Nadia Petrova

Petrova was born in Moscow. Her parents were both very athletic: her father Viktor was a leading hammer thrower, while her mother Nadezhda Ilyina won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the 400 meter relay. Both her parents are still athletics coaches. As a child, Nadia did a lot of travelling around the world with her parents. She eventually settled in Egypt, where she trained with Mohammed Seif and her parents. Petrova says that hard courts are her favourite surface, but she has been most successful on clay courts. She is currently coached by Vladimir Platenik.

Petrova is an all-court aggressive player who is capable of hitting winners off both wings, but particularly off her back-hand and which she hits flat and with slice. Petrova's serve is considered her biggest asset and one of the best serves in the women's game. In 2010 she hit the most aces on the tour with 306. She had an impressive 70% of first serve points won and also won over 74% of her service games. As an accomplished doubles player, Petrova's volleying skills are considered exceptional and she is not afraid to come into the net to finish off points. Petrova's main weakness is her movement around the court as she is often slow to retrieve balls and can sometimes struggle to defend well during rallies. Also, her forehand is sometimes erratic and can produce many unforced errors. Read Less

Her lone victory was over top-ranked Amélie Mauresmo 6–2, 6–2. She finished the year at No. 6.

At the Australian Open, she reached the third round before falling to Serena Williams, the eventual champion, after holding a 5–3 second set lead.

At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, Petrova picked up her seventh tour title and first of the season by beating Lucie Šafářová. Petrova reached the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, losing to Justine Henin. Petrova then reached the final in Amelia Island, losing to Tatiana Golovin.

She was the eleventh-seeded player at the French Open but lost to Květa Peschke 7–5, 5–7, 6–0. After the loss, she claimed that the low back pain had been bothering her. It was her second consecutive first round loss at the French Open because of injury. Read Less