Eleni Daniilidou ( el, Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; ; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former

tennis player 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 cov ...

from the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and three doubles titles on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

. In 2003, she reached the mixed-doubles final 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 Ope ...

, making her the first Greek player to have reached a Grand Slam final. Her highest singles ranking is world No. 14, making her the only female tennis player from Greece to have reached the top 20 until

Maria Sakkari Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...

in February 2020. No male tennis player had achieved this until Stefanos Tsitsipas reached 15th place in August 2018. By beating Justine Henin in the first round of the 2005 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first player to defeat a reigning

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 ve ...

champion in the first round of Wimbledon.

Career summary

Daniilidou began her professional career in 1996, making the final of her first ITF event, having barely turned 14. She achieved her first ranking in 1998, finishing that year as the world No. 294. In 2001, she broke into the top 100 following a third round appearance at the US Open. 2002 was the best year of Daniilidou's career, finishing it at No. 22 in the world. She won her first WTA career singles title at the Rosmalen Championships, beating Amélie Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva and Henin; and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at Wimbledon. At the end of the year, she reached her second WTA final at the

Brasil Open The Brasil Open was a tennis tournament held annually in São Paulo, Brazil. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series, and was one of the main events in the Brazilian tennis calendar alongside ATP Tour 500 Rio Open. Since 2004, it was a part of th ...

, beating Monica Seles en route, but lost to Anastasia Myskina. Daniilidou started 2003 by winning her second WTA title at the Auckland Open and reaching the fourth round of the

, results which saw her break into the top 20 for the first time, reaching a career high of No. 14 after the

German Open German Open is a name given to many sports events established in Germany, and include: *German Open (badminton), an annual badminton tournament held since 1955. * German Open (golf), was a golf tournament on the European Tour *German Masters, a snoo ...

. She also reached the semifinals of the Paris Indoors and the

DFS Classic The Birmingham Classic (currently sponsored by Rothesay Pensions) is a 250-level women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. Held at this location since 1982, the tourna ...

. Daniilidou successfully defended her title at Auckland in 2004, her third WTA singles title. She reached the semifinals at the prestigious Miami Open, beating Jennifer Capriati en route. Later that year she equalled her best Grand Slam performance at the US Open by reaching the fourth round. 2005 was a relatively poor year for Daniilidou, becoming the first since 2001 where she did not win a title. She did, however, cause a huge upset at Wimbledon, beating the reigning French Open champion, Justine Henin. It was the first time the French Open champion had ever lost in the first round of Wimbledon. It also brought the end of Henin's 24-match win streak dating back to the beginning of the clay season. Daniilidou eventually lost in the third round, her best Grand Slam performance of the year. She also reached the semifinals of a lower level WTA event in Portoroz, Slovenia. She recovered slightly in 2006, going back into the top 50 and winning her fourth WTA singles title at the Korea Open. She also reached the semifinals of the Ordina Open, and remained in the top 50 in 2007 with her best result being a semifinal at the Connecticut Open, where she beat Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals after saving a match point. 2008 was an injury-plagued season for Daniilidou, missing almost half the year with a right knee injury. She won her fifth and last WTA singles title at the

Hobart International The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Intern ...

, but missed several months of events from March. She returned at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

in August, but failed to win a match for the rest of the season, ultimately finishing the year outside the top 100 for the first time since 2000.

Performance timelines

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

Doubles

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)

WTA career finals

Singles: 6 (5 titles, 1 runner–up)

Doubles: 12 (3 titles, 9 runner–ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 16 (11 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Doubles: 29 (16 titles, 13 runner-ups)

Head-to-head records

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) fo ...

: 0–8 *

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 ...

: 0–2 * Kim Clijsters: 0–2 * Lindsay Davenport: 0–3 *

Jelena Jankovic Jelena, also written Yelena and Elena, is a Slavic given name. It is a Slavicized form of the Greek name Helen, which is of uncertain origin. Diminutives of the name include Jelica, Jelka, Jele, Jela, Lena, Lenotschka, Jeca, Lenka, and Alena. Not ...

: 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 ...

: 1–3 * Dinara Safina: 2–2 * Justine Henin: 2–2 * Maria Sharapova: 0–5

Top-10 wins

Daniilidou has won 7 matches against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniilidou, Eleni 1982 births LGBT tennis players Lesbian sportswomen Living people Greek female tennis players Hopman Cup competitors Olympic tennis players of Greece Sportspeople from Chania Sportspeople from Thessaloniki Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games LGBT sportspeople from Greece Australian Open (tennis) junior champions