Players Photos Biography Videos: Alicia Molik

Alicia Molik Biography
Alicia Molik (born 27 January 1981) is a professional female tennis player from Australia. She reached a career high singles rank of number 8 and also won a bronze medal for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
After 10 years of professional tennis Alicia retired from the sport in September 2008 after sustaining ligament damage to her elbow. However in August 2009 she announced her comeback which was welcomed around the world. She won 30 out of 34 singles matches on the Australian ITF circuit during her come back. This was a calculated return as it is critical to accumulate as many matches as possible to engrain patterns of play but more importantly confidence.
Next step was testing her game against the world’s best which meant returning to Grand Slam play with a couple of tune up tournaments at the Brisbane International 2010 and the WTA International in Hobart before returning to centre stage at the Australian Open.
Alicia’s best performance this year has been 4th round of BNP Indian Wells Championships with wins over Medina Garrigues and Tatiana Malek before being narrowly defeated by Jie Zheng (recent semifinalist of the 2010 Australian Open)
Biography
Alicia was born in Adelaide and currently lives in Melbourne. She began playing tennis at the age of 7 at Seaside Tennis Club. When Alicia returns home to Adelaide she still enjoys returning to her old club. Seaside not only hosted Alicia as a junior but on a court nearby was Lleyton Hewitt.
Alicia first represented Australia in junior competition at the age of 13 on her first trip of many to come overseas. In 1999 Alicia accepted an AIS scholarship which at the time was based out of Melbourne. It was during this time that Alicia travelled extensively overseas and continued to develop her game and athletic abilities.
Personal Life
Alicia has recently announced her engagement to Tim Sullivan who currently resides in Perth. Her parents Andrew and Teresa live in Adelaide as well as her older brother Richard.
Career
She won her first grand slam doubles title at the 2005 Australian Open with partner Svetlana Kuznetsova. She reached the top ten on the WTA tour for the first time in early 2005 following her first Grand Slam quarterfinal singles appearance, at the Australian Open, where she lost 9-7 in the final set to Lindsay Davenport.
Molik won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the women's singles competition beating then World Number 3 Anastasia Myskina of Russia in straight sets 6-3 6-4. Alicia was the first Australian ever to win an Olympic Medal in Singles Competition.
Alicia celebrated her first singles title in Hobart in 2004 claiming victory over Amy Frazier. She also won the Zurich Open, a Tier I tournament, defeating Maria Sharapova in the final in 2004. Alicia captured a Tier 2 event in Luxembourg defeating a young Dinara Safina a week later. She also won the Sydney International in 2005 defeating Samantha Stosur in the final (for more career highlights www.sonyericssonwtatour ) Player: Molik
2010
After great success during the 2009 season in ITF tournaments, Alicia started 2010 ranked back inside the 200's. When she began playing in September of 2009 she had no WTA Ranking at all. A tremendous achievement in a short amount of time.
Alicia started her 2010 campaign at the Brisbane International. She defeated Ekaterina Makarova in the first round 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. In the second round, went down to the eventual champion Kim Clijsters 0-6, 3-6.
During Hobart the following week in her first round match, she defeated her former doubles partner Sania Mirza in three sets 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Alicia lost in a tight second round 6(3)-7, 6-3, 3-6 to Carla Suarez-Navarro.
At the Australian Open she opened up proceedings on centre court in the 1st round against Julie Coin of France. It was a tightly contested match with Coin winning 6.3 in the 3rd.
After the Australian Open Alicia returned to Fed Cup competition and was a member of the victorious Team that defeated Spain. Giving Australia an opportunity to return to the Fed Cup World Group.
Molik then travelled to compete in Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Indian Wells and Miami. Indian Wells being the stand out tournament reaching the 4th round and in Miami losing in the 2nd round to Szavay.
Alicia then travelled to Europe in preparation for the next Grand Slam event, Roland Garros. She played tournaments in Marbella, Barcelona and then rejoined the Fed Cup Team in the Ukraine. Again Alicia was a part of the winning team with Australia being elevated to the prestigious Fed Cup World Group with a chance to win it in 2011.

Alicia Molik