Sabine Katharina Lisicki (; born 22 September 1989) is a German inactive 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.
Lisicki turned professional in 2006, and her breakthrough came in 2009 when she reached the quarterfinals of the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, and also won her first title on the
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 ...
, at the
Family Circle Cup
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
. In March 2010, she suffered an ankle injury at the
Indian Wells Open that kept her out of competition for five months and saw her fall out of the top 200. Lisicki rebounded in 2011 and won the
Birmingham Classic, before entering the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
as a
wildcard and going on to reach the semifinals, where she lost to
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, ; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Sharapova won 36 WTA Tour-level sin ...
. In doing so she became only the second woman in
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 ...
history to make it to the semifinals while entering the tournament as a wildcard. She followed that two months later by winning her third WTA tournament, the
Texas Open. In 2012, she achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 12 and again reached the quarterfinals of
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 ...
. Again, in 2012 she suffered from another ankle injury that prevented her from having better results on tour. Lisicki reached the final of the
2013 Wimbledon Championships
The 2013 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 127th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
, losing to
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title, after previously being runner-up in 2007 Wimbledo ...
. The following year, she had another quarterfinal at
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 won her first title in three years when she won the
Hong Kong Open.
In doubles, Lisicki won the
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
with
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
and in
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
with
Mona Barthel
Mona Barthel (born 11 July 1990) is a German tennis player.
On 18 March 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 23. On 14 September 2015, she peaked at No. 63 in the doubles rankings.
Barthel has won four singles and three double ...
and the
2014 Miami Open with coach
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...
. She also reached the doubles final at Wimbledon in
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
with Stosur and came fourth in the
mixed-doubles event at the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
with
Christopher Kas.
Between 2014 and 2018, Lisicki held the world record for the
fastest serve by a female tennis player. A serve was measured during her first-round encounter against
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger (name at birth, née Ivanovic; born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian 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 Tenn ...
at the
2014 Stanford Classic.
She also held the record for the
most aces in a singles match, hitting 27 aces during her second-round encounter against
Belinda Bencic at the
2015 Birmingham Classic, until it was surpassed by
Kristýna Plíšková
Kristýna Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech inactive professional tennis player. In her career, she won one singles title and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, with three titles on the WTA Challenger Tour (two in doubles). She a ...
at the
2016 Australian Open
The 2016 Australian Open was a List of tennis tournaments, tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 18 and 31 January 2016. It was the 104th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tourname ...
.
Early life
Lisicki's parents emigrated to West Germany from Poland in 1979; her father, Dr. Richard Lisicki, is of German and Polish descent and her mother, Elisabeth, of Polish. They came to Germany as "
Aussiedler", descended from German citizens who lived in the
former eastern territories of Germany
In present-day Germany, the former eastern territories of Germany () refer to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany, i.e. the Oder–Neisse line, which historically had been considered German and which were annexed b ...
which had become
part of Poland after World War II. In a 2009 interview with the German newspaper ''
Die Welt
(, ) is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group and it is considered a newspaper of record in Germany. Its leading competitors are the ...
'', her father put emphasis on Lisicki being German: "Sabine is a German – not only because of her birth here
n Germany"
Lisicki was born in
Troisdorf
Troisdorf () is a city in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Troisdorf is located approximately 22 kilometers south of Cologne and 13 kilometers north east of Bonn.
Division of the city
Troisdorf consi ...
, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 1989. Her father, who introduced her to the sport at the age of seven, has a doctorate in sport science and is her coach. Her mother is a painter specialising in ceramics.
Career
Early years
Since 2004, Lisicki has trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in
Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...
, where she is sponsored and managed by
IMG. She is coached by her father, who studied sport science in
Wrocław
Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
and
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
.
Early in her career, Lisicki could not fly to tournaments because of a lack of funding. She had to be driven across Europe in a car by her parents so that she could attend tournaments. Lisicki said: "My parents did everything possible to let me play tennis. That's what I appreciated so much. My dad has worked from 8 in the morning til 9 in the evening to make it possible so I can play tennis. We had to cancel tournaments because we couldn't afford to go there."
In 2006, Lisicki competed at the
Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, where she defeated Ragini Vimal in the first, but lost in the final qualifying round to
Sanaa Bhambri.
