Aravane Rezaï

Aravane Rezaï

Country (sports)	Iran (2001–2005)  France (2005–present)
Residence	Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Born	(1987-03-14) 14 March 1987 Saint-Étienne, France
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	January 2005
Plays	Right-handed (double-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,810,383
Singles
Career record	286–209
Career titles	4 WTA, 8 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 15 (11 October 2010)
Current ranking	-
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2008)
French Open	4R (2009)
Wimbledon	3R (2007)
US Open	4R (2006)
Doubles
Career record	9 – 29
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 118 (9 March 2009)
Current ranking	-
Last updated on: 06 January 2014.

Aravane Rezaï

Medal record
Women's Tennis
Representing  Iran
Women's Islamic Games
	2001 Iran	Singles
	2005 Iran	Singles

Aravane Rezaï (French: [aʁavan ʁɛza.i]; Persian: ارغوان رضایی‎‎ Arghavān-e Rezāyi pronounced [æɾɣævɒːn(-e) ɾezɒːjiː], born 14 March 1987) is a professional Iranian–French tennis player. She has defeated many top players on the WTA circuit, such as Justine Henin, Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina, Francesca Schiavone, Caroline Wozniacki, Marion Bartoli, Flavia Pennetta, Jelena Janković and Ai Sugiyama. Her career high rank was No. 15, achieved on 11 October 2010.

Personal life

Rezaï was born to Iranian parents in Saint-Étienne, France. She took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl.

Career

2001 & 2005

Rezaï competed for Iran at the Women's Islamic Games, winning gold in 2001 and 2005.^[1][2]

Rezaï is now based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. She also won the Chambon sur Lignon open in 2004.

2006

Rezaï started playing for France. For the second year in a row, Rezaï lost in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open. However, her French Open run was more successful. She struggled through to the third round of the tournament, defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan along the way. She fell to Nicole Vaidišová, in a hard fought three-setter. Her Wimbledon dreams were also put on hold as she fell in the first round of qualifying. At the 2006 US Open, she reached the fourth round, her career best Grand Slam singles result.

She also competed on the ITF circuit throughout the year, reaching the final of two ITF tournaments, as well as winning one in the later part of the year on the hardcourts of France.

2007

Her year started poorly, reaching the second round only twice in her first thirteen tournaments on tour, including a first-round loss at the Australian Open. At the international clay tournament of Istanbul (Turkey) Rezaï reached the final by beating American World No. 29 Venus Williams in the 2nd round (6–4, 6–4) and Russian World No. 2 Maria Sharapova in the semi-final (6–2, 6–4). In the final she lost to Russian Elena Dementieva due to retiring, trailing 6–7(5), 0–3.

In spite of her good performance in the international clay tournament, she lost the week after 6–2, 6–4 to countrywoman Marion Bartoli in the first round of the 2007 French Open. In her first appearance in Wimbledon she defeated Shenay Perry from the U.S. in the first round 6–2, 7–6 and Francesca Schiavone from Italy, the 29th seed, in the second round, 6–4, 2–6, 6–4. However, in the third round she was defeated by Ana Ivanovic from Serbia 6–3, 6–2. At the 2007 US Open she once again lost to Ana Ivanovic in the second round.

She ended an appalling year with yet another ITF Circuit title in Deauville, France, losing only one set en route to her victory.

2008

Rezaï reached the final of the 2008 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand despite being unseeded. She lost to American Lindsay Davenport 6–2, 6–2. Her year stagnated with early losses in the first and second rounds of tournaments, however, and her only other grand success of the year came on the clay of Morocco in mid-spring, where she reached the semi-finals before falling to Gisela Dulko.

At the Australian Open, Rezaï reached the third round, beating thirteenth seed Tatiana Golovin in the second round 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 before losing to Hsieh Su-wei 6–2, 6–7, 6–4. Her Grand Slam results for the rest of the year were disappointing. At the French Open, she fell to Nadia Petrova in the first round. At Wimbledon, she faced Gisela Dulko of Argentina. She pushed Dulko to three sets, but eventually fell 6–1 0–6 2–6. The US Open started well as she defeated American Asia Muhammad 6–2 6–4. However, she fell in the second round to Sybille Bammer 1–6, 5–7.

