Kaia Kanepi (born 10 June 1985 in Haapsalu) is an Estonian professional tennis player. Her career-high ranking is world no. 16 reached on 14 February 2011.
Kanepi won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Title in Palermo in 2010, becoming the first Estonian female player to win a WTA title. She has also reached three Grand Slam quarterfinals, becoming the first Estonian to achieve this and was the first Estonian to be ranked in the top 20.
Her father, Jaak (a real estate broker) and mother Anne (a homemaker) played tennis. They also have daughters Kadri, who won a tennis scholarship to study in the U.S., and Karin, a dedicated horse rider. Kaia, who always watched her parents and sisters play, discovered her love for tennis at an early age. She started playing at the age of 8. Her family has always supported her desire to play professional tennis. She reached world no. 1 on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings before turning professional in 2000. She has won eight ITF singles titles and is now the top-ranked Estonian female tennis player.
She currently lives in Haapsalu, Estonia. Until the autumn of 2007, Kaia was coached by Andrei Luzgin. After Luzgin, Fredrik Loven from Sweden became her coach, but their partnership ended in February 2008. Kaia's next coach (until September 2008) was Pablo Giacopelli. From November 2008, Kanepi was coached by Luca Appino. After November 2009, Kanepi was coached by fellow Estonia pro Mait Künnap. In February 2010, she broke up with her coach and agent. In April, she started to work with Silver Karjus, and her quality of game has risen again.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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