Jana Novotna

Jana Novotná was a professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia with a career-high singles ranking of World Number 2, reached on July 7, 1997. Novotna carries the distinction of being one of the female tennis players with incredible serve and volleys; such an attribute is rare in women’s tennis.

In addition to her Grand Slam wins, she also has two silver medals and one bronze medal from the Olympics.

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Jana Novotna
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Height / weight	1.75 m / 63 kg
Born	2 Oct 1968
Died	19 Nov 2017 (49 years)
Nationality	Czech Republic
Playing Style	Right Handed

Player Profile

Jana Novotná was born on October 2, 1968 in Brno, Czechoslovakia. She died on November 19, 2017, at the age of 49 from cancer.

She stood 175 cm tall and she was right-handed with a two-handed backhand. In her career, she earned a total of US$11,249,284 in prize money.

Career

A right-handed player, she competed wonderfully in the Doubles and Mixed Doubles category, winning twelve (12) Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and four (4) Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She turned professional in 1986.

Novotna, however, is vividly remembered for her sweet victory in 1998, when she finally won the Wimbledon Singles title.

This triumph at last came five (5) years after she was devastated in losing the title to Steffi Graf in a very awkward manner. What happened was after being in the lead, Novotna just seemed to have lost her nerve in the middle of the game, prompting Graff to claim the last five games and the coveted title.

During the awarding, Novotna burst into tears, crying on the shoulders of the Duchess of Kent. Her 1998 triumph at Wimbledon was prompted by a change of coach, this time she went under the tennis tutelage of Hana Mandlikova, who won the Grand Slam Singles title four (4) times.

Novotna went on to win twenty-(24) four Singles titles in her twelve-year career, coupled with seventy-six (76) doubles titles. She was World’s No. 2 in 1997 and was consistently in the Top 10 from 1991 to 1998.

She competed in the 1988 Olympic Games where she claimed the silver medal in the doubles category. In the 1996 Olympics, she captured the singles bronze and doubles silver medals.

Novotna was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. Although she is retired, Novotna has been playing tennis still, albeit not professionally.

She participated in the Wimbledon Ladies’ Invitation Doubles, where she paired up with Martina Navratilova in going against Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis. Though both sides gave a tough 6-4, 6-4 match, Novotna and Navratilova were not able to win in the matchup.