Larissa Schaerer (born 15 April 1975) is a former professional

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 from Paraguay.

Biography

A right-handed player, Schaerer was born in Asuncion and began playing tennis aged eight. She was a member of the Paraguayan team that finished runner-up to Germany at the 1991

World Youth Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

, during which she was unbeaten in singles play. While still a junior, she started her

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

career for

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, first appearing at the age of 16, including in a World Group tie against the Soviet Union. At the 1992 US Open, she reached the semifinals of the girls' singles. Schaerer represented Paraguay at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. She competed in the women's doubles tournament with

Rossana de los Ríos Rossana Neffa de los Rios (born 16 September 1975) is a former tennis player from Paraguay. She was born in the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, and now resides in Miami, Florida, with her daughter Ana Paula Neffa de los Ríos, who is also a profe ...

as her partner. The pair lost to the French pairing of Isabelle Demongeot and Nathalie Tauziat in the opening round. On the WTA Tour, her best performances came on the clay courts of the

Copa Colsanitas The Copa Colsanitas is a women's professional tennis tournament held in Bogotá, Colombia, at the Country Club de Bogotá. Held since 1998, this WTA 250 tournament is played on outdoor clay courts A clay court is one of the types of tennis c ...

in Bogotá, where she was a semifinalist in 1998 and quarterfinalist in 1999. It was in doubles that Schaerer made her only main-draw appearance in

Grand Slam Grand Slam or Grand slam may refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category terminology originating in contract bridge and other whist card games Athletics * Grand Slam Track, professional track and field league Auto racing * ...

competition. At the

1999 Wimbledon Championships The 1999 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 113th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

, she and partner

Alina Jidkova Alina Vladimirovna Jidkova (Алина Владимировна Жидкова; born 18 January 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Russia. Throughout her career, she found success in both singles and doubles. Jidkova reached her ...

lost in the qualifying event but entered the draw as lucky losers. They were beaten in the first round by 12th seeds

Mary Joe Fernández Mary Joe Fernández Godsick (born María José Fernández; August 19, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Fernández was the runner-up ...

and

Monica Seles Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a Serbian–American 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 ...

. Schaerer made her last Fed Cup appearance in 2004. She featured in a total of 55 ties, for 64 wins overall, 39 in singles and 25 in doubles. These all remain national records for Paraguay.

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 16 (11–5)

Doubles: 26 (13–13)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaerer, Larissa 1975 births Living people Paraguayan female tennis players Olympic tennis players for Paraguay Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennis players from Asunción 20th-century Paraguayan women 21st-century Paraguayan women