Sara Errani (Italian:[ˈsaːraerˈraːni]; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professionaltennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed aCareer Golden Slam in doubles. She is anOlympic Gamesgold medalist, a former doublesworld No. 1, nine-time major champion in doubles and mixed doubles, and a finalist in singles. With 9 singles and 40 doubles and mixed doubles titles, she is the Italian tennis player with thehighest number of titles. Errani reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 on 20 May 2013.
Errani's breakthrough season occurred in2012. At theAustralian Open, she reached the quarterfinals in singles (the first time she advanced past the third round in a Grand Slam singles draw) and was a finalist in doubles. Known as aclay-court specialist,[3][4] Errani won three titles on clay going into the2012 French Open, where she reached the finals in both the singles (becoming the second Italian woman to ever reach a Grand Slam singles final, withFrancesca Schiavone being the first at the2010 French Open) and doubles tournaments, winning the doubles title with her partnerRoberta Vinci.[5] They also won the doubles titles at the2012 US Open, and the2013 and2014 Australian Open. By winning the2014 Wimbledon Women's Doubles title, Errani and Vinci became only the fifth pair in tennis history to complete aCareer Grand Slam.[6] She became theseventh player in theOpen Era to achieve aGolden Slam, winning the Olympics withJasmine Paolini. She won three times theWTA Awards as best doubles team with Vinci and once in 2024 with Paolini.
Her achievement in reaching the2012 US Open singles semifinals leavesWimbledon as the only Grand Slam tournament in which Errani has yet to make the quarterfinals in singles. She also made the semifinals at the2013 French Open, the quarterfinals at the2014 French Open,2014 US Open, and2015 French Open, and qualified to theWTA Finals twice in2012 and2013. In 2017, Errani was banned from playing for ten months due to a failed drug test.[7] At the2024 Summer Olympics, she was the only player along with fellow countrymanAndrea Vavassori to qualify and play at the same time in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Her partnership with Vavassori has proven successful, they taking mixed doubles major titles at2024 US Open and2025 French Open at their first participations.
Errani was the year-end number-one doubles player in both 2013 and 2014. She held the top ranking for a combined total of 87 weeks, first achieved on 10 September 2012. She entered the top 10 in doubles on 11 June 2012, remaining there for 94 straight weeks.[citation needed]
Errani competed in her first event at the $10k Cagliari event in her native Italy in 2002, where she lost toSun Tiantian. She continued to compete in the ITF, where her best performance of the year was a semifinal appearance in Zaton. She continued to participate mainly on the ITF circuit, where she won her first tournament over Lucia Jiminez in Melilla, Spain in 2005.
In 2009, Errani was the runner-up at two WTA tournaments, inPalermo andPortorož, as the defending champion in both. Errani was defeated in the first round of theFrench Open by defending championAna Ivanovic, whom she beat in the third roundthree years later.
Errani reached the third round in every major except theFrench Open in 2010, where she lost in the first round.
Errani was a member ofFed Cup-winning Italian team in 2009 and 2010. In February 2011, she reached the finals of thePattaya Open where she was defeated byDaniela Hantuchová.
