back injury means) she simply can't play tennis professionally any more." 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. Since 2012 Dinara announced on June 12, 2012, that she requested wildcards for the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, the Montreal Open, the Cincinnati Open and the US Open. In a later interview, she announced that she withdrew the requests for wildcard entries for all tournaments for 2012. In late 2012, Safina was linked to doping doctor Luis Garcia del Moral. In 2014, Safina officially retired from tennis after the final day of Madrid Open following years of injuries. Rivalries Safina vs. Kuznetsova Safina and fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova met 14 times, with Safina leading their head-to-head 8–6. Kuznetsova led their rivalry on clay courts but trailed their rivalry on hard courts. The pair never met on grass. 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. Safina vs. Dementieva Safina and Dementieva have been playing each other since 2003, four times on clay, five times on hard and one on grass and carpet, their series ended 6–5 in Dementieva's favour. Their most significant meeting was at the final of the 2008 Summer Olympics which Dementieva won in three sets and a gold medal for Russia. When they met at the 2008 French Open quarterfinals, Safina was down a set and was down 2–5 after saving match point. She then went on to win the match with a score of 4–6, 7–6, 6–0. Grand Slam performance timelines Singles Doubles Career statistics Grand Slam finals Singles: 3 (0–3) Doubles: 2 (1–1) References External links 1986 births Living people Russian female tennis players Tennis players from Moscow Russian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Tatar people of Russia Tatar sportspeople Olympic tennis players of Russia Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Russia Olympic medalists in tennis Hopman Cup competitors US Open (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players