2009

Rezaï won the first WTA Tour title of her career in Strasbourg, beating Lucie Hradecká 7–6(2), 6–1 in the final. Despite a first-round loss at the Australian Open, she flew to the 4th round of the French Open after defeating Michelle Larcher de Brito 7–6(3), 6–2, but lost to World No.1 Dinara Safina 6–1, 6–0, effectively putting an end to her participation in Roland-Garros. At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, she beat Ayumi Morita 6–2, 6–2 but then lost to fourth seed Elena Dementieva 6–1, 6–3 in the second round.

In the first round of Rogers Cup 2009, she defeated Alizé Cornet 6–4, 7–5. In the second round, she made the biggest upset of the tournament by defeating World No. 1 Dinara Safina 3–6, 6–2, 6–4. In the third round, she was defeated by Alisa Kleybanova in two sets 3–6, 4–6. Aravane Rezaï then lost at the US Open to Sabine Lisicki in the first round, her earliest loss ever at the US Open.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Rezaï won her opening match in straight sets, defeating Sara Errani 6–2, 6–2. In the second round she lost to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6–4, 6–2.

Seeded tenth at the 2009 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions Rezaï won her first round robin match against fourth seed Sabine Lisicki 6–1, 3–6, 4–6, then beat Melinda Czink in her second match 6–3, 7–5 to make her the first player to advance to the semifinals of the inaugural event. She then went on to the semifinals, where she beat María José Martínez Sánchez 6–2 6–3. In the final she faced Marion Bartoli and won the first set 7–5 before Bartoli retired. Because of her performance Rezaï reached a new career high of world number 26.

2010

Rezaï in 2010

Rezaï's first tournament of the year was the 2010 ASB Classic, where she was seeded No. 7. In the first round she beat fellow countrywoman Julie Coin 6–4, 6–3. At match point the lights in the stadium went out, but they were fixed shortly after and Rezaï closed out the match. In the second round she was defeated by Dominika Cibulková 6–3, 6–4.

Her next tournament was the Medibank International Sydney. Rezaï won her first round match against Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–7, 6–2, 6–2, then faced Ágnes Szávay, whom she defeated 6–3 7–6. In the quarterfinals she beat Flavia Pennetta 6–3, 6–0; in the semifinal she faced World No.1 Serena Williams. She began strong, leading in the match by 6–3, 5–2, and was two points away from victory, but ended up losing 6–3, 5–7, 4–6.

Rezaï was seeded No. 26 for the Australian Open. She won her first-round match against Sania Mirza 6–4, 6–2, but was then defeated in the second round by Angelique Kerber 6–2, 6–3. In the doubles draw she partnered with Sabine Lisicki, but they lost in the first round.

Her next tournament was the 2010 Open GDF Suez, where she was seeded No. 5. She won her first round match against qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6–4, 6–4. In the second round she faced Andrea Petkovic, getting upset 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 and spoiling her chance to play Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals. She lost in the next round.

At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Rezaï caused a huge upset in the first round, defeating the former World No. 1 and four-time French Open champion Justine Henin 4–6, 7–5, 6–0. In the second round, she won her match against Klára Zakopalová 6–3, 7–5, then defeated Andrea Petkovic in two sets 6–4, 7–6 (10–8). Rezaï pulled off a major fourth-round upset by defeating Jelena Janković in two straight sets 7–5, 6–4. In the semifinal she won against Lucie Šafářová 6–1, 0–0 (retired), reaching the most important final in her career. She defeated Venus Williams in the final 6–2, 7–5, coming back from a 2–5 deficit and overcoming numerous set points to win. She then to the French Open with improved odds. Because of her performance at Mutua Madrileña, Rezaï reached a new high career ranking as number 16. Seeded 15th at the 2010 French Open, Rezaï fell to No. 19 Nadia Petrova in the third round in three sets.

