Luisa Veras Stefani[a] (Portuguese:[luˈizɐˈvɛɾassteˈfɐni]; born 9 August 1997) is a Brazilian professional tennis player, and the first Brazilian woman to reach the WTA top 10. She reached the milestone on 1 November 2021 when she peaked at world No. 9 in doubles.[2] On 20 May 2019, she reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of 431. She had a career-high combined junior ranking of No. 10, on 30 March 2015.
She won the mixed-doubles competition at the 2023 Australian Open with Rafael Matos, becoming the first Brazilian pair to win a Grand Slam title.
Stefani is a bronze medalist in women's doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Representing Brazil, she partnered with Laura Pigossi to defeat Veronika Kudermetova and defending gold medalist Elena Vesnina in the bronze medal match. Stefani and Pigossi were only granted entry to the Olympics one week before the 2020 Games opened, with Stefani ranked world No. 23 in the doubles ranking and Pigossi at No. 190, and had only played together once previously, a defeat at the 2020 Fed Cup, and yet became the first Brazilians to win an Olympic tennis medal, surpassing the performance of Fernando Meligeni that took 4th place in men's singles in 1996. During the campaign, they saved eight match points: four in the bronze medal match and another four against Czech players Karolína Plíšková and Markéta Vondroušová in the round of 16.[3][4][5]
Professional career
At the age of 14, Stefani's family moved to the United States, where it was hoped she would develop herself better in tennis. She started training at Saddlebrook Tennis Academy,[6] and eventually reached two junior Grand Slam semifinals in doubles: the 2014 French Open and the 2015 US Open. As she attended Pepperdine University, Stefani was ranked as high as No. 2 in the ITA rankings, and was also named the 2015 ITA National Rookie of the Year, having compiled a 40–6 record in her freshman season and reached the semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Singles Championships, where she lost to eventual champion Danielle Collins.[7] Stefani made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2015 Brasil Tennis Cup where she received a singles main-draw wildcard.
Until 2019, Stefani tried to play both singles and doubles. The doubles kept being more productive, and once an invitation to make her tour debut in the 2019 Monterrey Open with Giuliana Olmos led to the semifinals and a ranking increase, she decided to stop playing singles to have more chances at appearing in bigger events. Soon afterward, Stefani made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at French Open, partnering Australian Astra Sharma in doubles.[6]
In September, with Hayley Carter as partner, she reached the first WTA Tour doubles final at the Korea Open and, the following week, won the first career title at the Tashkent Open. With these campaigns, she entered the top 100 and reached a career-high ranking in doubles of No. 75 on 21 October 2019. After that, Stefani established a fixed partnership with Carter.
In 2020, the Stefani/Carter duo reached the Australian Open third round, won the Challenger Series title in Newport, reached the Dubai quarterfinals in February, and won the Lexington Open in August. With that, they entered the top 40 for the first time.[8][9]
At the US Open, she had her best Grand Slam campaign in her career, reaching the quarterfinals, defeating the No. 6 seeds Japan duo Shuko Aoyama/Ena Shibahara in the round of 16.[10] It has been 38 years since a female doubles player from Brazil have gone as far in a Grand Slam tournament (the last time that Brazilians were in the quarterfinals was in Wimbledon in 1982: Patricia Medrado and Cláudia Monteiro).[11]
2021: Olympic bronze medal, WTA 1000 title, world No. 9 & injury
Stefani and Laura Pigossi on the podium at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Stefani and Carter reached their first WTA 1000 final at the 2021 Miami Open.
