Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former
world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a nine-time
Grand Slam champion, having won the
2016 and
2022 French Open women's doubles titles partnering
Caroline Garcia, and the
2018 Australian Open
The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15 and 28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles ...
,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
and
2020 French Opens and
2020 Australian Open with
Tímea Babos. In mixed doubles, Mladenovic won the
2013 Wimbledon Championships and
2014 Australian Open alongside
Daniel Nestor, and the
2022 Australian Open with
Ivan Dodig. She has also reached a further six Grand Slam finals across women's and mixed doubles. Mladenovic became world No. 1 in doubles for the first time in June 2019, and has held the top ranking for a total of 12 weeks. She has won 28 doubles titles on the
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tou ...
, including the
2018 and
2019 WTA Finals
The 2019 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, was a women's tennis tournament held in Shenzhen, China. It was the 49th edition of the singles event and the 44th edition of the doubles competition. The tournam ...
and four at
WTA 1000 level.
Mladenovic has also enjoyed success in singles, and reached her career-high ranking of world No. 10 in October 2017. She has won one WTA singles title, the
2017 St Petersburg Trophy, and finished runner-up on seven occasions. Her best Grand Slam result was reaching the quarterfinals at the
2015 US Open and the
2017 French Open.
Mladenovic has represented France in the
Billie Jean King Cup since 2012, and was part of the team which won the competition in
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
. She has also competed at the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...
on three occasions.
Personal life
Kristina Mladenovic was born in
Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, in the
Nord department of France.
Her father is Dragan Mladenović, a former Yugoslav handball player of
Kosovo Serb
Kosovo Serbs are one of the ethnic groups of Kosovo. There are around 100,000 Kosovo Serbs as of 2014 and about half of them live in North Kosovo. Other Serb communities live in southern Kosovo. After Albanians, they form the largest ethnic comm ...
origin, and her mother Dženita Helić is a Serbian former volleyball player of
Bosniak origin. They moved to France in 1992 when Dragan was signed by
Dunkerque HGL.
All became French citizens. Mladenovic has a brother named Luka.
[ She dated Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem from the middle of 2017 until the couple split up in November 2019.
]
Tennis career
2006–2011: No. 1 junior ranking and early professional career
Mladenovic started playing juniors in May 2006. In 2007, she became the European Under-14 singles champion.[ Her biggest junior achievement was at the 2009 French Open girls' singles, where she beat Daria Gavrilova of Russia in two sets in the final. Her highest junior ranking was No. 1, on 8 June 2009. She advanced to both the girls' singles and doubles finals at the 2009 ]Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pl ...
, losing to Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the singles. In doubles, with partner Silvia Njirić, lost also to Lertcheewakarn, who partnered with Sally Peers.
Mladenovic began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in September 2007. On the WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tou ...
, she tried to qualify for Open Gaz de France but lost her first match to Petra Kvitová.
Mladenovic turned professional in 2009, making her Grand Slam debut at that year's Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
. At the Australian Open, she received a wildcard, but was defeated by No. 14 seed Patty Schnyder. In July, she qualified for the Prague Open but lost in the first round to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.
At the Internationaux de Strasbourg, Mladenovic won her first match on the WTA Tour, coming back from 2–5 in the final set to win the tiebreak against Stefanie Vögele.
Mladenovic played for France at the 2011 Hopman Cup, partnering with Nicolas Mahut. France was drawn in the same group as the United States, Great Britain, and Italy. Mladenovic beat Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She w ...
and Laura Robson while losing to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the singles matches. In the mixed doubles, she and Mahut won one of their three matches.
In 2011, she won her first Senior title at a $25k tournament in Sutton, defeating Mona Barthel. This was followed by a win in Stockholm the following week, defeating Arantxa Rus
Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore from Australia in the final. With this win she went from 35th to second place on the junio ...
in the final.
2012: Breakthrough
At the start of the year Mladenovic linked up with Biljana Veselinovic but they split just before Wimbledon and since then she had been coached by Thierry Ascione
Thierry Ascione (born 17 January 1981) is a retired professional tour male tennis player from France. He turned pro in 2000 and retired in September 2010, reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 81 in February 2004.
He played Roger ...
