Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Магдалена Георгиева Малеева, ; born 1 April 1975) is a
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
former professional tennis player. She played 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 ...
competing in singles and
doubles, from April 1989 to October 2005 and has won ten career singles titles. Her best
WTA singles ranking was world No. 4.
Biography
Born in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
, Maleeva is the youngest of the three children of
Yuliya Berberyan
Yuliya Berberyan-Maleeva ( bg, Юлия Берберян-Малеева; born 6 October 1944) is a former Bulgarian tennis player. She and her husband, Georgi Maleev, had three daughters, Manuela, Katerina, and Magdalena, who were coached by th ...
and Georgi Maleev. Yuliya, who came from a prominent
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
family which found refuge in Bulgaria after the 1896 Armenian massacres in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, was one of the best Bulgarian tennis players in the 1960s. After she retired from professional tennis in the 1970s, Berberyan started on a coaching career. She trained all of her three daughters, Magdalena,
Katerina
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 '' ...
and
Manuela, each of whom eventually became WTA top six players.
In 1988, Maleeva became the youngest ever national tennis champion of Bulgaria, at the age of 13 years and four months. She turned professional in 1989, reaching the final of her first professional tournament (ITF) at
Bari. In her
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 ...
debut at the French Open in 1990, she passed the qualifications and reached the third round. In 1990, Maleeva won three junior Grand Slam tournaments at the Australian, French and US Open. In 1992, Maleeva snatched her first
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 ...
event victory in San Marino and scored her best Grand Slam tournament result with a quarterfinal run at the US Open, upsetting
Martina Navratilova on the way. The following year, she reached the fourth round at the
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal A ...
, the
French and the
US Open, as well as 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
* ...
. That same year, she was the opponent of
Monica Seles
Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Sla ...
at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany when a deranged fan stabbed Seles in the back on the court.
Her best performance at a Grand Slam championship came when she got to the quarterfinals of the
1992 US Open, defeating
Kateřina Kroupová-Šišková,
Martina Navratilova,
Kimberly Po
Kimberly Po (born October 20, 1971) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
In her career, she won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 2000, partnering Donald Johnson. She also was a runner-up at the US Open in women ...
and
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin (born February 18, 1976) is an American former top-10 professional tennis player. During her career, she reached the semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open, the quarterfinals of the French Open three times, and had wins over world- ...
before losing to her older sister Manuela. In 1995, Maleeva won a total of three tournaments, in Moscow, Chicago, Oakland, which saw her hit a career-high ranking of No. 4 in January 1996.
In June 1998, Maleeva underwent shoulder surgery, which forced her off the tour for the next eleven months. She started competing again in May 1999 and re-entered top 20 in 2001. In 2002, she won the prestigious
Kremlin Cup
The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA ...
in Moscow, defeating three top-10 players on her way (
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 ...
,
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 ...
, and
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005) ...
). In 2004, she married her long-standing boyfriend, Lubomir Nokov.
Maleeva won a career total of ten WTA titles in singles and five in
doubles. She was the recipient of the "WTA Most Improved Player 1993" award and was nominated for the "WTA Most Impressive Newcomer 1990". She participated at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Atlanta, and Athens.
Life after tennis
In October 2005, Maleeva retired from professional tennis after 16 seasons (years), and became the last of the Maleeva sisters to retire. She now lives in Sofia. On 27 June 2007, she gave birth to her first child, a girl named Youlia, and on 13 December 2008, she gave birth to a second child, Marko, and on 20 August 2012 to their third child, Nina.
Maleeva has been very active with the environmental organization
Gorichka.bg, which works to create public awareness about urgent environmental problems. She also has created
Harmonica, a brand for organic foods, as well as a couple of organic food stores in Sofia under the brand
Biomag. She is also a partner at th
Maleeva Tennis Club
In October 2010, Maleeva won the Bulgarian national outdoor championship, becoming the youngest and the oldest player to have won it, within 22 years. In 2011, she made a brief tennis comeback, playing and winning three doubles matches for Bulgaria at 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 ...
.
