Russian tennis star Elena Dementieva is in stellar form this season, having won the 2008 Dubai championship for her ninth career WTA title.

The 2000 Olympic silver medalist is also likely to represent her country once again this year on the tennis courts of Beijing. If so, she'll be aiming to upgrade her silver to gold.

But as Russia Today found out, winning such titles are not necessarily her fondest memories.

The 26-year-old enjoys looking at old photo albums and reminiscing about the best moments of her childhood.

“These are probably the fondest memories of my life. Looking at these photos I reminisce about the happy times I spent with my grandparents in Riga, and other great times of my younger years,” she said, flicking through a black-and-white photo album.

Dementieva played her first international tournament at the age of 13 and scooped the WTA's most improved player award in 2000, the year she won her silver medal in Sydney.

She went on to occupy a top 20 position in the rankings as well as being one of the most dominant players in Fed Cup competition.

Dementieva says she developed her competitive spirit early. “I began doing rhythmic gymnastics at a young age, while my brother did artistic gymnastics. We'd always compete – who can run fastest across the beach, who can do more pull-ups and who can do the splits better!”

Dementieva's next goal is to add a Grand Slam title to her previous successes.