Meet Dinara Safina, the new World No.1!

Call it pure destiny or the result of a flawed ranking system, it’s official now that 22-year-old Russian Dinara Safina is the new World No.1 in women’s tennis without winning a single Grand Slam title. But don’t be surprised, she is not the first tennis player to do so. Before her, Marcelo Rios, Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters, and Jelena Jankovic have achieved this feat in singles and Zimbabwe’s Cara and Byron Black in doubles tennis. And so as Safina enjoys her unexpected moment in the sun, let’s get into reverse gear and look back at her journey to the top.

How Dinara made it


The Russian had a memorable run of form in 2008. While she missed out on winning any of the slams, she was runner-up at the French Open, semi-finalist at the US Open later and even made it to the finals of the Australian Open at the start of 2009. In addition, she also won the sliver at the 2008 Olympics but disappointedly crashed out in the third round at Wimbledon. In all, she reached seven finals, winning four. However, it was predecessor Serena Williams' shock loss to lowly-ranked Klara Zakopalova 6-4 3-6 6-1 last week in the clay court tournament - the first of the new season - in Marbella that sealed the deal in Safina’s favour.

The family connection


By toppling Serena, Safina also created family history making her and Marat Safin the first brother-sister duo in professional singles tennis to have held the number one ranking. Safin (29), who is playing in his farewell season, held the numero uno spot for nine weeks between 2000 and 2001. The success of Safin and Safina is not surprising since their father Mikhail is the proud owner of a tennis club in Moscow and mother Roza Islanova was a leading Russian player of the 70s. She has even coached Olympic champion Elena Dementieva and former French Open winner Anastasia Myskina.

The Early Years


Safina started holding the tennis racquet at the age of three and was into serious training by the age of eight. Later, Safina joined brother Marat in Valencia, who was sent there to develop his game. At the age of 16, Dinara had won her first International Tennis Federation title and in a year’s time, she was in the top 100 in the rankings. Her talent has been palpable ever since she turned pro at the start of the new millennium but her breakthrough year was undoubtedly 2008.

Decoding her game


Powerful ground strokes form the base of Safina's play. She is physically strong and tall too - just short of 6ft. Safina has lost a stone last year which has reflected well in her results but she still needs to develop her game further to get the better of the likes of the Williams sisters.

The criticism


Until she wins a Grand Slam, Safina will always have to live with the taunts. She had a chance in Melbourne but Serena was just too good for her. In the following tournaments too she hasn’t done anything substantially impressive – she lost to Virginie Razzano in Dubai, Azarenka in the quarter-finals at Indian Wells and Samantha Stosur in her second round at Miami, hardly the stuff a world number one is expected to dish out. So undoubtedly there will be a lot of pressure on Safina to transform the ranking into performance.

Lack of competition?


The Williams sisters – Serena and Venus – are approaching their end while the others are retiring young. Belgians Justine Henin-Hardene and Kim Clijsters have quit while another Russian and former world number one Maria Sharapova has been batting a soldier injury. Among the other talents around Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva have failed to live up to their early promise while Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska are still works in progress. In such a situation, Safina has an open court to rule women’s tennis. Whether she grabs the opportunity and goes onto bigger things will be determined by how hungry she is for success.

First Reactions


On achieving one of the most-sought after feat in tennis, the new women’s world number one commented, “"It's a great honour to reach the number one ranking and it is a dream that every girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis shares. It is extra special for me since my brother Marat was able to reach the number one ranking and I am happy to share this achievement with him.”

Future Plans


Safina, who will turn 23 next week, has said that she is desperate to win a Grand Slam to prove to one and all that she deserves the top spot in women’s tennis. "I am very proud of my results over the past year. I hope to prove to everyone over the coming months that I merit the honour of being world number one,” she was quoted as saying in the press.

Profile in Brief

Name: Dinara Safina

Age: 22

Born: Moscow

Height: 5ft 11.5in

Weight: 11st

Pro Debut: 2000

Coach: Zeljko Krajan

Current World Ranking: 1

Total Titles Won: 9

Grand Slam record: Runner-up French Open (2008), Australian Open (2009)

Singles record: Won 295, lost 138

Career earnings: $6,290,269 (£4,279,094)