Vanessa Menga (born October 10, 1976) is a former professional tennis player from Brazil.
Born in São Paulo, she started playing tennis at the age of 4, when she went to an academy along with her father. At the age of 14, Menga went to train tennis in Barcelona, where she won her first doubles championship.
She's the only Brazilian female tennis player to play in two Summer Olympic Games, Atlanta 1996 (doubles with Miriam D’Agostini, falling in Round 1), and Sydney 2000 (with Joana Cortez, falling in Round 2). Menga was also in two Pan American Games, Mar Del Plata 1995 and Winnipeg 1999, where she won the doubles Gold medal with Joana Cortez.
In 2001, Menga posed for Playboy Brazil. In 2003, she retired from tennis after a motorcycle accident which left her for eight months without playing. Menga now has an institute in São Paulo where she teaches tennis to over 200 children, and participates in other charity projects.
Famous quotes containing the word vanessa:
“Vanessa wanted to be a ballerina. Dad had such hopes for her.... Corin was the academically brilliant one, and a fencer of Olympic standard. Everything was expected of them, and they fulfilled all expectations. But I was the one of whom nothing was expected. I remember a game the three of us played. Vanessa was the President of the United States, Corin was the British Prime Minister—and I was the royal dog.”
—Lynn Redgrave (b. 1943)