Isabella Shinikova () (born 25 October 1991) is a Bulgarian

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. On 20 February 2017, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 133. On 20 May 2019, she peaked at No. 159 in the WTA doubles rankings. She also plays for the Bulgaria Billie Jean King Cup team, with a win–loss record of 20–26 as of April 2025.

Junior career

Shinikova started playing tennis at the age seven. She played on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2006 and won two singles titles and one doubles title.

Professional career

2009–15: Professional debut, success on the ITF Circuit

In 2009, Shinikova made her pro debut at a $25k event. Since then, she has been playing on the

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmenta ...

, and in 2015, she topped the annual leaderboard winning eight titles through the year.

2016–17: WTA Tour, major & top 150 debuts

In April 2016, Shinikova made her main-draw debut at a

WTA Tour The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

tournament at the

Katowice Open The Katowice Open was a professional women's tennis tournament played on an indoor Hard court, hard tennis court, court in Katowice, Poland and was held in April. The event was affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and was an WTA I ...

, losing to

Alizé Cornet Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. She has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circuit. ...

in the first round. Then, she failed to qualify for the main draws of

Stuttgart Open The Stuttgart Open (sponsored since 2022 by Hugo Boss and called the BOSS Open) is an ATP Tour 250 series professional tennis tournament on the ATP Tour. From 1970 to 1989, the Stuttgart Open was a Grand Prix tennis circuit event. From 1990 to 19 ...

, Rosmalen Open and Birmingham Classic. In July 2016, Shinikova qualified for the main draw of the

Bucharest Open The Bucharest Open established in 2014 was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts in Bucharest, Romania. It was part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. It was held annually in July at the Arenele BNR the ...

, losing to

Simona Halep Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 64 w ...

, in the second round. She made her major debut in 2016 in the qualifying draws of the

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and at the

US Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

, where seeded 31st, she lost to Laura Robson in the second round. In 2017, she made also her debut in the qualifying draw at the other two Grand Slam events. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 133 on 20 February 2017, following the Australian Open.

2019–22: Progress at Grand Slam tournaments

She reached second round at the

2019 Wimbledon Championships The 2019 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday 1 July 2019 and fi ...

, the third round of qualifying at the 2019 US Open, her best showing at a major thus far, and the second round of qualifying at the

2020 Australian Open The 2020 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, from 20 January to 2 February 2020. It was the 108th edition of the Australian Open, the 52nd in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the year. ...

2023: United Cup debut

On 23 November 2022, she was confirmed as a participant at the

2023 United Cup The 2023 United Cup was the first edition of the United Cup, an international outdoor hard court mixed-gender team tennis competition held by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Serving as the o ...

as part of the Bulgarian team. She won her doubles match, partnering Alexander Lazarov, and the tie against Belgium represented by former doubles No. 1,

Elise Mertens Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She became List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles on 10 May 2021, the third Belgian to hold the top ranking in either singles or ...

, and her partner

David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 48 (27 titles, 21 runner–ups)

Doubles: 64 (32 titles, 32 runner–ups)

National participation

Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup

Shinikova debuted for the

Bulgaria Fed Cup team The Bulgaria women's national tennis team () represents Bulgaria in Billie Jean King Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation. History Bulgaria competed in its first Fed Cup in 1966. Until the 1996 edition of t ...

in 2012. Since then, she has a 10–13 singles record and a 10–13 doubles record (20–26 overall).

Singles (10–13)

Doubles (10–13)

United Cup

Singles (0–2)

Doubles (1–0)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shinikova, Isabella 1991 births Living people Bulgarian female tennis players Tennis players from Sofia 21st-century Bulgarian sportswomen