A unique achievement of a Russian tennis player. Arina has been going towards this all her life

Russian tennis player Arina Rodionova has been in the WTA rankings for almost two decades, but the athlete managed to achieve the most important achievement only at the end of her career.

Now Arina has gone down in tennis history.

Russian Australian

Rodionova was born in Russia into a tennis family. Older sister Anastasia played on the WTA tour for a long time, winning 11 doubles titles. Arina was introduced to tennis by her father, who worked as a coach. For a long time, Rodionova Jr. represented our country. Under the Russian flag, she even became the winner of the 2007 junior Australian Open in doubles.

Seven years later, the southern continent became a second home for Rodionova. Arina changed her citizenship after her older sister, but she was unable to build the same successful career. The athlete could not break into the top hundred of the WTA rankings. It got to the point that Arina fell back to 350th place in February 2023 due to wrist surgery.

By the age of 34, many had already written off the athlete. At the Australian Open, the organizers even refused to give the athlete a wild card, despite the fact that she held the highest position among the Australian tennis players who did not make the cut. Arina failed to make it through the qualifications.

Arina Rodionova / Photo: © Chris Hyde / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Historical record

The organizers’ dubious decision deprived Arina of the opportunity to enter the top 100 of the WTA rankings for the first time in her career, but did not break the athlete.

This week she entered the WTA tournament in Hua Hin (Thailand). Here she has already achieved success, albeit in doubles. In 2020, Rodionova won with Storm Hunter (Sanders before her marriage). This time Rodionova performed better in singles. She reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to the 2nd racket of the tournament, Chinese Zhu Lin – 3:6; 3:6. But two victories were enough to rise into the top hundred of the rankings starting next week.

It is, of course, unethical to look into a lady’s passport, but on Monday Rodionova will be 34 years and 52 days old. Thus, she will become the oldest athlete in tennis history to reach this important mark. This achievement was previously held by Israeli Tziporah Obziler, who entered the top 100 for the first time in her career in February 2007 at the age of 33.