She competed in her first WTA Tour main-draw match when she was given a wildcard to play at the
German Open. She lost in the first round to
Mara Santangelo, in three sets.
Lisicki had a successful year in 2007 on the
ITF Circuit and climbed from world No. 497 to No. 198 in the
WTA rankings. She won two titles, one in Jersey and the other in Toronto. She defeated top-seed
Katie O'Brien at the
Vancouver Open.
2008: Start of the journey
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, her first Grand Slam tournament, she defeated the 16th-seeded player,
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mubinovna Safina (, ; ; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 26 weeks, and world No. 8 in doubles. Safina ...
, as well as
Mariya Koryttseva to reach the third round as a qualifier. She lost her third round match to
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is an inactive Danish professional tennis player. She has been 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, hold ...
. In the first round of the
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 ...
against the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, Lisicki defeated
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 98 weeks (including as the year-end No. 1 four ...
in straight sets.
Lisicki next reached the fourth round of the
Miami Open, a
Tier I
The WTA Tier I tournaments were Women's Tennis Association tennis elite tournaments held from 1990 until the end of the 2008 season. From 1988 to 1990, the different levels of WTA tournaments were referred to by the term 'Category', and there ...
event, where she defeated sixth seeded
Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambuliovna Chakvetadze ( ; born 5 March 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Chakvetadze won eight WTA Tour singles titles. She reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 5 in September 2007, after r ...
in straight sets, but was defeated in the next round by
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 3 in women's singles and world No. 5 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Dem ...
.
At
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 ...
, Lisicki lost in the first round to the 2007 runner-up, 11th seed
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli (; born 2 October 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. Bartoli won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 2013 Wimbledon Championships singles title, after previously being runner-up in 2007 Wimbledo ...
.
In October, Lisicki reached her first WTA tournament final at the Tashkent Open, where she lost in three sets to fellow teenager
Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-best ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
.
2009: Breakthrough year
Lisicki started her year at the
Hopman Cup in
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
where she advanced to the third round before losing to
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001 WTA Tour Championships, 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 WTA Tour ...
in straight sets. At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Lisicki defeated the 30th seed
Aleksandra Wozniak
Aleksandra Wozniak (; born September 7, 1987) is a Canadian former tennis player. She turned professional in November 2005, and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 21 in June 2009, making her the fifth highest-ranked Canadian singles player of ...
in the opening round before losing to
Samantha Stosur
Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
in straight sets. She then took part in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
's 3–2 win over
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
in their
Fed Cup World Group II tie, defeating
Timea Bacsinszky
Timea Bacsinszky (; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. A former 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 o ...
but losing to
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978)
Weltwoche, 14. September 2011 is a Swiss reti ...
.
At the
Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Lisicki reached the semifinals, defeating third seed
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles ...
on the way before losing to eventual winner
Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Fiodaraŭna Azarenka (born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), having held the position for a total of 51 weeks ...
. Lisicki then took part in the first
Premier Mandatory tournament of the year in North America. At the
Indian Wells Open, she lost in the first round to
Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Vesnina is a four-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, h ...
. At the
Miami Open, she lost in the second round to 26th seed
Iveta Benešová.

During the clay-court season, Lisicki lost in the second round of the
Amelia Island Championships
The Amelia Island Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Amelia Island Plantation and later Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Women's Tennis Association event was an WTA International tournaments, International series t ...
in Ponte Vedra Beach to eventual finalist and fifth seed Aleksandra Wozniak. On the green clay at the
Charleston Open
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
in, Lisicki won her first WTA Tour title without dropping a set, defeating the fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the final. She had previously defeated second seeded Venus Williams in the third round and No. 6 seed Marion Bartoli in the semifinals. She then took part in Germany's
Fed Cup World Group play-off win against
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. She defeated world No. 16
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15.
Zheng is one of China's most successful tennis players. She won four singles titles on the ...
in the first singles match, and partnered with
Anna-Lena Grönefeld
Anna-Lena Grönefeld (also spelled Groenefeld; married name Herzgerodt; born 4 June 1985) is a German former professional tennis player.
Competing as a professional from 2003 until 2019, she won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2006 M ...
to win the decisive doubles match.
