The 21st century
Russia · born Moscow, 1988 · left-handed · Eastbourne champion as a qualifier and Wimbledon doubles champion with Elena Vesnina
All playersBack to the rankings
2017
Wimbledon ladies' doubles title with Elena Vesnina, won 6-0, 6-0
8
Matches won without losing a set at Eastbourne 2010, from qualifying to the title
2
Wimbledon ladies' doubles finals, 2015 and 2017
No. 1
Doubles world ranking, reached in 2018
No. 8
Career-high singles ranking, 2015
Ekaterina Makarova was born in Moscow on 7 June 1988 and turned professional in 2003. A left-hander, she won her first WTA title on grass at Eastbourne in 2010 as a qualifier ranked 100th. In singles she rose to No. 8 in 2015, reached the semi-finals of the 2014 US Open and the 2015 Australian Open, and beat Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Simona Halep and Venus Williams among 32 wins over top-ten players.
Her greatest success came in doubles with Elena Vesnina. Together they won the French Open in 2013, the US Open in 2014 and Wimbledon in 2017, the WTA Finals in 2016 and the Olympic gold medal in Rio in 2016, and in 2018 they became joint world No. 1. They lost the 2015 Wimbledon final to Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza after 146 minutes. Makarova also won the 2012 US Open mixed doubles with Bruno Soares.
She reached at least the quarter-finals in singles, doubles and mixed at Wimbledon. Her last match was in Dubai in February 2019, and she announced her retirement on 28 January 2020, aged 31.
| Eastbourne 2010 | Through three qualifying rounds, then beat Flavia Pennetta, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Samantha Stosur and, in the final, Victoria Azarenka 7-6, 6-4. The first qualifier to win the event |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 2017 final | With Elena Vesnina, seeded 2, beat Chan Hao-ching and Monica Niculescu 6-0, 6-0 in 55 minutes. Only the second 6-0, 6-0 ladies' doubles final at Wimbledon, after 1953 |
| Wimbledon 2015 final | With Vesnina, seeded 2, lost to Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 7-5, 6-7, 5-7 in 146 minutes |
| London 2012 Olympics | Quarter-finals of the women's doubles with Vesnina on the Wimbledon grass |
| Wimbledon prize money | £1,178,525 across singles, doubles and mixed, 2008 to 2018 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Women's doubles | with Elena Vesnina |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 2010 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Actually, I cannot believe it that I win the title"
The person behind the player.
Eastbourne 2010
After beating Azarenka in the final she said she still felt there was another round to play: "I'm thinking that I have to play one more match. I cannot feel like it's finished, it's done." She had won eight matches in a row, three of them in qualifying.
Source: Associated Press, Tennis.com, June 2010Wimbledon 2017
A five-hour men's doubles final delayed the ladies' doubles final until 9.28pm. Makarova and Vesnina beat Chan Hao-ching and Monica Niculescu 6-0, 6-0 and were finished by 10.24pm, one of the latest finishes in Wimbledon history.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Belgrade, 2009
Before her Olympic gold she won two gold medals at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade, in doubles and the team event.
Source: OlympediaRio de Janeiro, 2016
Makarova and Vesnina won the Olympic women's doubles in Rio, beating Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky in the final. Four years earlier, at the London Games played on the Wimbledon grass, they had gone out in the quarter-finals.
Source: ITF; OlympediaJanuary 2020
She announced her retirement on Instagram almost a year after her last match: "It's time to move on and start a new stage in my life."
Source: WTA, 28 January 2020Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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