Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

2022 French Open The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair ...

Caroline Garcia Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion. She is also a two- ...

Tímea Babos Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal ...

2022 Australian Open The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...

Ivan Dodig Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...

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 ...

WTA 1000 WTA 1000 tournaments is a category of tennis tournaments on the WTA Tour, governed by the Women's Tennis Association. The old WTA Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 tournaments merged into a single highest tier and it is implemented since the r ...

Billie Jean King 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 cha ...

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 var ...

Saint-Pol-sur-Mer Saint-Pol-sur-Mer ( vls, Sint-Pols, lang) is a former commune in the Nord department in northern France. Since 9 December 2010, it is part of the commune of Dunkirk.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 com ...

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 Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest ...

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 Daria Saville (née Gavrilova, born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 20 ...

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 Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

, losing to

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn Noppawan "Nok" Lertcheewakarn ( th, นพวรรณ เลิศชีวกานต์; born 18 November 1991) is a former professional Thai tennis player. At 2009 Wimbledon Championships, she won the junior singles title. She reached car ...

in the singles. In doubles, with partner

Silvia Njirić Silvia Njirić (born 9 July 1993) is a Croatian tennis player. Having already played in 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 1 ...

, lost also to Lertcheewakarn, who partnered with

Sally Peers Sally Peers (born 1 June 1991) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is 145, which she achieved on 11 April 2011. Her highest doubles ranking of world ...

. Mladenovic began playing on the

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...

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 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 Ope ...

but lost her first match to

Petra Kvitová Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and ...

. 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. Th ...

. At the Australian Open, she received a

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

, but was defeated by No. 14 seed

Patty Schnyder Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011 is a Swiss reti ...

. In July, she qualified for the

Prague Open In tennis, Prague Open may refer to: * Prague Open (1987–1999) * ATP Prague Open * WTA Prague Open * Sparta Prague Open Challenger The Sparta Prague Open Challenger is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Clay courts, clay cou ...

but lost in the first round to

Zarina Diyas Zarina Diyas ( kk, Зари́на Ди́ас; born 18 October 1993) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 31 in the world by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Diyas has won one WTA singles title, at the ...

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 Stefanie Vögele (born 10 March 1990) is a former professional Swiss tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 11 November 2013. Her highest WTA ranking in doubles is 100, which she reached on 5 January 2015. O ...

. Mladenovic played for France at the 2011 Hopman Cup, partnering with

Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...

. 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 Laura Robson (born 21 January 1994) is a British former professional tennis player. She debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2007, and a year later won the Junior Wimbledon championships at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached t ...

while losing to

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former w ...

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 Mona Barthel (born 11 July 1990) is a German tennis player. Barthel has won four singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour as well as five singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Ci ...

. 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 2008 Australian Open – Girls' singles, Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore (tennis), Jessica Moore from Australia in the final ...

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 Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (née Jans; born 24 September 1984) is a retired Polish tennis player. On 16 August 2004, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 410. On 10 September 2012, she peaked at No. 28 in the doubles rankings. Ja ...

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 Tatjana Maria (née Malek; born 8 August 1987) is a German professional tennis player. In November 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 46, and in June 2016, she peaked at No. 54 in the doubles rankings. She has won two single ...

, 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

Kristina Mladenovic - Roland-Garros 2013 - 004

At the Open GdF Suez, a Premier tournament, Mladenovic made the semifinals, including defeating Petra Kvitová. Teaming with

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal ...

, 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 ven ...

in mixed doubles where they were defeated. However, she and Nestor rebounded at the mixed doubles at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, 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 Jamie Lee Hampton (born January 8, 1990) is a former American professional tennis player. In July 2013, she reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 24. Early life Hampton was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, because her father, a career ...

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 Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...

and

Andrea Hlaváčková Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that re ...

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. Th ...

partnering again with Nestor. At the Open GdF Suez, 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. Th ...

quarterfinalist

Simona Halep Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

in the first round. Partnering

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal ...

she won her second Major title in the mixed doubles event. At Roland Garros, she upset

Li Na Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand ...

(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 Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014 at the Tianjin Open. ...

in the second round. In the round of 32, she was beaten by eventual semifinalist

Andrea Petkovic Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...

. 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 West ...

, but lost her opening match to

Shahar Pe'er Shahar Pe'er ( he, שחר פאר, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player. Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. She reached ...

