Magdalena Maleeva

Magdalena Maleeva
Магдалена Малеева

Country (sports)	Bulgaria
Residence	Sofia, Bulgaria
Born	(1975-04-01) 1 April 1975 Sofia, Bulgaria
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Turned pro	April 1989
Retired	October 2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,398,582
Singles
Career record	439–290
Career titles	10 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 4 (29 January 1996)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (1991, 1993, 1994, 2002)
French Open	4R (1993, 1996, 2003, 2004)
Wimbledon	4R (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005)
US Open	QF (1992)
Doubles
Career record	121–133
Career titles	5 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 13 (2 February 2004)

Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva (Bulgarian: Магдалена Георгиева Малеева pronounced [magdaˈlɛnɐ malɛˈɛvɐ]) (born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to October 2005. Her best singles ranking in the WTA Tour was world No. 4.

Biography

Born in Sofia, Maleeva was the youngest of the three children of Yuliya Berberyan and Georgi Maleev. Yuliya, who came from a prominent Armenian family which found refuge in Bulgaria after the 1896 Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire, was one of the best Bulgarian tennis players in the 1960s.^[1] After she retired from professional tennis in the 1970s, Berberyan started on a coaching career. She trained all of her three daughters, Magdalena, Katerina and Manuela, each of whom eventually became WTA top six players.

In 1988 Maleeva became the youngest ever national tennis champion of Bulgaria, at the age of 13 years and four months. She turned professional in 1989, reaching the final of her first professional tournament at ITF/Bari-ITA. In her Grand Slam debut at the French Open in 1990, she passed the qualifications and reached the third round. In 1992 Maleeva snatched her first Tour event victory in San Marino. The following year she reached the fourth round at the Australian, the French and the US Open, as well as the third round of Wimbledon. That same year, she was the opponent of Monica Seles at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany when a deranged fan stabbed Seles in the back on the court. Her best performance at a Grand Slam came when she got to the quarter finals of the 1992 US Open, defeating Kateřina Kroupová-Šišková, Martina Navratilova, Kimberly Po and Chanda Rubin before losing to Manuela Maleeva. In 1995 Maleeva won a total of three tournaments, in Moscow, Chicago, Oakland, which allowed her to reach a career-high no. 4 in the WTA rankings in January 1996.^[2]

In June 1998, Maleeva underwent shoulder surgery, which forced her off the tour for the next eleven months. She started competing again in May 1999 and reached top 20 again in 2001. In 2002, she won the prestigious Kremlin Cup in Moscow, defeating three top 10 players on her way (Venus Williams, Amélie Mauresmo, and Lindsay Davenport). In 2004, she married her long-standing boyfriend, Lubomir Nokov.

Maleeva won a career total of ten WTA Tour titles in singles and five in doubles. She is the recipient of the 1993 WTA Tour Most Improved Player Award and was nominated for the 1990 WTA Tour Most Impressive Newcomer Award. She participated at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Atlanta, and Athens.

Life after tennis

In October 2005, Maleeva retired from professional tennis after 16 seasons (years), and became the last of the Maleeva sisters to retire. She now lives in Sofia, Bulgaria. On 27 June 2007, Maleeva gave birth to her first child: a girl named Yuliya and on 13 December 2008 she gave birth to a second child – Marko and on 20 August 2012 to their third child – Nina. She has been very active with the environmental organization 'Gorichka.bg', which works to create public awareness about urgent environmental problems. Maleeva also has created 'Harmonica'Harmonica, a brand for organic foods, has a couple of organic food stores in Sofia under the brand 'Biomag' and is a partner at the Maleeva tennis club.

In October 2010 Maleeva won the Bulgarian national outdoor championship, becoming the youngest and the oldest player to have won it, within 22 years.

In 2011, she made a brief tennis comeback, playing and winning three doubles matches for Bulgaria at the Fed Cup.^[3]

In March 2011, Maleeva was voted 8th in the "100 most influential women in Bulgaria" by Pari newspaper.

