Mother, Francoise, who is French-Canadian, is a sport teacher; her father Michel teaches math and tennis
Has a younger sister, Isabelle, who is in school, and an older brother, Nicolas, who is studying engineering
Entire family plays tennis
Introduced to tennis at age 6 by her father, at a club in front of her house
Favorite surface is hard; favorite shot is the overhead
Favorite color is blue and favorite actor is Brad Pitt
Enjoys the music of Celine Dion, going to the cinema and reading
Favorite tournament is Roland Garros because it is near her home
Graduated from high school two years early, in 1995
Coached by French Federation coaches Loic Courteau and Georges Goven
WTA Tour mentor is Karine Quentrec-Eagle in the Partners for Success program, the mentor division of the Tour's Player Development Program
In junior competition, won the Orange Bowl 16s singles and the French Nationals 16s singles and doubles; reached the finals of the Australian Open juniors
Reached final in first professional tournament, a satellite event in Mollet, Spain in 1994
Elected to the WTA Tour Players? Council for 2004
In juniors, won Orange Bowl 16s singles and French Nationals 16s singles and doubles; finalist at Australian Open
WTA Tour mentor was Karine Quentrec-Eagle in the Partners for Success Alumni program
Nathalie Dechy has certainyl been one of the most consistent players on the WTA tour in the last few years and it will be a surprise to many to know that prior to the 2003 season, she had not won a singles title. Well, she changed that quickly winning the Gold Coast tournament in the opening week.
Things started for her February 21st 1979 when she was born in Abimes, Guadeloupe from father Michel and mother Francoise. She started playing tennis very early and started off very well winning the under 16 years old championship in the very famous Orange Bowl and was also a finalist in the junior Australian Open.
Her professional career started in 1994 as she played in several ITF events. The following year, she entered her first WTA tournament in Strasbourg and later received a wild card for the French Open thus entering her first grand slam tournament!