Lisicki advanced to the second round of the
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart before losing to third-seeded
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian 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 W ...
in straight sets. She then advanced to the quarterfinals at the
Portugal Open where she lost to compatriot Anna-Lena Grönefeld, retiring when 2–6 down. At the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Lisicki lost to Lucie Šafářová in the first round.
On her first match on grass at the
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne Open (also known as Eastbourne International, formerly Rothesay) is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as ...
, Lisicki lost to Samantha Stosur in the first round. In doubles, Lisicki and her partner
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger (name at birth, née Ivanovic; born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian 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 Tenn ...
lost in the first round to
Cara Black
Cara Cavell Black (born 17 February 1979) is a Zimbabwean former professional tennis player. Black was primarily a doubles specialist, winning 60 WTA Tour and 11 ITF Women's Circuit, ITF doubles titles. A former List of WTA number 1 ranked dou ...
and
Liezel Huber
Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African- American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara B ...
.
Lisicki played her first
Grand Slam quarterfinal at
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 ...
, where she was beaten by world No. 1, Dinara Safina. On her way to the quarterfinal, she had defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the first round,
Patricia Mayr in the second, the 2009 French Open champion and fifth seed
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Kuznetsova won 18 singl ...
in the third round, and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth.
Seeded 23rd, Lisicki advanced to the second round at the 2009 US Open, but lost to qualifier Anastasia Rodionova. On 3 September 2009, daytime, Rodionova's match point, Lisicki slipped while going to return a backhand and injured her left ankle. She left the court in a wheelchair as Rodionova advanced to the third round. Lisicki later reported that an MRI showed no tears. The injury was a sprain, and Lisicki returned to her base in Florida for rehabilitation.
She returned to the tour at the
Pan Pacific Open at the end of September, where she reached the second round before losing in three sets to seventh seed Jelena Janković.
In October, she reached the final of the
Luxembourg Open, but lost to Timea Bacsinszky. On her way to the final she beat Iveta Benešová,
Polona Hercog
Polona Hercog (, born 20 January 1991) is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings are 35 in singles and 56 in doubles. She has won five titles on the WTA Tour, three in singles and two in doubles. Hercog also has had ...
, Patty Schnyder and Shahar Pe'er.
Lisicki qualified for the
Tournament of Champions. She lost her first round-robin match to
Aravane Rezaï, but won her second round-robin match against
Melinda Czink.
2010: Injuries and struggles
Lisicki started the season by playing at the
Hopman Cup for Germany. She won her singles ties against
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 3 in women's singles and world No. 5 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Dem ...
and
Laura Robson but lost to
Yaroslava Shvedova. Partnering with
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
, they lost all their doubles matches, so Germany did not proceed to the finals.

As the 21st seed, Lisicki was defeated at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
in the second round by
Alberta Brianti, in three sets. She then played the
Pattaya Open in Bangkok where she was the second seed and lost her second-round match to home player
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Tamarine Tanasugarn (, , ; born 24 May 1977) is a Thai former tennis player. Born in Los Angeles, she turned professional in 1994, and has been in the top 20 in both singles and doubles.
Tanasugarn's career-high WTA ranking is No. 19, achiev ...
.
At
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, she lost her second-round match against
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been 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 11 wee ...
.
Her next two tournaments were at
Indian Wells and
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
. In both tournaments, Lisicki retired in the second round because of an ankle injury. The injury sidelined her for five months, and she withdrew from tournaments at
Ponte Vedra and
Charleston. She also missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Lisicki had to learn how to walk again and faced suggestions that she should retire rather than risk further injury. She later said: "I always believed. Always. No matter what happened. I can still remember when the doctor told me that I have to be on crutches the next six weeks. That period made me such a much stronger person and player. I know anything is possible after learning how to walk again. I love the sport so much and I miss it when I cannot be out there on the court. It just gives me the belief to overcome anything."
Coming into the
US Open ranked world No. 96, Lisicki advanced to the second round before losing to seventh seed and eventual finalist
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲerə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ran ...
.
After the US Open, she failed to qualify for the Luxembourg Open causing her ranking to fall to No. 179 in the WTA rankings.
