Daniela Hantuchová (born April 23, 1983 in Poprad, Slovakia) is a Slovak professional tennis player. Nigel Sears has twice been her coach, Daniela is currently working with Angel Giminez, one of the coaches who works under the Sanchez-Casal Academy. Her WTA Tour mentor in the Partners for Success program was Martina Navratilova, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. On June 26, 2006, she was ranked #18 in the world in singles and #5 in the world in doubles, her doubles ranking equalling her career best first set back in 2003.
She has been called "The Slovakian Skeleton," chiefly by British tabloids and internet bloggers. This began after she lost a significant amount of weight during early 2003. This weight loss was accompanied by unsubstantiated rumors that she suffered from an eating disorder, with anorexia nervosa being cited most often which was never confirmed by Daniela or anyone close to her.
Hantuchová has won one WTA singles tournament in her career, in 2002 at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells defeating Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4 in the final. She has reached three other finals but has yet to win a second title. Her best Grand Slam singles achievements were playing in the quarter finals in 2002 at Wimbledon and at the US Open, and in 2003 at the Australian Open.
Daniela Hantuchova made her breakthrough in 2002 beating the then world #1 Martina Hingis in straight sets in the final at Indian Wells, this win catapulted Daniela onto the world stage with Ace Tennis Magazine even touting her as being the next contender for the Williams Sisters throne. Daniela in that year was to reach the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon, US Open and the following year's Australian Open. An even though Daniela was unable to add another singles title to the one at Indian Wells consistent performances enabled her to reach a career high of #5 in the world.
In 2003, at Wimbledon, Daniela suffered the most public of breakdowns during her match with Shinobu Asagoe in the 2nd Round. Daniela lost the match 10-12 in the final set and was seen crying between points as early as the 14th game. Daniela continued to cry after her match, which saw a sudden dip in the form which had previously taken her to as high as number 5 in the world, the first ever Slovak women to reach this level. Daniela's breakdown was widely believed to be due to not being able to deal with such high hopes at such a young age. This drop in form contributed to her significant weight loss during 2003 and into 2004, but it was later revealed that Daniela was trying to keep the media spotlight from her parents, who were going through a divorce at the time.
In 2004 Daniela showed a rise in her fortunes when she reached the finals at Eastbourne. This was to be the turning point in her career, as Daniela pulled herself out of the low 60's finishing the year inside the top 30. In 2005 Daniela had her best year since her breakthrough in 2002, getting to the final of Los Angeles and also reaching 3 semifinals and 6 quarterfinals on the WTA tour that year. Daniela was to finish the year inside the top 20.
In 2006, what promised to be a good year started well with Daniela reaching the quarter finals of Sydney and the Semifinals of Auckland, as well as shocking the tennis world at the Australian Open with her 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory over defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam tournament champion Serena Williams. The joy of the win didn't last long, though, as she went on to lose to the 4th-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets. Since then, however, Daniela has been unable to find a consistent level of form, not winning back-to-back matches since then at tour level; the only time she has done so has been at the French Open and Wimbledon this year.
Her biggest successes have so far come in mixed doubles. In this event she won the 2001 Wimbledon with Leoš Friedl, the 2002 Australian Open with Kevin Ullyett, the 2005 Roland Garros with Fabrice Santoro, and 2005 US Open with Mahesh Bhupathi. She was runner-up in the 2002 Wimbledon with Ullyett, and reached the semi-finals at the French Open in 2004 with Todd Woodbridge. At the 2005 US Open she completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam with Mahesh Bhupathi when they beat Katarina Srebotnik & Nenad Zimonjic in the final in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. In Perth, Australia also in 2005, Hantuchova won the Hopman Cup with Dominik Hrbatý.
Hantuchova's other achievements include winning eight doubles titles (as of May 21 2006). Hantuchova currently plays doubles with Ai Sugiyama, with some fans affectionately referring to the team as 'Hantuyama'. They have won 3 titles together in Rome, Doha, and Birmingham as well as reaching the final at Roland Garros earlier this year. 'Hantuyama' won 'Fans favorite doubles team 2005' at the Stars for Stars in Miami.
Hantuchova had won over $3,400,000 in prize money by the end of 2005.
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