Very proud to present Alisa Kleybanova

Birthdate: July, 15 – 1989.
Birthplace: Moscow.
Current Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings (As of 8/21/2006): 199.
Career-High Singles No. 189 (June 12, 2006).
From March 2006, takes coaching from Julian Vespan, in Perugia (Italy), at “The art of Tennis” (Alberto Castellani’s tennis academy).
Immensely talented youngster who had had a great junior career, by winning the first Grade A (Banana Bowl, in Brazil) tournament at the age of 13. In those days the like of Sanja Ancic, Stephanie Dubois, Viki Azarenka, Tatiana Golovin, Shahar Peer, they all were stunned by Alisa. Her first Wta tour match was also unforgettable: at the 2004 Pacific Life Open (Indian Wells, Calif.), as 14-year-old wild card Alisa defeated Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic (WTA ranked n.58) in first round match. From there, more than three years passed, and Alisa didn’t completely turn professional. It’s weird. A lot of phaenomenons that age are thinking about going pro, but she didn’t. Preferred to take it easy, enjoy the junior years and get ready for pro career. Anxious parents often push to have their children introduced into professionals, but It’s not always a good move. Kids often have got some learning to do. Most 16-year-olds aren’t ready for pro circuit. I mean, it's very, very rare that a kid of that age is ready to compete at this level. Nadal was; Hewitt was; Sharapova was; Vaidisova was. But it's pretty rare. Relating to Alisa, she got some learning to do at the futures and challengers level first, by winning five ITF Circuit singles titles between 2004 and 2006. And now she’s ready to have some success in WTA tour.
Technical profile: baseline attacker (as almost every russian), very aggressive, her best shot is the two-handed “surgical” backhand, needs more confidence in the second serve.
NBTA Vice President Jaramillo said: "She hits the ball earlier than any of our kids, a lot like Andre (Agassi) and Monica (Seles). She plays on top of the line and the other girls have less time to react.”
Good luck, Alisa. Hopefully soon we'll hear of you making progress in WTA-ranking.