add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Shahar Pe'er (pronounced /ˈʃɑːhɑr ˈpeɪ.ər/; Hebrew: שחר פאר shahar pe'er, IPA: [ˈʃɑχɑʁ peˈʔer][1]; born May 1, 1987, Jerusalem) is a 1.71 m (5' 7") right-handed Israeli professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking of World #15 on January 29, 2007 makes her the joint highest-ranked Israeli singles player (together with Anna Smashnova). Her best Grand Slam singles result has been reaching the quarter-finals (at both the Australian and US Open); she has also reached the women's doubles final (at the Australian Open).
[edit] Playing style
Shahar peer plays "counterpuncher" style. Her forehand is a semi-western grip which makes her good in facing big top-spin opponents. Her backhand is two-handed and is one of the best backhands on the women's tour. It is consistent and finds various angles throughout the court. She loves to take lots of points with the inside out shot on her backhand. Pe'er's serve was weak but she has improved it greatly. She had a kick serve that lacks the drive needed to penetrate deep; she changed it to a more of a slice serve which works great for her now and even generates aces many times. She has a good volley and from time to time does not have a problem in going to the net. It seems over time she has improved a lot in her tennis and did not reach her peak performance yet. During matches, she often "turns her back to her opponent between points, faces the back of the court, closes her eyes and tries to wipe the mental slate clean."[2] [edit] Career[edit] Early yearsPe'er started her competitive tennis career at the age of six, and won her first title at the age of 12 when she captured the Eddie Herr International Doubles title with Nicole Vaidišová (later her vanquished foe in the 2004 Australian Open junior's final). She reached the Eddie Herr singles final as well. In the Fall of 2001, Pe'er took first place in the Nike Junior Tour International Masters tennis tournament in the Bahamas, and soon became the youngest Israeli tennis player ever to win the Israeli women's tennis championship. It was also in late 2001, that Pe'er won the 55th annual Ericsson Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships under-14 girls' title without dropping a single set, competing with 127 girls in what is considered the unofficial world championships for youth.[3] In March 2002 Pe'er won the Bat Yam International singles title, and was a doubles finalist. In April, she was victorious at the Haifa International doubles event and in March of the following year, won the Aamata Cup in Thailand. Pe'er's first major accomplishment came in the 2004 Australian Open, where she won the juniors' championship, beating her partner turned nemesis, Nicole Vaidišová 6–1, 6–4, in the final. As a 19-year-old, Pe'er joined the Israeli military, as military service is mandatory in Israel, where she excelled in rifle marksmanship during her elementary combat training.[4] When not abroad participating in tennis tournaments, she spends her mornings working as an administrative secretary for the Israeli military, and her afternoons practicing tennis.[5] [edit] 2004-06Pe'er turned professional in 2004, a year during which she played both the ITF Circuit and the WTA Tour. In 2005 Pe'er first played the main draw of a Grand Slam event, reaching the third round in both the French Open and the U.S. Open. Pe'er finished 2005 ranked 45 in the world. In January 2006 in Canberra, Australia, she lost a marathon semi-final match (the first of her career) against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues that lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes, with a scoreline of 6–7(4), 7–5, 6–4. At the time it was one of the ten longest matches in WTA tour history. In May 2006 she stunned world #15 Anna-Lena Grönefeld of Germany in the semi-finals 6–0, 6–2, and then upset world # 12 Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 1–6, 6–3, 7–6 (3) to win in the finals of a level III event in Turkey. At the 2006 French Open, Pe'er defeated world # 8 Elena Dementieva of Russia in the round of 32, 6–4, 7–5, but lost to Martina Hingis, 6–3, 2–6, 6–3, in their fourth-round match. In August she defeated Myskina in three sets again, this time 7–6(6), 5–7, 6–4, in Montreal. Pe'er reached the fourth round of the 2006 U.S. Open, defeating world #15 Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6–3, 6–7(3), 7–6(3) along the way, but fell to Justine Henin Hardenne, 6–0, 6–1. Pe'er finished 2006 ranked 20th in the world, after winning her first three WTA singles titles that year in Pattaya, Prague, and Istanbul. [edit] 2007In an Australian warm-up to the Open, in January 2007 Pe'er defeated world # 14 Ana Ivanović of Serbia, 5–7, 