Biography

Timea Bacsinszky is a Swiss professional tennis player, born in Lausanne on June 8th 1989. Her family background is Hungarian. She first held a racket at the age of 3.

Her career began early when she won consecutive Petits As tournaments in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 she reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland-Garros juniors. At this point, Timea was already a very promising young player. On October 25th 2009, she won her first WTA tournament in Luxemburg.

However, in 2012 she declined to take part in the Olympic Games in London and decided to take a step back from her career. As her ranking dropped at the end of 2012, Timea considered ending her career to begin studying at the Ecole Hôtelière in Geneva. This is when she began a three months long internship at the well-known 5 star luxury hotel “Chalet Royalp” in the Swiss Alps in Villars-sur-Ollon.

In May 2013 she received an email telling her that she was eligible for the qualifying rounds at Roland-Garros. She jumped into her car and drove all the way to Paris to play, even though she hadn’t held a racket in over 3 months. This experience triggered a renewed love for the game, where passion, hard work and pushing her limits were soon to become key words. This is why Timea decided to start her second career, and took on a new coach, Dimitri Zavialoff, Stan Wawrinka’s former long time coach.

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“I knew I belonged on the court. My manager Alexander Ahr has always been by my side so I was only looking for a coach. I was very flattered that Dimitri Zavialoff believed in me.”

2015 was a year of great accomplishments for the Swiss player. At the Shenzhen Open, she lost in the final to Simona Halep (WTA 3) after having defeated Petra Kvitova (WTA 4) in semi-final. At the Australian Open, she reached the third round for the first time in her career (in Melbourne). In February, she won back-to-back 2 WTA tournaments in Acapulco and in Monterrey. The only player able to stop Timea after an incredible 15 game winning streak was the world number 1, Serena Williams, in the quarterfinals in Indian Wells.

After helping the Swiss Fed Cup Team return to World Group 1 by winning all of her three rubbers against Poland, in Zielona Góra, Timea continued to play on her high level and reached the semi-finals in Roland-Garros, where she lost to the future tournament winner, Serena Williams, in a breathtaking three setter.

In Wimbledon, Timea got as far as the quarterfinals and at the China Open in Beijing, she reached her first Premier Mandatory final. Both times, she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza. In 2016, Timea won her 4th WTA title in Rabat (Marocco), before reaching the quarterfinals in Roland Garros and getting a silver medal in doubles with Martina Hingis at the Olympics in Rio. In 2017, after a difficult start of season, Timea reaches for the second time in her career the semifinals in Roland-Garros by defeating in particular Venus Williams and Kristina Mladenovic in the round of 16 and quarterfinals. Timea must end her season after Wimbledon due to a hand injury that will require surgery. Several other injuries are troubling the first part of the season 2018. Timea and her coach decide to end their collaboration. Timea then starts working again with her former coach Erfan Djahangiri.

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“As soon as I enter the field, my thoughts are focused on finding solutions to defeat my opponent. It doesn’t matter who I play against. In the end, we are all equal once on the court.”

Supported by her crew, her partner Andreas and her mother Suzanne, Timea continues exceeding herself, bettering her game and surprising her audience. Her sharp mind is set on her goals and with her passion for the game, Timea reached on two occasions the Top 10.

Timea’s leitmotiv is to push back her limits. She pushes back her limits on a daily basis to try to improve her game more and more, to get better on the court, and to find solutions for every situation she is in. This is what she does and will do, no matter what. Limitless…