.[
Mladenovic claimed her first WTA Tour title of any type in Montreal when she and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik won the doubles title at the Rogers Cup. Mladenovic made it through to the third round of the US Open by defeating Pavlyuchenkova. At the Bell Classic in Québec, Mladenovic reached her first WTA semifinal. With Tatjana Malek, Mladenovic won her second WTA doubles title at the Bell Classic. Following her run to the semifinals, Mladenovic entered the top 100 in the rankings for the first time. Mladenovic won the first ever WTA 125k event, the Taipei Ladies Open, and took the doubles crown as well.
]
2013: First Grand Slam mixed doubles title
At the Open GdF Suez
Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, was a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held from 1993 till 2014, the tournament was played indoors, originally on carpet until 2000, then on hardcourts. The 2014 Op ...
, a Premier tournament, Mladenovic made the semifinals, including defeating Petra Kvitová. Teaming with Daniel Nestor, she made it to the final of the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
in mixed doubles where they were defeated. However, she and Nestor rebounded at the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, capturing her first Grand Slam title.
At the 2013 US Open, she beat Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player.
As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2020, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...
in the first round and then lost to the 23rd seed Jamie Hampton in two sets. Mladenovic partnered up with Daniel Nestor to reach the semifinals of the mixed doubles, where they were defeated by the seventh-seeded team of Max Mirnyi and Andrea Hlaváčková in a close three-setter.
2014: Australian Open mixed doubles champion
Mladenovic started 2014 off strong, capturing her second mixed-doubles title at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
partnering again with Nestor. At the Open GdF Suez
Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, was a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held from 1993 till 2014, the tournament was played indoors, originally on carpet until 2000, then on hardcourts. The 2014 Op ...
, she defeated Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
quarterfinalist Simona Halep in the first round. Partnering Daniel Nestor she won her second Major title in the mixed doubles event.
At Roland Garros, she upset Li Na (world No. 2 and 2011 champion) in the first round, her first top-5 win. She continued her strong performance with a three-set win over Alison Riske in the second round. In the round of 32, she was beaten by eventual semifinalist Andrea Petkovic.
Mladenovic opened her grass-court season in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, but lost her opening match to Shahar Pe'er. She then competed in 's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...
qualifying, managing to win a round but ultimately falling to CoCo Vandeweghe, who would go on to qualify and win the entire tournament. At Wimbledon, she drew Zarina Diyas in the first round, but fell to the Kazakh in a rain delayed straight-set encounter. In the doubles draw, Mladenovic partnered Tímea Babos, and reached their first Grand Slam women's doubles final, ultimately losing to Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...
and Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 ...
in straight sets. She then stunned at the İstanbul Cup the third seed Klára Koukalová, but lost in the semifinals to No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki. Her strong run returned her to the top 100, at No. 81. At Baku, she lost in quarterfinals, losing to Francesca Schiavone in a rematch of the İstanbul Cup quarterfinals. She next competed at the Washington Open, where she stunned top seeded Lucie Šafářová, before defeating qualifier Taylor Townsend. She lost to Kurumi Nara in the quarterfinals. After the Citi Open, Mladenovic lost in the final round of qualifying to Yanina Wickmayer in Montréal, and also the first round of qualifying in Cincinnati. She played doubles in Montréal, losing in the first round with partner Tímea Babos.
2015: Top 30 and first major quarterfinal in singles
Mladenovic began the year losing in the second round of the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
to Bethanie Mattek-Sands. She, along with Daniel Nestor, reached the final of the mixed-doubles event. She lost in the second round of the Diamond Games
The Diamond Games (due to sponsorship known for the last time as BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games and before that Proximus Diamond Games, GDF-Suez Diamond Games and Thomas Cook Diamond Games) was a professional women's tennis tournament organis ...
in Antwerp to Lucie Šafářová.
She reached the semifinals of Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
, losing to her doubles partner Tímea Babos. She reached the singles final in Strasbourg, her first ever WTA Tour singles final, where she lost to Samantha Stosur. Her strong showing at both tournaments ensured her entry into the top 50 of the WTA singles rankings.
At the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
, Mladenovic once again stunned a top-10 player in her opening match by defeating world No. 6, Eugenie Bouchard. She advanced to the third round with a victory over Danka Kovinić but lost to Alison Van Uytvanck in straight sets while fighting for a spot in the last 16.