6–4, 6–4. In a second warm-up tournament she beat world # 9 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 7–6 (3), 6–2. At the 2007 Australian Open, Pe'er made history by becoming the first Israeli woman to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. In the 4th round she defeated world #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–4, 6–2. In the quarterfinal she came back from 1-4 against eventual champion Serena Williams to serve for the match at 6-5, and got within two points of victory, but was eventually defeated, 3–6, 6–2, 8–6. The following week Pe'er achieved her highest singles rank to date - world #15. In March 2007 at Indian Wells, she defeated world #11 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 6–4, 7–6 (2), before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual winner Daniela Hantuchová. The following month at the Miami Masters, Pe'er made it to her first Tier 1 tournament semifinals. In the 4th round, Pe'er again defeated Kuznetsova, now ranked #3 in the world, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3. In the quarterfinals Pe'er defeated Tathiana Garbin easily, 6–0, 6–3. In the semifinals she was defeated again by eventual champion Serena Williams, 7–6, 6–1. At the 2007 Rome Masters, Pe'er was defeated in the 3rd round, again by Serena Williams, 6–3, 6–3. It was her fourth career loss to Williams, and the third in 2007. After beating Kuznetsova twice earlier in 2007, she met Kuznetsova for the third time at the fourth round of the French Open. Kuznetsova won, 6–4, 6–3. Pe'er's impressive year soured with a disappointing appearance in Wimbledon in early July. She lost 6–3, 6–2 in the third round to eventual runner-up Marion Bartoli. This was followed by three tournaments in California (Bank of the West Classic, Acura Classic and JPMorgan Chase Open) in which Pe’er was seeded, but was ousted by an unseeded player in either the first or second round. In late August, at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Pe'er managed to pass the first two rounds, only to be ousted again by unseeded Virginie Razzano 6–4, 6–3. Pe'er went into the 2007 US Open seeded 18th, and suffering from a chest injury. She beat Americans Meilen Tu and Bethanie Mattek, world # 15 Czech Nicole Vaidišová, and Agnieszka Radwańska from Poland to reach her first U.S Open and second Grand Slam quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals she lost in straight sets, 6–4, 6–1, to world # 6 Anna Chakvetadze. Following her successful appearance at the U.S. Open, Pe'er again struggled. She lost in the second round at Luxembourg and at Stuttgart and fell in the quarterfinals of a Tier III event in Bangkok. Her return to center stage at the Zurich Open was again cut short with a first round loss. Finishing as a doubles runner-up in Luxembourg (partnering the Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka) helped Pe'er achieve a career-high doubles ranking of 25 on October 1. Pe'er finished 2007 ranked 17th in the world. During the year she archived a career-high ranking for both singles (# 15) and doubles (# 25), as well as career-best performances in Grand Slam and Tier I events. [edit] 2008
Pe'er opened 2008 with a semi-finals appearance at the 2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts where she lost to eventual runner-up Victoria Azarenka, 6–4 6–2. Week later, Pe'er lost again to eventual runner-up, this time to # 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–3 6–4. At the 2008 Australian Open, Pe'er was seeded # 17. She lost 6–2 6–0 in the third round to # 11 Elena Dementieva. In the doubles tournament, Pe'er and her partner, Victoria Azarenka, were seeded # 12. They got to final, where they lost to Alyona and Kateryna Bondarenko 2–6 6–1 6–4. Following her first doubles Grand Slam final appearance Pe'er achieve a career-high doubles ranking of 16. Late February, Pe'er became the first Israeli to compete in a WTA Tour event in the Arabian Peninsula when she reached the third round of the Qatar Total Open in Doha.[6] Pe'er had a mediocre singles performance during spring. She lost at the second round in Indian Wells, the third in Miami and the first in Berlin. At the 2008 French Open, Pe'er was seeded #17 but lost 6-2 3-6 6-1 in the first round to wild card recipient, Australian Samantha Stosur, a former top 30 player that was making a comeback from an injury. Her doubles results were much better. Together with partner Victoria Azarenka, she reached the Semi-Finals in both Miami and Berlin. In early May Pe'er achieved a career-high doubles ranking of 14. Pe'er finished the clay season with another first round loss in Barcelona as the first seeded. Pe'er lost 5-7 2-6 to the 102nd ranked in the world, the Spanish Nuria