Timea Bacsinszky (Hungarian: Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. A top ten singles player, Bacsinszky reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, on 16 May 2016. She won four singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit
A former prodigy on the junior tennis circuit, Bacsinszky semi-retired from tennis in 2011 at the age of 22 following a major foot injury. After playing a qualifying match at the 2013 French Open, she made a full comeback onto the WTA Tour in 2014 with success, winning her opening-round match at three of the major events and upsetting world No. 4 and five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals in Wuhan, earning her a first ever year-end top 50 ranking. Her breakthrough year in singles came in 2015, winning a career-best 15 consecutive matches spanning two titles, upsetting Madison Keys and Petra Kvitová en route to the semifinals of the French Open (the first time she advanced past the third round of a major), reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open, and becoming the first Swiss female tennis player to be ranked in the top 10 since Martina Hingis in 2007. Bacsinszky received the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award for her massive singles rise that year. She once again reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2017. She also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2015, and of the French Open in 2016. Bacsinszky announced on 16 July 2021 that she had retired from the sport.
Representing Switzerland, Bacsinszky has a Fed Cup career match record of 28–25. She won a silver medal in women's doubles at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, partnering Hingis.
Bacsinszky, who first picked up a racket at age 5, was pushed hard to succeed in youth tennis by her father Igor, a tennis coach from Satu Mare County, Transylvania, who escaped Ceaușescu's Romania to Switzerland in 1982. She has stated that she resented him for this and remains estranged from him after her parents divorced, though she still developed a passion for competitive tennis. Her mother, Suzanne (Zsuzsanna in Hungarian), is a dentist from Debrecen, Hungary. As both her parents are Hungarian, she had thought about representing Hungary at international level. She has one brother, Daniel, a music teacher and member of The Evpatoria Report, and two sisters, Sophie (musician and student) and Melinda. While growing up, Bacsinszky idolized Monica Seles. She spent part of her childhood in Satu Mare, visiting friends and family.
Bacsinszky's early tennis highlights included reaching the semifinals of three junior Grand Slam tournaments in 2004–05. Her breakthrough professional tournament was the 2006 Zurich Open, where she qualified then defeated Anastasia Myskina and Francesca Schiavone before losing to former No. 1, Maria Sharapova. Her early years on tour were a learning experience, and she finished both 2006 and 2007 ranked in the 120s.
Her singles ranking climbed in 2008, and she finished in the top 60 three straight years. Most important was reaching the semifinals of the Diamond Games in February, winning three qualifying and several main draw matches, before losing to world No. 1, Justine Henin, in three sets. She won her first WTA singles title at the 2009 Luxembourg Open, then won her first three doubles titles the following year.
Bacsinszky suffered a serious foot injury in the spring of 2011, requiring surgery and a long recovery. She returned at the Fed Cup the following February then used her protected ranking to play several WTA tournaments. She also played a number of ITF Women's Circuit events. However, she decided to skip the Olympics for personal reasons and soon took a hiatus from tennis altogether. She ended up working in restaurants and bars while preparing to attend hotel management school.
In May 2013, Bacsinszky received an email, stating she was eligible to compete in that month's French Open qualifier. With no practice and having to take time off work, she drove from Lausanne to Paris; she lost her first match but felt her passion for the game reignited. Thus she hired Dimitri Zavialoff, former coach of compatriot Stan Wawrinka, and committed herself to reviving her tennis career. Her gradual return to the WTA Tour reached a big milestone at the 2014 Wuhan Open when she upset No. 4, Maria Sharapova, in the third round. A few weeks later, she won her fourth career doubles title.
2015: top-10 debut and first major semifinal
Bacsinszky opened season in Shenzhen, upsetting No. 4 Petra Kvitová in the semifinal, before losing to No. 3, Simona Halep, in her first WTA Tour final in five years. She then reached the third round of the Australian Open followed by back-to-back titles in Mexico at Acapulco and Monterrey, beating Caroline Garcia in both finals. As a result, her ranking rose into the top 30 for the first time. She continued this good form at the Premier Mandatory event in Indian Wells, defeating No. 8 Ekaterina Makarova en route to the quarterfinals where she lost to No. 1, Serena Williams, thereby ending her win streak at a career-best 15 matches.
At the French Open she advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, once again upsetting Kvitová. She made it all the way to the semifinals and a rematch with top-seeded Williams; Bacsinszky led by a set and a break but lost the last ten games. Then, after making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, her ranking rose to 13.
The US Open Series, however, saw unstable results for her, falling in the first round of all four tournaments she entered, including losing to Barbora Strýcová in her opening match at the US Open. Entering the China Open in poor form, Bacsinszky beat Italian Camila Giorgi, qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino, and three former top-10 players including Carla Suárez Navarro, Sara Errani and Ana Ivanovic to advance her first ever Premier-Mandatory final where she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza in straight sets. Her run to the final put her in the top 10 in the WTA rankings for the first time.
She lost out on her run to the WTA Finals, however, because the last tournament she played (Luxembourg) held its final on Saturday and the points could not count for the race. She withdrew from the WTA Elite Trophy due to a left knee injury that had already forced her retirement in her first round match in Luxembourg. After the end of the season, Bacsinszky received the WTA's Most Improved Player Award, ending the year No. 12 in the rankings.
2016: fourth singles title and Olympic silver medal in doubles
Bacsinszky's first two tournaments both ended in defeats as she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anna Karolína Schmiedlová at the Brisbane International and at the Sydney International, respectively. Her next tournament was the Australian Open, where she beat Kateřina Siniaková but lost to Annika Beck. At the Fed Cup, Bacsinszky lost both of her matches in Switzerland's tie against Germany, but these losses did not do any harm to Switzerland who beat Germany in the doubles. She then withdrew from the Dubai Championships. At the Qatar Ladies Open, Bacsinszky defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yulia Putintseva before losing to eventual champion Carla Suárez Navarro. However, Bacsinszky was not able to defend her back-to-back title in Acapulco and Monterrey from 2015 as they were set in the same dates as the aforementioned tournaments.
In March, she reached the fourth round at Indian Wells beating Tsvetana Pironkova and Eugenie Bouchard, respectively, but lost to Daria Kasatkina subsequently. She then made a surprising semifinal run at Miami Open, beating Agnieszka Radwańska and Simona Halep, two top-5 players, back-to-back. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets in the semifinal.
At the clay-court season, Bacsinszky won her fourth WTA Tour title in Rabat, losing only one set in the tournament, and re-entered the top 10. She made the quarterfinals at Rome (losing to Garbiñe Muguruza) and reached her highest career ranking at No. 9. At the French Open, she beat Sílvia Soler Espinosa, Eugenie Bouchard, Pauline Parmentier and Venus Williams en route to her second straight quarterfinal, but lost to the unseeded Kiki Bertens.