In March 2011, Maleeva was voted eighth in the "100 most influential women in Bulgaria" by Pari newspaper. She has also appeared at Wimbledon's ladies' invitation doubles event on several occasions, achieving her best result in
2015, where she partnered
Rennae Stubbs
Rennae Stubbs (born 26 March 1971) is an Australian tennis coach, television commentator, and former professional player. She is the host of The Power Hour on Amazon Prime Video Sports Talk. She worked at the Seven Network between 2011 and 201 ...
; the pair defeated Navratilova and
Selima Sfar
Selima Sfar ( ar, سليمة صفر ; born 8 July 1977) is a retired Tunisian tennis player.
She turned professional in 1999 and has been ranked as high as 75th in the world (16 July 2001). Sfar is the second highest ranked female Tunisian and A ...
in the final to win the title.
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
WTA career finals
Singles: 21 (10 titles, 11 runner-ups)
Doubles: 10 (5 titles, 5 runner–ups)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 2 (1–1)
Doubles: 1 (1–0)
Junior Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 3 (3 titles)
Fed Cup
Magdalena Maleeva debuted for the
Bulgaria Fed Cup team
The Bulgaria women's national tennis team represents Bulgaria in Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation.
In 2022, Bulgaria competed in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I event in Antalya, where t ...
in 1991. Since then, she has an 18–8 singles record and a 9–9 doubles record (27–17 overall).
Singles (18–8)
Doubles (9–9)
* RR = Round Robin
* PPO = Promotion Play-off
* RPO = Relegation Play-off
Head-to head record against other top players
Maleeva's win–loss record against certain players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows:
Player Profiles
''Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface.''
* Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin (born February 18, 1976) is an American former top-10 professional tennis player. During her career, she reached the semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open, the quarterfinals of the French Open three times, and had wins over world- ...
7–1
* Mary Pierce
Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics. She was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of ...
4–2
* 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 ...
4–5
* Ai Sugiyama
is a Japanese former tennis player. She reached the world No. 1 ranking in women's doubles on the WTA Tour and had a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8, achieved on February 9, 2004. In her career, she won six singles and 38 doubles t ...
4–7
* Brenda Schultz-McCarthy
Brenda Anne Marie Schultz-McCarthy (born 28 December 1970) is a former Dutch tennis player. Primarily known by her maiden name Brenda Schultz, she married Sean McCarthy, a former American football player at University of Cincinnati, on 8 April ...
3–1
* Alicia Molik 3–2
* 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 ...
3–2
* Helena Suková 3–2
* 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 ...
3–3
* Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005) ...
3–3
* Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011 is a Swiss reti ...
3–4
* Anke Huber
Anke Huber (born 4 December 1974) is a German retired top-five professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open and the 1995 WTA Finals. Huber won twelve singles and one doubles title on the WTA ...
3–6
* Sandrine Testud 2–0
* Catarina Lindqvist
Anna Catarina Lindqvist Ryan (born 13 June 1963) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden.
Career
Lindqvist turned professional in 1983. She reached a career high rank of World No. 10 in April 1985 and won five singles titles. She re ...
2–0
* Zina Garrison
Zina Lynna Garrison (born November 16, 1963) is an American former professional tennis player. Garrison was the runner-up in singles at the 1990 Wimbledon Championships, a three-time major mixed doubles champion, and an Olympic gold and bronze m ...
2–1
* Lori McNeil
Lori McNeil (born December 18, 1963) is an American tennis coach and former top 10 professional tennis player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open in 1987 and Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalist at the Australian Open in ...
2–1
*/ Natasha Zvereva
Natallia Marataŭna Zvierava ( be, Наталля Маратаўна Зверава; russian: Наталья Маратовна Зверева, Natalia Maratovna Zvereva; born 16 April 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Belarus ...
2–1
* Julie Halard-Decugis
Julie Halard-Decugis (born 10 September 1970) is a French former professional tennis player.
Tennis career
Halard-Decugis lived in La Baule, France, during the initial stages of her career and later moved to Pully, Switzerland. She turned profes ...
2–1
* 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. ...
