Elena Baltacha

British tennis player (1983-2014)

Elena Sergeevna Baltacha (14 August 1983 – 4 May 2014) was a British professional tennis player.

Baltacha in 2010

Baltacha was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union to Olga and Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha. Her brother is Sergei Baltacha, Jr. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1989.

She was British No. 1 intermittently from 2002 to 2012.[1] However, due to her absence from competition, due to knee surgery,[2] she dropped down the world rankings and at the time of her retirement, on 18 November 2013, she was ranked as the world No. 221 and British No. 6. She was a four-time winner of the Aegon Award.

Baltacha was diagnosed with liver cancer in January 2014. She died of the disease three months later, aged 30.[3]

References

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  1. Jago, Richard (2 October 2002). "Mystery bug half Baltacha's march". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  2. "Numbers rise at Elena Baltacha Tennis Academy". EADT. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  3. "Elena Baltacha: Former British number one dies of liver cancer". BBC Sport. London. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.

Other websites

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  Media related to Elena Baltacha at Wikimedia Commons