At the Rosmalen Open, Mladenovic lost to eventual finalist and good friend Belinda Bencic, despite having match point opportunities. At the Birmingham Classic, she beat Bouchard again 3–6, 6–4, 6–0, and then once again stunned a top-10 player by defeating world No. 3, Simona Halep, 2–6, 6–0, 7–6.
At the US Open, she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Bojana Jovanovski, lucky loser Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
and Ekaterina Makarova before losing to eventual finalist Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals, and entered the top 30 of the WTA singles rankings for the first time in her career.
2016: French Open doubles champion
In May, Mladenovic reached the singles semifinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg, but lost to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni.
At the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
, Mladenovic won her first round match against the 2010 French Open singles champion Francesca Schiavone, and defeated her former doubles partner Tímea Babos in the second. She lost in the third round to world No. 1 and defending champion, Serena Williams, in two sets, after having a set point at 9–8 in the tiebreak. Mladenovic won the doubles event partnering Caroline Garcia, beating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon C ...
in the final. It was the first Grand Slam women's doubles crown for Garcia and Mladenovic, and they became the first all-French pair to win the French Open women's doubles title since Gail Chanfreau and Françoise Dürr in 1971.
In June, Mladenovic reached her second career singles final at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in which she lost to CoCo Vandeweghe.
Mladenovic participated in the singles, doubles and mixed-doubles events of the London Olympics. In the women's singles, she was defeated in the second round by Madison Keys. In the women's doubles event, Mladenovic partnered Caroline Garcia, with whom she had won the French Open in June. Despite being seeded No. 2, they lost in the first round. Mladenovic (she was paired with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and they were seeded No. 2) also lost in the first round of the mixed-doubles event.
At the US Open singles event, Mladenovic cleared the first round before falling to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second. In doubles, Mladenovic (partnered with Garcia) reached the final, where the French team was defeated by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová. This allowed Garcia and Mladenovic to qualify for the WTA Finals, becoming the second doubles team yet to do so.
Mladenovic moved on to the Asian swing, starting at the Korea Open. Seeded No. 4, Mladenovic had a surprise loss against Sara Sorribes Tormo, the 139th player in the world. Next, at the Wuhan Open, she faced world No. 1, Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wim ...
in the second round. Kerber won the match, although Mladenovic captured the first set. In doubles, Mladenovic partnered with Garcia again, and the team was seeded No. 1. Despite this, the Frenchwomen lost their opening match against Christina McHale and Peng Shuai. In Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Mladenovic defeated Jelena Janković in the first round, before facing eighth seed Madison Keys. Keys won in straight sets. In doubles, Mladenovic and Garcia, once again the No. 1 seeds, made their way to the final, in which they faced Mattek-Sands and Šafářová, in a rematch of the US Open final a few weeks earlier. Mattek-Sands and Šafářová won the final in two sets.
Mladenovic had success in singles at the Hong Kong Open. An unseeded player, she reached the semifinals after defeating doubles rival Mattek-Sands in the quarterfinals. She passed No. 8 seed Daria Gavrilova to reach her second singles final of the year. She was defeated by former No. 1, Wozniacki, in the final.
Shortly before heading into the WTA Finals, Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia received the WTA Award for Best Doubles Team of the Year. During the WTA Finals, the Frenchwomen defeated Julia Görges and Karolína Plíšková in the quarterfinals, but fell to Mattek-Sands and Šafářová in the semifinals.
During the 2016 Fed Cup final between France and the Czech Republic, Mladenovic lost the first rubber narrowly against Karolína Plíšková 3–6, 6–4, 14–16, a match that lasted 3 hours 48 minutes. She later played doubles with Garcia in the fifth and decisive rubber against Plíšková and Barbora Strýcová, which they lost 5–7, 5–7, enabling the Czechs to win the Fed Cup for the fifth time in six years.
In December, Garcia and Mladenovic were named the doubles ITF World Champions of 2016. Mladenovic ended the year ranked No. 42 in singles, and tied No. 2 in doubles (with Garcia).
2017: First WTA Tour singles title and top-10 singles debut
Mladenovic began the year by playing at the Hopman Cup alongside Richard Gasquet. The pair won their first tie against Germany's Andrea Petkovic and Alexander Zverev
Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2, and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to ...
