Francesca Schiavone

Francesca Schiavone ( born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former tennis player.

She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles.

She defeated Regina Kulikova, Sophie Ferguson, 11th seed Li Na, and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko to reach her first French Open quarterfinal since 2001 (where she had lost to Martina Hingis).

There, she defeated world No. 3, Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets to become the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles event.

The semifinals of the French Open consisted of four players (Jelena Janković, Elena Dementieva, Samantha Stosur and Schiavone) who had never won a Grand Slam singles event; nevertheless, most in the tennis community, including ESPN's tennis commentary team of Mary Joe Fernández, Patrick McEnroe, and Brad Gilbert singled out Schiavone as the one player who was not a serious contender to win the title.

From 2004, she was endorsed by Diadora for clothing and apparel, before switching to Lotto in 2007.

In the semifinals, Schiavone defeated world No. 5 and 2004 finalist, Dementieva (she retired in the second set with a torn calf muscle having lost the first set in a tiebreaker), and the victory made Schiavone the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final, and assured that she would become a top-ten player for the first time following the tournament.

Schiavone won eight singles titles and also achieved eleven runner-up positions, eight of them since the autumn of 2005.

Furthermore, she helped Italy to win the Fed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010, and has the most wins for the Italian team.

For racquets, Schiavone used Yonex racquets until 2006; in that year, she switched to Babolat, using the Pure Aero racquet until her retirement in 2018.

She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci beat the Belgian team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final.

Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which let Italy win their first Fed Cup trophy.

This match was a doubles match and Kirsten Flipkens partnered Henin, and Roberta Vinci partnered Schiavone.

She also beat Amélie Mauresmo in a Fed Cup tie in 2006 when Mauresmo was ranked No. 1.

She lost her first eight career finals on the WTA Tour before finally winning her first title in July 2007.

In doubles, her career-high ranking is world No. 8, peaking with an appearance in the final of the 2008 French Open.

In addition, she realized a notable victory during the quarterfinals of the 2008 Dubai Open, when she upset world No. 1 and four-time champion Henin 7–6, 7–6.

Partnering with Australian Casey Dellacqua, Schiavone was the runner-up in the women's doubles competition at the 2008 French Open where they lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Schiavone also reached the semifinals of the doubles event at the other three Grand Slam tournaments.

At the Australian Open, Francesca defeated Frenchwomen Alizé Cornet 0–6, 7–5, 6–0, and Julie Coin 6–3, 6–4 first before upsetting No. 10 seed Agnieszka Radwańska 6–2, 6–2.

Though she matched her best results there (round four), she went on to lose to No. 6 seed Venus Williams after winning the first set, 6–3, 2–6, 1–6.

She beat Alberta Brianti, Tathiana Garbin, Carla Suárez Navarro, Yaroslava Shvedova, and Roberta Vinci all in straight sets to win her third WTA title at the Barcelona Ladies Open.

In 2009, she won the Fed Cup with Italy for the second time against the US, and also made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time.

In the final, Schiavone faced Stosur in a rematch of their first-round meeting at the 2009 French Open which Stosur had won easily (6–4, 6–2).

In 2010, Italy with Schiavone won the Fed Cup for the third time.

She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open.

Her career-high ranking is world No. 4, achieved on 31 January 2011.

To date, Schiavone is the last one-handed-backhand player to win a Grand Slam title on the women's tour.

She won eight career singles titles in total, seven on the WTA Tour and one at Roland Garros.

Schiavone played in the longest ever women's singles match at a Grand Slam tournament, when she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open women's singles draw, the match lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes and in the process secured her first and only quarterfinal at the Australian Open.

She switched to Adidas in 2013; due to a series of poor results, she was dropped by the company, moving to Asics in 2014, remaining with Asics for the rest of her professional career.

Seeded 17th entering the French Open, Schiavone was lightly regarded as a contender for the championship.

On 5 September 2018, Schiavone announced her retirement from tennis at the US Open.

During the announcement, she shared aspirations of winning a Grand Slam as a coach.

In April 2021, Schiavone began coaching Petra Martić.

Schiavone was born in Milan to Franco Schiavone, from Manocalzati in the Province of Avellino, Campania, Southern Italy, and to Luiscita Minelli, from Bornato in the Province of Brescia, Northern Italy.

Schiavone employs an all-court game and has a very classic approach to her clay game.

She uses an extreme eastern grip on her one-handed backhand.

Chris Fowler and Brad Gilbert described her forehand as a "buggy whip."

Schiavone was endorsed by multiple companies throughout her professional career.