Facts
The Maleeva sisters have won over 9 of the 14 female tennis players who have been number 1 in the history of world rankings. Of the “ones who were able to save themselves,” Steffi Graf (Germany) is the only one to have played all three sisters, while Tracy Austin (USA) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) have had the chance to escape at least one of the Maleeva. Serena Williams (USA) and Kim Clijsters (Belgium) have played Magdalena only.
The legendary Martina Navratilova (USA) has won 86.9 of the singles matches in her career, but has suffered defeats at the hands of all three sisters, losing three times to Manuela, two times to Maggie and once to Katia. Among the ex-number ones in the world that have been defeated by the Maleeva sisters are also Chris Evert (USA), Monica Seles (USA), Arancha Sanches-Vicario (Spain), Jennifer Capriatti (USA), Venus Williams (USA), Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) and Amelie Mauresmo (France). The current leader in the world rankings – Lindsay Davenport (USA), Venus Williams and Mauresmo have played only the youngest of the sisters—Maggie, who has an excellent record against Lindsay and Venus – 3 victories out of 6 matches with each.
The Maleeva sisters are among the 88 female tennis players who have earned a spot in the top ten of the world rankings in their three-decade history. This computerized chart, introduced on November 3, 1975 assesses the performance in tournaments during the past year, taking in consideration not only the level reached, but the class of defeated opponents too.
Thanks to the Maleeva family, Bulgaria is among the 23 countries who have placed a female tennis player in the top 10. However, only 6 countries beat Bulgaria, scoring more hits in the top 10 – USA, Check Republic, Australia, Russia, France and Germany! Not only that, but Manuela, Katerina and Magdalena have all placed among the world’s top 6 as well, a feat that only a total of 57 females were able to achieve.
Manuella and Katerina Maleeva have twice lead Bulgaria to semi-finals at the world’s women’s tennis cup, Fed Cup. In 1985 in Nagoya, they successively eliminated the USSR, UK and Jugoslavia before succumbing to Chechoslovakia (Hanna Mandlikova and Helena Sukova) in a 1-2 set loss. Two years later Bulgaria (represented by Manuela and Katia playing singles and Dora Rangelova and team captain Julia Berberian-Maleeva) takes on Greece, Indonesia and Australia in Vancouver but loses to the 12-time champion USA (represented by Chris Evert and Pam Schriver).
In 1989, Magdalena is already on the Fed Cup team and so for the first time in Fed Cup’s history a single country is represented by three sisters with their mother serving as team captain. The result is another quarterfinal qualification, following four others in the period
The Fed Cup story continues with the appointment of Magdalena as a playing captain in 2005.
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