2–1 (Mladenovic lost her singles match against Petkovic), and their second tie against Great Britain's Daniel Evans and Heather Watson 3–0. In France's third Group A tie against Switzerland which would decide which team would enter the final, Mladenovic (following Gasquet's defeat to Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
) defeated Belinda Bencic and triumphed with Gasquet against the Swiss pair in mixed doubles, winning the tie 2–1. In the final, Mladenovic and Gasquet faced Americans Jack Sock and CoCo Vandeweghe. Although Gasquet won his singles match and Mladenovic lost hers, the French duo won the decisive mixed-doubles match, meaning that France were the 2017 Hopman Cup champions.
Mladenovic had a disappointing run at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
in singles, losing in the first round to Ana Konjuh
Ana Konjuh (; born 27 December 1997) is a Croatian tennis player.
A successful junior player, Konjuh won both the singles and doubles junior events at the Australian Open in January 2013 and, as a result, moved up to No. 1 in the ITF Junior w ...
. However, in doubles, Mladenovic, reuniting with partner Caroline Garcia, reached the semifinals of the event, where they lost to Andrea Hlaváčková and Peng Shuai.
At the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy
The St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy (formerly known as the Ladies Neva Cup) is a tournament for professional female tennis players played on indoor hardcourts. The event is classified as a WTA 500 tournament and was first held in St. Petersburg i ...
, Mladenovic won her first round match against Elise Mertens before upsetting reigning Australian Open finalist Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She ...
to reach the quarterfinals. She continued her fabulous form against No. 6 seed and defending champion Roberta Vinci, defeating the Italian veteran in straight sets. In the semifinals, the Frenchwoman defeated rising player Natalia Vikhlyantseva to reach the first WTA Premier singles final of her career. In a tense final, Mladenovic defeated Yulia Putintseva, 6–2, 6–7, 6–4 to win the first WTA Tour singles title of her career. Mladenovic became the first Frenchwoman to win a WTA Premier singles title since Marion Bartoli in June 2011. In addition, Mladenovic competed in doubles with Daria Gavrilova; this was the first time Mladenovic played with someone other than Garcia in over a year. The pair were defeated in the semifinals.
In the Fed Cup World Group quarterfinals against Switzerland, Mladenovic won her first singles match against Belinda Bencic. However, she then lost to Timea Bacsinszky in her next singles match. France lost the tie 1–4, resulting in France needing to win the Fed Cup World Group Play-off tie to earn the right to play in the 2018 World Group.
At Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, at the first Premier-5 event of the season, Mladenovic defeated Kateřina Siniaková in the first round before defeating world No. 3, Karolína Plíšková, 6–2, 6–4 in the second round. She then lost to Wang Qiang in the third round. Mladenovic's good form continued at the Mexican Open, where she stormed past Varvara Lepchenko before winning a marathon match against Heather Watson to reach the quarterfinals, in which she defeated Kirsten Flipkens. Mladenovic then won her semifinal encounter with Christina McHale, reaching her second WTA Tour singles final of 2017. Though she did end up losing to Lesia Tsurenko in the final, her success in February allowed Mladenovic to reach a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 26. Moreover, Mladenovic was nominated for February's ''WTA Shot of the Month, WTA Breakthrough Player of the Month'', and ''WTA Player of the Month'' (winning the ''WTA Breakthrough Player of the Month)''.
Prior to the Indian Wells Open, Mladenovic announced that her doubles partnership with Caroline Garcia would end because Garcia wanted to focus on her singles career. Mladenovic instead competed with Svetlana Kuznetsova in the doubles draw of Indian Wells. Meanwhile, in singles, the Frenchwoman received a bye into the second round, being seeded No. 28. She had a strong opening, defeating Annika Beck of Germany. In the third round, Mladenovic continued her newfound success by defeating world No. 4, Simona Halep, in straight sets, setting up an encounter with Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles r ...
, which she won in straight sets as well, reaching her first career WTA Premier Mandatory singles quarterfinals. Mladenovic continued to shine, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 3–6, 7–6, 6–2 (Mladenovic had never beaten Wozniacki in three previous encounters) before losing to eventual champion Elena Vesnina in the semifinals. Her good performance at the BNP Paribas Open enabled Mladenovic to attain a career-high singles ranking of No. 18, and she became the No. 1 Frenchwoman once again (passing Caroline Garcia). She also had success with Kuznetsova in the doubles, knocking out the fifth-seeded pair of Andrea Hlaváčková and Peng Shuai in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals.
