Ruxandra Dragomir

Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie is a retired Romanian female tennis player. A former World No. 15, she used to play in the women’s singles and doubles.

Dragomir was born on October 24, 1972 in Piteşti City, the country capital of Argeş in Romania. She was only 8 years old when she started to take interest in playing tennis. She received tennis instruction from Gica Vaideanu and Florenta Mihai who was a finalist in the women’s singles and mixed double during the 1977 French Open.

Before she turned pro in 1990, Dragomir won the 1990 Roland Gaross doubles junior competition with Irina Spirlea. She began her professional career by competing on ITF Circuit where she won her first pro titles. She debuted the year in the Top 300 with a record of 25 wins and 6 losses.

In 1997, she reached the peak of her career after beating Miriam Oremans in Rosmalen, Netherlands. That was her fourth career win that made her World No. 15, the highest ATP ranking she ever had. That year, she was able to break through the 4th round of the Australian Open although lost to eventual tournament champion, Martina Hingis. She was also able to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open, the farthest she ever reached for any Grand Slam. She finished the year in the Top 20 rankings.

Dragomir also was part of the Romanian Fed Cup Team in 1991, 1992 and 1999. She also took part in the Olympics as part of the Romanian Olympic Team’s campaign in 1996 and 2000.

When she retired in 2005, Dragomir’s career record in the singles is 290-233 with 4 WTA and 7 ITF titles. Her highest ATP ranking happened on August 25, 1997 when she reached World No. 15. As a tennis doubles player, she earned 7 WTA and 8 ITF titles, and accomplished becoming World No. 21 on September 8, 1997.

Dragomir is married to husband Florent Ilie, whom she wed in 2001. Other than tennis, she is also interested in soccer, skiing and swimming.