WTA career finals

Singles: 21 (10–11)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	28 April 1991	Bol, Yugoslavia	Clay	Sandra Cecchini	4–6, 6–3, 5–7
Winner	1.	27 July 1992	San Marino, San Marino	Clay	Federica Bonsignori	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Runner-up	2.	10 January 1993	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Conchita Martínez	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	25 September 1994	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Sandra Cecchini	7–5, 6–1
Winner	3.	9 October 1994	Zurich, Switzerland	Carpet (i)	Natasha Zvereva	7–5, 3–6, 6–4
Winner	4.	12 February 1995	Chicago, USA	Carpet (i)	Lisa Raymond	7–5, 7–6(7–2)
Runner-up	3.	5 April 1995	Hilton Head, USA	Clay	Conchita Martínez	1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	4.	21 May 1995	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	4–6, 1–6
Winner	5.	24 September 1995	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Elena Makarova	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	1 October 1995	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet (i)	Anke Huber	W/O
Winner	6.	5 November 1995	Oakland, USA	Carpet (i)	Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	26 May 1996	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Jana Novotná	6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	7.	21 November 1999	Pattaya City, Thailand	Hard	Anne Kremer	4–6, 6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	1 October 2000	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Carpet (i)	Jennifer Capriati	6–4, 1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	18 February 2001	Nice, France	Carpet (i)	Amélie Mauresmo	2–6, 0–6
Winner	8.	22 April 2001	Budapest, Hungary	Clay	Anne Kremer	3–6, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	9.	30 September 2001	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet (i)	Kim Clijsters	1–6, 1–6
Winner	9.	6 October 2002	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Lindsay Davenport	5–7, 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up	10.	27 October 2002	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard (I)	Kim Clijsters	1–6, 2–6
Winner	10.	15 June 2003	Birmingham, United Kingdom	Grass	Shinobu Asagoe	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	8 February 2004	Tokyo, Japan	Carpet (i)	Lindsay Davenport	4–6, 1–6

Doubles: 10 (5–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	28 April 1991	Bol, Yugoslavia	Clay	Laura Golarsa	Sandra Cecchini Laura Garrone	W/O
Runner-up	1.	14 February 1993	Osaka, Japan	Carpet (i)	Manuela Maleeva	Jana Novotná Larisa Neiland	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	25 April 1993	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Manuela Maleeva	Conchita Martínez Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 1–6, 0–6
Winner	2.	17 February 2002	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet (i)	Patty Schnyder	Nathalie Dechy Meilen Tu	6–3, 6–7(3–7), 6–3
Runner-up	3.	23 June 2002	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Bianka Lamade	Catherine Barclay Martina Müller	4–6, 5–7
Winner	3.	30 March 2003	Miami, USA	Hard	Liezel Huber	Shinobu Asagoe Nana Miyagi	6–4, 3–6, 7–5
Winner	4.	4 May 2003	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Liezel Huber	Eleni Daniilidou Francesca Schiavone	3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	10 January 2004	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Liezel Huber	Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Likhovtseva	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	5.	8 February 2004	Tokyo, Japan	Carpet (i)	Elena Likhovtseva	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	0–6, 1–6
Winner	5.	8 January 2005	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Elena Likhovtseva	Maria Elena Camerin Silvia Farina Elia	6–3, 5–7, 6–1

• W/O = Walk Over

ITF Singles Circuit finals: 3 (2–1)

Singles: 2 (1–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	9 April 1989	Bari, Italy	Clay	Eva Maria Schuerhof	6–2, 1–6, 6–7(5–7)
Winner	1.	5 December 1999	Cergy-Pontoise, France	Hard (I)	Seda Noorlander	6–1, 6–4

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	25 March 1990	Moulins, France	Carpet (I)	Andrea Strnadová	Valerie Ledroff Pascale Paradis	3–6, 6–1, 6–1

Fed Cup

Magdalena Maleeva debuted for the Bulgaria Fed Cup team in 1991. Since then she has an 18–8 singles record and a 9–9 doubles record (27–17 overall).

Singles (18–8)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Opponent	W/L	Result
1991 World Group I	R1	22 July 1991	Hungary	Hard	Petra Schmitt	W	6–1, 6–2
	R2	24 July 1991	United States		Jennifer Capriati	L	5–7, 2–6
1992 World Group I	R1	14 July 1992	Australia	Clay	Rachel McQuillan	W	7–6(7–4), 6–2
	RPO	16 July 1992	Romania		Ruxandra Dragomir	W	6–0, 6–1
1993 World Group I	R1	19 July 1993	South Korea	Clay	Park Sung-hee	W	6–0, 6–4
	R2	21 July 1993	Argentina		Florencia Labat	W	6–4, 5–7, 6–3
1994 World Group I	R1	19 July 1994	Croatia	Clay	Iva Majoli	L	6–3, 4–6, 4–6
	R2	21 July 1994	Indonesia		Yayuk Basuki	W	6–3, 6–3
	QF	22 July 1994	France		Mary Pierce	W	6–7(6–8), 6–4, 6–4
1995 World Group I	QF	22 April 1995	Spain	Carpet (I)	Conchita Martínez	L	2–6, 4–6
		23 April 1995			Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	W	6–3, 6–3
1998 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	14 April 1998	Romania	Clay	Raluca Sandu	L	1–6, 3–6
		15 April 1998	South Africa		Mariaan de Swardt	L	1–6, 5–7
		16 April 1998	Latvia		Elena Krutko	L	6–7(2–7), 6–1, 1–6
2002 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	24 April 2002	Portugal	Clay	Angela Cardoso	W	6–0, 6–0
		25 April 2002	Georgia		Salome Devidze	W	6–1, 6–3
		26 April 2002	Estonia		Kaia Kanepi	W	6–4, 6–2
	PPO	27 April 2002	Ukraine		Yuliya Beygelzimer	L	3–6, 4–6
2003 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	21 April 2003	Georgia	Clay	Margalita Chakhnashvili	W	6–3, 6–1
		23 April 2003	Serbia and Montenegro		Jelena Janković	W	6–2, 3–6, 6–2
		24 April 2003	Israel		Anna Smashnova	W	7–5, 6–4
2005 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	20 April 2005	South Africa	Clay	Natalie Grandin	W	6–4, 6–3
		21 April 2005	Hungary		Zsófia Gubacsi	W	7–6(7–4), 6–2
	PPO	23 April 2005	Netherlands		Michaëlla Krajicek	W	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
2005 World Group II Play-offs	PO	9 July 2005	Japan	Hard (I)	Aiko Nakamura	W	3–6, 6–4, 6–3
		10 July 2005			Akiko Morigami	L	6–7(3–7), 3–6