[
]
2011: Return to form
Lisicki started the season at the Auckland Open where she lost to Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open – Women's singles, 2009 US Open, and a career-high WTA ranking of No. 12, on 19 April 2010. In doubles, she achieve ...
in three sets in the second round. At Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, Lisicki played the qualifying tournament and lost in the second round to Vesna Manasieva. After losing at the Indian Wells Open to Sorana Cîrstea in the qualifying rounds in March, Lisicki fell down the rankings to No. 218.[ She lifted her form and reached the third round at the Miami Open, where she was defeated by Maria Sharapova.
]
At the Family Circle Cup
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
, Lisicki reached the third round, but lost to Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian former professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles ...
in two sets. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she lost in the quarterfinals against her compatriot Julia Görges, eventual champion of the tournament. In doubles, Lisicki partnered with former world No. 1 doubles player Samantha Stosur to win her first ever career doubles title. At the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Lisicki advanced to the second round against the number three seed, Vera Zvonareva. Lisicki had a match point at 5–2 of the third set, but she lost the point and eventually the match. Afterwards, she lay on the court, sobbing, and was taken off on a stretcher due to injury.
At the Birmingham Classic, Lisicki reached the final where she defeated Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, defeating Martin ...
to win her second WTA Tour title. At 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 ...
, she received a wildcard to enter the tournament, advancing to the semifinals of a major for the first time, and beating third seed and recent French Open champion Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association. Li won nine WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two Grand Slam (t ...
in the second round. She was eliminated by Maria Sharapova in straight sets after leading the first set 3–0. This was the first time in 12 years that a German woman (since Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German 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 a r ...
reached the Wimbledon finals in 1999) had reached the semifinal stage of a Grand Slam. Lisicki was the second wild-card entry to reach the women's semifinals in Wimbledon history. In doubles, Lisicki partnered with Stosur and lost in the final.
At the Silicon Valley Classic, Lisicki beat fourth seed and doubles partner Samantha Stosur and fifth seed Agnieszka Radwańska, but fell to Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an 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 (WT ...
in the semifinals. At the Cincinnati Open, Lisicki lost to Shahar Pe'er in the first round. She then traveled to Dallas to compete in the inaugural Texas Open as the fifth seed. After advancing to the semifinals with an easy win over qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, she crushed eighth seed Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
to advance to the final. Lisicki won her third title, defeating qualifier Aravane Rezaï, having dropped no more than three games each match of the way to her victory. She moved to a new career-high rank of world No. 18, on 29 August. Seeded 22nd at the US Open, she easily advanced to the second round with a straight-sets win over Alona Bondarenko
Alona Volodymyrivna Bondarenko Dyachok (; born 13 August 1984) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Her sisters Valeria and Kateryna Bondarenko are also tennis players.
Her career-high singles ranking is No. 19, achieved on 14 April 2008. Alo ...
. She was scheduled to play Venus Williams in the second round, but Williams withdrew before it started due to her recent diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome. Lisicki dispatched Irina Falconi
Irina Falconi Hartman (; born Irina Alejandra Falconi; May 4, 1990) is an Ecuadorian-born United States, American former professional tennis player. Her highest WTA singles ranking is 63, which she reached in May 2016. Her career-high in doubles ...
to advance to the fourth round for the first time, before ultimately being defeated by second seed Vera Zvonareva. At the China Open Lisicki defeated Zheng Saisai
Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born 5 February 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 34, achieved on 2 March 2020, and a doubles ranking of No. 15, achieved on 11 July 2016. In her career, she wo ...
in straight sets but withdrew from her second round match against Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian inactive professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Described as a 'resident Grand Slam up ...
.
Lisicki was named the WTA Comeback Player of the Year in November.
2012: Continued success and injuries
Lisicki's first tournament in 2012 was the Auckland Open where she was the No. 1 seed. In the first round, she defeated Virginie Razzano. In the second round, she defeated Mona Barthel
Mona Barthel (born 11 July 1990) is a German tennis player.
On 18 March 2013, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 23. On 14 September 2015, she peaked at No. 63 in the doubles rankings.
Barthel has won four singles and three double ...
. In the quarterfinal, she faced Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German 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 34 wee ...
