Elena Dementieva and Maxim Afinogenov
Born in 1981 in Moscow, Elena Dementieva is a beautiful Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva played and won her first international tournament, Les Petits As, in France at the age of 13. In 1997, she entered the WTA top 500. She turned professional in 1998 and entered the top 100 in 1999. Elena won the silver in women’s singles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics as an 18-year-old and the gold at the Beijing Games in 2008.
Married to hockey player Maxim Afinogenov, Elena Dementieva said in one of her interviews: “There is simply no time to play tennis.” Meanwhile, in the spring of 2014 they had a daughter, Veronica.
Elena Dementieva has made two Slam finals and six other semifinals in her career. She has made the semifinals of the U.S. Open three other times (2000, 2005, 2008) and been a semifinalist at the Australian Open once (2009) and at Wimbledon twice (2008, 2009).
In the 2009 Wimbledon semifinals, considered the finest match of the ladies’ tournament that year, Dementieva had a match point against eventual champion Serena Williams before falling. (The match was the longest women’s Wimbledon semifinal in the Open Era.)
Dementieva achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 3, which was accomplished on 6 April 2009. She announced her retirement on 29 October 2010, after her final match at the 2010 WTA Tour Championships. Dementieva ended her career ranked World No. 9.
She has homes in Monaco, Moscow and Boca Raton, Florida. Dementieva enjoys snowboarding, reading, baseball and traveling.
On 16 July 2011, Dementieva married hockey player Maxim Afinogenov in Moscow. Maxim Sergeyevich Afinogenov born September 4, 1979, a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a member of the SKA St. Petersburg of the Continental Hockey League (KHL).
Known for his blistering skating speed, he was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres 69th overall in 1997 and played nine seasons with the club. He played one season with the Atlanta Thrashers before signing with St. Petersburg in 2010.
Elena Dementieva and Maxim Afinogenov
sources:
public page vk.com/sportexpress
peoples.ru/sport
