Viktoria Mikhailovna Belinsky (née Milvidskaia, 20 April 1967) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Russia. Her highest

WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1. Ranking method The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A pla ...

were 168 in singles and 145 in doubles.

Early life

Belinsky began playing tennis at the age of seven in Moscow. She played for the famous

Spartak tennis club Spartak Tennis Club, also known as Shiryaevka, is a tennis training ground located near Sokolniki Park in Moscow, Russia. Built in 1979, it formerly formed part of the Spartak sports society. It has 15 outdoor clay courts, which remain open for f ...

, and her coaches were Alexandra Granaturova and Larisa Preobrazhenskaya. In 1983, she won the First International Tournament in Moscow which earned her the honour of Master of Sports of the USSR, International Class (equates to international champion).

Professional career

She was a member of the USSR national tennis team (1983–1989) and represented the USSR in many different tournaments around the world. In 1984, she became the youngest USSR national champion. Belinsky played in all Grand Slam tournaments. She had career wins over Manon Bollegraf,

Tami Whitlinger Tami Whitlinger-Jones (née Whitlinger; born November 13, 1968) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Prior to turning professional, Whitlinger was a two-time All-American at Stanford University. Her first tournament vict ...

, Sandra Wasserman,

Nicole Arendt Nicole J. Arendt (born August 26, 1969) is an American retired professional tennis player. Arendt won sixteen doubles titles in her career. The left-hander reached her highest singles ranking on the WTA Tour on June 16, 1997, when she was ranked ...

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, Lubomira Bacheva, Regina Maršíková, Andrea Strnadová,

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, and

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, and stopped playing in 1993 due to a knee injury. The same year, she moved to the United States. Belinsky has an M.A. in physical education from the State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports in Moscow. She received this degree in May 1989. From 2005 to 2008, Belinsky worked at the Russian NTV PLUS Tennis Channel. Her program was titled ''Tennis coach – is it nature or nurtured?''. She interviewed many famous tennis coaches including:

Wayne Bryan Wayne Bryan is an American tennis coach, author and speaker. He is the former owner and tennis director of the Cabrillo Racquet Club and father of the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, the most successful professional doubles team in tennis history. ...

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, Robert Lansdorp, Carlos Rodriguez, Richard Williams. In addition, she has interviewed players such as

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 ...

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...

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 ...

Marat Safin Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...

and

Janko Tipsarević Janko Tipsarević ( sr-cyr, Јанко Типсаревић, ; born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian former tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 8, achieved on 2 April 2012. In his career, he won 4 ATP World Tour titles, one AT ...

. She worked as a sports broadcaster at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

in Beijing (2008), and as a tennis analyst at Wimbledon, the US Open, the Davis Cup, and the Federation Cup. In 2014, Belinsky worked as a coach for the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

Player Development program in New York City. In 2015, she moved to Florida and began working as a private coach.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Girls' doubles: 1 (runner-up)

ITF finals

Singles (1–4)

Doubles (14–2)

Other finals

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* *
Tennis Abstract: Viktoria Milvidskaia WTA Match Results

Australian Open – Results Archive – Viktoria Milvidskaia].
Tennis Stats – H2H Stats – MatchStat Viktoria Milvidskaia

The New York Times.
NTV Interview: "So far and so close". Interview with Anna Kurnikova by Viktoria Milvidskaia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milvidskaia, Viktoria 1967 births Living people American female tennis players Tennis players from Miami Tennis players from New York (state) Tennis players from California Tennis players from Moscow Soviet female tennis players Russian expatriates in the United States Universiade medalists in tennis FISU World University Games gold medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade 21st-century American women Friendship Games medalists in tennis