_(48521709586).jpg) Suárez Navarro at the2019 Wimbledon Championships | |
| Country (sports) |  Spain |
|---|---|
| Residence | Barcelona |
| Born | (1988-09-03)3 September 1988 (age 37) |
| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) |
| Turned pro | 2003 |
| Retired | 2021 |
| Plays | Right (one-handed backhand) |
| Coach | Marc Casabo Oscar Serrano[1] |
| Prize money | US$ 11,920,116 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 516–345 |
| Career titles | 2 |
| Highest ranking | No. 6 (29 February 2016) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | QF (2009,2016,2018) |
| French Open | QF (2008,2014) |
| Wimbledon | 4R (2013,2016,2019) |
| US Open | QF (2013,2018) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 3R (2016) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 138–122 |
| Career titles | 3 |
| Highest ranking | No. 11 (27 April 2015) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | QF (2013) |
| French Open | SF (2014) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2013,2014) |
| US Open | 3R (2014) |
| Other doubles tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | F (2015) |
| Olympic Games | QF (2016) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | 19–12 |
Carla Suárez Navarro (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈkaɾlaˈswaɾeθnaˈβaro]; born 3 September 1988) is a Spanish former professionaltennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a best WTA doubles ranking of 11, on 27 April 2015, and won two singles and three doubles titles on theWTA Tour.
She first came to prominence by reaching the quarterfinals of the2008 French Open as a qualifier, in what was her first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. That year she also began representingSpain in the2008 Fed Cup. She reached another six Grand Slam quarterfinals in her career. These events were the2009 Australian Open, where she defeatedVenus Williams en route, the2013 US Open, where she lost to eventual championSerena Williams, the2014 French Open, where she lost in three sets toEugenie Bouchard, the2016 Australian Open, where she lost toAgnieszka Radwańska, the2018 Australian Open, where she was defeated by eventual championCaroline Wozniacki, and the2018 US Open, where she lost toMadison Keys.
In September 2020, she was diagnosed withHodgkin lymphoma just months after announcing her retirement from tennis.[2] The following year, she was declared cancer-free and returned to the tour.
Suárez Navarro was born in theCanary Islands to handball player José Luís Suárez and former gymnast Lali Navarro. She started playing tennis when she was 9 and moved toBarcelona in 2007 in order to train at the Pro-Ab Team Tennis Academy. She admiresSteffi Graf,Lleyton Hewitt,Justine Henin andMichael Jordan.She is in a relationship with Spanish football playerOlga García. On June 2, 2023, she gave birth to twin daughters.[3]
At theFrench Open, Suárez Navarro reached the quarterfinals of her firstGrand Slam main-draw tournament. After three qualifying matches she defeated former world No. 1,Amélie Mauresmo, in the second round 6–3, 6–4, AustralianCasey Dellacqua in the third round, and 26th-seeded ItalianFlavia Pennetta in the fourth round 6–3, 6–2. Suárez Navarro then lost to third-seededJelena Janković in the quarterfinals. AtWimbledon, she lost to second-seeded Janković in the second round, also in straight sets.
Suárez Navarro reached the secondGrand Slam quarterfinal of her career at the2009 Australian Open before being defeated byElena Dementieva, 6–2, 6–2. She upsetVenus Williams in the second round 2–6, 6–3, 7–5. This was her first win over a top-10 player.
In March, Suárez Navarro reached her first final on theWTA Tour at theAndalucia Tennis Experience, aclay court event inMarbella, Spain. She lost to Jelena Janković in the final.
AtRoland Garros seeded 22, she defeatedEdina Gallovits 6–1, 6–4 andLucie Hradecká 6–2, 6–4, before losing toVictoria Azarenka in the third round.
AtWimbledon, Suárez Navarro defeated No. 25Kaia Kanepi in the first round andEkaterina Makarova in the second. She faced defending champion Venus Williams for the first time since the 2009 Australian Open but was unable to repeat the upset win, losing 0–6, 4–6.
