Silvija Talaja

Silvija Talaja began her professional tennis career briefly representing Yugoslavia before playing for Croatia from 1992 until her retirement in 2007. Talaja achieved a career-best singles ranking of #18 in the world in May 2000 and a doubles ranking of #54 in the world in June 2004. She had a promising start to her career, winning gold in the doubles at the 1993 Mediterranean Games before winning an ITF singles title in Croatia in 1993. She had to wait seven years, however, before winning her first WTA titles, with both coming in the first half of 2000. Talaja first beat Conchita Martínez in Australia, before winning against Rita Kuti Kis in France. Later that same year she competed in the singles and doubles at the Sydney Olympics, partnering with Iva Majoli in the latter.

In 2003 Talaja won her only WTA doubles title when she and the Ukrainian player Tatiana Perebiynis were victorious at the Prokom Open in Poland. At Grand Slams she reached the third round on three occasions: twice at the French Open (1999, 2004), and once at Wimbledon (2000). Towards the end of her career she suffered with several injuries and, despite a brief comeback, retired in 2007.