, the 2011 US Open semifinalist, and was losing 4–6, before retiring, due to a back injury, in the second set at a score of 3–4. In doubles, she entered with Chinese player Peng Shuai
Peng Shuai (; ; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 doubles player by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA ...
and they won their first round match against Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a career Grand Slam (tennis)#Golden Slam, Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former ...
and Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she is a Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam, Career Grand Slam champion having won all Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major tournaments and reac ...
. Both the Italians would go on to the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
in four weeks time. In the second round, they pulled out due to the injury picked up by Lisicki in the quarterfinal of the singles tournament against Angelique Kerber.
Lisicki next entered the Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
where she was unseeded. Before the first round of the tournament began, she pulled out with her recent back injury and gave her place to lucky loser Alexandra Dulgheru.
Lisicki next competed in the Australian Open where she was the 14th seed. In the first round, she faced Stefanie Vögele
Stefanie Vögele (born 10 March 1990) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 11 November 2013. Her highest WTA rankings, WTA ranking in doubles is 100, which she reached on 5 January ...
and beat her in three sets. In the second round, she defeated Shahar Pe'er. In the third round, she beat 18th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. She was defeated by Maria Sharapova. Lisicki took the first set, winning six consecutive games after being down 0–3, but was unable to match Sharapova in the following two sets.
At the 2012 Fed Cup, Lisicki played for Germany alongside Julia Görges, Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Angelique Kerber. She started off the meeting between Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
by facing Iveta Benešová, a match in which she lost. In her second match, she faced Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová and also lost. Germany lost the meeting by a score of 1–4.
Lisicki's next tournament was supposed to be the Open GdF Suez where she was to be the fifth seed. She pulled out before the tournament began with a viral illness.
Lisicki then competed at the Qatar Ladies Open where she was the ninth seed. In the first round she met compatriot Angelique Kerber and lost in three sets to continue a losing streak dating back to the fourth round of the Australian Open. In doubles, she was the fourth seed along with Russian Maria Kirilenko
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲenkə, a=Ru-Maria_Kirilenko.ogg; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champio ...
. They received a bye into the second round where they met Andreja Klepač and Alicja Rosolska
Alicja Rosolska (; born 1 December 1985) is a Polish professional tennis player.
On 9 June 2003, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 636. On 10 June 2019, she peaked at No. 23 in the WTA rankings, doubles rankings.
Rosolska has w ...
, beating them in a third set tie-break. In the third round they met fifth seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives
Nuria Llagostera Vives (; born 16 May 1980) is a Spanish former tennis player. In June 2005, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. In November 2009, she peaked at No. 5 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Professional career
Llagoster ...
and Anastasia Rodionova
Anastasia Ivanovna Rodionova (; born 12 May 1982) is a Russian-born Australian former professional tennis player.
Rodionova has won 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as eight singles and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 16 Au ...
. They lost the first set 4–6, and in the second set, Llagostera Vives and Rodionova took an early 3–1 lead, but Lisicki and Kirilenko were able to even the score by winning the following two games. The two teams swapped a break of serve to bring the score to 4–4. The teams held serve and brought the set to a tiebreak. Lisicki and Kirilenko won 7–3 to level the score at one set each. They lost the third set, and with it, ultimately, the match.
Lisicki's next tournament was the Dubai Championships, where she was supposed to face fifth seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the first round. However, after second seed Petra Kvitová withdrew, she became the ninth seed and received Kvitová's bye into the second round. There she met Iveta Benešová, defeating her in two sets. In the quarterfinals, she was knocked out by Radwańska.
At Indian Wells as the 11th seed, she received a bye into the second round where she faced Lourdes Domínguez Lino, losing in two sets. In doubles with compatriot Julia Görges, she beat Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears
Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Spears won 21 double titles including the 2017 Australian Open.
Spears started playing tennis in 1988 when she was 7 years old, and turn ...
. The two Germans next faced French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
champions Lucie Hradecká
Lucie Hradecká (; born 21 May 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She w ...
and Andrea Hlaváčková
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ...
, losing in straight sets.
Lisicki next went to Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, where she was the 12th seed. She got a bye to the second round where she faced Sofia Arvidsson. Victorious, she then faced Peng Shuai in the third round. She won this match too and then faced Li Na in the fourth round. Li defeated Lisicki in three sets.
At the Family Circle Cup
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
, Lisicki was the sixth seed. She received a bye into the second round. There she faced lucky loser
A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness ...
