This is the woman that managed to shock the world when she knocked out Venus Williams in the first round of Wimbledon four years ago.
And she shocked everyone again when she posed for the cover of Playboy.
Now, Elena Vesnina has caused a stir once more after reaching the ladies’ singles semi-finals for the first time in her 11 tries at Wimbledon – where she faces Serena Williams today.
The unseeded Russian, 29, was the surprise favourite when she beat 19th seed Dominika Cibulkova in her quarter-final. And her Playboy status will definitely be causing a fair few more people to tune into her next match.
If you didn’t have a reason to watch Wimbledon before, you do now.
Vesnina, who was 27 when she posed for Playboy, said in an interview she decided to model for the magazine because she ‘wanted to try it’ and because ‘it will all be shown in a very beautiful manner’, the Daily Mail reports.
When asked how her father, Sergey, who also happens to be her coach, would react, she said: “He will go crazy when he sees that. But at least I told him that I’d be in Playboy. I didn’t take a risk to tell my mum anything.”
So far, Elena has been successful as a doubles tennis player but this is the first time she has come so far in the singles tournament.
She said:
It was like a dream come true… I was just waiting and waiting for this to happen.
But of course a semi-final is a big surprise for me.
And she seems to be worthy of a place Wimbledon:
We can only imagine Vesnina’s Playboy status will get more people tuning into this match than ever before.
