Roberta Vinci

Roberta Vinci (born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player.

In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position.

Vinci made her professional debut at an ITF tournament in Italy in 1999.

Vinci also won the French Open in girls' doubles with fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta that same year.

She qualified for her first Grand Slam at the 2001 US Open, but lost to Martina Suchá in the first round.

Alongside Sandrine Testud, Vinci reached the semifinals in women's doubles of the 2004 French Open.

One of the biggest victories of her career came in 2005 was when she beat former world No. 2 and 2004 French Open champion, Anastasia Myskina, in the quarterfinals at the Hastings Direct International Championships in Eastbourne.

She and her Italian teammates Mara Santangelo, Pennetta, and Schiavone beat the Belgian team 3–2 in the 2006 Fed Cup final, granting Italy its first Fed Cup trophy.

In 2007 at Bogotá, Vinci won her first WTA title against the top seed Tathiana Garbin, also of Italy, in three sets, after falling behind 0–3 in the final set.

She won the title for Garbin had to retire.

Vinci qualified for the Brisbane International and defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the first round, before losing to top seed Ana Ivanovic in the second.

She then fell to fellow Italian Corinna Dentoni in the qualifications for Hobart International.

Vinci lost to eventual quarterfinalist Carla Suárez Navarro in the first round of the Australian Open.

Vinci also played for Italy in the Fed Cup World Group stage versus France.

Italy won 5–0.

At her first clay-court event, Mexican Open in Acapulco, Vinci defeated sixth seed Lucie Šafářová in the first round, and then fell to Ágnes Szávay of Hungary.

Vinci then lost in the second rounds of both the Monterrey Open (defeated by Iveta Benešová) and the Indian Wells Open (defeated by Sybille Bammer), and fell in the qualifications for Miami Miami Open to Anastasia Rodionova.

Vinci then fell to eventual champion and former world No. 1, Jelena Janković, in the quarterfinals of the Andalucía Tennis Experience in Marbella.

At the Barcelona Open, Vinci earned her second career title, defeating Pauline Parmentier in the first round, Flavia Pennetta in the second, Anastasiya Yakimova in the quarterfinals, Francesca Schiavone in the semifinals, and defending champion Maria Kirilenko in the final.

Vinci reached the second round of the Morocco Open held in Fes.

After she defeated Mariana Duque Marino in the first round, she lost to qualifier Polona Hercog in the second.

At the Italian Open, Vinci lost in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko.

She then beat María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round of the Madrid Open, and then was beaten by Vera Dushevina in the second.

With the Italian team, Vinci won the Fed Cup again in 2009 and 2010, defeating the U.S. team in the final both times.

Vinci won 35 career titles, ten in singles and 25 in doubles, the latter including the 2012 French Open, the 2012 US Open, the 2013 and 2014 Australian Opens, and 2014 Wimbledon titles with regular partner Errani.

In doing so, they became the fifth pair in tennis history to complete a career Grand Slam.

At the 2012 US Open, Vinci reached her first major singles quarterfinal, at 29 years of age, by defeating then-world No. 2 Agnieszka Radwańska.

She lost to her doubles partner, world No. 10, Errani, in the quarterfinals.

Vinci achieved the same feat the following year when she defeated Camila Giorgi in the fourth round, but subsequently lost to Pennetta.

At one point, Vinci was one of only three players in the top 100 using a one-handed backhand.

Vinci rose to global prominence at the 2015 US Open, where she defeated world No. 1 Serena Williams in the semifinals to end her hopes of achieving the Grand Slam, in what has been described by commentators as one of the greatest upsets in tennis history.

She went on to lose to her childhood friend Pennetta in the first all-Italian major final.

She also reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7, in May 2016.

She is the fourth Italian woman to reach the top 10 in singles, after Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani.

At 33 years and 4 days old, she became the oldest player ever to debut in the top 10.

In 2018, Vinci retired from professional tennis.

In 2022, she began competing on the professional padel tour, reaching a ranking of world No. 66 in her debut season.

Roberta Vinci was born in Taranto, the daughter of Angelo Vinci, an accountant, and his wife Luisa, a homemaker; she has an elder brother, Francesco.

Vinci was introduced to tennis at the age of six.

She now resides in Palermo.