hingis	6–2, 6–7, 6–1
Runner-up	2006	French Open	Clay	Ai Sugiyama	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2009	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–3, 6–3

Mixed doubles: 5 (4-1)

By winning the 2005 US Open title, Hantuchová completed the mixed doubles Career Grand Slam. She became only the fifth female player in history to achieve this.

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2001	Wimbledon	Grass	Leoš Friedl	Mike Bryan Liezel Huber	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Kevin Ullyett	Gastón Etlis Paola Suárez	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Kevin Ullyett	Elena Likhovtseva Mahesh Bhupathi	6–2, 1–6, 6–1
Winner	2005	French Open	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	2005	US Open	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Nenad Zimonjić Katarina Srebotnik	6–4, 6–2

Career finals

Singles: 9 (3-6)

Wins (3)

Legend Grand Slam (0) WTA Championships (0) Tier I (2) Tier II (1) Tier III (0) Tier IV (0)

Titles by Surface Hard (3) Grass (0) Clay (0) Carpet (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	March 16, 2002	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–3, 6–4
2.	March 17, 2007	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6–3, 6–4
3.	October 28, 2007	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Patty Schnyder	6–4, 6–2

Runner-ups (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	October 13, 2002	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Kim Clijsters	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
2.	June 19, 2004	Eastbourne, UK	Grass	Svetlana Kuznetsova	2–6, 7–6(2), 6–4
3.	August 14, 2005	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Kim Clijsters	6–4, 6–1
4.	October 22, 2006	Zürich, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Maria Sharapova	6–1, 4–6, 6–3
5.	September 16, 2007	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
6.	September 30, 2007	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Ana Ivanović	3–6, 6–4, 6–4

Doubles wins (8)

Legend: Before 2009 Legend: Starting in 2009 Grand Slam tournaments (0) WTA Championships (0) Tier I (1) Premier Mandatory (0) Tier II (5) Premier 5 (0) Tier III (2) Premier (0) Tier IV (0) International (0)

Titles by Surface Hard (5) Grass (1) Clay (2) Carpet (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	October 29, 2000	Bratislava, Slovakia	Hard (i)	Karina Habšudová	Petra Mandula Patricia Wartusch	walkover
2.	October 28, 2001	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Elena Bovina	Bianka Lamade Patty Schnyder	6–3, 6–3
3.	April 14, 2002	Amelia Island, Florida, U.S.	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Maria Emilia Salerni Åsa Svensson	6–4, 6–2
4.	August 24, 2002	New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Tathiana Garbin Janette Husárová	6–3, 1–6, 7–5
5.	June 12, 2005	Birmingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Ai Sugiyama	Eleni Daniilidou Jennifer Russell	6–2, 6–3
6.	October 9, 2005	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Anastasia Myskina	Květa Peschke Francesca Schiavone	6–0, 3–6, 7–5
7.	March 4, 2006	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Ting Li Tian Tian Sun	6–4, 6–4
8.	May 21, 2006	Rome, Italy	Clay	Ai Sugiyama	Květa Peschke Francesca Schiavone	3–6, 6–3, 6–1

Doubles runner-ups (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1.	January 27, 2002	Australian Open	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Anna Kournikova Martina Hingis	6–2, 6–7(4), 6–1
2.	May 5, 2002	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Martina Hingis Barbara Schett	6–1, 6–1
3.	May 12, 2002	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	0–6, 7–6(3), 6-2
4.	August 4, 2002	San Diego, California, U.S.	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	6–2, 6–4
5.	August 11, 2002	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Kim Clijsters Jelena Dokic	6–3, 6–3
6.	August 7, 2005	San Diego, California, U.S. (2)	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Conchita Martinez Virginia Ruano Pascual	6–7(7), 6–1, 7–5
7.	October 23, 2005	Zurich, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Ai Sugiyama	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–7(6), 7–6(4), 6–3
8.	June 10, 2006	French Open	Clay	Ai Sugiyama	Lisa Raymond Samantha Stosur	6–3, 6–2
9.	August 13, 2006	Los Angeles, California, U.S. (2)	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez	6–3, 6–4
10.	January 31, 2009	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6–3, 6–3
11.	May 9, 2009	Rome, Italy	Clay	Ai Sugiyama	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	7–5, 7–6(5)

ITF titles (4)

Singles (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	May 23, 1999	Jackson, U.S.	Clay	Milagros Sequera	6–2, 6–1
2.	September 12, 1999	Fano, Italy	Clay	Flora Perfetti	6–4, 6–7, 6–2
3.	August 20, 2000	Bronx, U.S.	Hard	Jing-Qian Yi	6–4, 6–4

Doubles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	July 11, 1999	Civitanova, Italy	Clay	Eva Dyrberg	Rosa Maria Andres Rodriguez Conchita Martínez Granados	7–6, 4–6, 6–3

Singles performance timeline

To help interpret the performance table, the legend below explains what each abbreviation and color coded box represents in the performance timeline.

