Players cry as Elena Dementieva Retires

Elena Dementieva retires from the WTA tour after losing to French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the year-ending WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar. In a ceremony witnessed by fellow players in the culminating tournament of the year, Dementieva announced her retirement from professional tennis leaving plenty of fellow players in tears.

In 1999, Dementieva was on her first year on the Russian Fed Cup team. The team reached the finals where they lost to the US Fed Cup team. Dementieva scored the only point for Russia when she beat Venus Williams.

2000 was a banner year for the young Russian. She reached her first Grand Slam semifinals in the 2000 US Open losing to eventual finalist, Lindsay Davenport. Later that year, she would beat Monica Seles to reach the gold medal match against Venus Williams in the Sydney Olympics. Dementieva settled for silver after losing to Williams in straight sets. She later qualified for her first WTA Championships and upset Lindsay Davenport on her way to the semifinals. Dementieva would become a fixture in the year-end championships, qualifying for 10 of the next 11 years.

Dementieva looked headed the path of another talented Russian player - Anna Kournikova in that she would not win a single WTA tournament of any kind in her first 5 years on the tour. She turned that trend around by winning her first three singles titles in 2003. She grabbed her first clay court tournament at Amelia Island in the spring, and she won two Asian tournaments in Bali and Shanghai in the fall.

In 2004, Dementieva along with 3 other young Russian players etched Russia in Grand Slam history. She reached the finals of the French Open in 2004, beating French star Amelie Mauresmo before losing to fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina. She then reached her second Grand Slam final at the 2004 US Open, finishing runner-up to another Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. Her run to two Grand Slam finals had experts proclaiming her as a Grand Slam champion in the making.

Alas - that was not meant to be. Dementieva's serve was considered her ultimate weakness and though she made efforts to improve considerably on her serve, her chances of taking a Grand Slam title grew slimmer. She would push Serena Williams in the 2009 Wimbledon semifinals by holding a match point but she couldn't convert. That match is considered to be one of the finest ladies singles matches in recent memory.

Other achievements by the Russian included going 3-0 in Russia's 3-2 win over France in the 2005 Fed Cup final. That included two singles and one doubles victory. She also beat Serena Williams to win the singles title in Moscow in 2007 - one of her 16 career singles titles. Her proudest moment would come in Beijing when she beat fellow Russian player Dinara Safina to win the Olympic gold medal in 2008. Since the Open era, Elena Dementieva is the only ladies Olympics champion who hasn't won a Grand Slam title. Still, the Russian considers the Olympic gold medal her greatest career achievement as a tennis player.

Dementieva made the semis or better at Grand Slams nine times including at least once in the four majors. Her final Grand Slam match was at the 2010 US Open, where she had four match points before losing to Australia's Sam Stosur in the round of 16. Dementieva's 16th and final WTA title came in Paris in February 2010, where she beat Lucie Safarova in the final.

After her last match at the WTA Championships - Doha 2010, Elena Dementieva announced her retirement on court.