The below was sent to us from the Academia Sanchez-Casal. It was narrated by Emilo Sanchez. We thought you might enjoy an insight into the new US Open singles champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Svetlana (as we call her Sveta) arrived at the Academy Sanchez-Casal in Barcelona in when she was about 15 years old. Her mother was an Olympic cycling champion and her father a cycling coach who was doing preseason training in a city nearby, approximately about 100 km away. But Svetlana wanted to do something different: To be a tennis player.

First time I met her I said: "She was so shy she would not look at you, she had no confidence in herself, but every time she hit the ball the noise was different, never saw anything like it in all my career, maybe similar to Roddick, remember Arantxa when was little, incredible talent but this strokes was never seen".

We had a staff meeting and decided that we will help her, at that time we just started the Academy and didn’t have many of this kind of players.

She felt very relaxed because we decided to put a simple goal: To become the best player possible; an all court player who didn't have to win from the first day, and I think that she valued this because in Russia she always had big pressure. Doing that she improved her confidence and was winning because she was a better player, not because she had the pressure to win!

Two years later, at age 16, she was already the number 1 junior in the world. I tried to convince the Spanish Tennis Federation to offer her to become a Spanish citizen, but they didn’t believe the potential that I saw in her. The Federation's president at that time said: ".. She's a mediocre player that never will be in the top 20. We have people offering players like this to us every month...". Today after Arantxa and Conchita have retired, Spain is in deep trouble for female players.

At 17, she began traveling with Arantxa and her team of coaches from the Academy. That year she won her first professional event in singles and three doubles titles together with Arantxa. Arantxa taught her discipline, strategy and how to be a true professional. She opened the first door for her. At that time, Arantxa was Martina Navratilova's doubles partner; Martina was also training in our traveling group. Once Arantxa retired at the end of 2002, Martina (who is smart and knows talent) talked Sveta into playing with her. In 2003, they won four titles and played the Masters. Martina taught her how to play inside the court. She opened the second door for Sveta. She must have had something when two number ones Arantxa and Martina play with her from scratch and make their best results. That same year was her confirmation as a top singles player: Quarters in Wimbledon and finishing in the top 30. Stephan, her personal coach from the Academy, traveled with her for two years, which were the most difficult ones. Giselle, the academy's physical coach, did a great job improving her mobility which was one of her weaknesses. Both coaches stayed with Martina when she decided to go for the Olympics in 2004 and played with Lisa Raymond. Sveta was very disappointed and was ready to quit playing doubles.

Angel Gimenez took over the coaching and with Sergio’s (Casal) help, convinced her that she had to still improve inside the court, her serve, and that if she didn't play doubles it would be more difficult. After several long conversations she accepted.

Sveta started to play with Elena Likhovtseva and got ready to go to the Olympics. The goal for 2004 was to take more advantage of her serve in order to play more inside the court. She was trying to qualify for the Olympics and Masters. The preseason was really hard, she worked better than never before, and the results came from the first moment.

The improvement was big, she matured and for the first time didn’t have any mirror, it was all about her. She started to get better results, her only losses were against better players than her. Angel said: “The other players started to respect her. If she controls her power something big will happen.”

At Roland Garros, she had two match point against Anastasia Myskina (who won the event). She won in Eastbourne. At the Olympics, she almost won a medal Before losing to Amelie Mauresmo in a close match. The Myskina win at Paris, Sharapova win at Wimbledon and, Dementieva, Zvonareva, Petrova, Bovina wins in other events were an incredible motivation for Sveta. Competitive mirrors and hunger are the most successful motivators. She believed in herself and it was time to show it. She found maturity and started to get results.

Sveta already had the fastest serve at the US Open (208km/h), most aces (44) and had only lost one set to Davenport in the tournament. Sergio Casal who was coaching her at the US Open said, “Serving this way and with a bit of order in her game she is much better than all other players, she can win this thing.”

Her parents, who came from sports, were always in the back, letting every person do their job. Sveta was very mature in most cases, making big decisions (not common on the tour).

Sveta will go to Bali (which she has won) and Beijing, where she will play doubles with Arantxa. She is also supposed to play in Stuttgart, Moscow, Zuerich Masters and Fed cup finals. But this could change if she keeps playing so well and so much. It is tough for those players reaching far in each event.

I believe her confidence improved a lot, but still has to be more consistent in believing that she can be the best. She needs to keep working in that direction.

She listens to music all the time and is quite the music alcoholic.

Sveta is her short name because Svetlana is to difficult for Spanish, and Kuzne as well, she has both. She is very easy going and sometimes because of her shyness people thinks she is arrogant but she is not, they don’t know her well.

Editor's note: That fastest serve at the US Open has been removed from the US Open web site. Supposedly it was hit in the first game of the third set of a two set match.