Llagostera Vives. The start of the grass season wasn't any better, as Pe'er lost in the first round in Eastbourne to 8th seed Nadia Petrova. In Wimbledon, Pe'er broke her record from last year and advanced to the fourth round, but lost there to Elena Dementieva. Pe'er defeated the local Wild Card, Katie O'Brien 6-3 7-5 in the first round, coming back from 0-5 down in the 2nd set, and the French Émilie Loit 6-3 6-4 in the second round. In the third round, Pe'er defeated the 9th seed Dinara Safina 7-5 (4)6-7 8-6, after a three-hours and twenty-five minutes match, the third longest ladies’ singles match in Wimbledon history. Both players were equal in the first set, until Pe'er broke at 6-5 to win the set. Pe'er broke twice to a 4-1 lead in the second set, but Safina broke back to 4-4. Pe'er had a match point at 5-4, but Safina saved it, and won the set 7-6 (4) by a tiebreaker. At the third set, both players were equal until Pe'er won the third break point at 7-6, to win 7-5 (4)6-7 8-6.[7]. To put this win in context, between May and October 2008 Safina went 41-5, taking four titles and climbing from #17 in the world to #3; this was the only time during that period which she didn't make at least the SF stage. At the fourth round, Pe'er met the 5th seed Elena Dementieva, in a rematch of this year's Australian Open 3rd round. At the end, Pe'er lost to Dementieva for the fourth time in a row, 2-6 1-6. At the doubles tournament, Pe'er equaled her best result from 2005, after she and Victoria Azarenka reached the quarterfinals. At the quarterfinals, Pe'er and Azarenka, the 6th seed, lost to first seeded team, Cara Black and Liezel Huber, 5-7 (4)6-7. At the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, USA, Peer got her hardcourt season off to a bad start with a 2nd round defeat to Russian World #8 Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 4-6. Things went from bad to worse as she was seen off in the first round at Los Angeles by world #87 Samantha Stosur of Australia 1-6, 1-6 and then continued her weak hardcourt season with a 2nd round defeat at the Montreal Open by World #33 Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 2-6, 2-6. Peer then headed to the Beijing Olympics where she got off to a shaky start dropping a set against Romania's Sorana Cirstea ranked 30 places below her, However Peer pulled back valiantly to show she was still on her game after her poor hardcourt season, with a love set. Final Score: 6-3, 5-7, 6-0. Next Peer faced Seed no. 9 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, she played well but was unable to overcome Zvonareva's powerful ground strokes, Final score: 3-6, 6(4)-7 Peer fell ten places in the World Rankings from the start of the hardcourt season. She was dispatched in the first round of the US Open by China's Li Na 6-2, 0-6, 1-6. She had an equally poor result in Tokyo where she lost again in the first round to Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 4-6, 4-6. Things looked slightly better towards the end of the year with a quarter final result at Seoul, (l. Jill Craybas, 2-6, 5-7) and a 2nd round defeat at the Japan Open by Jarmila Gajdosova, a lucky loser from Slovakia. But ultimately it had been a bad hardcourt season in comparison to her performance on grass and clay. In terms of doubles the hardcourt season had been especially cruel to Peer. Alongside various partners including Gisela Dulko, Ekaterina Makarova, Caroline Wozniacki and Viktoria Azarenka she lost in the first round at Los Angeles, The Beijing Olympics, The US Open, Tokyo and the Japan Open. In fact, during the hardcourt season Peer only managed one victory - at Seoul against Chinese Taipei double, Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jun Chan 6-3, 6-3. The rest of the time Peer struggled with difficult three set defeats. She finished the year 2008 ranked 38 in the World with a Singles record of 26-24 and a doubles record of 19-17 [edit] 2009Pe'er started the year by playing in the ASB Classic in Auckland. Entering as the No. 5 seed, she defeated Petra Cetkovska in the first round 7–6(4), 6–2. She beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the second round, 6–3, 4–6, 6–2, before falling to top seed and eventual champion Elena Dementieva 6–3, 6–1 in the quarter-finals. At the Australian Open, she lost in the first round to Caroline Wozniacki, the number eleven seed, 6–2, 7–6(5). After this event, Pe'er played in Israel's first tie of the 2009 Fed Cup. She won both her singles rubbers, against Kateryna Bondarenko 6–3, 6–7(6), 6–3 and against Alona Bondarenko 4–6, 7–5, 6–4. In the deciding match (Ukraine won the other two singles rubbers) Pe'er teamed up with Tzipora Obziler, but they lost to the Bondarenkos, 6–3, 6–2. At the PTT Pattaya Women's