Likhovtseva Elena Aleksandrovna - knownKazakhstani (and later Russian) tennis player. Seven-time finalist of Grand Slam competitions. Master of Sports of the Russian Federation. Winner of 30 WTA tournaments. This article will provide a brief biography of athletes.
Carier start
Elena Likhovtseva was born in Almaty in 1975year The girl began to play tennis at the age of seven. Her first coach was Lilia Maximova. From an early age, Elena played rather uncommonly. In 1989, she won the USSR Junior Championship. After a couple of years, the girl took part in the international tournament “Orange Ball” and took second place there (the first was Natalia Zvereva).
1992 - the year when she started performing atprofessional competitions Elena Likhovtseva. Tennis has become for her the main business of life. Debut title (10 thousandth in Portugal), Helen took the first season. The athlete also defeated a player from the top 200. A year later, she was selected for the tournament in Jakarta (WTA). A few months later, Likhovtseva went to San Diego and reached the quarter-finals, beating Natalia Medvedeva (64 racket of the world) and Natalie Tozya (15th place in the rating). Thanks to this successful performance, Elena made her way to the top 200 and was selected for the Grand Slam competition. Before the end of the year, the athlete played a few more tournaments. The success of the 1993 season allowed her in just two years to go from a promising junior to a tennis player who is in the first hundred of the adult rating.
New achievements
In 1994–95, Elena Likhovtseva entrenched onpreviously achieved level, taking part in both small and large WTA tournaments. In 1996, the athlete defeated Marie Pierce (4th racket of the world) on the fourth round of the Australian Open. A few months later, Likhovtseva beat Arança Sanchez (2nd place in the rating) at competitions in Berlin. A series of significant victories allowed Elena to enter the top 20 strongest athletes on the planet.
At the beginning of the next season the Russian tennis playerwon a second WTA title at a tournament in Gold Coast. But by the end of the year, the effectiveness of her game decreased and Likhovtseva dropped to the 38th line of the rating. In 1998–99, Elena gradually returned to her peak level. The athlete got into the top 20 again and was selected for the Final tournament.
Team play
In 1996, Elena managed to get a goodlevel in paired results (WTA). Together with Anna Kournikova, she perfectly played a few tournaments. And then the athletes managed to reach the quarterfinals at the Grand Slam competitions in America. Soon, Likhovtseva joined forces with Ai Sugiyama from Japan. This tandem became more successful, and soon the girls entered first in the top 20, and then in the top 10 world rankings. Together they won six titles in WTA competitions.
2000–08
The zero season began for Elena with a new one.career achievements. On the fifth attempt, the tennis player was able to win in the fourth round of the Grand Slam. Thus, Likhovtseva entered the top eight athletes in this competition. To do this, the girl had to beat Serena Williams herself (at that time, the 4th racket of the world). Then the results of Elena at such meetings were stable. She went to the semifinals and finals several times. In the future at the Grand Slam tournaments tennis player has never shown a similar level of play.
The next few years, Elena Likhovtseva, familywhich has always supported her in competitions, consistently ranked in the top 50. But until 2004 there were no major victories. And in the summer of this year, Elena managed to reach the final of the first category tournament in Canada. After Likhovtseva, she won her 3rd and final WTA title in Forest Hills.
The next peak of the form of the tennis player was in May2005 The girl took advantage of the confusion at Roland Garros and advanced to the semifinals. A series of stable results at that time allowed her to achieve the highest rating in her career, taking 16th place after JUS Open. Later Elena's game stabilized at the usual level. In 2008, tennis players began to have serious problems with their right shoulders, which led to a prolonged skipping of competitions, and then ending their careers.
Well, the heyday of Likhovtseva pair achievementsfell on the first half of the 2000s. First, Elena played in with Kara Black, and then with Vera Zvonareva and Svetlana Kuznetsova. With them, she more than fifty times visited the finals of various competitions. For eight years of stable results, Likhovtseva twice reached the decisive match in the pair Final Tournaments (both times with Kara Black).
International competitions
Having received Russian citizenship, Elena enterednational team and began to speak at the Federation Cup. The first matches of the athletes took place in 1996 at the Euro-African tournament. Over the next eight years, the Russian tennis player was only missing one season at these competitions. Likhovtseva played 42 matches for the national team, having won 26 of them. She also performed at the Olympics, but did not achieve much success there.
Present day
After the end of her career, Elena Likhovtseva begancoaching activity in the FIT. Now she is one of the mentors of the national team in the Federation Cup. Elena also trains the Russian women's team (up to 12 years).
In November 2010, Likhovtsev was included in the Tennis Hall of Fame.
Since 2008, Elena has been attracted by various channels as an expert on tennis programs. On a regular basis, it can be seen on the TV channel "Eurosport" (Russian version).
Personal life
Elena Likhovtseva was married twice. Now the athlete’s spouse is TV host and journalist Andrei Morozov. From him, Elena gave birth to two daughters: Anastasia (2012) and Alexander (2014).
