Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ranking for 10 weeks. Srebotnik won four singles 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 ...

and was ranked inside the top 30 for several years. However, her best results have been on the doubles circuit, where she has won 39 WTA titles, including one

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 ...

title, at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships alongside

Květa Peschke Květoslava Peschke (née Hrdličková; born 9 July 1975) is a Czech retired professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 in November 2005, winning one WTA singles title ...

. She has also won five Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles, at the French Open in 1999, 2006 and 2010, the US Open in 2003 and the Australian Open in 2011.

Career

As a junior, she won the 1998 Wimbledon singles title and was runner-up at the US Open. Srebotnik was ranked No. 2 in the junior rankings in 1997 and 1998. She was mentored by

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine-Italian former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 ...

1995–1999: WTA Tour debut and historic Guinness World record

Srebotnik made her debut 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 1995, winning the singles tournaments in Ismailia in 1996, Zadar in 1997 and Šibenik in 1998. In 1998, Srebotnik won the doubles title on her

debut at the Makarska Open (with

Tina Križan Tina Križan (born 18 March 1974) is a former Slovenian professional tennis player. Known primarily for her achievements playing doubles, as the first Slovenian in the 90' she reached a career-high singles ranking of 95, including a win over ...

), and later that year reached the doubles final at the Austrian Open, also with Tina Križan. In 1999, her win at the ITF tournament in Dubai gave her direct entry into her first tour-level singles event in

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a tourist destination, with luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numerous royal families and celebrities, and has h ...

, where she became the fourth player to win on her tour debut, defeating

Rita Kuti-Kis Rita Kuti-Kis (born 13 February 1978) is a former professional tennis player from Hungary. In 1992, she was beaten by future international No. 1, Martina Hingis, in the Petits As competition, a juniors tournament at Tarbes, France which has b ...

in the final. She broke into the top 100 on April 12, 1999 at No. 88. In May 1999, Srebotnik played in her first Grand Slam singles main draw at Roland Garros, losing to

Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. She won 14 Grand Slam titles: four in singles, six in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. She also won four Ol ...

in the second round. She won her first Grand Slam title in the mixed doubles with

Piet Norval Pieter ("Piet") Norval (born 7 April 1970) is a former tennis player from South Africa, who turned professional in 1988. His most notable achievement was winning the mixed doubles at the French Open in 1999. The right-hander represented his nat ...

, becoming the first woman ever to win her first tour event in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Only

Mirjana Lučić Mirjana (; ) is a Slavic feminine given name meaning ′''mir''′ ("peace, world, prestige, area, space"). The name is widespread throughout Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. Mirjana is possibly a form of Miriam a ...

had previously won on debut in both singles and doubles.

2000–2004

Srebotnik reached her first Tier-I semifinal in Tokyo 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 ...

, which she lost to Sandrine Testud. On 7 February 2000, Srebotnik broke into the top 50 at No. 49. She won her fourth career doubles title at

(with Tina Križan). Srebotnik and Križan won their only doubles title of 2001 at Hawaii. They reached their biggest doubles final of their career in Toronto at the Canadian Open by defeating Martina Navratilova and

in the semifinals, and they were doubles finalists at Estoril. They qualified for their debut doubles season-ending championships. Srebotnik reached a career-high doubles of No. 19 on 8 October. In 2002, Srebotnik reached the finals at

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

(losing to Fabiola Zuluaga) and

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 ...

(defeating

Paola Suárez Paola Suárez (; born 23 June 1976) is a retired tennis player from Argentina. She was one of the most prominent women's doubles players throughout the early and mid-2000s, winning eight Grand Slam titles, all of them with Virginia Ruano Pascua ...

) in the final. She reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, which is her career-best Grand Slam. Srebotnik later achieved her then-best win at Los Angeles by defeating world No. 6,

Kim Clijsters Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, ...

