43 Facts About Sara Errani

Sara Errani is an Italian professional tennis player.

Sara Errani is a former top five player in singles and former world No 1 in doubles.

Sara Errani entered the Top 10 in doubles on 11 June 2012, remaining there for 94 straight weeks, and she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No 5 on 20 May 2013.

Sara Errani was the year-end No 1 doubles player in both 2013 and 2014, and has held the top ranking for a combined total of 87 weeks.

Sara Errani made the semifinals at the 2013 French Open, the quarterfinals at the 2014 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2015 French Open, and qualified to the WTA Finals twice in 2012 and 2013.

In 2017, Sara Errani was banned from playing for 10 months due to a failed drug test.

Sara Errani was born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy to Giorgio, a fruit and vegetable seller and Fulvia, a pharmacist.

Sara Errani competed in her first event at the $10,000 Cagliari event in her native Italy in 2002, where she lost to Sun Tiantian.

Sara Errani continued to compete in the ITF, where her best performance of the year was a semifinal appearance in Zaton.

Sara Errani continued to participate mainly on the ITF circuit, where she won her first tournament over Lucia Jiminez in Melilla, Spain in 2005.

In 2009, Sara Errani was the runner-up at two WTA tournaments, in Palermo and Portoroz, as the defending champion in both.

Sara Errani was defeated in the first round of the French Open by defending champion Ana Ivanovic, whom she beat in the third round three years later.

Sara Errani reached the third round in every Grand Slam except the French Open in 2010, where she lost in the first round.

Sara Errani was a member of Fed Cup-winning Italian team in 2009 and 2010.

At the beginning of 2012, Sara Errani decided to change her racquet, switching from Wilson to Babolat, opting for a heavier and slightly longer model than the last, allowing for more power and better reach.

Sara Errani dubbed her new racquet "Excalibur", named after the sword of King Arthur.

Sara Errani defeated fellow Italians Roberta Vinci, and second seed Flavia Pennetta in her last two matches.

Sara Errani's performance continued to improve when she reached the finals of the French Open.

Sara Errani secured a place in the semifinals by eliminating the German tenth seed Angelique Kerber, her first win over a current top-10 player.

Sara Errani defeated the Czech Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova in the final.

Sara Errani then lost in the first round of the singles competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, as well as the first round of the mixed doubles.

Sara Errani played the New Haven Open as the fourth seed.

Sara Errani reached the semifinals by beating fifth seed Marion Bartoli.

At the US Open, Sara Errani had a slow start by beating Garbine Muguruza in three sets.

Sara Errani lost only three games in these two rounds.

Sara Errani has been the fifth tennis player in the world - on current format - to qualify either in single and double, after Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2003, Kim Clijsters in 2004 and the Williams sisters in 2009.

Sara Errani finished her breakthrough year as No 6 in the world.

Sara Errani was the seventh seed at the Australian Open, where she had reached the quarterfinals in 2012.

Sara Errani reached the finals of the Open GDF Suez in Paris, losing to Mona Barthel.

At the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Sara Errani reached her third final of the year facing Carla Suarez Navarro.

Sara Errani won the final in two sets, her seventh singles title.

Sara Errani reached the semifinals at Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was defeated by Victoria Azarenka.

Sara Errani competed in the Sydney International, where she reached the quarterfinals in singles, and was a finalist in doubles with Roberta Vinci, losing to Timea Babos and Lucie Safarova.

Sara Errani reached the semifinals at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, and she won the doubles title, partnering with Roberta Vinci, after beating Cara Black and Sania Mirza; they won their next doubles tournament was Mutua Madrid Open.

Sara Errani reached the quarterfinals the US Open, her sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance.

On 7 August 2017, it was announced that Sara Errani would be suspended for two months due to failing a doping test in February 2017, testing positive for the prohibited substance Letrozole.

Sara Errani claimed that she likely ingested letrozole by "accidentally consuming her mother's anti-cancer medication Femara" in home-made tortellini while visiting family.

Nado Italia sought a longer suspension time frame, where as Sara Errani sought to have the disqualification of her results overturned.

In 2012, Sara Errani had already faced questions about her involvement with doping doctor Luis Garcia del Moral.

Sara Errani beat Venus Williams in the second round but was defeated by Hsieh Su-wei.

Sara Errani received a wildcard for her home WTA 1000 tournament in Rome.

Sara Errani is holding record of appearances in the National Team, with 47 matches played - between single and double - and 26 victories.

Sara Errani uses an abbreviated motion and with a small stature, combined with a shoulder problem, she is unable to hit fast serves, despite the precision.