Open, Pe'er was seeded seventh. She defeated local wildcard Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the first round, 6–1, 6–0, and in the second round, dismissed qualifier Yulia Beygelzimer 6–4, 6–1. In the quarterfinals, she was pushed to three sets by Vera Dushevina, but prevailed 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. Pe'er's tournament ended in the semifinals though, where she lost to top seed Vera Zvonareva 6–1, 6–4. In February, Pe'er was prevented from playing at the Dubai Tennis Championships after she was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates, a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. A number of players[who?], among them Venus Williams[8], condemned the action to not grant Pe'er a visa, and WTA chief Larry Scott said that he had considered cancelling the tournament, but chose not to after consulting Pe'er. Tournament director Salah Tahlak said that Pe'er was refused on the grounds that her appearance could incite anger in the Arab country, after she had already faced protests at the ASB Classic over the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.[9] The WTA said that it would review future tournaments in Dubai. [10] Due to the action, the Tennis Channel decided not to televise the event [11] and The Wall Street Journal dropped its sponsorship.[12] ATP player Andy Roddick chose not to defend his title, with prize money of over $2 million, to protest against the UAE's refusal to grant Pe'er a visa for the event. "I really didn't agree with what went on over there," Roddick said.[13] Pe'er then lost in the first round of her next tournament, the Monterrey Open, to Iveta Benesova, the tournament's sixth-seed. She redeemed herself however at the BNP Paribas Open, a WTA Premier event. She started the fortnight off defeating Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-1, repeating by upsetting 10th seeded Marion Bartoli 1-6,6-4,7-5, and again upsetting the 19th seed Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-4, before eventually losing to the 8th seed and former doubles partner Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-4. In doubles, paired with Gisela Dulko, she once again lost to Azarenka and her partner Vera Zvonareva, but not before going all the way to the tournament's final. Pe'er's next tournament was the Sony Ericsson Open, the WTA tour's second Premier Mandatory event of the year. She won her opening match against wildcard Tamaryn Hendler 6-1, 7-6(5), but lost in the second round to fifth-seeded Venus Williams 6-3, 6-3. Pe'er reached the Estoril Open semifinals, but retired during her match against Yanina Wickmayer due to a leg injury. A week later she played in the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, but had to retire again, in her first round match against Caroline Wozniacki. Pe'er's injury resulted in her missing the French Open. In the first round at Wimbledon, Pe'er defeated Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-2, 7-6 (3). She faced #10 Nadia Petrova in the second round and lost 6-3, 6-2. In the GDF SUEZ Grand Prix she reached the quarterfinals losing to Alona Bondarenko. She then reached the second rounds of Bad Gastein and Los Angeles. In Toronto, Pe'er defeated Monica Niculescu 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4) and Francesca Schiavone 7-6(4), 6-4 in the second round on. before losing to eventual champion Elena Dementieva. She then reached the third round of the US Open losing to 6th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. In September, Pe'er ended a three-years-break with a win at the Guangzhou International Women's Open in China without dropping a set. In the final, Pe'er beat Italy's Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-4. She went on to win the Tashkent Open the following week, also without dropping a set, completing 10 successive straight-sets wins in a couple of weeks. In the final she beat local hero Akgul Amanmuradova 6-3, 6-4. However due to this she missed the qualifying draw of a Premier 5 event at th 2009 Toray Pan Pacific Open. [edit] Federation CupPe'er is 21-12 in Fed Cup matches for Israel in 2002-09, having won 13 of her last 16 singles matches.[14]. She tasted victory again in 2009 beating both the Bondarenko sisters of Ukraine in Kharkiv. However, Israel fell short in the series 2-3 losing in the decisive doubles match. [15] [edit] Major finals[edit] Grand Slam finals[edit] Doubles: 1 (0-1)
[edit] WTA Tour titles (8)[edit] Singles (5)
[edit] Runner-up (1)
[edit] Doubles (3)
[edit] Runner-up (3)
[edit] ITF titles (7)[edit] Singles (4)
[edit] Doubles (3)
[edit] Singles performance timeline
A = did not participate in the tournament. [edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
