Francesca Schiavone (Italian pronunciation:[franˈtʃeskaskjaˈvoːne];[1][2] born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professionaltennis player. She had career-high rankings of world No. 4 in women's singles and No. 8 in women's doubles by theWomen's Tennis Association (WTA). Schiavone won eightWTA Tour-level singles titles, including amajor at the2010 French Open, the first Italian woman to win a singles major. To date, Schiavone is the lastone-handed backhand player to win a major women's title.[3][4]
Schiavone was also runner-up in singles at the2011 French Open and in women's doubles at the2008 French Open. She helpedItaly win theFed Cup in 2006, 2009 and 2010, and has the most match wins of any player for the Italian team.
Schiavone played the longest ever women's singles match at a major, defeatingSvetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 16–14 in the fourth round of the2011 Australian Open after 4 hours and 44 minutes.[5]
Schiavone announced her retirement from the sport at the2018 US Open, and shared aspirations of winning a major as a coach.[6] In April 2021, Schiavone began coachingPetra Martić.[7]
Schiavone won eight singles titles and also achieved eleven runner-up positions, eight of them since the autumn of 2005. She lost her first eight career finals on theWTA Tour before finally winning her first title in July 2007. She and her Italian teammatesMara Santangelo,Flavia Pennetta andRoberta Vinci beat theBelgian team 3–2 in the2006 Fed Cup final.Justine Henin had to retire in the fifth and final match due to an injury in her right knee, which letItaly win their firstFed Cup trophy.[8] This match was a doubles match andKirsten Flipkens partnered Henin, and Roberta Vinci partnered Schiavone. In 2009, she won the Fed Cup with Italy for the second time against the US, and also made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time. In 2010, Italy with Schiavone won the Fed Cup for the third time.
In addition, she realized a notable victory during the quarterfinals of the 2008 Dubai Open, when she upset world No. 1 and four-time champion Henin in two sets. She also beatAmélie Mauresmo in a Fed Cup tie in 2006 when Mauresmo was ranked No. 1.
At theAustralian Open, Francesca defeated FrenchwomenAlizé Cornet, andJulie Coin first before upsetting No. 10 seedAgnieszka Radwańska in straight sets. Though she matched her best results there (round four), she went on to lose to No. 6 seedVenus Williams after winning the first set.
Seeded 17th entering theFrench Open, Schiavone was lightly regarded as a contender for the championship. She defeatedRegina Kulikova,Sophie Ferguson, 11th seedLi Na, and 30th seedMaria Kirilenko to reach her first French Open quarterfinal since 2001 (where she had lost toMartina Hingis). There, she defeated world No. 3,Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets to become the first Italian woman to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles event.
The semifinals of the French Open consisted of four players (Jelena Janković,Elena Dementieva,Samantha Stosur and Schiavone) who had never won a Grand Slam singles event; nevertheless, most in the tennis community, including ESPN's tennis commentary team ofMary Joe Fernández,Patrick McEnroe, andBrad Gilbert singled out Schiavone as the one player who was not a serious contender to win the title. In the semifinals, Schiavone defeated world No. 5 and 2004 finalist, Dementieva (she retired in the second set with a torn calf muscle having lost the first set in a tiebreaker), and the victory made Schiavone the first Italian woman to reach a Grand Slam final, and assured that she would become a top-ten player for the first time following the tournament.
In the final, Schiavone faced Stosur in a rematch of their first-round meeting at the 2009 French Open which Stosur had won easily (6–4, 6–2). Because of this previous result, and Stosur's victories over four-time French Open champion Justine Henin, world No. 1Serena Williams and world No. 4 Janković en route to the final, Stosur was considered a heavy favorite. However, on 5 June 2010, Schiavone defied expectations to become the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title, beating Stosur 6–4, 7–6.[9] The victory made her only the third Italian player to win a Grand Slam event in singles, afterNicola Pietrangeli andAdriano Panatta. She also became the oldest woman to win a first Grand Slam title in the Open Era, beating the previous record byJana Novotná.[10] The victory also meant she rose to No. 6 in the world rankings on 7 June 2010 and became the highest-ranked Italian woman ever, after Flavia Pennetta reached world No. 10 in 2009.
Schiavone's next event was Eastbourne, where she lost in the first round toSorana Cîrstea. As the fifth seed atWimbledon, due to the pre-tournament withdrawal of Dementieva, she lost toVera Dushevina in the first round in three sets.
Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of theRogers Cup, where she fell to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. She was the sixth seed at theUS Open, and defeatedAyumi Morita,Maria Elena Camerin, 29th seedAlona Bondarenko, and 20th seedAnastasia Pavlyuchenkova to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003 (where she had lost toJennifer Capriati). In the quarterfinals, she fell to seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and No. 3 seed Venus Williams in two sets.
As the fifth seed, Schiavone reached the semifinals of thePan Pacific Open, where she fell to seventh seed Elena Dementieva. At the season-endingTour Championships, Schiavone competed for the first time in her career but was eliminated in the round-robin stage. She fell to Caroline Wozniacki in three sets, and Sam Stosur in two sets before defeating Elena Dementieva in what would be Dementieva's final career match.
