Nicole Vaidišová

2003–2004: Instant success

Vaidišová debuted in 2003 by reaching three consecutive finals and winning the $10K ITF tournament in Plzeň, Czech Republic.

In 2004, her first full year as a professional, Vaidišová finished the year as a top 100 player. As a qualifier at only her third WTA Tour main draw at inaugural Vancouver, Vaidišová became the sixth-youngest singles champion in tour history at an age of 15 years, three months, and 23 days. She also became the lowest-ranked player (no. 180) and second qualifier (of three) to win a title in 2004. During the summer she played World TeamTennis for the Sacramento Capitals and was named the league's Female MVP and Female Rookie of the Year.^[5][6] Vaidišová won her second title of the year at the Tashkent Open, defeating Virginie Razzano in the final. On 18 October, she made her top 100 debut at no. 74, becoming the youngest player in the top 100 at the time.

Later in the year, Vaidišová reached the quarterfinals at the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. Vaidišová made her Grand Slam debut at the US Open, losing to defending champion and no. 1 Justine Henin in the first round.

Vaidišová finished the year with two WTA titles and a win-loss record of 31–8.

2005–2007: Consistency and top 10 debut

Vaidišová – 2006 Medibank International

In early January, Vaidišová reached her first quarterfinal of the season in Hobart. Vaidišová picked up her first Grand Slam singles victory in her Australian Open debut, by reaching the third round before falling to top seed Lindsay Davenport.

In April, Vaidišová made her top 50 debut at no. 47 and reached her first career Tier I quarterfinal at the Family Circle Cup. She posted her first top 10 victory over defending French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, before eventually losing to Patty Schnyder in the quarterfinals, and making her top 40 debut as a result at no. 34 on 18 April. In May, Vaidišová reached her first Tier III final in Istanbul, losing to top seed Venus Williams in the championship match. She made her debut at the French Open where she fell to 22nd-seeded Francesca Schiavone in the second round.

In August, Vaidišová reached the quarterfinals at Toronto, losing to Justine Henin. At the US Open, Vaidišová reached the fourth round for the first time at a Grand Slam event before losing to Nadia Petrova.

Vaidišová's captured her first title of 2005 (and third of her career) in Seoul, defeating top seed Jelena Janković in the final without dropping a set during the week. She followed by winning her second straight tour singles title in Tokyo, winning when Tatiana Golovin retired in the final. On 10 October, Vaidišová made her top 20 debut at no. 18 and extended her winning streak to 15 matches, by winning her third consecutive tour singles title and fifth of her career; she defeated Nadia Petrova for the first time in the final of the Bangkok. With her three consecutive titles, Vaidišová became the first player since Lindsay Davenport in 2004 to win three titles in three weeks, and also became the sixth woman to win five Tour singles titles before her 17th birthday (after Tracy Austin, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis).

Vaidišová captured her sixth WTA title at the Tier III event in Strasbourg in May 2006. In June, she made a semifinal run at the French Open, her best Grand Slam performance to date. She defeated world no. 1 and home favourite Amélie Mauresmo in the fourth round and Venus Williams in the quarterfinal. However, she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the next round, despite being only two points away from victory several times. At the Wimbledon Championships, she got to the fourth round before losing to Li Na. Vaidišová's fourth round appearance meant that she has advanced to the round of 16 or better in each of the four Grand Slam tournaments.

In July, Vaidišová went 2–0 during the Czech Republic's 3–2 Fed Cup World Group Play-offs loss to France. She reached the semifinal on her debut in Stanford, losing to Kim Clijsters. Vaidišová reached her career-first Tier I semifinal in San Diego, losing to Clijsters again. After her success in San Diego, Vaidišová moved from no. 12 to no. 9, her first career top 10 debut, becoming the 12th-youngest player in tour history to crack the top 10, at an age of 17 years, three months and two weeks.

At the US Open, Vaidišová made it to the third round, but lost to Jelena Janković, who later made it to the semifinal. Vaidišová defeated Mauresmo for the second time at the Kremlin Cup, after rallying from 1–6, 2–5 down and three match points in their quarterfinal match. However, she lost to Nadia Petrova for a third time in their four meetings in the semifinal afterwards. She managed to finish 2006 at no. 10, making it her most successful season.

