Jarmila Gajdosova

Slovakian-born Jarmila Gajdosova fell in love with Australia on her first trip down under as a 14-year-old junior but it wouldn’t be until 2007 that she would start to officially play for Australia.

Achieving a career-high singles ranking of 57 in 2009, Jarmila dropped outside the top 100 in early 2010, but surged back inside with fourth-round appearances at Roland Garros and Wimbledon – her career-best Grand Slam results to date.

Jarmila’s parents, engineers Jarmila and Jan, introduced her to the sport as a seven year old at their local tennis club in Bratislava.

Sport is in the Gajdosova blood, Jan represented Slovakia in junior soccer and ice hockey and Jarmila’s brother Jan Junior, who is five years older, is a former professional skier.

Jarmila says she admires her family more than anyone “for the sacrifices they made for me”.

Having trained in Sydney during the off-season for several years, she began representing Australia on 15 December 2007.

A prodigious junior player, Jarmila’s most memorable moment was playing in the semifinals of the Wimbledon girls’ singles in 2003 on Court No.1 in front of 11,000 spectators.

Her sporting hero is Michael Jordan for his accomplishments and her favourite thing is following her dream and doing what she loves.

Jarmila speaks English, German and Slovak and she describes herself as easy-going, fun-loving and studious.

Her favourite bands are U2 and Bon Jovi. She enjoys shopping and fashion and her favourite foods are sushi and Italian.