Well-rounded player known for heavy topspin and bouts of inconsistency; she won the US Open in 2004 and the French Open in 2009.
She began playing tennis when she was 7 years old.
She joined the International Tennis Federation in 2000.
Her father Aleksandr Kuznetsov was an Olympic cycling coach.
She was the third Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title after Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova.
