Kristina Mladenovic

Mladenovic and Babos made the final of the 2019 French Open and in the process, Mladenovic became the number one doubles player in the world. In the final, they defeated Duan Yingying and Zheng Saisai and won their third Grand Slam title.

In the Fed Cup World Group quarterfinals against Switzerland, Mladenovic won her first singles match against Belinda Bencic. However, she then lost to Timea Bacsinszky in her next singles match. France lost the tie 1-4, resulting in France needing to win the Fed Cup World Group Play-off tie to earn the right to play in the 2018 World Group.

Since then however she has had a difficult second half of the season. At Wimbledon, she lost in the singles second round, sustaining a right knee injury in the process. Over the next four months, she struggled to get back into shape again and suffered a loss of confidence. This caused Mladenovic to lose all twelve of her remaining singles matches of 2018 after winning her first-round singles match at the Citi Open (she won only two sets in those twelve singles matches) at various hard-court tournaments (including the US Open) in North America, Asia and Europe. Arguably her worst moment came at the Pan Pacific Open, where she suffered a double bagel defeat in the first round against Wang Qiang.

Mladenovic lost her opening singles matches (both in straight sets) in her next two tournaments, to Tímea Babos and Victoria Azarenka in San Jose and Montreal respectively. Mladenovic registered her first top-10 singles win of 2018 in Cincinnati when she defeated Julia Görges 6–4, 3-2, retired in the first round (Görges was forced to retire from their match because of a calf injury).

Mladenovic has won one singles and twenty-one doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 23 October 2017, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of world No. 10. On 10 June 2019, she peaked at No. 1 in the WTA doubles rankings.

However, due to a consistent first half of the season which saw Mladenovic being constantly in the top 8 of the Race to the WTA Finals, she eventually broke into the top-ten of the WTA singles rankings for the first time in her career (at No. 10) on 23 October 2017, at the start of the WTA Finals. And because of big results in that half of the season, Mladenovic called the season 'still the best of my career', when opening about her singles slump in the second half of the year.

Mladenovic next played in St. Petersburg as the defending singles champion. After receiving a first-round bye, Mladenovic showed signs of her top form and confidence which enabled her to reach four WTA Tour singles finals in the first half of 2017 by defeating former top-5 player and 2016 WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulková in the second round, ending her 15-match losing streak in singles. She then followed up her second round win by beating Kateřina Siniaková in the quarterfinals and Daria Kasatkina in the semifinals (who had beaten the 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki previously), to advance to her first WTA Tour singles final since the Madrid Open last year. In the final she lost to Petra Kvitova in straight sets. Mladenovic won both her singles matches and her doubles match in the Fed Cup World Group quarterfinal tie against Belgium on February 10–11. She lost her singles second round and first round matches in Doha and Dubai respectively.

During the 2016 Fed Cup final between France and the Czech Republic, Mladenovic lost the first rubber narrowly against Karolína Plíšková 3–6, 6–4, 14–16, a match that lasted 3 hours and 48 minutes. She later played doubles with Garcia in the fifth and decisive rubber against Plíšková and Barbora Strýcová, which they lost 5–7, 5–7, enabling the Czechs to win the Fed Cup for the fifth time in six years.

In December, Garcia and Mladenovic were named the doubles ITF World Champions of 2016. Mladenovic ended the year ranked No. 42 in singles, and tied No. 2 in doubles (with Garcia).

Although Mladenovic has enjoyed success in singles, including two Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances at the 2015 US Open and the 2017 French Open, her greatest achievements have all come in doubles, having won the 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 Australian Open mixed doubles titles alongside Daniel Nestor, the 2016 French Open women's doubles title with Caroline Garcia, and the 2018 Australian Open, the 2019 French Open, and the 2020 Australian Open women's doubles titles with Tímea Babos. Mladenovic was the women's doubles runner-up in four other Grand Slam tournaments – the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, the 2016 US Open, the 2018 US Open, and the 2019 Australian Open.

Mladenovic would start 2014 off strong capturing her second mixed-doubles title at the Australian Open partnering again with Nestor. At the Open GDF Suez, she defeated Australian Open quarterfinalist Simona Halep in the first round. At Roland Garros, she upset Li Na (world No. 2 and 2011 champion) in the first round, her first top-5 win. She continued her strong performance with a three-set win over American Alison Riske in the second round. In the round of 32 she was beaten by eventual semifinalist Andrea Petkovic.

At the US Open she won her first round match against three-time Grandslam-Champion and 14th seed Angelique Kerber.

At the Internationaux de Strasbourg Mladenovic won her first match on the WTA Tour, coming back from 2–5 in the final set to win the tiebreak against Stefanie Vögele.

At the 2013 US Open, she beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6–1, 1–6, 6–1 in the first round and then lost to the 23rd seed Jamie Hampton in two sets. Mladenovic partnered up with Daniel Nestor to reach the semifinals of the mixed doubles, where they were defeated by the seventh-seeded team of Max Mirnyi and Andrea Hlaváčková 7–5, 6–7, [12–10].