. She reached the semifinals in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. She achieved her second appearance at the doubles season-ending championships with Krizan. 2003 saw Srebotnik reaching her fourth tour final at Palermo. She won the Bogotá doubles title with Asa Svensson, and reached her second Tier I quarterfinals in Toronto at the Canadian Open. She won her second Grand Slam mixed-doubles title at the US Open, this time with

Bob Bryan Robert Charles Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He has won twenty-three Grand Slam titles: 16 in men's doubles and 7 in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998. With his twin ...

. Her 2004 season was highlighted by reaching the semifinals at Palermo and the quarterfinals at

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 ...

and Forest Hills. Srebotnik won her seventh doubles title in Tokyo at the Japan Open (with

Shinobu Asagoe is a Japanese former tennis player. She turned professional in 1997, and retired in 2006. Career 2000 was the first year in which she finished in the WTA top 100 (No. 72). At the US Open that year, she defeated Patty Schnyder, a top-50 playe ...

2005

Her best season to date was highlighted by two singles and four doubles titles as well as a career-best victory over

Amélie Mauresmo Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former world No. 1 tennis player and tournament director. Mauresmo won two major singles titles at the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships, and also won the silver medal in s ...

. Srebotnik captured her third and fourth career WTA Tour singles titles at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

(defeating Shinobu Asagoe in the final, and she teamed with Asagoe for the doubles title) and in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

(defeating world No. 14

Anastasia Myskina Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina ( rus, Анастасия Андреевна Мыскина ; born 8 July 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Myskina won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian woman to wi ...

in the final and teaming with

Émilie Loit Émilie Loit (; born 9 June 1979) is a retired tennis player from France. Besides her three career singles titles, all on clay, included Estoril and Casablanca both in 2004, and Acapulco in 2007, she won 16 doubles titles on the WTA Tour Th ...

for the doubles title). She was the only player in 2005 to sweep singles and doubles titles twice. She also finished runner-up at

Portorož Portorož (; it, Portorose) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa town located in the Municipality of Piran in southwestern Slovenia. Its modern development began in the late 19th century with the vogue for the first health resorts. In ...

, losing to Klára Zakopalová (now Koukalová) in three sets in the final. She also became runner-up in doubles with Jelena Kostanic. Srebotnik reached the quarterfinals five times: at Tier II at

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(lost to

), Tier I Charleston (losing to

Elena Dementieva Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She won the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. ...

in three sets),

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(losing to

Laura Pous Tió Laura Pous Tió (born 1 October 1984) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. Career Pous Tió won the gold medal at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería by defeating compatriot Nuria Llagostera Vives in straight sets. She won 2 ...

in a third set tie-break), Tier I Zurich (losing to Ana Ivanovic), and Hasselt (losing to

Dinara Safina Dinara Mubinovna Safina (; ; tt-Cyrl, Динара Мөбин кызы Сафина; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. Safina was runner-up in singles at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the ...

in a third set tie-break). Her best finish in a major was a third-round loss 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 * ...

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 ...

. A new career-high singles ranking of No. 28 came on 7 November. In addition to Auckland and Stockholm, Srebotnik won doubles titles at Budapest and Hasselt (both with Émilie Loit). She reached the US Open mixed-doubles final (with

Nenad Zimonjić Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Cha ...

, losing to

Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating M ...

and

Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...

2006

Srebotnik opened the 2006 season with an early exit at the Auckland Open. Two weeks later at the Australian Open, with partner

, she made it to the semifinals in doubles, losing to Yan Zi and

Zheng Jie Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired tennis player from China. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15. Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players from China. She won four WTA singles titles – Ho ...

. She won doubles titles in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(with Dinara Safina) and

Amelia Island Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlanti ...

(with Shinobu Asagoe). At the French Open, she won the

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...

championship with

. At the US Open, she reached the doubles final partnering

. In

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 ...

, she reached the semifinals in doubles with Dinara Safina. At the

Zurich Open The Zurich Open was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, formerly held every winter in Zürich, Switzerland. It was classified on the WTA Tour as a Tier I tournament from 1993 until 2007. In its final year, 2008, it wa ...

