PRO CAREER TIMELINE
Career highlights
Juniors
Alisa won the Wimbledon Championships girls' singles twice in 2003 and 2006 (partnered by Sania Mirza and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova respectively). She also won the girls’ doubles at the 2005 US Open with Czech Nikola Frankova.
Federation Cup
In February 2009 Alisa played Federation Cup for her country for the first time (against China) and crushed her opponent Sun Tiantian 6-1, 6-1. Russia routed China 5-0 and advanced to the World Group semifinal.
Grand Slams
Her best Grand Slam performance so far has been reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon (2008) and Australian Open (2009) as a direct entrant.
Team Alisa
The Romanian Iulian Vespan has been coaching Alisa for over 4 years now. Before starting the cooperation with Iulian, Alisa had worked for 10 years with her mum.
Alisa about Iulian: "He's not just my coach; he's my mentor, and my best friend. He's always there to support me when I have ups and downs playing on the Tour. We are having a lot of fun working together and I think we make a great team."
Fast facts
| Birthdate | 15-Jul-1989 |
| Birthplace | Moscow, Russia |
| Residence | Moscow, Russia |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Height | 181 cm |
| Weight | 75 kg |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Favourite Grand Slam | Australian Open |
| Favourite tournament | WTA Kremlin Cup, Moscow |
| Favourite surface | Hard |
| Turned pro | 2003 |
| Coach | Iulian Vespan |
| Started playing | Aged 4 |
| Tennis idols | As a young girl, she was being compared to Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport |
| Family | Mum Natalia (biologist), Dad Mikhail (businessman, works in chemical industry), grandmother Zhanna (takes care of the family) |
| Languages | Russian, English, a little Italian |
| Interests | Watching movies, reading books, listening to music; Alisa loves winter so she enjoys skiing, skating and spending time in nature; as a kid, apart from tennis, she used to do professional swimming for 6 years and still loves it. |