At the Miami Open, Mladenovic lost her opening singles match to the Romanian qualifier Patricia Maria Țig
Patricia Maria Țig (born 27 July 1994) is a Romanian tennis player.
Țig has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 56, achieved on 26 October 2020. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 155, she achieved on 14 November 2016. Țig has won o ...
. In doubles, playing again with Kuznetsova, she faced Hlaváčková and Peng in the quarterfinals, in a repeat of their Indian Wells encounter. This time, Hlaváčková and Peng won the match, and Mladenovic missed the opportunity to become doubles world No. 1.
At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Mladenovic defeated top-seed Angelique Kerber in the second round and three-time champion Maria Sharapova (who was playing her first WTA tournament after serving a 15-month suspension for failing a drug test) in the semifinals to reach her third WTA Tour singles final of the year. Against German wildcard Laura Siegemund (who was playing in her hometown), Mladenovic led 4–1 in the final set tiebreak but ended losing the match 1–6, 6–2, 6–7.
Mladenovic, seeded No. 14, reached her first career Premier Mandatory singles final at the Madrid Open by defeating her doubles partner Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals. In the final, she lost to third seeded Simona Halep in three sets. On 15 May (the day after the Madrid final), Mladenovic reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 14. Seeded No. 13, Mladenovic lost her singles first round match against Julia Görges at the Italian Open Italian Open may refer to:
*Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year.
*Italian Open (golf)
The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It ...
.
At her home Grand Slam, the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
, she won her first-round match in a tight three sets against American Jennifer Brady. In the second round, she faced the 2012 finalist Sara Errani whom she defeated in straight sets. In the third round, she had a close match against Shelby Rogers and advanced to the fourth round, her best showing at this tournament. She defeated the defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets to advance to her second quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament in her career. She then lost to Timea Bacsinszky.
Her form declined in the second half of the season. At Wimbledon, she lost in the singles second round, sustaining a right knee injury in the process. Over the next four months, she struggled to get back into shape again and suffered a loss of confidence. This caused Mladenovic to lose all twelve of her remaining singles matches of 2018 after winning her first-round singles match at the Washington Open (she won only two sets in those 12 singles matches) at various hard-court tournaments (including the US Open) in North America, Asia and Europe. Arguably her worst moment came at the Pan Pacific Open, where she suffered a double bagel defeat in the first round against Wang Qiang.
However, due to a consistent first half of the season which saw Mladenovic being constantly in the top eight of the Race to Singapore, she eventually broke into the top ten of the singles rankings for the first time in her career (at No. 10) on 23 October 2017, at the start of the WTA Finals. And because of big results in that half of the season, Mladenovic called the season "still the best of my career", when opening about her singles slump in the second half of the year.
2018: Australian Open doubles title
Mladenovic started her season at the Brisbane International, where she lost in the first round to the eventual singles finalist Aliaksandra Sasnovich in three sets. In her next tournament, the Sydney International, she retired in second set of her first-round match against the Australian wildcard Ellen Perez due to heat stress. At the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
, Mladenovic's poor form in singles continued, losing her first round match in straight sets to world No. 104, Ana Bogdan
Ana Bogdan (born 25 November 1992) is a Romanian professional tennis player. Having made her tour debut in 2007, she peaked at No. 46 in the WTA rankings in October 2022.
Bogdan had a successful junior career, reaching world No. 2 on 5 January ...
from Romania, extending her losing streak in singles to 15 consecutive matches. Opening up about the loss, Mladenovic stated that it was not about injury anymore, that it was just a bad day and that it could not continue like that. Mladenovic turned things around when she won the Australian Open women's doubles with Tímea Babos, thus winning her second career Grand Slam women's doubles title.
