Affectionately know as The Kuz or Kuzzy to her team mates and friends, Svetlana Kuznetsova is hoping that 2009 will be just a little better than her 2008 season. She slipped in the rankings to Number 7, in a field of top 10 players whose rankings change almost every week. She didn’t win a title in 2008 but made several finals and was close many times. Don’t feel too sorry for her, she’s won close to $10 million in prize money. The highlight of her career still remains as the winner of the US Open in 2004, her only Grand Slam Tournament victory to date. She says that she thinks she still has at least one more Major title in her and maybe the 2009 Australian Open will be the one. Just this month (September) she reached the finals of both the Pan Pacific in Tokyo and the China Open in Beijing, losing both to Dinara Safina in Japan 6-1, 6-3, and to Jelena Jankovic in China 6-1, 6-3.

Svetlana has 9 singles titles and 13 doubles titles in her resume, and in 2001 was the ITF girls singles World champion. She holds the record of being the only player to beat Justine Henin twice when Justin was ranked Number 1 in the world, and she also beat Mauresmo twice when she was also Number 1. She is a strong player with a powerful physique, only the Williams sisters are considered as powerful as Svetlana. Her forehand is her best shot, and her court coverage ranks with the best. She admits she suffers from nerves before big matches, and often doesn’t play as well as she expects of herself. She is outspoken about her game and about other players. She is her own strongest critic and makes no excuses for herself when she loses.

“I’m an open person,” she says, “I’m not going to hide or go away saying tennis is easy and fun because people will know and understand that it is not true. It’s hard to practise every day, maybe it’s the reason I struggled this year. I am the way I am, good or bad I’m not going to change.” When Svetlana was asked about the competition among the lady players for the Number 1 spot, she replied, “Dinara is playing the best of anyone, she works hard, and is the toughest player this year.”

Born in Russia in June 1985, The Kuz almost became a cyclist instead of a tennis player. Her Father coached 5 Olympic and World champions in cycling, and her Mother was six times World champion and holds twenty world cycling records. Her brother won a Silver medal in cycling at the 1996 Olympics.

Svetlana chose to play tennis and went to Spain where she enrolled in the Casals Tennis Academy, she still trains and practises in Spain when she has time, and is still coached by her friend Stefan Ortega.