Vitalia Diatchenko Biography
Birthdate: 2-August-1990
Birthplace: Sochi, Russia
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Plays: Right-Handed
Turned Pro:
20-year-old Vitalia Diatchenko is one of the new breed of Russian tennis beauties gracing the courts. Unlike the other blonde girls she is a brunette and at the players party for the 2011 Australian Open she looked stunning in an animal print dress with her long hair reaching almost to her waist.
She fought hard to qualify for the main draw and had a real battle with Sania Mirza from India, but in the end Mirza's experience paid off and she beat Diatchenko in three sets.
Coached by Dmitry Degtyarev she was introduced to tennis at the age of 5-years-old. She was born on August 2nd 1990 in Sochi, Russia but the family moved to Moscow when she was 11 as her father Anatoly works for the United Nations and Moscow is now one of her favourite cities, the other is Paris.
She has a younger brother Sergey who is an ice hockey player and her mother Victoria travels with her. Due to a shoulder injury she had two years away from tennis between the ages of 14-16 but she returned to it when she was 17 after she graduated from school.
Her favourite shot is her forehand and she admires Serena Williams for her fast, aggressive game and would like to be just like her.
She played her first Grand Slam in 2009, the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris and she won through qualifying to the main draw where she knocked out World number 75 Mathilde Johansson to set up a second round match against World number 1 Dinara Safina who beat her in straight sets.
She failed to qualify for either the 2010 French Open or the Wimbledon Championships, but she won the ITF tournament in Darmstadt, Germany that year beating 8th seed Julia Schruff in the Final.
When she is touring she enjoys reading and having a quiet time to herself. She has no problems with travelling as she speaks Russian and English, but she would like to learn more European languages.
Vitalia Diatchenko has been climbing up the World rankings and is already in the top 100, she is currently 68 but she hopes to improve

Vitalia Diatchenko