Andrea Hlaváčková, winning in three. She faced qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in the third round and won in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, she faced Serena Williams. Behind 1–4 to her opponent, Lisicki fell and injured her left ankle. She retired from the match in tears, sending Serena into the semis. In doubles, she paired with Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
women's doubles champion Vera Zvonareva. They lost to top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven major titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On June 12, ...
.
As a result of the fall in her quarterfinal match, Lisicki was forced to the sideline at the Fed Cup World Group Play-off tie against Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. She was also forced to pull out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, from which she was defending a quarterfinal spot in singles and the doubles title which she won with Sam Stosur. Lisicki also missed the Madrid Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament.
After nearly a month off the tour, Lisicki returned as the 12th seed at the Italian Open. She faced Marina Erakovic in the first round, where she lost. Traveling next to her home country for the Internationaux de Strasbourg, where she was the top seed, Lisicki again experienced a first round upset, losing to Pauline Parmentier.
Lisicki then traveled to Paris to play the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, where she was the 12th seed. On the red clay of Roland Garros, Lisicki lost to Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Lisicki started her summer grass-court season by defending her title at Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
. As the second seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she lost to Urszula Radwańska
Urszula Radwańska (; born 7 December 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player.
Radwańska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as seven singles and eleven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 8 October 2012, she reac ...
. This set Lisicki up with a five-match losing streak going into the Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
. In the first round, she beat unseeded Petra Martić
Petra Martić (; born 19 January 1991) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, singles ranking of world No. 14, achieved in January 2020. Martić has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and o ...
, breaking her losing streak and putting her into the second round, where she faced qualifier Bojana Jovanovski. Lisicki won the match in three sets to set up a third round tie with Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Stephens has won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including the 2 ...
, where she again faced a tight match, pulling through in the third set. In the fourth round, she beat top seed Sharapova, to whom she had lost in the semifinals the previous year. This marked the third year that Lisicki had beaten the reigning French Open champion in Wimbledon, having also beaten Li Na in 2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
and Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
. In the subsequent quarterfinals, Lisicki once again met Angelique Kerber. Having lost the previous four meetings, Lisicki proceeded to lose the first set 3–6. Lisicki rallied in the second set to take it in a tiebreak; in this second set Lisicki saved two match points. Lisicki proved ultimately unable to take the match. At one point, she was serving for the match at 5–3, but Kerber went on the take the set and the match, dropping Lisicki back down to a world ranking of 18.
Lisicki entered the Southern California Open as the fifth seed but pulled out with an abdominal injury. She went straight back to London to prepare for the 2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. She entered singles where she was seeded 15, and in mixed doubles with Christopher Kas where they were unseeded. In the singles, she beat Ons Jabeur and Yaroslava Shvedova in the first and second round respectively. She lost to Maria Sharapova in the third round, after winning the first set and leading 4–2 in the second. In doubles, Lisicki and Kerber beat British pair Laura Robson and Heather Watson
Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles, 2016 ...
in the first round, after losing the first set whilst taking only eleven points and going 4–2 down in the second set. In the second round, they lost to Venus and Serena Williams. In mixed doubles, Lisicki and Kas beat second seeds Bob Bryan
Robert "Bob" Charles Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all time, Bryan was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis pl ...
and Liezel Huber in the first round, and Daniele Bracciali and Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they lost to Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
and Laura Robson. In the bronze medal match, they lost to third seeds Mike Bryan
Michael Carl Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all time, Bryan was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles for a record 506 weeks ...
and Lisa Raymond.
Lisicki moved on to the Rogers Cup in Montreal. She was 15th seed in singles falling in her opening match to Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a best WTA doubles ranking of 11, o ...
. In doubles, she made it to the quarterfinals, partnering with Peng Shuai. They beat sixth seeds Iveta Benešová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, and Natalie Grandin and Vladimíra Uhlířová in the first and second rounds respectively. They were forced to pull out of the competition against top seeds Raymond and Huber as a result of Lisicki suffering an abdominal injury.
Lisicki entered the US Open as the 16th seed, but she was upset in the first round by Sorana Cîrstea. In doubles, Lisicki again partnered with Peng Shuai. They beat Laura Robson and Shahar Pe'er
Shahar Pe'er (, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player.
Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the International Tennis Federation, ITF circuit in her career ...
in the first round, 12th seeds Anastasia Rodionova and Galina Voskoboeva
Galina Olegovna Voskoboeva (; born 18 December 1984) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani former tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 42 in singles and No. 26 in doubles.
Career
Born in Moscow, Voskoboeva turned pro in 2002. Du ...
in the second and sixth seeds Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Vesnina is a four-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, h ...
and Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova (; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She is a four-time Gra ...
in the third. They lost to eventual finalists Hlaváčková and Hradecká in the quarterfinals.
Lisicki's next tournament was in Japan at the Pan Pacific Open. In singles, she started with a first-round loss against qualifier Heather Watson. In doubles, she partnered with world No. 3, Lisa Raymond. They faced Monica Niculescu
Monica Niculescu (born 25 September 1987) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA as high as No. 28 in singles and No. 11 in doubles. She has won three singles and 10 dou ...
and Alicja Rosolska, both of whom had recently lost in WTA doubles finals. Lisicki and Raymond won the match and defeated Darija Jurak and Katalin Marosi
Katalin Marosi (born 12 November 1979) is a Hungarian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Marosi won 15 singles and 31 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF W ...
in the quarterfinals.
Lisicki next participated at the China Open, but she was defeated in the second round by the eventual champion Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Fiodaraŭna Azarenka (born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), having held the position for a total of 51 weeks ...
. She next moved to Linz where she lost in the first round to Patricia Mayr-Achleitner. Lisicki finished her season losing in the first round of the Luxembourg Open to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.
2013: First Grand Slam singles final
Lisicki started 2013 with the Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
. She beat Lucie Šafářová in the first round. She lost in the second round to world No. 1, Victoria Azarenka. She pulled out of the qualifying draw at Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
with a virus.
Lisicki then competed at the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
. In the first round she faced Caroline Wozniacki and was defeated. She also competed in the mixed doubles with Frederik Nielsen. They were knocked out in the first round by the home favorites and eventual champions, Jarmila Gajdošová
Jarmila Wolfe (née Gajdošová, formerly Groth; born 26 April 1987) is a Slovak-Australian former tennis player.
In her career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 14 singles and ten doubles titles on ...
and Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player who reached a career high of List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Ebden is a three-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ch ...
.
Lisicki then moved onto the Pattaya Open. In the first round she beat fellow German Tatjana Malek. She downed Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
She has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of world No. 30 achieved on 28 October 2024. She peaked at No. 71 in singles on 3 ...
in the second round and came back from a set down in the quarterfinals to beat Marina Erakovic. In her first semifinal since 2011, she beat Nina Bratchikova
Nina Bratchikova (; born 28 June 1985) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
Bratchikova won one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour, and in addition nine singles and 35 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 10 December ...
. In the final, she lost to Maria Kirilenko
Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko ( rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Кириле́нко, p=mɐˈrʲijə kʲɪrʲɪˈlʲenkə, a=Ru-Maria_Kirilenko.ogg; born 25 January 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champio ...
in three sets.
Her next tournament was in Memphis. As the third seed, she beat qualifier Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 5 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Keys has won ten WTA Tour-level career singles ...
in the first round and Melinda Czink in the second. In the quarterfinal, she beat eighth seed Kristina Mladenovic and beat seventh seed Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Champion ...
in the semifinal. In Lisicki's second final of the year, she faced Marina Erakovic from New Zealand. Erakovic ran away with the first set and Lisicki retired from the final with illness (Erakovic's first WTA title).
Lisicki missed the Indian Wells Open with the same illness. She returned in time to play at the Miami Open but lost in the first round 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 ...
.
Lisicki started her clay-court season on the green clay at the Charleston Open
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
. Lisicki claimed the title here in 2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
. In the first round, she recorded her first ever double bagel (not losing any games) in beating Anna Tatishvili
Anna Tatishvili ( ka, ანა ტატიშვილი, tr, ; born February 3, 1990) is a Georgian-American former professional tennis player.
In her career, Tatishvili won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, 2014 at the Linz Open, partneri ...
. In the second round, she lost from a set up against Mallory Burdette.