. She then competed in 's-Hertogenbosch qualifying, managing to win a round but ultimately falling to

CoCo Vandeweghe Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...

, who would go on to qualify and win the entire tournament. At

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, she drew

Zarina Diyas Zarina Diyas ( kk, Зари́на Ди́ас; born 18 October 1993) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 31 in the world by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Diyas has won one WTA singles title, at the ...

in the first round, but fell to the Kazakh in a rain delayed straight-set encounter. In the doubles draw, Mladenovic partnered

Tímea Babos Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...

, 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 i ...

in straight sets. She then stunned at the İstanbul Cup the third seed

Klára Koukalová Klára Koukalová (formerly Zakopalová; born 24 February 1982) is a retired Czech tennis player. She was born and still lives in Prague. Having turned professional in 1999, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20, on 15 April ...

, but lost in the semifinals to No. 1 seed

Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...

. 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 Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles. She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 ...

, before defeating qualifier

Taylor Townsend Taylor Townsend (born April 16, 1996) is an American professional tennis player. She reached career-high WTA rankings of world No. 61 in singles (July 2018) and No. 31 in doubles (December 2022). She also reached the doubles final of the 2022 ...

. She lost to

Kurumi Nara is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 18 August 2014, she reached a career-high singles ranking of worl ...

in the quarterfinals. After the Citi Open, Mladenovic lost in the final round of qualifying to

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

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. Th ...

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 Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, her first ever WTA Tour singles final, where she lost to

Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur ( ; born 30 March 1984) is an Australian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and held for 61 consecutive weeks. Also a former top ten s ...

. 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 ven ...

, Mladenovic once again stunned a top-10 player in her opening match by defeating world No. 6,

Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; french: Eugénie Bouchard, ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian tennis player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the final of a Grand Slam t ...

. She advanced to the third round with a victory over

Danka Kovinić Danka Kovinić ( cnr, Данка Ковинић; born 18 November 1994) is a Montenegrin professional tennis player. On 22 February 2016, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 46, and on 20 June 2016, she peaked at No. 67 in th ...

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 Belinda Bencic ( sk, Belinda Benčičová, ; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won six singl ...

, 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 Bojana may refer to Places * Bojana (river), a river in Albania and Montenegro * Ada Bojana / Bojana Island Name * Bojana (given name), a Slavic given name * People ** Bojana Atanasovska ** Bojana Bobusic ** Bojana Jovanovski ** Bojana Novakovic * ...

, 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 Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...

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 The Internationaux de Strasbourg (formally known as the Strasbourg Grand Prix) is a professional women's tennis tournament held in Strasbourg, France. It is an International-level outdoor event of the WTA Tour played on clay courts. The tournamen ...

, but lost to

Mirjana Lučić-Baroni Mirjana Lučić-Baroni (; ; born 9 March 1982) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. She enjoyed a meteoric rise on the WTA Tour in the late 1990s, during which she set several "youngest-ever" records. She captured the women's doubles ...

. 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 ven ...

, 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 Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

, in two sets, after having a set point at 9–8 in the tiebreak. Mladenovic won the doubles event partnering

Caroline Garcia Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion. She is also a two- ...

, 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 Cha ...

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 Gail Chanfreau (née Sherriff; born 3 April 1945), also known as Gail Lovera and Gail Benedetti, is a French former amateur and professional tennis player. Tennis career Chanfreau was born in Australia, but moved to France in 1968. Chanfreau ...

and

Françoise Dürr Françoise Dürr (born 25 December 1942; sometimes referred to by English writers as Frankie Durr) is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles. According to Lance Tingay, Bud Collins, and the Women ...

in 1971. In June, Mladenovic reached her second career singles final at the

Rosmalen Grass Court Championships The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Open), is a pro ...

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 Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), a ranking she first achieved in October 2016. Keys has played in one Grand Sla ...

. 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 Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Op ...

and they were seeded No. 2) also lost in the first round of the mixed-doubles event. Mladenovic US16 (23) (29569544580)

At the US Open singles event, Mladenovic cleared the first round before falling to

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...

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 The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...

, 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 Sara Sorribes Tormo (; born 8 October 1996) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Sorribes Tormo has won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. On the ITF Circuit ...

