Patty Schnyder

Patty Schnyder
Country  Switzerland
Born 14 December 1978 (1978-12-14) (age 33)
Basel, Switzerland
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Turned pro 1994
Retired 2011
Plays Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$8,419,111
Singles
Career record 555–369
Career titles 11 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking No. 7 (14 November 2005)
Current ranking No. 55 (23 May 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open SF (2004)
French Open QF (1998, 2008)
Wimbledon 4R (2007)
US Open QF (1998, 2008)
Other tournaments
Championships RR (2005)
Doubles
Career record 230–241
Career titles 5 WTA
Highest ranking No. 15 (6 June 2005)
Last updated on: 23 May 2011.

Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978 in Basel from Willy and Iris Schnyder [1]) is a retired Swiss professional tennis player.[2] She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No. 1 players in her career, including Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Amélie Mauresmo, Jelena Janković, Ana Ivanović and Caroline Wozniacki.

During her long career, she reached six Grand Slam singles quarterfinals and one Grand Slam singles semifinal. She won 11 WTA singles titles and 5 WTA doubles titles and earned over US$8.4 million in prize money.[3]

Contents

Career

In 1996, Schnyder made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the French Open. In 1997, she quickly rose up through the rankings, and by August 1998 she had entered the WTA Top 10. However, Schnyder fell out of the Top 10 in April 1999, and spent the next 6 years ranked in the 15–30 range before re-entering the Top 10 in May 2005.

In December 2003, Schnyder married Rainer Hofmann, who had accompanied her on the WTA tour since 1999 and became her full-time tennis coach in early 2003.

Schnyder has won 11 singles titles, including a victory in Zürich (Tier I Event) over American former No.1 Lindsay Davenport, and 5 doubles titles. Her first title on U.S. soil came in August, 2005, when she won at Cincinnati's Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. Schnyder is perhaps best known for defeating 4 top 10 players consecutively, including Serena Williams and then-World No.1 Jennifer Capriati, in 2002 at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, which is the largest women-only tennis event held in the United States.

Schnyder's best Grand Slam performance came at the 2004 Australian Open, where she reached the semifinal before falling to Kim Clijsters. Later that season, she also reached the semi-finals at the Tier 1 tournaments in Charleston and Zurich – two large WTA events where Schnyder has compiled an excellent record through the years.

2005 was Schnyder's most consistent overall season to date. She reached five tour finals, winning two of them (Gold Coast and Cincinnati, both Tier 3 events). She was runner-up at the Tier I events Rome (to Amélie Mauresmo) and Zurich (to Lindsay Davenport). She also reached the final in Linz (Tier 2), falling to Nadia Petrova. She reached the career high of World Number 7 after the end of season WTA Tour Championships.

2006 proved to be a good season for Schnyder also, staying within the top ten and reaching the finals in Charleston (defeating top seed and defending champion Justine Henin in the semis and also ending Henin's 27 match winning streak on clay, though Schnyder lost to Petrova in the final), and in Stanford (falling to top seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters).

Schnyder had a mediocre year in 2007, where she lost her top 10 ranking. Firstly, she obtained an invite from Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play 2007 Watsons Water Champions Challenge. And then she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, where she lost to Anna Chakvetadze 6–4, 6–1 after leading 4–1 in the first set. At the French Open, she managed to reach the fourth round, where she had 2 matchpoints against Maria Sharapova but ended up losing 6–3, 4–6, 7–9. At Wimbledon, she was beaten in the fourth round by No.1 Justine Henin 6–2, 6–2. At the Acura Classic in July, she reached the final, beating former No.1 and compatriot Martina Hingis 6–1, 6–7(4), 6–3 and Russian Elena Dementieva 7–6, 6–0 along the way before losing to Sharapova again in three sets, 2–6, 6–3, 0–6. Schnyder briefly moved up due to this. However at the US Open she lost in the third round to the unseeded Austrian Tamira Paszek in a final set tie break, again wasting leads. After that she played at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at Stuttgart, where she fell 0–6 2–6 to Ana Ivanović. She finished her year with a run to the Generali Ladies Linz final, beating Chakvetadze 6–1, 6–0 in a quarterfinal and Marion Bartoli 7–6, 6–3 in a semifinal, before convincingly losing in the final to Hantuchová 4–6, 2–6.

Schnyder began 2008 by beating Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals of the Mondial Women's Hardcourts tournament in the Gold Coast before losing to Li Na in the semifinals. At the Australian Open, she lost in the second round to Australian Casey Dellacqua 6–4, 5–7, 6–8. She then lost in the second round of the Proximus Diamond Games to eventual finalist Karin Knapp, losing in a final set tiebreak. She entered the Qatar Total Open and beat Paszek easily 6–4, 6–0. She lost to Slovakia's Dominika Cibulková in the second round 6–4 6–3. Schnyder then competed in the Bangalore Open, a Tier II event in Bangalore, India. She defeated Akgul Amanmuradova 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 in the quarterfinals and then managed to beat Zi Yan 6–3, 6–4 in the semifinal. However, she lost to Serena Williams 5–7 3–6 in the final.