On grass Rezaï played at the 2010 Aegon Classic, cruising through the semifinals without dropping a set, but fell to eventual champion Li Na 6–1, 3–6, 6–3. She then played at the 2010 Aegon International, where she upset top seed Caroline Wozniacki 6–4, 1–6, 6–3 in the first round before retiring against María José Martínez Sánchez in the second round, down 6–2, 3–0. At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, as the 18th seed, she was upset by Klára Zakopalová 5–7, 6–3, 6–3 in the second round.

At the 2010 Swedish Open Rezaï cruised through the finals with wins over Arantxa Parra Santonja and Lucie Šafářová, finally facing Gisela Dulko. Rezaï won 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, despite giving up a 4–0 lead in the third set.

At the 2010 Cincinnati Open, Rezaï was upset by World no. 98 Bojana Jovanovski 4–6, 6–3, 6–4; even though she had "breathtaking" strokes, her serve was erratic with a high number of unforced errors.^[3]

Rezaï's disappointing level of play continued right up until the end of her season, as she lost in the first round of the 2010 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. She won the title in 2009 but lost to Alisa Kleybanova in the first round 6–1, 6–2.

2011

Rezaï obtained an invite from the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play in the Hong Kong Tennis Classic with Caroline Wozniacki and Stefan Edberg for Team Europe, but they lost to Team Russia (including Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko and Yevgeny Kafelnikov) in the final of Gold Group.

Rezaï started off the year with a win over World No.8 Jelena Janković 7–5, 2–6, 6–3. She lost in the second round to Bojana Jovanovski 6–7(4), 6–7(4).

Seeded 17th, Rezaï competed at the 2011 Australian Open. She lost in the first round to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová of the Czech Republic 0–6, 6–3, 5–7.

Rezaï lost in the first round of the 2011 Monterrey Open to Alla Kudryavtseva 2–6, 1–6. At the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, Rezaï reached the third round before being defeated by Maria Sharapova in straight sets, losing 2–6, 2–6.

She lost in the first round of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami to Peng Shuai 0–6, 4–6.

Her poor form continued onto the start of the clay court season. She lost in the first round of the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella to World No. 258 Estrella Cabeza Candela 3–6, 0–6.

She returned to form at Dallas WTA, where she reached the final.

2012

Rezaï started her year playing in Auckland, where she lost in the first round to Chinese Peng Shuai. In Sydney, she was forced to retire in the qualifying draw. She would also go on to falling in round one of the Australian Open.

She would then go on to losing in the qualifying of both Indian Wells and Miami, and fall in round two in Clearwater.

2012 French Open, Rezaï where she lost in the first round to Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu three sets (5-7, 7-5, 2-6).

She reached 2 ITF finals this year with a victory in final at the Open 88 tournament in Contrexéville. Austrian Yvonne Meusburger, she won in three sets (6-3, 2-6, 6-3).

2013

Rezaï lost in the first round of the 2013 French Open to Petra Kvitová in three sets 3–6, 6–4, 2–6.

She lost in the first qualifying round of the 2013 Wimbledon to Mariana Duque Mariño in three sets 6–4, 3–6, 3–6.

2014

Rezaï lost in the first qualifying round of the 2014 Australian Open to Alla Kudryavtseva 4–6, 2–6.

2015: Return to professional tennis

Rezaï announced her return to professional tennis after more than 1 years absence, by taking a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the 2015 French Open, losing to compatriot Julie Coin in the first round.

Significant finals

Tournament of Champions finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2009	Bali	Hard	Marion Bartoli	7–5 ret.

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2010	Madrid	Clay	Venus Williams	6–2, 7–5

WTA career finals

Singles: 7 (4-3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	26 May 2007	İstanbul Cup, Istanbul, Turkey	Clay	Elena Dementieva	6–7(5-7), 0–3, ret.
Runner-up	2.	5 January 2008	ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	18 May 2009	Internationaux de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France	Clay	Lucie Hradecká	7–6(7–2), 6–1
Winner	2.	8 November 2009	WTA Tournament of Champions, Bali, Indonesia	Hard (i)	Marion Bartoli	7–5, ret.
Winner	3.	16 May 2010	Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Madrid, Spain	Clay	Venus Williams	6–2, 7–5
Winner	4.	10 July 2010	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Gisela Dulko	6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	27 August 2011	Texas Tennis Open, Dallas, United States	Hard	Sabine Lisicki	2–6, 1–6

