Twenty-two-year old Vesna Dolonts has received Serbian citizenship and will now represent Serbia in her tennis career. The Muscovite used to represent Russia. Her mother Ekaterina is Russian, while her father Rastko is Serbian. As I can see in her WTA profile, Dolonts speaks only Russian and English, not Serbian.
Dolonts is currently ranked 169th, which makes her the fourth-ranked Serbian after Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Bojana Jovanovski. Her highest world ranking was No.86, reached in July 2011, while her biggest victory to date is the second round upset of 15th seed and world No.17 Marion Bartoli at the 2011 Australian Open.
Before getting married to Arsen Dolonts in October 2010, Vesna played under the surname Manasieva.
This article is especially dedicated to reader Dusan who wanted me to share this story! 🙂
Update: Vesna also changed her last name’s English spelling from Dolonts to Dolonc! (source: RIA Novosti, photo: © Neal Trousdale)
Do you think this has something to do with Olympics, Maria? Otherwise I don’t see the motivation for her decision to be honest.
I mean *Marija*, sorry 😀
Marine, Marija or Maria it’s all the same, it’s the same name 🙂 I couldn’t find her statement about the subject, hence, I don’t know the motivation for her decision. Also, I’ve just read that she’s no longer Dolonts, but Dolonc!
Thank you Marija,this is a nice post!It’s nice to see other players being interested to play under Serbian flag 🙂