So many women’s tennis stars have been featured in our Little Tennis Players series, but even though that is by far the richest online collection of WTA childhood photos, there are still many gorgeous pics that are yet to be included. Now I’m more than pleased to share with you this lovely old photo of Puerto Rican Monica Puig! As you can see, before her mother introduced her to tennis, Monica was a dancer, adorable five-year-old dancer!
Let’s see if this Latina, whose biggest tennis successes to date are the 2014 Strasbourg title and first place at the WTA Rising Stars Invitational in Singapore, still has the moves! 🙂
Fun times with @ErakovicMarina in New Haven!! ???? ((Song : Don’t Worry (feat.Ray Dalton) – Madcon)) ???? pic.twitter.com/ZXNIsaX5PC
— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) August 20, 2015
The 21-year-old Puig, currently ranked No.95, also admits singing really loudly in the shower 🙂
Monica and Marina showing off some good dance moves. Methinks Erakovic is from New Zealand, but she was born in either Croatia or Serbia, help me Marija. Seems like there is a lot of recruitment of Balkan tennis players who become citizens of other countries, e.g. Jarmila Gajdosova in Australia and Mladenovic in France.
Just like in women’s golf, Korean born teen sensation Lydia Ko became a Kiwi. And here in the States in that sport you have Christina Kim, Allison Lee, and Michelle Wie, all of whom are of Korean heritage. BTW are there any Korean women’s tennis players? Chung Hyeon is a pretty decent teen player in the ATP.
Jim, yes, many players from Serbia, and the region in general, have changed citizenship. Marina Erakovic is from Croatia, Andrea Petkovic was born in Bosnia and Heregovina, while Kristina Mladenovic’s father is Serbian. Jelena Dokic is also Serbian. There are so many examples. Jarmila Gajdosova, though, is from Slovakia. As for Korean (South Korean) WTA players, there are no in the Top 200.