Stefani had to pass on the French Open after being forced to endure an emergency appendicitis surgery. With Carter getting a season-ending injury at Wimbledon, Stefani announced she would spend the rest of the year with Gabriela Dabrowski.[7]
At the postponed Tokyo Olympics, Stefani won a bronze medal, partnering Laura Pigossi. They beat Russians Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova after saving four match points in the final super tiebreak. Pigossi and Stefani became the first Brazilians in history to obtain an Olympic medal in tennis, surpassing Fernando Meligeni's campaign that took 4th place in 1996.[14]
Following the Olympics, seeded fifth, Stefani won her first WTA 1000, partnering Dabrowski, at the Canadian Open avenging their loss in the Silicon Valley Classic final to Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepač.[15] The following week, they followed this successful run by another, reaching the WTA 1000 final at the Cincinnati Open by defeating current Olympic champions, second seeded pair of Krejciková and Siniaková. They lost the final to Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai.[16]
The US Open had Stefani reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal and fifth straight in 2021, partnering with Gabriela Dabrowski, only to injure her knee in the decisive game against Coco Gauff and Caty McNally and withdraw.[17] Stefani had to sit out the rest of the season following surgery to mend the anterior cruciate ligament injury.[18] Still in November, she rose to No. 9 of the doubles rankings. The only other Brazilian woman to rank so high was Maria Bueno before the Open era.[2][19]
2022: Back to WTA Tour, second WTA 1000 title, return to top 50
After nearly a year of recovering from her knee injury, Stefani announced her return to play at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in September, partnered with Ena Shibahara.[citation needed] Before that, she visited the US Open to train among the WTA's best players.[20] During the major event, she arranged with Dabrowski for both to play the Chennai Open the week before Tokyo.[21] Stefani returned to the courts winning the WTA 250 title in Chennai along with Dabrowski.[22][23]
Ranked No. 217 at the WTA 1000 in Guadajalara, playing with Storm Sanders, she reached an unprecedented Brazilian final at the WTA 1000 level with Beatriz Haddad Maia. Stefani and Sanders won the title after a highly contested match in the tie-breaker.[24] As a result, she returned to the top 100 moving more than 160 positions up to an year-end ranking of No. 55.[citation needed]
2023: Historic mixed-doubles title, back to top 10
Stefani announced she would play the 2023 Australian Open with Caty McNally,[27] but withdrew without playing a game once McNally injured herself in the singles tournament.[28] Before that, she got together with McNally's former partner Taylor Townsend at the WTA 500 in Adelaide, where she won the tournament, rising to No. 34 in the world.[29]
Also during the Australian Open, Stefani and Brazilian partner Rafael Matos were crowned champions, after defeating the Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in straight sets. It was her first Grand Slam title and also the first for a Brazilian pair at a major.[30]
Along with Zhang Shuai, Stefani won the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi, returning to the top 30 in doubles.[31] Following two first-round exits, partnering with Anna Danilina, Stefani announced she would reunite with Dabrowski in the following two tournaments.[32] The duo then reached the quarterfinals in Indian Wells,[33] but fell in the first round of the Miami Open.[34] Stefani and Dabrowski also reached the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 in Madrid, and the third round at Roland Garros.[35] Afterwards they decided to part ways, with Stefani stating she was frustrated with the low results.[36]
Later, playing with Caroline Garcia, Stefani won the WTA 500 in Berlin, with this reaching No. 14 in the WTA doubles rankings.[37] Still with Garcia, Stefani reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, along the way defeating sixth seeds Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend, and former doubles world No. 1, Tímea Babos - who played alongside Kirsten Flipkens - before a loss to the eventual champions, Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strýcová.[38]
Stefani reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open playing with Demi Schuurs, this being her best campaign in this tournament to date.[45] At the Abu Dhabi Open, she partnered with Beatriz Haddad Maia, with whom she had won two ITF tournaments in 2019, serving as preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympics given they have the rankings to play the doubles tournament together.[46] They reached the semifinals but had to pull out of the decisive game once Haddad injured herself in the singles semifinal.[47]
At the Qatar Ladies Open, Stefani and Schuurs became tournament champions without losing a single set. It was the third WTA 1000 title in Stefani's career.[48][49] The duo withdrew without playing in the French Open due to Schuurs feeling back pain,[50] and fell in the first round of Wimbledon.[51] Stefani's return to the Olympics was also short-lived, an opening round loss in the mixed doubles partnering Thiago Seyboth Wild,[52] and a defeat in round 2 in the women's doubles alongside Haddad.[53]
In the US Open, Stefani and Schuurs were quarterfinalists.[54] In October, after falling in round 1 of the 2024 Wuhan Open,[55] even if the pair was still in the chase for the 2024 WTA Finals, Stefani declared she was ending her season sooner due to knee pain.[56]
Because of this, Brazil's team for the Billie Jean King Cup November's matches was announced without Stefani. The team selection included Luiza Fullana in her place.[57]
Also in October, Stefani interrupted her vacation and her knee treatment to join the WTA Finals as an alternate player. Originally on a break, Stefani was called to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to serve as an alternate with Demi Schuurs, ready to participate if needed in the doubles competition. [58]
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha from 2012 to 2014. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status, while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
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