2–2
* Pam Shriver 2–2
* Karina Habšudová
Karina Habšudová (; born 2 August 1973) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as 10 in the world (1997). Together with Karol Kučera, she won the Hopman Cup in 1998. Her best performance at a Grand Slam to ...
2–3
*/ Martina Navratilova 2–4
* Nathalie Tauziat 2–7
* Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Maria Capriati (born March 29, 1976) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she won three singles Grand Slam titles and was the gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics ...
2–8
* Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. ...
1–0
* Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title after previously being runner-up in 2007, and was a semifinalist at the 2011 French Open. She also ...
1–0
* 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 ...
1–0
* Barbara Paulus
Barbara Paulus (born 1 September 1970) is a former professional top-ten tennis player from Austria. She began playing on the WTA Tour in 1986 and retired in 2001. During her career, she won a total of seven WTA tournaments (six singles titles, on ...
1–1
*/ Jelena Dokić
Jelena Dokic ( sr, Јелена Докић, Jelena Dokić; ; born 12 April 1983) is an Australian tennis coach, commentator, writer, and former professional tennis player. Her highest ranking as a tennis player was world No. 4, in August 2002. ...
1–1
* Dominique Monami 1–1
* Anna Kournikova
Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova ( rus, Анна Сергеевна Курникова, p=ˈanːə sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvnə ˈkurnʲɪkəvə, a=Anna_kournikova.ogg; born 7 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player and American televisi ...
1–1
* 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 ...
1–1
*/ Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...
1–1
* Kimiko Date-Krumm
is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...
1–2
* Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambuliovna Chakvetadze ( ; born 5 March 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Chakvetadze won eight WTA Tour singles titles, the biggest being the 2006 Kremlin Cup. She booked her highest singles ranking o ...
1–2
* Mary Joe Fernandez
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
1–3
* 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 Mar ...
1–3
* Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in te ...
1–3
* Amanda Coetzer
Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam ...
1–4
* Iva Majoli
Iva Majoli-Marić (born 12 August 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Croatia who played for both Yugoslavia and Croatia. She upset Martina Hingis to win the women's singles title at the French Open in 1997. Majoli also won seven o ...
1–4
*// Monica Seles
Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Sla ...
1–4
* 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 ...
1–4
* Jana Novotná
Jana Novotná (; 2 October 1968 – 19 November 2017) was a Czech professional tennis player. She played a serve and volley game, an increasingly rare style of play among women during her career. Novotná won the women's singles title at Wimbl ...
1–5
* 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 ...
1–6
* Conchita Martínez
"Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at the 1998 Australi ...
1–11
* Barbara Schett 0–1
* 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 ...
0–1
* Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova (russian: Надежда Викторовна Петрова ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ...
0–2
*/ Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière 0–2
* Svetlana Kuznetsova 0–2
* Katerina Maleeva
Katerina Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Катерина Георгиева Малеева; born 7 May 1969) is a former top 10 Bulgarian tennis player. She won eleven singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles. Her best position in the WTA rankings was ...
0–4
* 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 ...
0–4
* Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
0–5
* 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, ...
0–6
* Steffi Graf 0–8
See also
* Manuela Maleeva
Manuela Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Мануела Георгиева Малеева; born 14 February 1967) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour between 1982 and 1994. Through her marriage, Maleeva began r ...
* Katerina Maleeva
Katerina Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Катерина Георгиева Малеева; born 7 May 1969) is a former top 10 Bulgarian tennis player. She won eleven singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles. Her best position in the WTA rankings was ...
* List of female tennis players
This is a list of female tennis players who meet one or more of the following criteria:
* Singles:
**Officially ranked among the top 25 by the Women's Tennis Association (since 1975)
**Ranked among the top 10 by an expert (e.g. A. Wallis Myers) ...
References
External links
*
*
*
The Maleeva tennis club
Gorichka.bg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maleeva, Magdalena
1975 births
Living people
Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
Bulgarian female tennis players
Bulgarian people of Armenian descent
French Open junior champions
Olympic tennis players of Bulgaria
Sportspeople from Sofia
Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles
Magdalena