, Srebotnik reached the semifinals of a

Tier I The WTA Tier I tournaments were Women's Tennis Association tennis elite tournaments held from 1990 until the end of the 2008 season. From 1988 to 1990, the different levels of WTA tournaments were referred to by the term 'Category', and there ...

tournament for the first time in six years (Pan Pacific Open, Japan). Also, Srebotnik and

Liezel Huber Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African-American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Blac ...

reached the doubles final. In her final event of the season at the

Linz Open The Linz Open, currently sponsored by Generali Gruppe, is a women's tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. It is played on indoor hardcourts. The inaugural event took place in 1987 in Wels, Austria and was organized by the ITF as a $10,000 tou ...

, Srebotnik reached the doubles final with

Corina Morariu Corina Maria Morariu (born January 26, 1978) is an American former professional tennis player. Morariu (pronounced: mo-RA-R'ju) was born in Detroit, Michigan and is of Romanian descent. She turned professional in 1994. Mainly known as a doubles ...

2008

At the French Open, Srebotnik caused an upset when she defeated Serena Williams, whom she had never beaten in four previous attempts, in the third round. At the US Open in the same year, she upset former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round. On both occasions, she lost to

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

in the next round.

2010

In that year, Srebotnik teamed with

, and won the WTA tournaments of Indian Wells (defeating Nadia Petrova and Sam Stosur in the final) and

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

(defeating

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 ...

and

Meghann Shaughnessy Meghann Shaughnessy (born April 13, 1979 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American former professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in 2001 and won six titles on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. ...

), and reached the final of the

WTA Championships 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 ...

in Doha. Srebotnik had an excellent doubles outing at the French Open. In the ladies' doubles, she and Peschke defeated the second seeds

Nuria Llagostera Vives Nuria Llagostera Vives (; born 16 May 1980) is a retired Spanish tennis player. In June 2005, Llagostera Vives reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. In November 2009, she peaked at No. 5 in the WTA doubles rankings. Professional c ...

and

María José Martínez Sánchez María José Martínez Sánchez (; born 12 August 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, her biggest being a Premier 5 title at the 2010 Italian Open where she defeated two form ...

in the semifinals, but lost to Serena and Venus Williams in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. She also partnered with Nenad Zimonjić to win the

title with a thrilling tiebreak win against

Yaroslava Shvedova Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova (; born 12 September 1987) is a Kazakhstani former professional tennis player. Before 2008, she represented her country of birth, Russia. She won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, plus o ...

and

Julian Knowle Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle was one of the few on the ATP Tour who played his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's ...

. Srebotnik and Peschke reached the

Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...

doubles final. It was the second time this year that Srebotnik and Peschke reached a final of a Premier-5 tournament after

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 ...

in February. At the end of the 2010 season, Srebotnik announced that she would focus on doubles for the remainder of her career.

2022: Retirement

Although she played her last match at Rolland Garos in 2020, she was officially honored for her career in Portoroz in September 2022.

Major finals

Women's doubles: 5 (1–4)

Mixed doubles: 11 (5–6)

WTA career finals

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

Doubles: 82 (39 titles, 43 runner-ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 9 (6–3)

Doubles: 22 (19–3)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

* At the 2002 US Open, Srebotnik and Bob Bryan received a second-round walkover, this is not counted as a win. * At the 2008 French Open, Srebotnik and Zimonjić received a semifinal walkover, this is not counted as a win. * At the 2011 Australian Open, Srebotnik and Nestor received a quarterfinal walkover, this is not counted as a win. * At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Srebotnik and Zimonjić withdrew before their third-round match, this is not counted as a loss. * At the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, Srebotnik and

Marcin Matkowski Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won t ...

received a second-round walkover, this is not counted as a win.

Top 10 wins

Records

* In 2011, Srebotnik won seven titles (six in doubles, one in mixed doubles), more than any other player on the WTA Tour.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Srebotnik, Katarina 1981 births Living people Slovenian female tennis players French Open champions US Open (tennis) champions Olympic tennis players of Slovenia Sportspeople from Slovenj Gradec Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Slovenian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Australian Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players ITF World Champions