Terms to know
SR	the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played	W-L	player's Win-Loss record
Performance Table Legend
NH	tournament not held in that calendar year	A	did not participate in the tournament
LQ	lost in qualifying draw	#R	lost in the early rounds of the tournament (RR = round robin)
QF	advanced to but not past the quarterfinals	SF	advanced to but not past the semifinals
F	advanced to the final, tournament runner-up	W	won the tournament

NM5				means an event that is neither a Premier Mandatory nor a Premier 5 tournament.

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through to the end of Hantuchova's participation in the Wimbledon Championships in London, England. Her involvement concluded on June 29, 2009.

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career SR	Career Win–Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	LQ1	1R	3R	QF	2R	3R	4R	4R	SF	3R	0 / 10	23–10
French Open	A	A	A	2R	4R	2R	1R	3R	4R	3R	A	1R	0 / 8	12–8
Wimbledon	A	A	LQ1	2R	QF	2R	3R2	3R	4R	4R	2R	4R	0 / 10	20–10
US Open	A	A	LQ1	1R	QF	3R	3R	3R	2R	1R	1R		0 / 9	12–9
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 36
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	3–3	2–4	13–4	8–4	4–4	8–4	10–4	8–4	6–3	5–3	N/A	67–37
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	RR	A		0 / 2	1–3
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	Not Held		A	Not Held			2R	Not Held			2R	NH	0 / 2	2–2
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells	A	A	A	1R3	W	4R	2R	3R	A	W	QF	4R	2 / 8	22–6
Miami	A	A	1R	1R	2R	2R	3R	2R	3R	3R	3R	2R	0 / 10	5–10
Madrid	Not Held											2R	0 / 1	1–1
Beijing	Not Held						Not Tier I						0 / 0	0–0
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai	Not Tier I											3R	0 / 1	2–1
Rome	A	A	A	3R3	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	SF	A	2R	0 / 8	10–8
Cincinnati	Not Held						Not Tier I						0 / 0	0–0
Montreal / Toronto	A	A	A	2R	SF	3R	2R	1R	3R	A	A		0 / 6	8–6
Tokyo	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	QF	2R	1R	1R		0 / 5	5–5
Former WTA Tier I Tournaments (currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events)
Charleston	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	A	A	A	A	A	NM5	0 / 2	3–2
Moscow	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	2R		0 / 2	1–2
Doha	Not Held			Not Tier I							A	Not Held	0 / 0	0–0
Berlin	A	A	A	LQ1	QF	QF	1R	1R	3R	1R	A		0 / 7	7–7
San Diego	Not Tier I						2R	2R	3R	3R	NH		0 / 4	5–4
Zürich	A	A	A	QF4	QF	1R	2R	2R	F	2R	Not Tier I		0 / 7	13–7
Career Statistics
Runner-up	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	1	2	0	0	N/A	N/A
Tournaments Won	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	N/A	N/A
Overall Win–Loss	3–1	21–5	27–16	38–20	56–25	28–23	24–24	37–25	34–25	52–28	22–20	24–16	N/A	366–2285
Year End Ranking	None	197	108	38	8	19	31	19	18	9	21		N/A	N/A

• NH = tournament not held.

• SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

• ¹ She lost in the second round of the qualifying tournament.

• ² Her second round match was a walkover in her favor, which does not count as a win on her official record.

• ³ Won two qualifying matches to reach the main draw.

• ⁴ Won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw.

• ⁵ Her win-loss record includes all matches listed on the WTA Website, including challenger and Fed Cup matches.

Achievements

Team achievements

• 2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion
• 2002 Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)
• 2004 Hopman Cup Finalist (with Karol Kučera)
• 2004 Athens Olympic Games
• 2005 Hopman Cup Champion (with Dominik Hrbatý)
• 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Special achievements

• 2001 WTA Newcomer of the Year Award
• 2002 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year Award
• 2003 Laureus World Sports Academy Award nominee for World Newcomer of the Year Award

See also

• Slovakia Fed Cup team

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Daniela Hantuchová

• Daniela Hantuchova official web site
• Daniela Hantuchová profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Daniela Hantuchová at the International Tennis Federation
• Daniela Hantuchová at the Fed Cup

Awards
Preceded by Dája Bedáňová	WTA Newcomer of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Svetlana Kuznetsova
Preceded by Justine Henin-Hardenne	WTA Most Improved Player of the Year 2002	Succeeded by Nadia Petrova

Persondata
NAME	Hantuchová, Daniela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH	April 23, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH	Poprad, Slovakia, (then CSSR)
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH