{"id":65069,"date":"2025-05-01T07:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T07:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/65069\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T07:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T07:23:09","slug":"dinara-safina-explains-the-one-thing-she-wishes-current-players-on-the-wta-tour-would-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/65069\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinara Safina explains the one thing she wishes current players on the WTA Tour would do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dinara Safina enjoyed a stellar tennis career, becoming world number one and reaching three Grand Slam finals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Russian star competed on the WTA Tour<\/a> between 2000 and 2011, picking up 12 titles, including five WTA 1000 victories.<\/p>\n

Safina\u2019s performances saw her become world number one in 2009, holding the ranking for a total of 26 weeks, before being usurped by Serena Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having retired from tennis in 2013, Safina recently re-joined the WTA Tour as coach, working alongside world number 13 Diana Shnaider.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Speaking after Shnaider\u2019s loss to Iga Swiatek<\/a> at this year\u2019s Madrid Open, Safina revealed what she wished other players in women\u2019s tennis would do.<\/p>\n

Dinara Safina says \u2018it would be nice\u2019 if WTA players came to her asking for advice<\/p>\n

During an interview with Daniela Hantuchova, Safina was asked what advice she would give to players on the WTA Tour today.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can give advice only to someone who is asking for your advice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one hand, sometimes I see they don\u2019t take it too seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very short period of time you play tennis, so I always say, like give your 100% day by day, doesn\u2019t matter if you win or lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I feel like they practice on their work, but you have to go out of the court, squeezing your t-shirt, that was my mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, to learn how to deal with the pressure, because I see now the players have those tough moments and they can burn out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old suggested more women\u2019s players should ask the stars of yesteryear for advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they can speak more with the people who used to play, because we went through it,\u201d said Safina.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Harry How\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not because we are smarter, it\u2019s because we did exactly the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone comes and says \u2018I was so nervous before the match\u2019, I always say why didn\u2019t you tell me. To tell you the truth we were sometimes shaking so badly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be nicer if they ask, because at the end we\u2019re here to help them, to share our experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few players have more experience at the top level of women\u2019s tennis than Safina, who won 65 Grand Slam matches during her career.<\/p>\n\nTournament<\/strong><\/td>\nBest performance<\/strong><\/td>\nWin-Loss record<\/strong><\/td>\nWin %<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nAustralian Open<\/td>\nF \u2013 2009<\/td>\n15-9<\/td>\n63%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nFrench Open<\/td>\nF \u2013 2008, 2009<\/td>\n20-8<\/td>\n71%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nWimbledon<\/td>\nSF \u2013 2009<\/td>\n12-7<\/td>\n63%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nUS Open<\/td>\nSF \u2013 2008<\/td>\n18-9<\/td>\n67%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Dinara Safina\u2019s performances at Grand Slam tournaments<\/p>\n

Safina came closest to winning a Major title at the French Open<\/a> in 2008 when she fell short against Ana Ivanovic in straight sets, 4-6, 3-6.<\/p>\n

Where does Dinara Safina rank among Russian tennis greats?<\/p>\n

Russia has developed several top stars in women\u2019s tennis over the years, but how does Safina compare to the likes of Maria Sharapova<\/a> and Svetlana Kuznetsova?<\/p>\n\nGrand Slam titles<\/strong><\/td>\nName<\/strong><\/td>\nCareer high rank<\/strong><\/td>\nWTA 1000 titles<\/strong><\/td>\nWTA titles<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n5<\/td>\nMaria Sharapova<\/td>\n1 (21 weeks at #1)<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2<\/td>\nSvetlana Kuznetsova<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n1<\/td>\nAnastasia Myskina<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nDinara Safina<\/td>\n1 (26 weeks at #1)<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nVera Zvonareva<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nElena Dementieva<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n16<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nNadia Petrova<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nAnna Chakvetadze<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nMirra Andreeva<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n0<\/td>\nElina Vesnina<\/td>\n13<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Russian women\u2019s tennis players compared<\/p>\n

Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova is way out in front, having won more Major titles than the rest of Russia combined.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old won her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon<\/a> at the age of 17 in 2004, shocking the legendary Williams in straight sets.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sharapova does, however, trail Safina in one key category, having spent five fewer weeks as world number one.<\/p>\n

Of the modern-day players, Mirra Andreeva<\/a> looks most likely to topple Sharapova\u2019s record of five Grand Slams, having broken through to win two WTA 1000 titles earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Andreeva won the Dubai Tennis Championships<\/a> and Indian Wells back-to-back as she rose to a career-high ranking of sixth in the world.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Christopher Pike\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Many are tipping the 18-year-old to threaten at Roland Garros in 2025, having reached the semi-finals last time around. <\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Andreeva can break through to become just the fourth Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title next month.<\/p>\n

The 2025 French Open is set to begin on Sunday, May 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dinara Safina enjoyed a stellar tennis career, becoming world number one and reaching three Grand Slam finals. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[33333,79,1068,16,15,5069],"class_list":{"0":"post-65069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-dinara-safina","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114431381002510330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}