Tennis' Hotshots: Dinara Safina And Juan Martin Del Potro
By Ken Miller, Lawn Tennis Correspondent, Posted: Thursday, September 18, 2008 5:22pm PST USA
Russia's Dinara Safina and Spain's Juan Martin
Del Porto failed to win US Open titles this summer, but they wowed us with their other recent results.
Safina, 22, and Del Porto, 19, both won
several hardcourt tournaments in a row in the weeks before the US Open, serving notice that they will be factors for the fall and in 2009.
Name
Dinara Safina
Juan Martin Del Potro
Birthdate
April 27, 1986
September 23, 1988
Age
22
19
Height
1.82 m (5 ft 11 1/2 in)
1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight
70 kg (150 lb)
78 kg (170 lb)
Residence
Monte Carlo, Monaco; Moscow, Russia
Tandil, Argentina
Plays
Right-handed
Right-handed
Turned Pro
2001
2004
Tour Ranking
5
13
2008 Singles Record
48-15
32-9
Weapon
Aggressive baseline game
Powerful serve and groundstrokes
Big Win
Snapped world number one Serena Williams' 17 match winning streak 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(7-5) in the Berlin quarterfinals in May.
Defeated Andy Roddick 6-1, 7-6(7-2) in the Los Angeles final to win his third of four straight titles this summer.
Fact
Won a silver medal in singles at the Beijing Olympics after reaching at least the final in 6 of her last 7 tournaments played.
He became the first player in ATP history to win his first four career titles in as many tournaments in route
to amassing a 23 match winning streak.