Mladenovic next played in St. Petersburg as the defending singles champion. After receiving a first-round bye, Mladenovic showed signs of her top form and confidence which enabled her to reach four WTA singles finals in the first half of 2017 by defeating former top-5 player and 2016 WTA Finals
The 2016 WTA Finals was a women's tennis tournament at Kallang, Singapore. It was the 46th edition of the singles event and the 41st edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams ...
champion Dominika Cibulková in the second round, ending her 15-match losing streak in singles. She then followed up her second round win by beating Kateřina Siniaková in the quarterfinals and Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
in the semifinals (who had beaten the 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki previously), to advance to her first WTA Tour singles final since the Madrid Open the previous year. In the final she lost to Petra Kvitova in straight sets. Mladenovic won both her singles matches and her doubles match in the Fed Cup World Group quarterfinal tie against Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
on February 10–11. She lost her singles second round and first round matches in Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...
and Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, respectively.
Mladenovic reached her second WTA singles quarterfinal of the year in Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has ...
, where she lost to the defending champion Lesia Tsurenko. In Indian Wells, Mladenovic defeated Samantha Stosur in the second round before losing in the third round to Wang Qiang, who improved their head-to-head to 3–0. In the Indian Wells doubles event, Mladenovic partnered Babos and they lost in the semifinals to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon C ...
. Mladenovic lost her opening singles match in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
to Petra Martić. She lost her first-round matches in three (Lugano
Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...
, Stuttgart and Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
) of her next five tournaments, winning a total of three singles matches in the other two ( Fed Cup World Group semifinals and Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...
).
At the French Open, the 29th seeded Mladenovic lost in the singles first round to Andrea Petkovic. Mladenovic and Babos were the women's doubles top-seeds at that tournament, losing in the quarterfinals to the unseeded Japanese pair of Eri Hozumi
is a Japanese tennis player.
On 10 November 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 144. On 27 May 2019, she peaked at No. 28 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Partnering with Miyu Kato, she reached semifinals of the 2017 Aus ...
and Makoto Ninomiya
is a Japanese professional tennis player.
During her career, she has won one singles title on the ITF Circuit, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of 280. In doubles, she has won six titles on the WTA Tour, one title on the WTA Challe ...
. On 11 June, Mladenovic's WTA singles ranking fell to world No. 54, compared to No. 31 two weeks earlier. She played her first grass-court tournament of the year in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, where she lost in the singles second round to the unseeded Magdaléna Rybáriková. Mladenovic and Babos won the Birmingham doubles title, defeating Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs in the final. The following week in Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...
, the again unseeded Mladenovic lost in the singles second round to the No. 8 seed Ashleigh Barty. The unseeded Mladenovic was defeated in the third round of Wimbledon by Serena Williams in two sets, and the top-seeded pair of Mladenovic and Babos were defeated in the women's doubles quarterfinals.
Mladenovic lost her opening singles matches (both in straight sets) in her next two tournaments, to Tímea Babos and Victoria Azarenka in San Jose and Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
respectively. Mladenovic registered her first top-10 singles win of 2018 in Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
when Julia Görges retired in the first round because of a calf injury.
2019: French Open doubles title and world No. 1 ranking in doubles
Mladenovic and Babos were the defending champions at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
where they lost in the final to Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai.
In Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, Mladenovic defeated world No. 1, Naomi Osaka, in the second round. She then lost her next match to Carla Suárez Navarro. In April, Mladenovic played for France in the Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was chan ...
semifinals. She lost her match against Simona Halep. Then, in the deciding doubles rubber, Mladenovic and Garcia defeated Halep and Niculescu Niculescu is a Romanian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Bogdan Niculescu-Duvăz, politician and architect
*Cezar Niculescu, basketball player
*Claudiu Niculescu, soccer player
*Dan Niculescu, basketball player
*Margareta Niculesc ...
.
Mladenovic and Babos made the final of the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
and in the process, Mladenovic became the number-one doubles player in the world. In the final, they defeated Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai and won their third Grand Slam title.
Mladenovic reached the second round of the Wimbledon singles, but lost to Petra Kvitová. At the US Open, she won her first-round match against three-time Grand Slam champion and 14th seed, Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wim ...
.
In the 2019 Fed Cup
The 2019 Fed Cup was the 57th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in women's tennis.
In one of the biggest shocks in this year's tournament, Romania upset title holders and 11-time winners Czech Republic at Ostrava ...
final against Australia, Mladenovic was essential in France winning their first title since 2003, winning all three of her rubbers. First, she defeated Ajla Tomljanović 6–1, 6–1, and then upset world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty, in three sets. Finally, Mladenovic and Garcia defeated Barty and Stosur in the decisive doubles rubber, 6–4, 6–3.