At the beginning of 2012, Errani decided to change her racquet, switching fromWilson toBabolat, opting for a heavier and slightly longer model than the last, allowing for more power and better reach. This change caused her to return her $30,000 endorsement fee to Wilson.[9] However, she and several commentators cite the new racquet as a reason for her improved game and her entry into the top 10 of theWTA rankings. In the first five months of 2012, she won three singles titles, earning over $1.3 million in prize money. Errani dubbed her new racquet "Excalibur", named after the sword ofKing Arthur.[10]
As the seventh seed at the Barcelona Ladies Open, Errani stormed to her fourth career title and second of the year, not dropping a set, beating second seededJulia Görges in the quarterfinals,Carla Suárez Navarro in the semifinals, andDominika Cibulková in the finals.[citation needed] Afterwards, her ranking rose to world No. 28. In the Fed Cup semifinals against the Czech Republic, Errani lost to Petra Kvitová, but beatAndrea Hlaváčková, with Italy losing the tie. On 7 May, Errani won theBudapest Grand Prix, tying country woman Roberta Vinci for the most titles won by an Italian female in a year at three.[11]
Her performance continued to improve when she reached the final of theFrench Open. En route she defeatedCasey Dellacqua,Melanie Oudin, and former French Open winnersAna Ivanovic andSvetlana Kuznetsova.[12] She secured a place in the semifinals by eliminating the German tenth seedAngelique Kerber, her first win over a current top-10 player.[13] In the semifinals, she overcame the reigningUS Open champion and 2010 French Open finalist Samantha Stosur to reach her first Grand Slam singles final oppositeMaria Sharapova.[14] Errani lost in the final but her progress in this tournament helped her achieve the No. 10 ranking.[15]
At Wimbledon, Errani lost 6-0, 6-4 in the third round toYaroslava Shvedova, suffering the loss of the first, and to date only,golden set (a set in which one player wins every point) in a major in the open era, and only the second ever in a top-level tournament.[16] In July, at theItaliacom Open, Errani, without losing a set, won her fourth title of the year, the sixth in her career. She defeated the CzechBarbora Záhlavová-Strýcová (seeded eighth) in the final.[17] Errani then lost in the first round of the singles competition at the2012 Summer Olympics in London, as well as the first round of the mixed doubles (withAndreas Seppi).[18] However, she and Vinci reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles.[19]
She played the New Haven Open as the fourth seed. She reached the semifinals by beating fifth seedMarion Bartoli. She lost in the semifinals to Petra Kvitová. At theUS Open, Errani had a slow start by beatingGarbiñe Muguruza in three sets. However, she easily defeated the RussiansVera Dushevina andOlga Puchkova. She lost only three games in these two rounds. In the fourth round, she defeated sixth seed, Angelique Kerber. In the quarterfinals, she defeated her doubles partner Vinci to come into the semifinals, where she lost in straight sets to eventual championSerena Williams.[20] With this result, she was the first Italian woman in the Open Era to reach the semifinals of the US Open, and the first Italian woman ever to come at least into semifinals of two different majors.[citation needed]
Errani and Vinci won the US Open women's doubles final. As of result, she reached the No. 1 spot on 10 September 2012.[21]
At the end of the year she took part in theWTA Championships for the first time in her career, in both singles and doubles.[citation needed] She was the fifth tennis player – on current format – to qualify for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles, after Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2003, Kim Clijsters in 2004 and the Williams sisters in 2009.In singles, she was defeated in straight sets by Maria Sharapova, but beat Samantha Stosur in the following match. She then lost to fourth seedAgnieszka Radwańska in a match lasting three hours and 29 minutes, which was the longest best-of-three-set match in WTA Championships history.[22] She finished her breakthrough year as No. 6 in the world.
Errani was the seventh seed at theAustralian Open, where she had reached the quarterfinals in 2012. However, she was defeated byCarla Suárez Navarro in the first round. In thedoubles tournament, Errani, partnering with Vinci, won her third Grand Slam title, beating Australian wildcardsAshleigh Barty andCasey Dellacqua in the final.[citation needed]
She reached the finals of the Open GDF Suez in Paris, losing toMona Barthel.[23]At theQatar Ladies Open, she won her third doubles title of the year, with Vinci, beating Petrova and Srebotnik in the final. One week later, she reached the semifinals of theDubai Tennis Championship, beating Nadia Petrova in three sets. Here, she defeated her doubles partner Roberta Vinci, reaching her second singles final of the year where she lost to Petra Kvitová in three sets. At theAbierto Mexicano, Errani reached her third final of the year (the second in a row) facing Carla Suárez Navarro. She won the final in two sets, her seventh singles title.[citation needed]
