Anna-Lena was born in Nordhorn, Germany on June 4th 1985, a city where she still resides. She was introduced to tennis at age 5 by her father and brother as they had a tennis club from walking distance from their home. She has two brothers, Philipp and Bastian (who played tennis at a high level). She made some pretty solid accomplishments early on. In juniors, Anna-Lena won the 2003 French Open (defeating Vera Douchevina in the final) and the 2002 Astrid Bowl as well as making it to the final of the 2002 Orange Bowl. She did continue to make progress as a pro, especially in 2005 where she made the final in Beijing, Pattaya City and Luxembourg but came up short of scoring a first singles title. more soon....