At the Topshelf Open, Mladenovic lost to eventual finalist and good friend Belinda Bencic, despite having match point opportunities. At the Aegon Classic, she beat Eugenie Bouchard again 3–6, 6–4, 6–0, and then once again stunned a top-10 player by defeating world No. 3, Simona Halep, 2–6, 6–0, 7–6.

In June, Mladenovic reached her second career WTA Tour singles final at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships. She lost her final match to CoCo Vandeweghe, 5–7, 5–7.

Mladenovic moved on to the Asian swing, starting at the Korea Open. Seeded No. 4, Mladenovic had a surprise loss against Sara Sorribes Tormo, the 139th player in the world. Next, at the Wuhan Open, she faced world No. 1, Angelique Kerber in the second round. Kerber won the match, although Mladenovic captured the first set. In doubles, Mladenovic partnered with Garcia again, and the team was seeded No. 1. Despite this, the Frenchwomen lost their opening match against Christina McHale and Peng Shuai. In Beijing, Mladenovic defeated Jelena Jankovic in the first round, before coming across 8th seed Madison Keys. Keys won in straight sets. In doubles, Mladenovic and Garcia, once again the No. 1 seeds, made their way to the final, in which they faced Mattek-Sands and Šafářová, in a rematch of the US Open final a few weeks earlier. Mattek-Sands and Šafářová won the final 6–4, 6–4.

Mladenovic began the year by playing at the Hopman Cup alongside Richard Gasquet. The pair won their first tie against Germany's Andrea Petkovic and Alexander Zverev 2–1 (Mladenovic lost her singles match against Petkovic), and their second tie against Great Britain's Daniel Evans and Heather Watson 3–0. In France's third Group A tie against Switzerland which would decide which team would enter the final, Mladenovic (following Gasquet's defeat to Roger Federer) defeated Belinda Bencic and triumphed with Gasquet against the Swiss pair in mixed doubles, winning the tie 2-1. In the final, Mladenovic and Gasquet faced Americans Jack Sock and CoCo Vandeweghe. Although Gasquet won his singles match and Mladenovic lost hers, the French duo won the decisive mixed-doubles match, meaning that France were the 2017 Hopman Cup champions.

At the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, Mladenovic won her first round match against Elise Mertens before upsetting reigning Australian Open finalist Venus Williams to reach the quarterfinals. She continued her fabulous form against No. 6 seed and defending champion Roberta Vinci, defeating the Italian veteran in straight sets. In the semifinals, the Frenchwoman defeated rising player Natalia Vikhlyantseva to reach the first WTA Premier singles final of her career. In a tense final, Mladenovic defeated Yulia Putintseva, 6–2, 6–7, 6–4 to win the first WTA Tour singles title of her career. Mladenovic became the first Frenchwoman to win a WTA Premier singles title since Marion Bartoli in June 2011. In addition, Mladenovic competed in doubles with Daria Gavrilova; this was the first time Mladenovic played with someone other than Garcia in over a year. The pair were defeated in the semifinals.

At Dubai, at the first Premier-5 event of the season, Mladenovic defeated Kateřina Siniaková in the first round before defeating world No. 3, Karolína Plíšková, 6–2, 6–4 in the second round. She then lost to Wang Qiang in the third round. Mladenovic's good form continued at the Mexican Open, where she stormed past Varvara Lepchenko before winning a marathon match against Heather Watson to reach the quarterfinals, in which she defeated Kirsten Flipkens. Mladenovic then won her semifinal encounter with Christina McHale, reaching her second WTA Tour singles final of 2017. Though she did end up losing to Lesia Tsurenko in the final, her success in February allowed Mladenovic to reach a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 26. Moreover, Mladenovic was nominated for February's WTA Shot of the Month, WTA Breakthrough Player of the Month, and WTA Player of the Month (winning the WTA Breakthrough Player of the Month).

Prior to the BNP Paribas Open, Mladenovic announced that her doubles partnership with Caroline Garcia would end for Garcia wanted to focus on her singles career. Mladenovic instead competed with Svetlana Kuznetsova in the doubles draw of Indian Wells. Meanwhile, in singles, the Frenchwoman received a bye into the second round, being seeded No. 28. She had a strong opening, defeating Annika Beck of Germany. In the third round, Mladenovic continued her newfound success by defeating world No. 4, Simona Halep, in straight sets, setting up an encounter with Lauren Davis, which she won in straight sets as well, reaching her first career WTA Premier Mandatory singles quarterfinals. Mladenovic continued to shine, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 3–6, 7–6, 6–2 (Mladenovic had never beaten Wozniacki in three previous encounters) before losing to eventual champion Elena Vesnina in the semifinals. Her good performance at the BNP Paribas Open enabled Mladenovic to attain a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 18, and she became the No. 1 Frenchwoman once again (passing Caroline Garcia). She also had success with Kuznetsova in the doubles, knocking out the fifth-seeded pair of Andrea Hlaváčková and Peng Shuai in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals.