As fifth seed, she played atFrench Open and lost in the semifinals to Serena Williams. In doubles, with Roberta Vinci, she reached her fifth Grand Slam final, losing to the Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova andElena Vesnina.[citation needed] The following month, she reached the final in Palermo where she was defeated by Roberta Vinci.[citation needed]
Errani competed in theSydney International, where she reached the quarterfinals in singles, and was a finalist in doubles with Roberta Vinci, losing toTímea Babos andLucie Šafářová. At theAustralian Open, she and Vinci defended their title, defeating first-time Australian Open finalistsEkaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in three sets to claim their fourth Grand Slam title.[24] The following week, she lost in the finals at the Open GDF Suez in Paris toAnastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets.[citation needed]
At theMiami, she lost in the third round to Ekaterina Makarova, and because of the loss to the Russian in Miami, she left the top 10 after 94 weeks from June 2012.[citation needed]
She reached the semifinals atPorsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, and she won the doubles title, partnering with Roberta Vinci, after beatingCara Black andSania Mirza; they also won their next doubles tournament, the Madrid Open.[citation needed]
At the Internazionali d'Italia, she upset world No. 2 Li Na in three sets for the first time in her career, after losing the previous six meetings and beating a top 3 player for the first time in her career; she reached the finals, after beating in straight sets world No. 8 and former world No. 1, Jelena Janković, then was defeated by Serena Williams.[citation needed]
As the tenth seed, she played atFrench Open, reaching her third straight quarterfinals. In the doubles, she played alongside Roberta Vinci; they reached their third consecutive final, falling toHsieh Su-wei andPeng Shuai in straight sets.[citation needed]
At theWimbledon, Errani and Vinci won the tournament to complete acareer Grand Slam.[6] Upon reaching the final, Errani and Vinci reclaimed the number-one ranking in women's doubles after having relinquished the ranking in February to Peng Shuai.[citation needed]
Errani reached the quarterfinals theUS Open, her sixth Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance.[citation needed] She qualified, for the third consecutive year, for the Tour Championships in doubles.[citation needed]
As the top seed at the2015 Rio Open, Errani advanced to the finals and beat sixth seedAnna Karolína Schmiedlová.[25] This was Errani's first WTA singles title in two years. Seeded second at theMonterrey Open, Errani reached the semifinals by beatingLauren Davis, qualifier Tímea Babos, and fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In the semifinals, she was defeated by fourth seed and eventual champion Timea Bacsinszky.[26] Around this time, she suspended the doubles partnership with Roberta Vinci, preferring to dedicate herself to her singles career.[27]
At theDubai Tennis Championships in 2016, Errani reached the finals and defeated Barbora Strýcová to earn the biggest singles title of her career.[28]
After several losses in early rounds throughout 2016, Errani ended the year ranked 50.[citation needed]
Errani in her second-round match at the 2017 French Open against Kristina Mladenovic
After contending with injuries during the early part of the year, Errani had a solid result by reaching the semifinals at theMorocco Open.[citation needed]
On 7 August 2017, it was announced that Errani would be suspended for two months due to failing a doping test in February 2017, testing positive for the prohibited substanceLetrozole. Errani claimed that she likely ingested letrozole by "accidentally consuming her mother's anti-cancer medication Femara" in home-madetortellini while visiting family. As a result, she was suspended for two months, with the ban ending 2 October.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] All of Errani's results from the date of her positive out-of-competition test on 16 February until a negative test on 7 June were annulled, and all ranking points and prize money accrued in this period were forfeited.[36] Both Errani and Italian anti-doping agency Nado Italia appealed sections of the suspension to theCourt of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Nado Italia sought a longer suspension time frame, whereas Errani sought to have the disqualification of her results overturned. On 11 June 2018, the CAS ruled that Errani's suspension period should be lengthened to 10 months and that the disqualification of her results should stand.[37] In 2012, Errani had already faced questions about her involvement with doping doctor Luis Garcia del Moral.[38]