Doubles (9–9)

Edition	Round	Date	Partner	Against	Surface	Opponents	W/L	Result
1991 World Group I	R1	22 July 1991	Katerina Maleeva	Hungary	Hard	Virág Csurgó Ágnes Gee	W	6–1, 6–2
	R2	24 July 1991	Katerina Maleeva	United States		Gigi Fernández Zina Garrison-Jackson	L	2–6, 1–6
1992 World Group I	R1	14 July 1992	Katerina Maleeva	Australia	Hard	Nicole Bradtke Rennae Stubbs	L	2–6, 1–6
	RPO	16 July 1992	Elena Pampoulova	Romania		Ruxandra Dragomir Irina Spîrlea	L	6–7(5–7), 2–6
1993 World Group I	R2	21 July 1993	Katerina Maleeva	Argentina	Clay	Inés Gorrochategui Patricia Tarabini	L	7–5, 4–6, 2–6
1994 World Group I	R1	19 July 1994	Katerina Maleeva	Croatia	Clay	Iva Majoli Maja Murić	W	6–2, 6–3
	QF	22 July 1994	Katerina Maleeva	France		Julie Halard Nathalie Tauziat	L	2–6, 6–3, 2–6
1995 World Group I	QF	23 April 1995	Katerina Maleeva	Spain	Carpet (I)	Neus Ávila Bonastre Virginia Ruano Pascual	W	6–0, 6–1
2002 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	24 April 2002	Desislava Topalova	Portugal	Clay	Angela Cardoso Ana-Catarina Nogueira	W	6–2, 7–5
	PPO	27 April 2002	Desislava Topalova	Ukraine		Yuliya Beygelzimer Alona Bondarenko	L	4–6, 0–6
2003 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	21 April 2003	Desislava Topalova	Georgia	Clay	Margalita Chakhnashvili Tinatin Kavlashvili	W	6–1, 6–2
		23 April 2003	Desislava Topalova	Serbia and Montenegro		Katarina Mišić Dragana Zarić	L	3–6, 6–3, 0–6
		24 April 2003	Desislava Topalova	Israel		Tzipora Obziler Anna Smashnova	L	7–6(7–3), 3–6, 3–6
2005 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	20 April 2005	Sesil Karatantcheva	South Africa	Clay	Lizaan Du Plessis Alicia Pillay	W	6–3, 6–2
		21 April 2005	Sesil Karatantcheva	Hungary		Virág Németh Ágnes Szávay	L	6–4, 3–6, 1–6
2011 Europe/Africa Group I	RR	2 February 2011	Tsvetana Pironkova	Poland	Hard	Klaudia Jans-Ignacik Alicja Rosolska	W	6–1, 6–3
		3 February 2011	Tsvetana Pironkova	Luxembourg		Anne Kremer Claudine Schaul	W	6–2, 7–5
		4 February 2011	Dia Evtimova	Israel		Valeria Patiuk Keren Shlomo	W	6–3, 6–4

• RR = Round Robin
• PPO = Promotion Play-off
• RPO = Relegation Play-off

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

• A = did not participate in the tournament.
• SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Record against other top players

As of 11 November 2010 Maleeva's win-loss record against certain players who have been ranked World No. 10 or higher is as follows:^[4] Players who have been ranked World No. 1 are in boldface.

See also

• Manuela Maleeva
• Katerina Maleeva
• List of female tennis players

References

External links

• Magdalena Maleeva at the Women's Tennis Association
• Magdalena Maleeva at the International Tennis Federation
• Magdalena Maleeva at the Fed Cup
  
• The Maleeva tennis club
• Gorichka.bg

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