Queen of Queen's: Age no barrier for champ mum-of-two

The Advertiser

17 hours ago

German qualifier Tatjana Maria has become the first woman to win a title at Queen's Club since 1973 after beating eighth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-4 on the Andy Murray Arena.
The 37-year-old mother-of-two claimed the biggest title of her career on Sunday to cap off the first women's tournament held at the historic west London venue in 52 years.
It was a family affair for Maria, whose daughters, 11-year-old Charlotte and four-year-old Cecilia, joined her husband and coach Charles-Edouard Maria in the front row to watch her dispatch American Anisimova in one hour and 23 minutes.
Maria, who knocked out top-20 players Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys en route, becomes the oldest player ever to win a WTA 500 event and the most venerable in any tour singles event since 2020, when Serena Williams - who also returned to tennis after having children - won in Auckland at 38.
"It means a lot to me, because I'm 37 years old and I won this trophy today," said Maria, who confirmed she would like her career to last for at least another two years so she can play doubles as soon as her eldest is eligible.
"In the past, people were always saying, 'you're too old', but actually I'm a good example that even at my age, you can still win big trophies.
"I'm super proud of myself that I could win this tournament, because I always believed, and my husband too.
"That's why we kept going, because there was aways this belief that I could win big tournaments and do great things on the tour, so I'm really, really proud of this."
Maria replaces Olga Morozova, who once coached a young Andy Murray after whom the club's centre court is now named, as the most recent female winner at Queen's.
Fittingly, she marked the venue's new chapter by scribbling "queen of Queen's" on the TV camera lens.
Maria entered this WTA 500 tournament at 86th in the rankings, but the triumph will catapult her to No.43 when they update on Monday -- when Emma Raducanu will also officially take over from Katie Boulter as British No.1.
The 2022 German Wimbledon semi-finalist Maria won her first WTA title on grass at Mallorca in 2018, following it with back-to-back clay court trophies at Bogota in 2023.
In the week's other WTA grass-court final at Rosmalen in the Netherlands, Belgian third seed Elise Mertens beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to claim her second title of the year and her 10th in all.
"It's been an incredible week," said Mertens, who had to dig deep to save 11 match points and overcome two-time winner Ekaterina Alexandrova in Saturday's semi-final.
German qualifier Tatjana Maria has become the first woman to win a title at Queen's Club since 1973 after beating eighth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-4 on the Andy Murray Arena.
The 37-year-old mother-of-two claimed the biggest title of her career on Sunday to cap off the first women's tournament held at the historic west London venue in 52 years.
It was a family affair for Maria, whose daughters, 11-year-old Charlotte and four-year-old Cecilia, joined her husband and coach Charles-Edouard Maria in the front row to watch her dispatch American Anisimova in one hour and 23 minutes.
Maria, who knocked out top-20 players Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys en route, becomes the oldest player ever to win a WTA 500 event and the most venerable in any tour singles event since 2020, when Serena Williams - who also returned to tennis after having children - won in Auckland at 38.
"It means a lot to me, because I'm 37 years old and I won this trophy today," said Maria, who confirmed she would like her career to last for at least another two years so she can play doubles as soon as her eldest is eligible.
"In the past, people were always saying, 'you're too old', but actually I'm a good example that even at my age, you can still win big trophies.
"I'm super proud of myself that I could win this tournament, because I always believed, and my husband too.
"That's why we kept going, because there was aways this belief that I could win big tournaments and do great things on the tour, so I'm really, really proud of this."
Maria replaces Olga Morozova, who once coached a young Andy Murray after whom the club's centre court is now named, as the most recent female winner at Queen's.
Fittingly, she marked the venue's new chapter by scribbling "queen of Queen's" on the TV camera lens.
Maria entered this WTA 500 tournament at 86th in the rankings, but the triumph will catapult her to No.43 when they update on Monday -- when Emma Raducanu will also officially take over from Katie Boulter as British No.1.
The 2022 German Wimbledon semi-finalist Maria won her first WTA title on grass at Mallorca in 2018, following it with back-to-back clay court trophies at Bogota in 2023.
In the week's other WTA grass-court final at Rosmalen in the Netherlands, Belgian third seed Elise Mertens beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to claim her second title of the year and her 10th in all.
"It's been an incredible week," said Mertens, who had to dig deep to save 11 match points and overcome two-time winner Ekaterina Alexandrova in Saturday's semi-final.