Upon returning to Grand Slam tennis Errani was knocked out of the2020 Australian Open at the first hurdle in thequalifying rounds byAnna Kalinskaya. At theFrench Open, she fared better by qualifying into the main draw and reaching the second round. After the match, which Errani lost, it was reported she shouted abuse at opponentKiki Bertens who was being taken off the court in a wheelchair due to injury.[39]
Errani qualified for the2021 Australian Open and reached the third round, her best showing in four years as she did not participate in the main draw since 2017 and have not reached the third round since 2015. She beat Venus Williams, after Venus injured herself during the match, before she was defeated byHsieh Su-wei.[40]
At the2021 Italian Open, Errani reached the semifinals in doubles withIrina-Camelia Begu where they were defeated by Mladenovic/Vondroušová. This was her first participation in a WTA 1000 in two years and first semifinal at this tournament in eight years since reaching the final in 2015, as a result she jumped up by 200 spots in the rankings and reentered the top 200 in the doubles rankings.[41]
2022–24: Olympic gold, Career Golden Slam, BJK Cup title
In March 2023, following her ITF title win in Arcadia, California, she returned to the top 100 at world No. 97 in the singles rankings on 6 March 2023 for the first time in more than four years since October 2018.[43]
In May 2023, she received a wildcard for her home WTA 1000 tournament inRome.[44][45]
At the2024 Transylvania Open, Errani defeatedCaty McNally in straight sets to notch her first WTA tour-level win on indoor hard courts since Luxembourg 2015.[49]She qualified for theIndian Wells Open, her first WTA 1000 for the season.[50]
At thePorsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, she qualified with a win over top qualifying seed Anna Kalinskaya but she was defeated by Jasmine Paolini.[51] Errani also qualified for theMadrid Open and recorded her first WTA 1000-level win since 2017 over wildcardCaroline Wozniacki. This was her 194th win on clay, the most tour-level clay-court match-wins of any active player (Venus Williams is second place with 167, Wozniacki is sixth with 109).[52]
Partnering with Jasmine Paolini, she reached the final at her home tournament, theItalian Open in Rome.[53] They won the title defeating third seedsCoco Gauff andErin Routliffe.[54] At the same tournament, she received a wildcard for the singles main draw for a second consecutive year and defeatedAmanda Anisimova, who was using protected ranking. The Italian duo followed up their success in Rome with a runner-up finish at the2024 French Open, losing the final to Coco Gauff andKaterina Siniakova.[55]
At theParis Olympics Errani and Paolini won the gold medal in doubles defeatingMirra Andreeva andDiana Shnaider, completing a career Golden Slam, becoming the seventh woman to achieve the feat in doubles.[56][57]
At theUS Open, she recorded a first-round singles win overCristina Bucsa and became the Italian woman with the third-most major singles matches won in theOpen era.[58][59] She then defeated Caroline Dolehide to reach her first third round at this major since 2015,[60] and first at any Major since the 2021 Australian Open.[61] PartneringAndrea Vavassori, she won the mixed doubles title, defeatingTaylor Townsend andDonald Young in the final.[62][63]
At the2024 Billie Jean King Cup finals in Spain, Errani teamed with Jasmine Paolini to defeatShuko Aoyama andEri Hozumi in the deciding doubles match as Italy won their quarterfinal tie against Japan.[66][67] Italy faced Poland in the semifinals and Errani again combined again with Jasmine Paolini to defeatKatarzyna Kawa andIga Świątek in the decisive doubles and secure a place in the final.[68][69] Italy defeated Slovakia in the final, although Errani was not required to play as her team won both singles matches to claim the title.[70]
Errani and Jasmine Paolini again proved a fruitful partnership in 2025, collecting 4 doubles titles, with three at the WTA 1000 level in Doha, Rome and Beijing, and at the French Open.[citation needed]As a team, they won their third WTA 1000 doubles title at theQatar Open, defeatingJiang Xinyu andWu Fang-hsien in the final.[73]At the2025 French Open, with Paolini, she won her sixth Grand Slam doubles title.[citation needed] In singles, at the same tournament, Errani played her last professional singles match, losing in the second round of the qualifying tournament toAnna-Lena Friedsam.[1][74]
During the season, at 38 years old, Errani was recognized as the most-awarded player on the WTA Tour,[citation needed] with seven titles to her name.[citation needed]
During the 2012 season, and for a few years after, Errani became known for producing a high first-serve percentage, being no.1 on the year-end statistics.[3] Having won multiple titles onclay, she is widely recognized as a clay-court specialist and is known for her use of strategy on the surface, including her tendency to position herself well and to return serves early.[3][75] Being a doubles specialist as well, she is noted for her speed around the court and for hitting the ball with a lot of spin, as well as for her deep and loopy groundstrokes.[76]