Beginning 2007, Vaidišová reached the semifinals of the Medibank International, beating Ana Ivanovic for the first time before falling to Jelena Janković. She went on to reach her second Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams.

Vaidišová at the 2007 US Open

She skipped a large majority of the clay season with a right wrist injury. However, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, where she was defeated by Jelena Janković.

In her first grass tournament of the season, International Women's Open, Vaidišová lost in the quarterfinals to Justine Henin. At Wimbledon, Vaidišová lost to Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals after failing to convert three match points. She earlier had defeated defending champion Amélie Mauresmo in the fourth round and Victoria Azarenka in the third round.

Vaidišová was out for two months after Wimbledon due to glandular fever. She returned at the US Open, where she lost to Shahar Pe'er in the third round. Moving into the indoor season, Vaidišová played the Kremlin Cup, losing to Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. The next week in Zürich, Vaidišová reached the semifinals, achieving a notable victory over Jelena Janković. In the semifinals, she lost to Justine Henin in three sets. She finished the year by making another semifinal in Linz.

2008–2010: Struggles and retirement

Vaidišová at the US Open 2009

Vaidišová played three hard court tournaments in Australia to start the year. She reached the semifinals of the Medibank International, defeating Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

The week after the Australian Open, Vaidišová won both of her Fed Cup singles matches in the tie against Slovakia. Following that, she lost six consecutive matches.

As the 18th seed at Wimbledon, she had an unexpected run to the quarterfinals, losing to Zheng Jie.

She finished the year with another pair of consecutive losses, and had tumbled to no. 41 in the world over the course of the season.

In 2009, Vaidišová's ranking fell out of the top 100. She often was spotted watching numerous matches of her boyfriend Radek Štěpánek. At the end of the year, Vaidišová was ranked no. 187.

Vaidišová started 2010 by playing ITF Women's Circuit events. Later in March, Vaidišová's stepfather and former coach Ales Kodat announced her decision to retire from her professional career at the age of 20 due to a lack of interest in tennis. "Her agent told me last week... she's fed up with tennis and that's understandable. She started very young", Kodat said. Kodat said she had turned down a wild card to play in Miami starting on 23 March.^[2]

2014: Comeback

Vaidišová received a wildcard to compete in the 2014 Coleman Vision Tennis Championships, an ITF $75,000 event, starting on 15 September. This marked her return to professional tennis in over four years. She won her first match in straight sets against Sesil Karatantcheva, before losing in the second round to Johanna Konta 6–1, 1–6, 4–6.^[7]

2015

At the Monterrey Open in March, Vaidišová qualified for her first WTA main draw since 2010 but she drew top seed and defending champion Ana Ivanovic in the first round. Vaidišová lost in straight sets 1-6, 6-7; she had qualified for the main draw only seven hours before her match against Ivanovic.^[8]

She played at Miami Open as wildcard. She won her first round match against Tímea Babos at straight sets 6-1, 7-6. She lost in second round to no. 3 seed Simona Halep in three sets 4-6, 6-2, 1-6.

2016: Second retirement

İn July, Vaidišová announced her second and permanent retirement from professional tennis.

Singles: 7 (6–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	15 August 2004	Vancouver, Canada	Hard	Laura Granville	2–6, 6–4, 6–2*
Winner	2.	17 October 2004	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Virginie Razzano	5–7, 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	1.	15 May 2005	İstanbul, Turkey	Clay	Venus Williams	3–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	2 October 2005	Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Jelena Janković	7–5, 6–3
Winner	4.	9 October 2005	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Tatiana Golovin	7–6(7–4), 3–2 retired
Winner	5.	16 October 2005	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Nadia Petrova	6–1, 6–7(5–7), 7–5
Winner	6.	27 May 2006	Strasbourg, France	Clay	Peng Shuai	7–6(9–7), 6–3

• * won the event as a qualifier.

Singles (2-1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	14 October 2003	Plzeň, Czech Republic	Carpet (i)	Andrea Hlaváčková	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Runner-up	1.	10 February 2004	Midland, United States	Hard (i)	Jill Craybas	6–2, 6–4
Winner	2.	22 February 2004	Columbus, United States	Hard (i)	Peng Shuai	7–6(7–5), 7–5