Alexandrova born on November 15, 1994 in Chelyabinsk. After a short period in Moscow, to continue her development, she and her family moved to Prague, where she still lives.
Young Ekaterina started playing tennis at the age of six, inspired by the example of her mother and father during their holidays in Spain. For most of her life, Alexandrova was coached by her own father, Evgeniy, a tennis fan who devoted his entire life to this sport. After the start of her professional career, she periodically collaborated with Peter Kralek, Vojtech Flegl and Dmitry Tursunov.
Due to the fact that Alexandrova’s family did not have serious financial resources, the young tennis player could not often participate in international tournaments. Ekaterina’s debut in tennis took place much later than most others, and the results due to the lack of playing practice were modest. The tennis player made her debut in adult ITF tournaments only at the age of seventeen, and reached WTA level competitions only three years later.
Moreover, in 2016, at her first tournament on the WTA tour in Katowice, Alexandrova not only passed the qualifications, but also advanced to the second round. And already in November in Limoges at the WTA-125 tournament (analogue of the men’s Grand Challenger), the Russian was able to assert herself, winning the first more or less serious title in her career. Shortly before that, she made her debut in the Grand Slam tournaments: Ekaterina overcame the qualifications and reached the second round, defeating Ana Ivanovich, once the first racket of the world.
After a fairly successful debut season in professional tennis in 2017, Alexandrova set herself the goal of entering the top 50 of the world rankings. The tennis player made her debut in the main draw of the Australian Open and then Roland Garros, but in both cases she was eliminated in the first round. At the US Open, she reached the second round. Without stable results (except for the victory at the ITF in China), the Russian not only did not enter the top 50, but also fell out of the top 100 of the WTA rankings, where she first appeared in March.
She returned to the top hundred the following year. In addition to defending her title in Limoges, Alexandrova reached the first final of a full-fledged WTA tournament in Linz during her career, where she lost to Italian Camila Giorgi. In addition, in Seoul, she scored a brilliant victory over number one seed Jelena Ostapenko.
The Russian’s career breakthrough came in 2019, when she debuted as the 70th racket in the world. She won her only WTA title so far in doubles with Vera Zvonareva in Budapest in 2019. She also won about 30 victories in matches at the WTA Tour level, but never won a single title. In the same Budapest, in the semifinals, she lost to Belgian Alison van Uytvanck in a tough three-set match, and at the Indian Wells tournament she was eliminated in the third round by Belinda Bencic. Thanks to stable results, the 25-year-old athlete became the first racket of Russia and the 35th in the world – all she needed was a full title at the WTA tournaments.
Ekaterina immediately corrected this problem at the beginning of the 2020 season. At a fairly representative tournament in Shenzhen, the Russian lost only one set, defeating Elena Rybakina in the final. In February, Ekaterina was already world number 25, but the season was suspended from March to July due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, she made her debut in the Russian national team at the Fed Cup and reached the semifinals of the tournament in St. Petersburg. Finished the season in 33rd place in the world ranking.
The main event of 2021 for Alexandrova was participation in the Tokyo Olympics. Alas, the Russian could not go far, unexpectedly losing in the second round to the unknown Nadya Podoroska from Argentina, who entered the tournament thanks to a wild card. But at the end of the season, Alexandrova, together with the Russian team, became the winner of the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly the Federation Cup).
2022 was one of the most successful years in the tennis player’s career. Ekaterina reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal in Madrid (lost to Frenchwoman Ons Jabeur), and then won two titles in one go – in ‘s-Hertogenbosch on grass and in Seoul on hard. And if in Korea the Russian again beat Ostapenko, then in the Netherlands she was better than the number one seed Aryna Sabalenko. Despite a break due to a wrist injury, Alexandrova was able to finish the year in the top 20 of the world rankings.
In 2023, she won her fourth singles title, successfully defending her title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In the final, Ekaterina defeated her compatriot Veronika Kudermetova. At the beginning of the 2024 season, Ekaterina reached her ninth WTA tournament final – in Linz, but in the decisive match she lost to the same Ostapenko. At the end of March, Alexandrova sensationally defeated world number one Iga Šwiętek in the fourth round of the “mile” in Miami.
Alexandrova would have been much better if the Olympics, like in 2012, had been held on the Wimbledon courts, because she won 70% of her matches on grass and only 44% on clay.
Comment by the President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev for :
– Ekaterina has a very fast ball flight – this is her calling card. She can play on different surfaces and succeed. I would like Ekaterina to play exactly from start to finish. It’s great that Katya is in our team. And so, she has everything, don’t worry. You must always believe in yourself.
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Source : MatchTV
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
