Kimberly Birrell (born 29 April 1998) is an Australian professional tennis player. Birrell reached a career-high WTA ranking in singles of No. 56 on 14 September 2026, and a doubles ranking of No. 93 on 4 May 2026. She has won seven singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Birrell was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 29 April 1998 to Australian parents. Her father, John, was working as a tennis coach in Germany at the time of her birth and shortly after relocated his family to Wodonga, Victoria. The family then settled on the Gold Coast, Queensland when Birrell was three years of age as her father took up a role as the head coach of Pat Cash's Tennis Academy. She has a brother Cade who is also a tennis player.
She began playing tennis at the age of four and switched training bases to the Queens Park Tennis Centre in 2008 when her father began managing the club. Queens Park had previously produced top 20 tennis players such as Bernard Tomic and Samantha Stosur, the latter of whom would train with Birrell when visiting the club. Birrell attended Coomera Anglican College during her schooling years and graduated in 2015.
Birrell began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit under-18 events in July 2011 as a 13-year-old. She reached her first junior final a year later in Sydney and came out victorious over Pamela Boyanov in three sets. Following a strong 2012 season, she made her junior major debut at the 2013 Australian Open at 14 years of age and was beaten by Sweden's Rebecca Peterson, in straight sets. She continued to improve her junior ranking throughout 2013 by reaching two finals.
She entered the 2014 Australian Open unseeded and caused several upsets on her way to the semifinals, where she was defeated by Croatian player Jana Fett. She went on to compete in all the remaining majors throughout 2014 and reached her highest junior ranking of 18 in the world. Birrell competed in three junior major events in 2015 but mostly focused on the women's tour.
Birrell competed in her first professional event at the Bendigo Tennis Centre in October 2012 at the age of 14. She gained her first professional ranking point a year later with a straight sets win over Elizabeth James after receiving a wildcard into the main draw of a tournament held in her home state of Queensland. She finished 2013 with a professional singles ranking of 847.
Birrell and compatriot Olivia Tjandramulia were awarded a wildcard entry into the doubles main-draw at the 2014 Hobart International, where they lost in the first round to second seeds Lisa Raymond and Zhang Shuai.
In November 2014, Birrell was given wildcards to the two Bendigo International tournaments. In her debut at a $50k event, she defeated world No. 351, Veronika Kapshay, in straight sets.
In January 2015, Birrell was awarded a qualifying wildcard into the Hobart International, but lost to Vitalia Diatchenko in straight sets. She was then given a wildcard entry for the Australian Open qualifying, where she fell to Kateryna Bondarenko in three sets.
Birrell also made her major main-draw debut at the event, after getting one of seven team wildcards in women's doubles, alongside Priscilla Hon, but lost in the first round to the fifth seeds, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.
In March 2015, Birrell qualified for and made the first ITF Circuit final of her career in Mildura, but lost to compatriot Alison Bai in straight sets.
2016: Major & WTA Tour singles debuts, first WTA doubles final
Birrell was awarded a wildcard into the qualifying rounds of the Brisbane International, but lost to Samantha Crawford.
She made her WTA Tour debut after being awarded a wildcard into the main-draw at the Hobart International. She won in straight sets against world No. 57, Danka Kovinić, before losing to Dominika Cibulková in the second round. At the same tournament, she partnered Jarmila Wolfe in the doubles where they made the final, but were defeated by Han Xinyun and Christina McHale.
Birrell was awarded a wildcard into the Australian Open but she lost in the first round to ninth seed Karolína Plíšková.
In February, Birrell made her Fed Cup debut for Australia against Slovakia at the age of 17. She lost to Dominika Cibulková in straight sets. Shortly afterwards, she suffered a right elbow injury, sidelining her for the rest of the year.
2017–18: First ITF Circuit singles title
Birrell and Priscilla Hon were given a wildcard entry into the doubles at the 2017 Australian Open, losing in the first round to Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai.