Topic: Kimiko Date Krumm

Kimiko Date Krumm (クルム伊達 公子, Kurumu Date Kimiko?, born 28 September 1970) is a Japanese professional tennis player. In her career, she won over 200 tournament matches, including the Japan Open four times. In 1994, she was ranked in the top-ten women players in the world. In 1992, the WTA awarded her the "Most Improved Player of the Year" and the Japan Men's Fashion Association named her "Most Fashionable." After playing in her second Olympic Games, she announced her retirement on 24 September 1996. Yet, she came back on court nearly 12 years later, announcing an unexpected comeback in April 2008. After the comeback, she has won several ITF titles before winning her eighth WTA Tour title at the 2009 Hansol Korea Open in Seoul, thus becoming the second-oldest player in the Open era, after Billie Jean King, to win a singles title on the WTA Tour.

Date started playing tennis when she was 7 years old. Date is naturally left-handed and does most of her work with her left hand, but was instructed to play right-handed, due to cultural opposition to left-handedness. By the age of 14, she reached the semi-finals in the All-Japan Junior Under-14 championship. In next year, she won the 3rd place in the Japanese National Junior High School Tennis Championship.

In 1986, while attending Sonoda-Joshi High School, she won the All-Japan Junior Under-16 Championship in doubles. In 1987, she reached the semi-finals in the All-Japan Tennis Championship.