Lucie Hradecká (; born 21 May 1985) is a Czech former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. A three-time
Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time
WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She was also an integral member of the
Czech Republic's national team and helped her country to win five titles at the Fed Cup (now
Billie Jean King Cup) between 2011 and 2016, in addition to winning two Olympic medals in both women's doubles with
Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková in
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
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and in mixed doubles with
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
in
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
. Hradecká also reached the top 45 in singles and was a finalist in seven tour-level singles tournaments. She announced her retirement from the sport at the end of the
2022 season.
In 2006, Hradecká won her first WTA Tour title in doubles in 2006 with partner
Renata Voráčová at the
Slovenia Open. Five years later, she made her breakthrough at the Grand Slam tournaments when she won her first of two women's doubles
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
titles at the
2011 French Open with Hlaváčková. In 2012, despite losing her next two major finals, she won the silver medal at the Summer Olympics and won her first
WTA Premier 5
WTA Premier tournaments was a category of tennis tournaments in the Women's Tennis Association, WTA Tour, implemented from the reorganization of the schedule in 2009 until 2020.
In 2020, Premier events included:
* Four "Premier Mandatory" events ...
(now WTA 1000) title in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, both with Hlaváčková. Her continued success led her to a second major title at the
US Open in the following year before placing runner-up at the
2016 Australian Open
The 2016 Australian Open was a List of tennis tournaments, tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tourname ...
and
2017 US Open.
Hradecká was also an accomplished mixed-doubles player, having won the
2013 French Open with
František Čermák
František Čermák (born 14 November 1976) is a Czech former professional tennis player.
Career
In his career, Čermák won 31 doubles titles on the ATP Tour and he was a finalist 24 times. He achieved a career-high doubles ranking of world ...
in addition to reaching two finals at the
2013 Australian Open (with Čermák) and the
2015 French Open (with
Marcin Matkowski) and the mixed-doubles bronze in
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
with Štěpánek.
In singles, Hradecká achieved her highest ranking on the WTA Tour of world No. 41 in June 2011. She reached her first final in 2008 at the
Austrian Open and reached six additional finals but did not win them. Her best result at a major was at the
2015 Australian Open, where she defeated former world No. 1,
Ana Ivanovic, en route to the third round.
Career
2002–2008: Career beginnings, first pro tour titles
She won her first doubles title on the WTA Tour in 2006 at
Portorož with partner
Renata Voráčová as the fourth-seeded team. In the final, the Czech team defeated
Eva Birnerová and
Émilie Loit, the second seeds, by walkover. They also had a victory over the top-seeds
Maria Elena Camerin and
Emmanuelle Gagliardi in the semifinals.
As qualifiers, she reached the third round of doubles competition with
Hana Šromová at the
2006 Wimbledon Championships, then lost to fifth seeds
Meghann Shaughnessy and
Anna-Lena Grönefeld. En route, they defeated 12th-seeds
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Kuznetsova won 18 singl ...
and
Amélie Mauresmo, the previous year's
Wimbledon runner-ups by walkover.
In 2007, she made the doubles semifinals of the
Indian Wells Open tournament with Voráčová. En route, the team defeated
Janette Husárová and
Meghann Shaughnessy, the seventh seeds, in the first round, and third-seeded
Virginia Ruano Pascual and
Paola Suárez in three sets in the quarterfinals, and then lost to top seeds
Lisa Raymond and
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
.
Later that year, Hradecká and Voráčová won at
Bad Gastein, beating
Ágnes Szávay and
Vladimíra Uhlířová. They also won the 2007 Portorož title, beating
Elena Likhovtseva
Elena Alexandrovna Likhovtseva ( ; born 8 September 1975) is a Kazakhstani-born Russian former tennis player. She turned professional in January 1992, at the age of 16.
Together with Mahesh Bhupathi she won the Wimbledon Mixed doubles in 20 ...
and
Andreja Klepač in the finals.
Hradecká reached her first singles final at Bad Gastein in July 2008, where, as a qualifier, she got to the final, but lost to the fourth-seed
Pauline Parmentier 4–6, 4–6. She also reached the doubles final.
2009–11: 2011 French Open doubles champion, top 50 singles debut
Hradecká won the
same tournament, defeating
Paula Ormaechea in the final.
She paired with
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 ...
to win her first Grand Slam title at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, defeating
Sania Mirza and
Elena Vesnina in the final.
2012: Wimbledon doubles final, Olympic silver medal, world No. 4
In
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...
, Hradecká qualified for
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. She caused the two biggest upsets in the tournament by beating the world No. 4
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová (; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 31 career singles titles, including two Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles ...
(who was the defending champion) and the world No. 5, Samantha Stosur on the way to her first semifinals at the Premier level, where she lost to
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
in straight sets.
Hradecká and Andrea Hlaváčková reached their second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, losing to the
Williams sisters. Hradecká and Andrea Hlaváčková wons the silver medal in women's aboubles at the
Summer Olympics in London.
2015–16: Singles success, Australian Open doubles final, top 10 year-end doubles ranking
Hradecká started 2015 ranked 141st in the world and had to qualify for the main draw of the
Australian Open, which she did with three wins in the qualifying rounds. She then reached the third round, her best career showing in singles at any major.
Hradecká reached the
2016 Australian Open
The 2016 Australian Open was a List of tennis tournaments, tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tourname ...
final with Andrea Hlaváčková, losing to
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.
2017–22: Third US Open doubles final, retirement
Hradecká reached another final at the
2017 US Open with Kateřina Siniaková, losing to Hingis and
Chan Yung-jan.
She announced her final retirement in doubles in October 2022. Her last match was at the
Guadalajara Open.
Performance timelines
''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
''
Singles
''Current through the
2021 Wimbledon.''
Doubles
Grand Slam tournament finals
Doubles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)
Mixed doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)
Other significant finals
Tour Championships
Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 tournaments
Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Olympic Games medal matches
Doubles: 2 (1 silver medal)
Mixed doubles: 1 (bronze medal)
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 7 (7 runner-ups)
Doubles: 53 (26 titles, 27 runner-ups)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 27 (20 titles, 7 runner–ups)
Doubles: 50 (35 titles, 15 runner–ups)
Notes
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hradecka, Lucie
1985 births
Living people
Czech female tennis players
Tennis players from Prague
French Open champions
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for the Czech Republic
Olympic medalists for the Czech Republic in tennis
Olympic silver medalists for the Czech Republic
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
US Open (tennis) champions
Olympic bronze medalists for the Czech Republic
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Hopman Cup competitors