2020–2021: Two major titles, back to world No. 1 ranking in doubles
Mladenovic won two more Grand Slam doubles titles with Babos, at the 2020 Australian Open and the 2020 French Open, where they were the defending champions.
At the 2021 Australian Open, Mladenovic reached the third round in singles only for the second time at this major.
She reached the final of the Italian Open Italian Open may refer to:
*Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year.
*Italian Open (golf)
The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It ...
, partnering with Czech player Markéta Vondroušová, defeating another Czech top-ten duo, second seeds Krejčíková/Siniaková, in the quarterfinals and multiple Grand Slam doubles winner and local favorite, Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...
and her partner Irina Begu, in the semifinals. With this successful run, Mladenovic regained her No. 1 doubles ranking. At the same tournament, she reached the second round in singles as a lucky loser defeating top-20 ranked Belinda Bencic to take revenge over her loss at the Madrid Open. She ended her 2021 season in early October citing physical and mental struggles.
2022: Australian Open mixed doubles and fourth French Open titles
Mladenovic, partnering Ivan Dodig, won the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...
. It was her second career mixed-doubles title at this major having been crowned champion in 2014 with Daniel Nestor, and her eight Grand Slam title overall.
At the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...
, she reached the final as a wildcard pair with compatriot Caroline Garcia, and won her fourth French Open title defeating Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff.
She teamed up with Katerina Siniakova to win the 2022 Jasmin Open
The 2022 Jasmin Open was a WTA Tour tournament organised for female tennis players on outdoor hardcourts. The event took place at the Skanes Family Hotel in Monastir, Tunisia, from 3 through 9 October 2022.
The $251,750 subsidized tournament bel ...
to win her 28th doubles title in October 2022.[https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2844729/mertens-sweeps-to-seventh-career-title-in-monastir]
Playing style
Mladenovic employs an all-court
This page is a glossary of tennis terminology.
A
* Ace: Serve where the tennis ball lands inside the '' service box'' and is not touched by the receiver; thus, a shot that is both a serve and a winner is an ace. Aces are usually powerful and gen ...
playing style, using variety along with her baseline play to win points. Her forehand is her strongest wing, and she is capable of hitting this shot both flat, and with topspin. Her backhand is also a solid shot, and she is capable of hitting her two-hander consistently and can hit backhand winners frequently; she does tend to utilise her sliced backhand more frequently to change the pace of the rally. She possesses a powerful serve, and her height of 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) means that serve aces frequently; this is aided by the fact that her first serve peaks at . However, her second serve is much weaker, and she can serve many double faults in a match; during her first round loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova at 2020 Palermo, Mladenovic served 20 double faults. Her doubles success in recent years has allowed her to develop a strong net game; she has begun to approach the net to finish points in singles more frequently due to her increased confidence. She uses her volleys, along with her backhand slice and drop shots, to create a lot of variety in her game. Her movement around the court is very good, considering her height and her footwork, but this can be exposed as a weakness when she needs to recover. Mladenovic's greatest weakness is her fragile mentality, as she finds it difficult to cope with pressure, committing myriad unforced errors, and can lose matches from winning positions – in her second round match at the 2020 US Open, she was leading by 6–1, 5–1 against Varvara Gracheva
Varvara Andreyevna Gracheva ( rus, Варвара Андреевна Грачёва, , vɐrˈvarə ɡrɐˈtɕɵvə, Ru-Varvara Gracheva.ogg; born 2 August 2000) is a Russian tennis player.
Gracheva has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. ...
, holding four match points, before losing in three sets.
Endorsements
Mladenovic wears Adidas clothing and uses Wilson rackets, specifically endorsing the Wilson Ultra range of racquets.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Notes
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 10 (6 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Mixed doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mladenovic, Kristina
1993 births
Living people
French female tennis players
Australian Open (tennis) champions
French Open champions
Wimbledon champions
French Open junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players of France
Hopman Cup competitors
Sportspeople from Nord (French department)
People from Saint-Pol-sur-Mer
Serb diaspora sportspeople
French people of Serbian descent
French people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent
French people of Kosovan descent
French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
French expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players
ITF World Champions