Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina (Анастасия Мыскина [ɐnəstɐˈsʲijə ˈmɨskʲɪnə]; born July 8, 1981, Moscow, Russia) is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam event. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to reach the top three in the history of the rankings. In September 2004 she reached a career high of No.2, but she has not played professional tennis since 2007, and has stated she does not know whether she will return or not. Injury has prevented her from advancing for the past several years.
Her German coach, Jens Gerlach, is also a former boyfriend.[5] Myskina also dated HC Dynamo Moscow hockey player Aleksandr Stepanov,[6] and she has also been linked to Austrian tennis pro Jürgen Melzer.[7]
In October 2002, Myskina had a series of photos taken for GQ magazine by the photographer Mark Seliger for a spread in the October 2002 edition of GQ, in which one approved photo of her fully clothed was published. After she won the French Open in 2004, some photographs from the shoot, in which she appeared topless, were published in the July/August 2004 issue of the Russian magazine Medved (Bear).
Myskina only played two singles matches, having been injured. She lost both of those matches; including to Meghann Shaughnessy at the French Open, only winning a game.[1][2] As of July 25, 2007, Myskina fell to the same ranking as the wildcard she lost to, Agnieszka Radwańska, of Number 309. She also is unranked for doubles. Myskina is taking time off due to a career-threatening injury.[3][4]
2006 was another disappointing season for Myskina. Having had several chances to return to the Top 10, she failed to convert any of them. In Warsaw, she suffered her worst defeat in terms of the rankings on WTA Tour level, falling to a wild card, Agnieszka Radwańska, ranked No. 309. She showed splashes of her old form during the grass season, having reached the Eastbourne final beautifully, losing to Justine Henin in a close final concluded in a third set tiebreak. She made the Wimbledon quarterfinals, but lost to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo in three sets. She had solid performance at the first two Grand Slams, making the 4th round on each occasion. After Wimbledon, her game completely fall apart.
2005 brought Myskina mixed fortunes. She spent the first half of 2005 poorly, due to personal issues regarding her mother's health. Myskina surrendered her Doha and Roland Garros titles in the very first round, and became the first Roland Garros champion to lose in the opening round. Bringing an 8-10 win-loss record to the beginning of the grass court season, Myskina managed to turn it around at Wimbledon by reaching her career-first quarterfinal at the event with three comeback wins over Jelena Janković (from a 1–5 final set deficit), and over Dementieva (being 1–6, 0–3 down and facing match points in the second set tiebreak). She fell out of the Top 10 in August. She then won a tenth career title in Kolkata beating lower-ranked opponents.
2004 was Myskina's best season to date. Myskina successfully defended her Doha title, afterwards becoming the second Russian woman to break into the Top 5, the first was Natasha Zvereva, who rose to number 5 in the World in May 1989. The highlight of Myskina's 2004 season was a victory at the French Open, where she saved match points in the fourth round against Svetlana Kuznetsova, then defeated former world number 1 players Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati, en route to a 6–1, 6–2 victory over compatriot Elena Dementieva in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final, thus making her the first female Russian to win a Grand Slam singles title. Prior to her French Open victory, she had never made it past the 2nd round at Roland Garros.
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