Amelie Mauresmo, from
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, is a former world number one ranked
tennis player. Born July 05, 1979, she became the fourteenth World No. 1 in women's tennis since
computer rankings began back in the
1970s, and the first
French player to do the same. She held that ranking for five weeks and has maintained a ranking in the top five ever since. She is currently third.
She is well known for her strong one-handed
backhand (rare in women's tennis) and for her muscular physique.
Amelie is also well known for
coming out to the international
press as a lesbian after her
upset win against
Lindsay Davenport in the 1999
Australian Open semifinal.
Turning
pro in
1994, Mauresmo is at the time of writing one of the most
dominant women's players around, winning the 2006
Australian Open and 2006
Wimbledon single's titles. So far she has earned $13,002,482 in prize money, and in 2006 won $3,469,727, an average of US$66,725.51/wk.
Her other huge achievement was becoming only the second French woman to reach the Australian Open final since
1922 and only the third Frenchwoman to reach any
Grand Slam final since 1968.
1
Source
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelie_Mauresmo