Timea Bacsinszky

Bacsinszky, who first picked up a racket at age 5, was pushed hard to succeed in youth tennis by her father Igor, a tennis coach from Satu Mare County, Transylvania, who escaped Ceaușescu's Romania to Switzerland in 1982.

She has stated that she resented him for this and remains estranged from him after her parents divorced, though she still developed a passion for competitive tennis.

Her mother, Suzanne (Zsuzsanna in Hungarian), is a dentist from Debrecen, Hungary.

As both her parents are Hungarian, she had thought about representing Hungary at international level.

She has one brother, Daniel, a music teacher and member of The Evpatoria Report, and two sisters, Sophie (musician and student) and Melinda.

While growing up, Bacsinszky idolized Monica Seles.

She spent part of her childhood in Satu Mare, visiting friends and family.

Timea Bacsinszky (Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player who has won four singles titles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Bacsinszky's early tennis highlights included reaching the semifinals of three junior Grand Slam tournaments in 2004–05.

Her breakthrough professional tournament was the 2006 Zurich Open, where she qualified then defeated Anastasia Myskina and Francesca Schiavone before losing to former No. 1, Maria Sharapova.

Her early years on tour were a learning experience, and she finished both 2006 and 2007 ranked in the 120s.

Her singles ranking climbed in 2008, and she finished in the top 60 three straight years.

Most important was reaching the semifinals of the Diamond Games in February, winning three qualifying and several main draw matches before losing to world No. 1, Justine Henin, in three sets.

She won her first WTA singles title at the 2009 Luxembourg Open, then won her first three doubles titles the following year.

A former prodigy on the junior tennis circuit, Bacsinszky semi-retired from tennis in 2011 at the age of 22 following a major foot injury.

Bacsinszky suffered a serious foot injury in the spring of 2011, requiring surgery and a long recovery.

She returned at the Fed Cup the following February then used her protected ranking to play several WTA tournaments.

She also played a number of ITF Women's Circuit events.

However, she decided to skip the Olympics for personal reasons and soon took a hiatus from tennis altogether.

She ended up working in restaurants and bars while preparing to attend hotel management school.

After playing a qualifying match at the 2013 French Open, Bacsinszky made a full comeback onto the WTA tour in 2014 with success, winning her opening round match at three of the Grand Slams and upsetting world No. 4 and five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals in Wuhan, earning her a first ever year-end top 50 ranking.

In May 2013, Bacsinszky received an email, stating she was eligible to compete in that month's French Open qualifier.

With no practice and having to take time off work, she drove from Lausanne to Paris; she lost her first match but felt her passion for the game reignited.

Thus she hired Dimitri Zavialoff, former coach of compatriot Stan Wawrinka, and committed herself to reviving her tennis career.

Her gradual return to the WTA Tour reached a big milestone at the 2014 Wuhan Open when she upset No. 4, Maria Sharapova, in the third round.

A few weeks later, she won her fourth career doubles title.

Bacsinszky began the year in Shenzhen, upsetting No. 4 Petra Kvitová in the semifinal before losing to No. 3, Simona Halep, in her first WTA final in five years.

She then reached the third round of the Australian Open followed by back-to-back titles in Mexico at Acapulco and Monterrey, beating Caroline Garcia in both finals.

As a result, her ranking rose into the top 30 for the first time.

She continued this good form at the Premier Mandatory event in Indian Wells, defeating No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova en route to the quarterfinals where she lost to No. 1, Serena Williams, thereby ending her win streak at a career-best 15 matches.

At the French Open she advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, once again upsetting Kvitová.

She made it all the way to the semifinals and a rematch with No. 1 Williams; Bacsinszky led by a set and a break but lost the last ten games.

Her breakthrough year in singles came in 2015, winning a career-best 15 consecutive matches spanning two titles, upsetting Madison Keys and Petra Kvitová en route to the semifinals of the French Open (the first time she advanced past the third round of a Major), reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open, and becoming the first Swiss female tennis player to be ranked in the top 10 since Martina Hingis in 2007.

Bacsinszky received the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award for her massive singles rise that year.

She also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2015, and of the French Open in 2016.

Bacsinszky announced on 16 July 2021 that she had retired from the sport.

Representing Switzerland, Bacsinszky has a Fed Cup career match record of 28–25.

A former top ten singles player, Bacsinszky reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, on 16 May 2016.

She won the silver medal in women's doubles at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, partnering Hingis.

She once again reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2017.