, the 139th player in the world. Next, at the

Wuhan Open The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Motor) is a tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its debut in t ...

, 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 Wi ...

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 Christina Marietta McHale (born May 11, 1992) is an American former professional tennis player. Her highest-ever WTA rankings were No. 24 in singles and No. 35 in doubles. Known for an aggressive baseline game, McHale was recognized by ''The New ...

and

Peng Shuai Peng Shuai (; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese retired professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked world No. 1 doubles player by the WTA, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to achieve that ranking (in either single ...

. 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 The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...

, 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 Karolína Hrdličková ( née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the pos ...

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 Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. She won her first Grand Slam title at the 2019 Wimbledon Champion ...

, 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 The International Tennis Federation (ITF) designates a World Champion each year based on performances throughout the year, emphasising the Grand Slam tournaments,ITF Constitution, p.26, Rule 2.2(a)(iii) and also considering team events such as th ...

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

Kristina Mladenovic - 2017 Citi Open - (35909721700)

Mladenovic began the year by playing at the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

alongside

Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...

. The pair won their first tie against Germany's Andrea Petkovic and Alexander Zverev 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 List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...

) 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 Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...

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. Th ...

in singles, losing in the first round to Ana Konjuh. 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, Mladenovic won her first round match against

Elise Mertens Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles. Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...

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 is ...

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 Natalia Konstantinovna Vikhlyantseva ( Russian: Наталья Константиновна Вихлянцева; born 16 February 1997) is a Russian tennis player. Her favourite court surface is grass. Vikhlyantseva has career-high rankings of ...

to reach the first WTA Premier singles final of her career. In a tense final, Mladenovic defeated

Yulia Putintseva Yulia Antonovna Putintseva ( rus, Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева; , ''puh-TEEN-tseh-vah''; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twic ...

, 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 Timea Bacsinszky ( hu, Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player who won four singles titles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. A fo ...

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 of ...

, at the first Premier-5 event of the season, Mladenovic defeated

Kateřina Siniaková Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles. She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbled ...

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 Kirsten "Flipper" Flipkens (; born 10 January 1986) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 13 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Flipkens has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, winning the 2012 T ...

. 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 Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko ( uk, Леся Вікторівна Цуренко; born 30 May 1989) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and eight doubles tournaments on the IT ...

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 Annika Beck (; born 16 February 1994) is a German former professional tennis player. She started playing tennis at the age of four when introduced to the game by her parents. A baseliner whose favorite shot is forehand, and favorite surface is ...

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 ra ...

, 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. 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 The Stuttgart Open, also known by its sponsored name Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, is a women's tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany (until 2005, in Filderstadt, a southern suburb of Stuttgart). Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest w ...

, Mladenovic defeated top-seed Angelique Kerber in the second round and three-time champion

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2 ...

(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 Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

Laura Siegemund Laura Natalie Siegemund (born 4 March 1988, in Filderstadt) is a German professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2020 US Open in women's doubles with Vera Zvonareva, as well as the 2016 US Open in mi ...

(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 There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

by defeating her doubles partner Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals. In the final, she lost to third seeded

Simona Halep Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

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. 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 ven ...

, she won her first-round match in a tight three sets against American

Jennifer Brady Jennifer Elizabeth Brady (born April 12, 1995) is an inactive American professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA ranking of world No. 13 on 22 February 2021, and a career-high doubles ranking of 44 on 19 August 2019. Brad ...

. 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 Shelby Rogers (born October 13, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 30 in singles achieved August 2022 and No. 40 in doubles, achieved February 2022, and has won six singles and two doub ...

and advanced to the fourth round, her best showing at this tournament. She defeated the defending champion

Garbiñe Muguruza Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...

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 Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, 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 The Pan Pacific Open ( ja, 東レパン・パシフィック・オープン・テニストーナメント), currently sponsored by Toray Industries, is a women's outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Tokyo, Japan. It is a WTA 500-le ...

, 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 The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...

. 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 The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...

, where she lost in the first round to the eventual singles finalist

Aliaksandra Sasnovich Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...

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 Ellen Perez (born 10 October 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. Perez has won five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour, as well as two singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. ...

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. Th ...

, 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 Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

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 champion

Dominika Cibulková Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 and Petra Kvitová in 2011) to win ...

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 There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

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 th ...

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 coun ...

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 of ...

