Flavia Pennetta Tennis Star 2011 Profile,Bio and Pictures

Flavia Pennetta

Profile:

Singles Ranking: 19
Doubles Ranking: 1
Country: Italy
Birth Date: 25 February 1982
Birth Place:   Brindisi, Italy
Residence:   Verbier, Switzerland
Height:   1.73 metres (5 ft. 8 in.)
Weight:   58.2 kilos (128 lbs.)
Plays:   Right Handed

Biography:

Currently ranked No.12 in the world, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta has 18 career WTA Tour titles – nine as a singles player and nine as a doubles. Her highest rank as a singles player is No. 10, reached on Aug. 17, 2009. She has been ranked as high as 8th in doubles (July 5, 2010).
For the first five years of her career, she played on the ITF circuit and in Tour qualifiers, debuting in the top 100 in 2002 at No. 100 on Sept. 23.
In 2003, she finished in the top 100 again, debuting in all four Grand Slam events and making it to the third round of the French Open.
She cracked the top 50 in 2004, winning her first Tour singles title at Sopot, then pushed her way into the top 30 in 2005 and 2006. At one point she won 15 straight matches on clay, and made the fourth round of Wimbledon, falling to Mary Pierce.
Injury cut short her 2006 season, and between a comeback and inconsistency, she nearly fell out of the top 100 in 2007 before rallying to end the year in the top 40.
She continued the forward momentum in 2008 with her first top 20 season, her fifth and sixth Tour singles titles and her first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance (US Open). In 2009 she won 15 straight matches during the summer and cracked the top 10 on Aug. 17 before ending the year at No. 12.
She also experienced patriotic success in 2009, helping Italy to the Fed Cup championship, defeating France, Russia and the United States. In 2010, she won her ninth Tour singles title at Marbella as the No. 2 seed and reached the fourth round at the French Open

Year-End Singles Rankings: 1997 - 895th; 1998 - 659th; 1999 - 251st; 2000 - 297th; 2001 - 292nd; 2002 - 95th; 2003 - 69th; 2004 - 38th; 2005 - 23rd; 2006 - 28th; 2007 - 40th; 2008 - 13th; 2009 - 11th.

Personal:
Coached by Gabriel Urpi. Her father introduced her to tennis when she was five years old. Both her parents and her older sister play tennis recreationally. Also interested in horse racing.

Pictures: