Karina Habšudová

Karina Habšudová was a Slovak tennis player who played professionally from 1989 to 2003, first for Czechoslovakia until 1992, then for Slovakia for the rest of her career. Habšudová achieved a career-best singles ranking of 10 in the world in February 1997, and a doubles ranking of 32 in the world in May 2001.

Habšudová first trained as a gymnast before switching to tennis, becoming the best junior player in Czechoslovakia when she was 14. In 1990 she was the ITF Junior World Champion and in 1991 she won the girls’ singles title at the US Open. Despite a promising start to her career, she only won one WTA singles title when she defeated Silvija Talaja at the 1999 Austrian Open. Her doubles record was better with six victories from September 1996 to October 2000.

Habšudová’s best Grand Slam performances came at the French Open where she reached the quarter-finals in the singles (1996), the doubles (1998), and the mixed doubles (2001). These were only bettered with a semi-final appearance in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon in 2001 with partner David Rikl.

Habšudová competed in the singles and doubles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In Atlanta she reached the third round in the singles, losing to Iva Majoli, and lost in the first round of the doubles along with partner Radka Zrubáková. Four years later she repeated her third round appearance in the singles, before being knocked out by Yelena Dementyeva. In the doubles she and Janette Husárová reached the second round.