Schnyder again lost to Casey Dellacqua at Wimbledon in the first round. She played an epic match, but lost 4–6, 6–3, 1–6.

Alongside Emmanuelle Gagliardi, Schnyder played for her team in the 2008 Summer Olympics according to the List of entrants.

At the US Open, Schnyder was seeded 15th. She beat Katarina Srebotnik in the 4th round to advance to the Quarterfinals, for the first time in 10 years, where she lost to fifth seeded Elena Dementieva.

At the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic, Schnyder won her first title in over 3 years when she defeated Tamira Paszek in the final 6–3, 6–0.

At the 2009 Madrid Masters, Schnyder defeated World No. 10 Nadia Petrova in the third round and World No. 4 Jelena Janković 7–6(6), 6–3 in the quarterfinals but lost to World No. 1 Dinara Safina in the semifinals 4–6, 2–6.

2010 was a tough year for Patty. For the first time since 1996, she did not play in the Australian Open, due to injury. But, for the second year in a row, she did make it to the final in Budapest against Ágnes Szávay, but again lost. She lost two match points in the third round of the US Open and double-faulted on match point against Yanina Wickmayer. She again made her second final of the year in Linz but suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Ana Ivanović.

Patty Schnyder did not play at the beginning of the 2011 season, prior to the 2011 Australian Open, due to illness. At the Australian Open she lost to the qualifier Lesya Tsurenko in the first round. In a March 2011 Bleacher report, Schnyder was listed as one of ten most underrated players on the Wtatour. Schnyder signaled, after disappointing first round losses in both singles and doubles at the Family Circle Cup, that she would indeed be retiring sometime this year. Schnyder proved in April that she was still Switzerland's number one women's tennis player when she, along with Timea Bascinszky, helped propelled, by straight wins, Switzerland back into World Group II at the Fed Cup. She announced her retirement in May 2011.[4]

WTA Tour singles finals (27)

Wins (11)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Grand Slam Cup (0)
Tier I (1)
Tier II (1)
Tier III (5)
Tier IV-V (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 18 January 1998 Hobart, Australia Hard Dominique van Roost 6–3, 6–2
2. 22 February 1998 Hannover, Germany Carpet (i) Jana Novotná 6–0, 3–6, 7–5
3. 24 May 1998 Madrid, Spain Clay Dominique van Roost 3–6, 6–4, 6–0
4. 12 July 1998 Maria Lankowitz, Austria Clay Gala León García 6–2, 4–6, 6–3
5. 19 July 1998 Palermo, Italy Clay Barbara Schett 6–1, 5–7, 6–2
6. 10 January 1999 Gold Coast, Australia Hard Mary Pierce 4–6, 7–6(5), 6–2
7. 11 November 2001 Pattaya City, Thailand Hard Henrieta Nagyová 6–0, 6–4
8. 20 October 2002 Zürich, Switzerland Carpet (i) Lindsay Davenport 6–7(5), 7–6(8), 6–3
9. 8 January 2005 Gold Coast, Australia Hard Samantha Stosur 1–6, 6–3, 7–5
10. 24 July 2005 Cincinnati, USA Hard Akiko Morigami 6–4, 6–0
11. 8 September 2008 Bali, Indonesia Hard Tamira Paszek 6–3, 6–0

Runner-ups (16)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 15 September 1996 Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic Clay Ruxandra Dragomir 6–2, 3–6, 6–4
2. 28 September 1998 Munich, Germany Hard (i) Venus Williams 6–2, 3–6, 6–2
3. 16 July 2000 Klagenfurt, Austria Clay Barbara Schett 5–7, 6–4, 6–4
4. 12 July 2001 Vienna, Austria Clay Iroda Tulyaganova 6–3, 6–2
5. 21 April 2002 Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA Clay Iva Majoli 7–6(5), 6–4
6. 15 May 2005 Rome, Italy Clay Amélie Mauresmo 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
7. 23 October 2005 Zürich, Switzerland Carpet (i) Lindsay Davenport 7–6(5), 6–3
8. 30 October 2005 Linz, Austria Hard (i) Nadia Petrova 4–6, 6–3, 6–1
9. 16 April 2006 Charleston, South Carolina, USA Clay Nadia Petrova 6–3, 4–6, 6–1
10. 30 July 2006 Stanford, California, USA Hard Kim Clijsters 6–4, 6–2
11. 16 April 2007 San Diego, California, USA Hard Maria Sharapova 6–2, 3–6, 6–0
12. 28 October 2007 Linz, Austria Hard (i) Daniela Hantuchová 6–4, 6–2
13. 9 March 2008 Bangalore, India Hard Serena Williams 7–5, 6–3
14. 12 July 2009 Budapest, Hungary Clay Ágnes Szávay 2–6, 6–4, 6–2
15. 11 July 2010 Budapest, Hungary Clay Ágnes Szávay 6–2, 6–4
16. 17 October 2010 Linz, Austria Hard (i) Ana Ivanović 6–1, 6–2