At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Mladenovic defeated top-seed Angelique Kerber in the second round and three-time champion Maria Sharapova (who was playing her first WTA tournament after serving a 15-month suspension for failing a drug test) in the semifinals to reach her third WTA Tour singles final of the year. Against German wildcard Laura Siegemund (who was playing in her hometown), Mladenovic led 4–1 in the final set tiebreak but ended losing the match 1–6, 6–2, 6–7.

At the French Open, the 29th seeded Mladenovic lost in the singles first round to Andrea Petkovic. Mladenovic and Tímea Babos were the women's doubles top-seeds at that tournament, losing in the quarterfinals to the unseeded Japanese pair of Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya. On 11 June (the day after the last day of the French Open), Mladenovic's WTA singles ranking fell to world No. 54, compared to world No. 31 two weeks earlier. Mladenovic played her first grass-court tournament of the year in Birmingham, where she lost in the singles second round to the unseeded Magdaléna Rybáriková. Mladenovic and Babos won the Birmingham doubles title, defeating Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs in the final. The following week in Eastbourne, the unseeded Mladenovic again lost in the singles second round, to the No. 8 seed Ashleigh Barty. The unseeded Mladenovic was defeated in the singles third round of Wimbledon by the no. 25 seed Serena Williams 5–7, 6–7. The top-seeded pair of Mladenovic and Tímea Babos were defeated in the Wimbledon women's doubles quarterfinals.

Mladenovic had been representing France at the Fed Cup since 2012. Her Fed Cup win-loss record is 9–7 in singles and 11–2 in doubles. She represented France at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games tennis tournaments.

At her home Grand Slam, the French Open, she won her first-round match in a tight three sets against American Jennifer Brady to advance to the second round where she faced the 2012 finalist Sara Errani whom she defeated in straight sets to advance to the third round at the tournament once again where she had another close match against last years quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers. She then advanced to the fourth round, her best showing at this tournament, and defeated the defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets to advance to her second quarterfinal of a Grand Slam tournament in her career but then lost to Timea Bacsinszky.

Mladenovic played for France at the 2011 Hopman Cup, partnering with Nicolas Mahut. France was drawn in the same group as the United States, Great Britain, and Italy. Mladenovic beat Francesca Schiavone and Laura Robson while losing to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the singles matches. In the mixed doubles she and Mahut won one of their three matches.

At the French Open, Mladenovic won her first round match against the 2010 French Open singles champion Francesca Schiavone, and defeated her former doubles partner Tímea Babos in the second. She lost in the third round to world No. 1 and defending champion, Serena Williams, 4–6, 6–7, after she had a set point at 9–8 in the tiebreak. Mladenovic won the women's doubles event partnering Caroline Garcia, beating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final. It was the first Grand Slam women's doubles crown for Garcia and Mladenovic and they became the first all-French pair to win the French Open women's doubles title since Gail Chanfreau and Françoise Dürr in 1971.

Mladenovic started playing juniors in May 2006. In 2007 she became the European Under 14 singles champion. Her biggest junior achievement was at the 2009 Junior French Open girls' singles, where she beat Daria Gavrilova of Russia in two sets in the final. Her highest junior ranking was No. 1, on 8 June 2009. She advanced to both the girls' singles and doubles finals at the 2009 Junior Wimbledon, losing to Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the singles. In doubles, with partner Silvia Njirić, lost also to Lertcheewakarn, who partnered Sally Peers.

Mladenovic turned professional in 2009, making her grand slam debut at that year's Australian Open. In 2011, she won her first Senior title at a $25,000 tournament in Sutton, defeating Mona Barthel. This was followed by a win in Stockholm the following week, defeating Arantxa Rus in the final.

She began playing on the ITF Women's Circuit in September 2007. On the WTA Tour she tried to qualify for Open Gaz de France, but lost her first match to Petra Kvitová. At the 2009 Australian Open, Kristina received a wild card, but was defeated by the No. 14 seed, Patty Schnyder. In July Kristina qualified for the ECM Prague Open but lost in the first round to Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.

At the Fed Cup final against Australia, Mladenovic was essential in France winning their first title since 2003, winning all three of her rubbers. First, she defeated Ajla Tomljanović 6–1, 6–1, and then upset world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in three sets, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6. Then, Mladenovic and Garcia defeated Barty and Samantha Stosur in the decisive doubles rubber 6–4, 6–3.

Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (French pronunciation: ​[kʁistina kiki mladɛnɔvitʃ] ; Serbian: Кристина "Кики" Младеновић / Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, pronounced [kristǐːna mlâdenoʋitɕ, - mladěː-] ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player.

Kristina Mladenovic was born in Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, in the Nord department of France. Her father is Dragan Mladenović, a former Serbian handball player and an Olympic gold medalist for Yugoslavia, and her mother Dženita (née Helić) is a Serbian former volleyball player, of Bosniak origin. They moved to France in 1992 when Dragan was signed by Dunkerque HGL. All became French citizens. Mladenovic has a brother named Luka. She dated Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem from the middle of 2017 until the couple split up in November 2019.