German qualifier Tatjana Maria has become the first woman to win a title at Queen's Club since 1973 after beating eighth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-4 on the Andy Murray Arena.
The 37-year-old mother-of-two claimed the biggest title of her career on Sunday to cap off the first women's tournament held at the historic west London venue in 52 years.
It was a family affair for Maria, whose daughters, 11-year-old Charlotte and four-year-old Cecilia, joined her husband and coach Charles-Edouard Maria in the front row to watch her dispatch American Anisimova in one hour and 23 minutes.
Maria, who knocked out top-20 players Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys en route, becomes the oldest player ever to win a WTA 500 event and the most venerable in any tour singles event since 2020, when Serena Williams - who also returned to tennis after having children - won in Auckland at 38.
"It means a lot to me, because I'm 37 years old and I won this trophy today," said Maria, who confirmed she would like her career to last for at least another two years so she can play doubles as soon as her eldest is eligible.
"In the past, people were always saying, 'you're too old', but actually I'm a good example that even at my age, you can still win big trophies.
"I'm super proud of myself that I could win this tournament, because I always believed, and my husband too.
"That's why we kept going, because there was aways this belief that I could win big tournaments and do great things on the tour, so I'm really, really proud of this."
Maria replaces Olga Morozova, who once coached a young Andy Murray after whom the club's centre court is now named, as the most recent female winner at Queen's.
Fittingly, she marked the venue's new chapter by scribbling "queen of Queen's" on the TV camera lens.
Maria entered this WTA 500 tournament at 86th in the rankings, but the triumph will catapult her to No.43 when they update on Monday -- when Emma Raducanu will also officially take over from Katie Boulter as British No.1.
The 2022 German Wimbledon semi-finalist Maria won her first WTA title on grass at Mallorca in 2018, following it with back-to-back clay court trophies at Bogota in 2023.
In the week's other WTA grass-court final at Rosmalen in the Netherlands, Belgian third seed Elise Mertens beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to claim her second title of the year and her 10th in all.
"It's been an incredible week," said Mertens, who had to dig deep to save 11 match points and overcome two-time winner Ekaterina Alexandrova in Saturday's semi-final.
German qualifier Tatjana Maria has become the first woman to win a title at Queen's Club since 1973 after beating eighth seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-4 on the Andy Murray Arena.
The 37-year-old mother-of-two claimed the biggest title of her career on Sunday to cap off the first women's tournament held at the historic west London venue in 52 years.
It was a family affair for Maria, whose daughters, 11-year-old Charlotte and four-year-old Cecilia, joined her husband and coach Charles-Edouard Maria in the front row to watch her dispatch American Anisimova in one hour and 23 minutes.
Maria, who knocked out top-20 players Karolina Muchova, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys en route, becomes the oldest player ever to win a WTA 500 event and the most venerable in any tour singles event since 2020, when Serena Williams - who also returned to tennis after having children - won in Auckland at 38.
"It means a lot to me, because I'm 37 years old and I won this trophy today," said Maria, who confirmed she would like her career to last for at least another two years so she can play doubles as soon as her eldest is eligible.
"In the past, people were always saying, 'you're too old', but actually I'm a good example that even at my age, you can still win big trophies.
"I'm super proud of myself that I could win this tournament, because I always believed, and my husband too.
"That's why we kept going, because there was aways this belief that I could win big tournaments and do great things on the tour, so I'm really, really proud of this."
Maria replaces Olga Morozova, who once coached a young Andy Murray after whom the club's centre court is now named, as the most recent female winner at Queen's.
Fittingly, she marked the venue's new chapter by scribbling "queen of Queen's" on the TV camera lens.
Maria entered this WTA 500 tournament at 86th in the rankings, but the triumph will catapult her to No.43 when they update on Monday -- when Emma Raducanu will also officially take over from Katie Boulter as British No.1.
The 2022 German Wimbledon semi-finalist Maria won her first WTA title on grass at Mallorca in 2018, following it with back-to-back clay court trophies at Bogota in 2023.
In the week's other WTA grass-court final at Rosmalen in the Netherlands, Belgian third seed Elise Mertens beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3 7-6 (7-4) to claim her second title of the year and her 10th in all.
"It's been an incredible week," said Mertens, who had to dig deep to save 11 match points and overcome two-time winner Ekaterina Alexandrova in Saturday's semi-final.