Dinara Mubinovna Safina (Russian: Динара Мубиновна Сафина, pronounced [dʲɪˈnarə ˈsafʲɪnə] ⓘ; Tatar: Динара Мөбин кызы Сафина, romanized: Dinara Möbin kızı Safina; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player.

Her mother Rauza Islanova was her trainer when she was younger;[5][6] while her father is director of the Spartak tennis club in Moscow.

Safina made her debut in the main draw of a WTA Tour tournament in May 2002, on clay at Estoril, where she lost in the semifinals.

24 Patty Schnyder – en route to the final, which she won when opponent Henrieta Nagyová retired during the second set.

[13] Later that year, Safina made her debut at a Grand Slam tournament, losing in the second round of the US Open to top seed and eventual champion Serena Williams.

After losing in the first round of the US Open to Maria Elena Camerin, Safina made three semifinals in the fall – in Luxembourg, the Tier I Moscow and Hasselt.

[27] She also played a key role in Russia's victory against France in the Fed Cup, partnering Elena Dementieva to win the doubles rubber.

[28] Speaking in 2008, Safina stated: "that was a great experience in my life [...] it also boosted my confidence because I showed I could play well even with the [French] crowd against me.

The highlight of the remainder of the spring hardcourt season was a run to the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, defeating fifth seed Anastasia Myskina before losing to Martina Hingis.

The highlight of Safina's summer hardcourt season was a run to the semifinals of the Tier I Montreal, before ultimately losing to Ana Ivanovic.

[34] Safina reached her second final of the year at the Tier I Charleston in April, after retirements from Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.

After reaching the quarterfinals at both Berlin and Rome, Safina lost to Serena Williams in the fourth round of the French Open.

Her best result in singles play during this period was a run to the quarterfinals of Miami, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round.

[41] Then, in her first Grand Slam semifinal, Safina defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova,[42] before losing to Ana Ivanovic in the final.

1 Jelena Janković in the quarterfinals in three sets, making her the first player in the history of the WTA Tour to defeat three different reigning World No.

[51] Safina played her first WTA Tour tournament of the season in Sydney, where she lost in the final to Elena Dementieva.

[53] Safina defeated the Australian wild-card entry Jelena Dokić in the quarterfinals and Vera Zvonareva in the semifinals to reach the second Grand Slam final of her career.

[63] Safina then advanced to the final at the Madrid event, where she defeated Caroline Wozniacki to win her second consecutive title.

1 for the first time in her career, but retired due to a back injury in her first round robin match, which she claimed had been bothering her for three months.

[83] At the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round where she retired with a back injury[84] which also forced her to withdraw from tournaments in Dubai, Indian Wells, and Miami.

[48] In her return to competitive tennis for the clay season, Safina lost in the quarterfinals of Stuttgart to Shahar Pe'er.

Safina defeated Schiavone in the first round of the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, but lost to Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals.

Safina accepted a wild card from the Hansol Korea Open, where she defeated qualifier Simona Halep in the first round.

Safina was unseeded coming into the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she faced Julia Görges of Germany in the first round, but lost in three sets.

[87] At the Malaysian Open, Dinara was able to end her six-match losing streak with her first win since September 2010, defeating Han Xinyun.

Safina next competed at BNP Paribas Open, where she reached the fourth round, including wins over 26th seed Daniela Hantuchová and world No.

She feels good in everyday life, but (the back injury means) she simply can't play tennis professionally any more.

"[89] However, Dinara Safina herself later that day issued a Twitter message, where she said she had not made any retirement decision yet, and that she needed more time to decide.

Their last meeting was in the final of the 2009 French Open, with Kuznetsova winning in straight sets and reversing a semi-final loss to Safina from twelve months earlier.

Chris Evert (1975/1985 – 260 w) Evonne Goolagong (1976 – 2 w) Martina Navratilova (1978/1987 – 331 w) Tracy Austin (1980 – 22 w) Steffi Graf (1987/1997 – 377 w) // Monica Seles (1991/1996 – 178 w) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1995 – 12 w) Martina Hingis (1997/2001 – 209 w) Lindsay Davenport (1998/2006 – 98 w) Jennifer Capriati (2001/2002 – 17 w) Venus Williams (2002 – 11 w) Serena Williams (2002/2017 – 319 w) Kim Clijsters (2003/2011 – 20 w) Justine Henin (2003/2008 – 117 w) Amélie Mauresmo (2004/2006 – 39 w) Maria Sharapova (2005/2012 – 21 w) Ana Ivanovic (2008 – 12 w) Jelena Janković (2008/2009 – 18 w) Dinara Safina (2009 – 26 w) Caroline Wozniacki (2010/2018 – 71 w) Victoria Azarenka (2012/2013 – 51 w) Angelique Kerber (2016/2017 – 34 w) Karolína Plíšková (2017 – 8 w) Garbiñe Muguruza (2017 – 4 w) Simona Halep (2017/2019 – 64 w) Naomi Osaka (2019 – 25 w) Ashleigh Barty (2019/2022 – 121 w) Iga Świątek (2022/2024 – 125 w) Aryna Sabalenka (2023/2024 – 9 w)