WTA Tour doubles finals

Wins (5)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponent in the final Score
1. 3 May 1998 Hamburg, Germany Clay Barbara Schett Martina Hingis
Jana Novotná		 7–6, 3–6, 6–3
2. 17 February 2002 Antwerp, Belgium Carpet Magdalena Maleeva Nathalie Dechy
Meilen Tu		 6–3, 6–7, 6–3
3. 9 February 2003 Paris, France Carpet Barbara Schett Marion Bartoli
Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro		 2–6, 6–2, 7–6
4. 15 February 2004 Paris, France Carpet Barbara Schett Silvia Farina Elia
Francesca Schiavone		 6–3, 6–2
5. 5 October 2008 Stuttgart, Germany Hard Anna-Lena Grönefeld Květa Peschke
Rennae Stubbs		 6–2, 6–4

ITF singles titles (3)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 4 May 1995 Nitra, Slovak Republic Clay Barbara Castro 1–6, 6–2, 6–3
2. 21 May 1995 Prešov, Slovak Republic Clay Jana Ondrouchová 6–1, 6–0
3. 25 June 1995 Cureglia, Switzerland Clay Camilla Kremer 6–2, 6–1

Singles performance timeline

To help interpret the performance table, the legend below explains what each abbreviation and color coded box represents in the performance timeline.

Terms to know
SR tournaments won/played W-L Win-Loss
Performance Table Legend
NH not held A absent
LQ lost in qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds
QF quarterfinalist SF semifinalist
F runner-up W winner
NM5 means an event that is neither a Premier Mandatory nor a Premier 5 tournament.

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through Schnyder's retirement on May 28, 2011.

Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Career
SR		 Career
Win-Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A LQ 4R 4R 2R 4R 1R 1R 4R SF QF QF 4R 2R 2R A 1R 0 / 15 31–15
French Open A A A 1R 3R QF 3R 1R 2R 4R 4R 2R 4R 4R 4R QF 1R 1R 1R 0 / 16 29–16
Wimbledon A A A 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 3R 2R 1R 2R 1R 2R 4R 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 15 10–15
US Open A A A A 3R QF 3R 2R 2R 3R 2R 4R 4R 4R 3R QF 2R 3R A 0 / 14 31–14
Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–3 7–4 12–4 5–4 5–4 4–4 6–4 7–4 10–4 10–4 11–4 11–4 9–4 2–4 2–3 0–2 N/A 101–60
Year-End Championship
WTA Tour Championships A A A A A 1R A A A 1R A A RR A A A A A A 0 / 3 1–4
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells Not Tier I A A A 3R 3R 2R 2R A A A A A A 2R 2R 1R 0 / 7 4–7
Key Biscayne A A A A 2R 4R 4R 3R 2R 2R A A 3R 4R 2R 3R 3R 2R 2R 0 / 13 13–12
Madrid Not Held SF 3R 1R 0 / 3 6–3
Beijing Not Held Not Tier I 2R 2R A 0 / 2 2–2
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai Not Tier I A 1R 3R 0 / 2 2–2
Rome A A A A SF 1R 3R 1R 2R 2R 3R 2R F 3R SF QF 3R 2R 1R 0 / 15 24–15
Cincinnati Not Held Not Tier I 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1
Montreal / Toronto A A A A A 1R 1R 2R A 2R A A A A 3R 3R 2R 2R A 0 / 8 10–9
Tokyo A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R A A 0 / 1 0–1
Former WTA Tier I Tournaments (currently neither Premier Mandatory nor Premier 5 events)
Charleston A A A A 2R QF SF 3R 1R F 2R SF SF F 2R QF NM5 0 / 12 27–12
Moscow Not Held Not
Tier I		 2R 2R 1R 2R A A 1R 1R 2R QF 2R A 0 / 10 6–9
Doha Not Held Not Tier I 2R Not
Held		 NM5 0 / 3 4–3
Berlin A A A A 1R 1R QF 1R 3R A 3R 3R SF QF QF 1R Not Held 0 / 11 16–10
San Diego Not Tier I 1R QF SF F Not
Held		 NM5 0 / 4 10–4
Zürich A LQ 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R W QF SF F 1R 2R Not
Tier I		 Not Held 1 / 14 18–13
Philadelphia A A A Not Tier I Not Held Not Tier I Not Held 0 / 0 0–0
Career Statistics
Tournaments Won 0 0 3 0 0 5 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 N/A 14
Year End Ranking N/A 786 152 58 26 11 21 25 37 15 23 14 7 9 16 14 43 44 N/A N/A N/A

Citations

  1. ^ Patty Schnyder: Gefrorenes Herz, Weltwoche, 14. September 2011
  2. ^ Swiss tennis player Schnyder announces retirement
  3. ^ Betreibungen gegen Patty Schnyder, Tagesanzeiger Zürich, 29. March 2011
  4. ^ Patty Schnyder Announces Retirement, WTA, May 28, 2011

External links