, 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 bee ...

, where she lost to the defending champion

Lesia Tsurenko Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko ( uk, Леся Вікторівна Цуренко; born 30 May 1989) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and eight doubles tournaments on the IT ...

. 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 Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles. She ...

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 Cha ...

. 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 East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

to

Petra Martić Petra Martić (; born 19 January 1991) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14, achieved in January 2020. Martić has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and one doubles tou ...

. 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 Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

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), and ...

). At the French Open, the 29th seeded Mladenovic lost in the

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''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 Aust ...

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 West ...

, where she lost in the singles second round to the unseeded

Magdaléna Rybáriková Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and br ...

. Mladenovic and Babos won the Birmingham doubles title, defeating

Elise Mertens Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles. Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...

and

Demi Schuurs Demi Schuurs (born 1 August 1993) is a professional Dutch tennis player who has specialized in doubles. She has won 15 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one singles title and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In February 2015, she ...

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 la ...

, the again unseeded Mladenovic lost in the singles second round to the No. 8 seed

Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom. Notable people B *Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress * Ashle ...

. The unseeded Mladenovic was defeated in the third round of

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

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 List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

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 line wit ...

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. Th ...

where they lost in the final to Samantha Stosur and

Zhang Shuai Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang als ...

. 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 of ...

, Mladenovic defeated world No. 1,

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...

, in the second round. She then lost her next match to

Carla Suárez Navarro Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a b ...

. 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 cha ...

semifinals. She lost her match against

Simona Halep Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...

. Then, in the deciding doubles rubber, Mladenovic and Garcia defeated Halep and Niculescu. 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 ven ...

and in the process, Mladenovic became the number-one doubles player in the world. In the final, they defeated

Duan Yingying Duan Yingying (; born 3 July 1989) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In her career, she won one singles title and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, and two WTA Challenger doubles titles, as well as eleven singles and three d ...

and

Zheng Saisai Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born February 5, 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She won one WTA singles title (at the Premier level 2019 Silicon Valley Classic), five WTA doubles titles, and reached the final of the 2019 French Open in dou ...

and won their third Grand Slam title. Mladenovic reached the second round of the

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

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 Wi ...

. In the 2019 Fed Cup 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 Ajla Tomljanović ( ; ; born 7 May 1993) is an Australian professional tennis player. She has won four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 October 2022, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33. On 5 Janu ...

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, 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 Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 22 in the world, in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest WTA doubles ranking, also No. 22. Beg ...

, 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 There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open: * Madrid Open (golf) The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...

. 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 Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles. He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...

, 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. Th ...

. It was her second career mixed-doubles title at this major having been crowned champion in 2014 with

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal ...

, 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 ven ...

, she reached the final as a wildcard pair with compatriot

Caroline Garcia Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion. She is also a two- ...

, and won her fourth French Open title defeating

Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...

and

Coco Gauff Cori Dionne "Coco" Gauff (born March 13, 2004) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in singles, reached on October 24, 2022, and world No. 1 in doubles, achieved on August 15, 2022. Gauff won h ...

. She teamed up with

Katerina Siniakova Katerina (Greek: Κατερίνα, ''Katerína''; Russian, Bulgarian and Macedonian: Катерина, ''Katerina'') is a feminine given name. It is a Greek variant of '' Ekaterini'' and a Russian and Bulgarian short form of ''Ekaterina'' or ' ...

to win the 2022 Jasmin Open 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 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 Ekaterina Evgenyevna Alexandrova ( rus, Екатери́на Евге́ньевна Александро́ва, links=no; ; born 15 November 1994) is a Russian professional tennis player. She has won three WTA singles titles, three WTA 125 titl ...

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 Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

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

Personal life

Tennis career

2006–2011: No. 1 junior ranking and early professional career

2012: Breakthrough

2013: First Grand Slam mixed doubles title

2014: Australian Open mixed doubles champion

2015: Top 30 and first major quarterfinal in singles

2016: French Open doubles champion

2017: First WTA Tour singles title and top-10 singles debut

2018: Australian Open doubles title

2019: French Open doubles title and world No. 1 ranking in doubles

2020–2021: Two major titles, back to world No. 1 ranking in doubles

2022: Australian Open mixed doubles and fourth French Open titles

Playing style

Endorsements

Career statistics

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 10 (6 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

References

External links