Suárez Navarro had a good start to 2010, making the second round of theAuckland Open before losing to top seed Flavia Pennetta, in straight sets. She then made the quarterfinal of theHobart International losing to No. 2 seedShahar Pe'er in a close three-setter.
At theAustralian Open, Suárez Navarro made it to the third round before losing to top seed, the defending (and eventual) championSerena Williams, 0–6, 3–6.
She was upset in the first round of theCopa Colsanitas by world No. 198,Kristina Antoniychuk, 1–6, 4–6, then made it to the semifinals of theMexican Open in Acapulco before losing toPolona Hercog 3–6, 5–7.
Unseeded at theIndian Wells Open, Suárez Navarro reached the fourth round, losing toAlisa Kleybanova 6–2, 6–7, 4–6. Along the way, she gained one of the biggest wins of her career by defeating world No. 3 and top seed,Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–4, 4–6, 6–1 in the second round.
She reached the final of the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella for the second year in a row, losing to Flavia Pennetta 2–6, 6–4, 3–6.
Suarez Navarro suffered an ankle injury at the tournament in Fes, Morocco. She returned to play in theFrench Open, losing her first-round match toOlga Govortsova 6–7, 1–6, she remained sidelined until theUS Open.
Carla began theseason atAuckland. As the ninth seed, she was upset in round two byHeather Watson. She also lost early inHobart toAlberta Brianti.
Going into the Australian Open, she defeated AmericanChristina McHale but lost to eventual titlistKim Clijsters of Belgium in the following round. Next, she represented Spain at theFed Cup againstEstonia inTallinn, where she had a 1–1 record, getting pastAnett Kontaveit but falling toKaia Kanepi.
Then, Suárez followed an early loss inParis with a semifinal and a quarterfinal, inBogotá andAcapulco, respectively. An elbow injury caused her to stop playing for two and a half months and withdraw from Roland Garros.
She returned to the competition at theOpen de Marseille, where she beatSun Shengnan andAleksandra Wozniak to make the quarterfinals, but was beaten by home crowd favouritePauline Parmentier.
She failed to qualify for Wimbledon, losing toEkaterina Ivanova in round two.
In early September, Suárez reached round four of the US Open for the first time, defeatingMathilde Johansson,Simona Halep and compatriotSílvia Soler Espinosa. However, her run was ended byAndrea Petkovic.
Carla Suárez Navarro was impressive in theFrench Open, reaching the third round. In the first round, Suárez Navarro comfortably beatTamarine Tanasugarn, 6–0, 6–2. In the second, she facedSesil Karatantcheva ofKazakhstan, and beat her 4–6, 6–4, 6–1. In the third round, she lost toYaroslava Shvedova, also from Kazakhstan, who had just returned from an injury.
AtWimbledon, Carla Suárez Navarro only made it to the first round, but it was against fifth seedSamantha Stosur of Australia, she was defeated 1–6, 3–6.
At the Italiacom Open, she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Laura Robson 4–6, 6–2, 3–6.[4]
At theLondon Olympics, she beatSamantha Stosur in a thrilling first-round match, 3–6, 7–5, 10–8,[5] avenging her first round defeat to the Australian at Wimbledon the previous month.
At theAustralian Open she lost in the first round toCarina Witthöft in straight sets. At theIndian Wells Open, she reached the quarterfinals before losing toSimona Halep in three sets. Her good form on the U.S. hardcourts continued with a run to her firstPremier Mandatory final atMiami. She defeated Agnieszka Radwańska, Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic before losing, 2–6, 0–6, in the final to Serena Williams. Despite this defeat she entered the top ten of the world rankings for the first time in her career. Another good run at theMadrid Open resulted in a quarterfinal defeat to Williams, again in straight sets. In Rome at theItalian Open, she reached her first final atPremier 5 level. She recorded three victories over top-ten players at the same event for the first time, with victories overEugenie Bouchard,Petra Kvitová andSimona Halep before losing toMaria Sharapova in three sets.