ITF career finals

Singles: 12 (8-4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	19-Jan-2004	Grenoble	Hard	Martina Müller	5–7, 1–6
Winner	1.	11-Oct-2004	Castel Gandolfo	Clay	Anna Floris	3–6, 6–2, 7–5
Winner	2.	24 October 2004	Settimo San Pietro	Clay	Liana Ungur	6–3, 6–4
Winner	3.	14-Mar-2005	Rome	Clay	Maria Penkova	6–2, 6–3
Winner	4.	9-May-2005	Saint-Gaudens	Clay	Stephanie Gehrlein	6–4, 2–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	15-Aug-2005	Coimbra	Hard	Monica Niculescu	3–6, 1–6
Winner	5.	7-Mar-2006	Telde	Clay	Magüi Serna	6–4, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	14-Mar-2006	Fuerteventura	Hard	Elise Tamaëla	3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Winner	6.	20-Nov-2006	Poitiers	Hard	Ivana Lisjak	7–6(9–7), 6–1
Winner	7.	18 November 2007	Deauville	Clay	Kirsten Flipkens	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	4.	8 July 2012	Middelburg	Clay	Kirsten Flipkens	1–6, 0–6
Winner	8.	16 July 2012	Contrexéville	Clay	Yvonne Meusburger	6–3, 2–6, 6–3

Performance timeline

Political support

Rezaï told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting that she supported Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. When the reporter asked her "Do you like Mr. Ahmadinejad?" and "why?", she responded that "Yes, I do a lot. Because he has shown Iran's power to the whole world and I am really proud of him."^[4]

In this interview, she also affirmed having presented two of her tennis rackets as a gift to Ahmadinejad. The footage of Rezaï presenting her tennis rackets to Ahmadinejad was used in his official campaign advertisement video during his 2009 presidential election campaign.^[5]

Father's controversies

Rezaï's father, Arsalan Rezaï, who was a member of her coaching team, has repeatedly been the focus of controversial allegations of violence and abuse. In one interview, Aravane said, "I had really difficult moments, lots of sacrifices. I remember playing outside in the rain and snow."^[6][7] Her father mentioned the concern neighbours had about his training methods: "I had lots of problems to train this girl: lack of money and lack of courts. There were neighbours who bothered us. They accused me, saying that this man was killing this child. But today she's not dead. She's happy."^[6][7]

At one point, the French Tennis Federation was forced to employ bodyguards to prevent Arsalan from attacking other competitors' fathers.^[7] In one 2006 incident, Arsalan attacked Sergey Vesnin, the father of Elena Vesnina, and then accidentally hit his own daughter with a racquet.^[8] Aravane was denied training funds that are typically available to all French players, and she was also banned in 2007 from training with other players at Roland Garros because of her father's dispute with the French Fed Cup captain.^[6][7][8][9]

Just prior to her loss in the first round of the 2011 Australian Open, Arsalan was violent to his daughter and threatened her boyfriend.^[8][10] After losing the match, Aravane said, "I do not want to look for excuses but I had a lot of trouble on the morning of the match."^[8] The WTA banned Arsalan from the tour indefinitely, pending investigation.^[8][10] The incident was also investigated by the Victoria police.^[8][10][11]

Playing style

Aravane Rezaï is well known for her hard hitting games and hits the ball with immense power; players often cite her as finishing the point a lot quicker. Jelena Janković stated after her quarterfinal against Rezaï in Madrid. "Aravane hits every ball hard, no matter if it is a high or low ball you don't know where she is going to hit it. I have played players who hits the ball hard but not like Aravane. Even if I hit the ball high she is so aggressive." Venus Williams also said "Wow, what can I say? Aravane is a very hard hitter; obviously she was brought up playing on clay courts but I can not get over how hard she hits that tennis ball. She is a player to watch out for in the future. I do have warnings to other top players: watch out for her."

See also

• Muslim women in sport

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aravane Rezaï.

• Aravane Rezaï at the Women's Tennis Association
• Aravane Rezaï at the International Tennis Federation