World No. 12 Diana Shnaider has announced the addition of former World No. 1 and three-time Grand Slam finalist Dinara Safina to her team as her new coach.
Shnaider, a left-handed player who recently turned 21, previously collaborated with former ATP World No. 18 Igor Andreev during a successful 2024 season. In 2024, she secured four Hologic WTA Tour singles titles, won an Olympic silver medal in doubles with Mirra Andreeva, and was nominated for the WTA`s Most Improved Player of the Year award. However, their partnership concluded at the end of the year. At the start of 2025, Shnaider was temporarily coached by her father, Maxim, while searching for a new coach.
“For the past few months, I`ve been looking for a partnership like this, one that I believe will be beneficial for me both on and off the court,” Shnaider stated, expressing gratitude to her father and family for their support while she took the time to find this new coaching collaboration.
Dinara Safina, whose last professional match was in 2011 and who officially retired in 2014, joins a growing list of distinguished former champions on the Hologic WTA Tour who are now coaching or advising current players. This group includes other former World No. 1 players such as Conchita Martinez (coach of M. Andreeva), International Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver (coach of Donna Vekic), and former World No. 2 and Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska (coach of Magda Linette).
This announcement follows Dinara Safina`s brother, Marat Safin, a two-time Grand Slam champion and International Tennis Hall of Famer, joining Andrey Rublev`s team for the clay-court season. Dinara and Marat Safin are unique in tennis history as the only brother-sister duo to both reach the World No. 1 ranking in singles.
Safina, now 41 years old, reached the finals of the French Open in 2008 and 2009, and the Australian Open final in 2009. She held the World No. 1 ranking for 26 weeks in 2009, won an Olympic silver medal in 2008, and accumulated 12 WTA singles titles throughout her career. Similar to Shnaider, Safina also excelled in doubles, achieving a career-high ranking of No. 8 and winning the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy. Her career was unfortunately cut short due to a persistent back injury.
“Dinara is undoubtedly a legend, and I am incredibly excited to see what we can achieve together,” Shnaider commented.
Shnaider is set to begin her clay-court season at the WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, starting on April 12. So far this year, she has an 8-9 record in singles, but boasts an impressive 18-4 record in doubles, having won titles in Brisbane and Miami with Andreeva.