At theFrench Open she was seeded eighth. She lost toJeļena Ostapenko in the first round of Wimbledon that year, and her results for the rest of the year were inauspicious apart from reaching the quarterfinals inMoscow in October and a crushing 6–0, 6–0 victory over an injured Andrea Petkovic atZhuhai in November. Carla ended the year ranked 13th.
Suárez Navarro made a good start to the year. She reached the semifinals atBrisbane, losing toAngelique Kerber, and the quarterfinals of theAustralian Open, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. As a result, she moved back up to world No. 8 on February 1. She then defeated Jelena Janković in Spain's Fed Cup tie against Serbia.
At theDubai Tennis Championships, she received a first round bye but fell to eventual semifinalistCaroline Garcia. Her next tournament was theQatar Open where she also received a first-round bye and defeatedDonna Vekić,Timea Bacsinszky,Elena Vesnina and Agnieszka Radwańska en route to the final, ensuring a new career-high ranking of world No. 6. She then avenged her first round loss to Jeļena Ostapenko in the previous year's Wimbledon with a three set win over Ostapenko, earning her first Premier title and her biggest title to date.
At the2016 Summer Olympics, she reached the third round, beatingAna Ivanovic andAna Konjuh.[6]
In April 2021, Suárez Navarro announced that her cancer was in complete remission, and that she would commence a farewell tour beginning at Roland-Garros and culminating in a final US Open appearance.[7]
At the delayed2020 Tokyo Olympics, she again reached the second round, where she was defeated by fifth seedKarolina Plíšková.[8]
Suárez Navarro retired after Spain's elimination from theBillie Jean King Cup Finals. Her final matches in singles and doubles took place during Spain's previous tie against Slovakia.[9][10]
In January 2025, Suárez Navarro was named as captain of the Spanish Billie Jean King Cup team.[11]
Suárez Navarro uses asingle-handed backhand, unlike most female players of her era.[12] She has said in interviews that her favorite shot is her cross-court backhand and that her favourite surfaces areclay andhard.Frew McMillan has said, "There's something ofJustine Henin about her game. She has a great variety of shots."[13]
Suárez Navarro wearsLotto clothing and shoes and usesWilson racquets.
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | SR | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | Q2 | QF | 3R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 1R | QF | 2R | QF | 2R | 2R | A | 0 / 12 | 23–12 | 66% |
| French Open | A | QF | 3R | 1R | A | 3R | 4R | QF | 3R | 4R | 4R | 2R | 3R | A | 1R | 0 / 12 | 26–12 | 70% |
| Wimbledon | A | 2R | 3R | A | Q2 | 1R | 4R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 2R | 3R | 4R | NH | 1R | 0 / 11 | 16–11 | 59% |
| US Open | Q2 | 1R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 2R | QF | 3R | 1R | 4R | 4R | QF | 1R | A | 1R | 0 / 13 | 21–13 | 64% |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 5–3 | 9–4 | 2–3 | 4–2 | 4–4 | 12–4 | 9–4 | 2–4 | 13–4 | 8–4 | 11–4 | 6–4 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0 / 48 | 86–48 | 65% |
| Tournament | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | ... | 2021 | SR | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | QF | A | 2R | A | 0 / 6 | 5–6 | 45% | |
| French Open | A | 1R | A | A | 1R | 1R | SF | 1R | A | 0 / 5 | 4–5 | 44% | |
| Wimbledon | 1R | 2R | A | A | 2R | 3R | 3R | 2R | A | 0 / 6 | 6–6 | 50% | |
| US Open | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 0 / 8 | 5–8 | 46% | |
| Win–loss | 0–2 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 4–4 | 8–3 | 3–4 | 0–1 | 0 / 25 | 20–25 | 45% |