Seeded sixth at theAustralian Open, Schiavone advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in her career upon a victory over 23rd-seeded and two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The fourth-round encounter lastednearly five hours (4:44; 47 games in total), and Schiavone saved six match points before finally prevailing 6–4, 1–6, 16–14. With this win, Schiavone rose in the rankings to world No. 4 after the tournament, the highest ranking ever achieved by an Italian woman, improving her own record. In the quarterfinal against world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, Schiavone was a set and 3–1 up in the second set, but was broken twice by Wozniacki in the same set and twice in the third, to lose 6–3, 3–6, 3–6 after saving three match points.
Schiavone began her clay-court season with a round of 16 loss to Radwańska at thePorsche Tennis Grand Prix. She then reached the round of 16 at theMadrid Open, falling to Mattek-Sands. Following Madrid, Schiavone reached the quarterfinals of theItalian Open, losing to world No. 7, Sam Stosur, in a rematch of the 2010 French Open final. She then lost to world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in three sets during the semifinals of theBrussels Open, the last tournament before the French Open.
Schiavone was the fifth seed and defending champion at theFrench Open. She beatMelanie Oudin,Vesna Dolonts, 29th seed Peng Shuai, tenth seed Jelena Janković, 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and 11th seedMarion Bartoli to reach the final where she lost to Li Na, 4–6, 6–7.[11][12]
TheWestern & Southern Open saw another early round loss for Schiavone. It took her three sets to defeat Maria Kirilenko in her opening round match. She then lost to former world No. 1, Jelena Janković, in a third round three-setter.
Just before theUS Open Schiavone entered theNew Haven Open. She defeatedAlexandra Dulgheru andMonica Niculescu in the first two rounds. Her quarterfinal match against Anabel Medina Garrigues was a walkover. Schiavone was defeated by Wozniacki in straight sets in the semifinals.
At theUS Open, she reached the fourth round where she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. At theChina Open Schiavone emerged victorious in the first round againstBojana Jovanovski but was then defeated in the second round byDominika Cibulková.
Schiavone began the season at theBrisbane International. Seeded third, she reached the semifinal where she lost to eventual champion Kaia Kanepi.[14]
Schiavone struggled whilst representing Italy at Fed Cup versus Ukraine, losing to a non-top-100 playerLesia Tsurenko comprehensively 1–6, 2–6 and barely getting pastKateryna Bondarenko, 6–7, 7–5, 6–4. Despite her struggles, Italy still managed to progress through to the semifinals.
Schiavone played in the mini gulf series in Doha and Dubai losing early in both of them as the seventh seed; Doha in the second round to Yanina Wickmayer 4–6, 6–7 and in her Dubai opener toAna Ivanovic 1–6, 5–7.
At the Indian Wells Open, she (as 10th seed) avenged her Fed Cup loss by beating Lesia Tsurenko, 6–2, 6–4, before retiring against Lucie Šafářová in the third round after losing the first set 6–2. With the same seeding in Miami, she lost toKsenia Pervak 4–6, 6–4, 5–7 in her opener, blowing a 3–0 final-set lead.
After lackluster results, the clay-court season was a chance for Schiavone to get back on form on her favorite surface, but as the top seed at the Barcelona Open, her poor form continued as she lost to Olga Govorstova in her opening match. She represented Italy in Fed Cup semifinals against Czech Republic, losing both of her matches to Lucie Šafářová and toPetra Kvitová. Italy lost the tie 1–4. After passing her opening round in Stuttgart against Monica Niculescu, she lost in the second round to No. 3 seed Petra Kvitová, in straight sets. She also lost her opener in Madrid toVarvara Lepchenko and Rome to Ekaterina Makarova. However, Schiavone finally found some form going into the French Open, winning Strasbourg by defeating Sloane Stephens and Alizé Cornet in the semifinals and finals, respectively.
Schiavone reached the third round ofFrench Open, where she lost to Varvara Lepchenko.[15]
At Wimbledon, she reached the fourth round, before losing to Petra Kvitová in three sets but managed to reach the semifinals in doubles with partner Flavia Pennetta. Schaivone won her opening match at the Olympics and was then ousted in the second round byVera Zvonareva.
Schiavone employed an all-court game and has a very classic approach to her clay game. She used an extreme eastern grip on herone-handed backhand.Chris Fowler andBrad Gilbert described her forehand as a "buggy whip."[16]
Schiavone was endorsed by multiple companies throughout her professional career. From 2004, she was endorsed byDiadora for clothing and apparel, before switching toLotto in 2007. She switched toAdidas in 2013; due to a series of poor results, she was dropped by the company, moving toAsics in 2014, remaining with Asics for the rest of her professional career. For racquets, Schiavone usedYonex racquets until 2006; in that year, she switched toBabolat, using the Pure Aero racquet until her retirement in 2018.
In late 2019, Schiavone revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer in June of that year; after undergoing chemotherapy, she went into remission.[17]
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