47 Facts About Sara Errani

Sara Errani is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former doubles world No 1, achieved on 10 September 2012, major champion in mixed doubles and a runner-up in singles.

Sara Errani reached a career-high singles ranking of world No 5 on 20 May 2013.

Sara Errani became the seventh player in the Open era to become a Golden Slam achiever winning the Olympics with Jasmine Paolini.

Sara Errani won three times the WTA Awards as best doubles team with Vinci and once in 2024 with Paolini.

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 ten months due to a failed drug test.

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

Sara Errani competed in her first event at the $10k 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 major 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 final 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 then lost to fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in a match lasting three hours and 29 minutes, which was the longest best-of-three-set match in WTA Championships history.

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, 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 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, the Madrid Open.

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

At the Dubai Tennis Championships in 2016, Sara Errani reached the finals and defeated Barbora Strycova to earn the biggest singles title of her career.

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, whereas 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 before she was defeated by Hsieh Su-wei.

Sara Errani won the singles title at the 2022 WTA 125 Contrexeville in July, overcoming Dalma Galfi in three sets in the final.

At the 2024 Transylvania Open, Sara Errani defeated Caty McNally in straight sets to notch her first WTA tour-level win on indoor hard courts since Luxembourg 2015.

Sara Errani then defeated Caroline Dolehide to reach her first third round at this major since 2015, and first at any Major since the 2021 Australian Open.

At the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup finals in Spain, Sara Errani teamed with Jasmine Paolini to defeat Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the deciding doubles match as Italy won their quarterfinal tie against Japan.

Italy faced Poland in the semifinals and Sara Errani again combined again with Jasmine Paolini to defeat Katarzyna Kawa and Iga Swiatek in the decivisve doubles and secure a place in the final.

Italy defeated Slovakia in the final, although Sara Errani was not required to play as her team won both singles matches to claim the title.