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PHOTOS: Check out the most heavily tattooed tennis player!

By Rediff Sports Desk
May 29, 2015

Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova flaunts a tattoo on her back. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Svetlana Kuznetsova bowed out of the French Open after a marathon duel against Francesca Schiavone of Italy, but not before putting up a tough fight.

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Fighter. That’s what the Russian is all about. And she tries to tell the story of her resilience through tattoos.

"You have the story of your own tattoos. A tattoo is something like history of your life, and I believe in it," she says.

Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova has a tattoo of an angel on the left of her chest. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

After winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, the 30-year-old was plagued by a chain of injuries.

Svetlana Kuznetsova says how it is! Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Her tattoo, 'Pain Doesn't Kill Me; I Kill The Pain' came before her knee surgery in 2012.

On her left hand you can see some letters. Those are her parents and grandparents’ initials.

There is another on the inside of her left arm which is in Russian. It means 'Only God is our judge'.

The reason why she has a tiger on her stomach is: "I love tigers and anything with tiger prints. I think a tattoo describes a little bit of your personality. It stays with you forever. Sometimes you feel my motivation maybe to fight like a tiger."

Rediff Sports Desk

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