Yanina Wickmayer

Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian professional tennis player.

Wickmayer was born on 20 October 1989 to Marc Wickmayer and Daniella Dannevoye.

She was introduced to tennis at the age of nine by friends at local courts.

Her mother died at an early age shortly thereafter.

She is named after Diego Maradona's youngest daughter Gianinna.

The surname 'Wickmayer' traces back to Austria through her father Marc.

Wickmayer, who fluently speaks Dutch, English, and French, most admires former Belgian tennis player Kim Clijsters.

At the start of the year, she was No. 534 in the world, but by November 2007, was around No. 170.

Wickmayer had won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the circuit.

She was also selected by team captain Sabine Appelmans to represent the Belgium in Fed Cup.

She lost to Venus Williams, 1–6, 2–6, in her World Group match, before winning one rubber and losing the other against Chinese opposition.

In the 2008 Fed Cup tie versus Ukraine, Wickmayer sprang a surprise victory over reigning Australian Open women's doubles champion Kateryna Bondarenko.

Wickmayer qualified in singles for the French Open, but lost in the first round to Akgul Amanmuradova.

She reached the final of the Birmingham Classic, but lost to Kateryna Bondarenko in a close three-setter.

At Wimbledon, Wickmayer lost in the first round to Ai Sugiyama, in straight sets.

She started the new year with first-round losses in both Brisbane and the Australian Open.

She won her first WTA Tour match of the year at Indian Wells, defeating Magdaléna Rybáriková in straight sets, before she lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the second round, despite holding two match points.

She then lost her first-round matches in Miami and Charleston.

Wickmayer won her first WTA Tour singles title in Estoril.

She beat third seed Sorana Cîrstea in three sets en route to the final, where she defeated Ekaterina Makarova.

At the French Open, she was beaten by Samantha Stosur in the second round.

Wickmayer lost to a newly returned Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals at the Birmingham Classic.

At the Rosmalen Open, Wickmayer reached both the singles final and the doubles final, losing to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the singles final.

The doubles final was a close contest, in which she lost in three sets to an Italian pairing.

At Wimbledon, she lost in the first round to Elena Vesnina.

During the summer hard-court season, Wickmayer reached the third round in Los Angeles, losing to Vera Zvonareva.

She was defeated in the early rounds of her three other summer tournaments.

At the US Open, she reached semifinals, losing to Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets.

Wickmayer fell in the first round in Beijing to Alisa Kleybanova but qualified for the Tournament of Champions.

Her next tournament was in Linz.

She was awarded "Most Improved Player" by the WTA in 2009.

She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open, and a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 12, on 19 April 2010.

In doubles, she achieved a career-high of world No. 61 on 11 September 2023.

In June 2011, Time magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".

In 2017, she announced that Clijsters would be working with her during the 2017 Wimbledon Championships.

On 16 July 2017, Wickmayer married long-time boyfriend and former professional football player Jérôme van der Zijl.

In April 2021, she gave birth to a daughter.

Wickmayer realized her first wins: three singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

She continued her success on the ITF Circuit by winning several tournaments in Asia during the fall season (see external links).

It was around this time that Wickmayer surpassed Caroline Maes as the No. 2 female Belgian player.