Her next tournament was on the red clay in Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
, Poland. As the seventh seed, she lost in the first round to Alexandra Cadanțu
Alexandra () is a female given name of Greek origin. It is the first attested form of its variants, including Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thu ...
of Romania. She then travelled to Stuttgart for Germany's Fed Cup World Group Play-off tie against Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
. Angelique Kerber and Mona Barthel were picked for singles against Ana Ivanovic and Bojana Jovanovski. After the four singles matches, the score was tied at two all. Lisicki was picked to play the doubles rubber with Anna-Lena Grönefeld against Vesna Dolonc and Aleksandra Krunić. The German pairing easily won to secure Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
its place in the 2014 Fed Cup World Group. Lisicki stayed in Stuttgart to compete at the Porsche Grand Prix. In singles, she beat qualifier Italian Nastassja Burnett. In the second round, she beat Jelena Janković. She lost in the quarterfinals to qualifier Mattek-Sands. In doubles, she and compatriot Mona Barthel received a wildcard to play in the main draw. They were scheduled to play world number ones Vinci and Errani but they pulled out before the tournament began. Instead, they were drawn against alternates Jill Craybas and Megan Moulton-Levy. Lisicki and Barthel easily won, with the loss of just two games. They then faced Jelena Janković and Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, a match in which they won in three sets. In the semifinals, they defeated Darija Jurak and Katalin Marosi
Katalin Marosi (born 12 November 1979) is a Hungarian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Marosi won 15 singles and 31 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF W ...
, in straight sets. In the final, Lisicki got revenge for her singles loss by beating Mattek-Sands and her partner Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian former professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles ...
. This was Lisicki's second WTA doubles title. She and Barthel became the first all-German pairing to lift the trophy in Stuttgart.
Lisicki continued her clay season in Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
. In the first round, she beat Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden. In the second round, she defeated 15th seed Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001 WTA Tour Championships, 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 WTA Tour ...
. In the third round, she played world No. 2, Maria Sharapova. Sharapova ultimately won in straight sets, with Lisicki putting up a fight in the second set. From Madrid, Lisicki went to Rome to play at the Italian Open. In the first round, she defeated American qualifier Mallory Burdette, but lost to eighth seed Petra Kvitová in the second round.
Lisicki then went to Paris for the second major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
of the year. In singles, she was the 32nd seed. She defeated Sofia Arvidsson in the first round and pulled off a straight sets win against Spaniard María Teresa Torró Flor in the second round, reaching the third round of the French Open for the first time in her career. There she was defeated by fifth seed and defending finalist Sara Errani. In doubles, Lisicki partnered with Janette Husárová. They came from a set down to beat Bojana Jovanovski and Eva Hrdinová
Eva Hrdinová (born 15 June 1984) is a Czech former tennis player.
In her career, Hrdinová won three singles titles and 19 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Cir ...
in the first round. In the second round, they upset fifteenth seeds Chan Hao-ching
Chan Hao-ching (; ; born September 19, 1993), also known as Angel Chan, is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. She is primarily a doubles specialist, having won twenty-one WTA Tour, two WTA Challenger and six ITF titles in that discipline. ...
of Taipei and Darija Jurak of Croatia. They faced defending champions Errani and Vinci in the third round, losing in straight sets.
Lisicki started her grass court season by playing at the Birmingham Classic. As the fifth seed, she received a bye into the second round where she defeated Kristýna Plíšková
Kristýna Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech inactive professional tennis player. In her career, she won one singles title and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, with three titles on the WTA Challenger Tour (two in doubles). She a ...
. In the third round, she beat Mirjana Lučić-Baroni. She lost to Alison Riske in the quarterfinals. In the final set, Lisicki was 4–5 down and serving at 15–0 when Riske shouted "come on!" during a rally before Lisicki had returned the ball. Lisicki was unhappy and wanted the umpire to make a hindrance call, which would have given her the point and put her 30–0 up. The umpire did not agree with her and neither did the tournament referee. Riske took the point and broke Lisicki to win the match.
At the Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, Lisicki, seeded 23rd, beat Francesca Schiavone in the first round, Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Vesnina is a four-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, h ...
and 14th seed Samantha Stosur in the second and third round. In the fourth round, she faced first seed and reigning Wimbledon, US Open, and French Open champion Serena Williams. Lisicki won in three sets, marking the fourth time in her last four participations that she knocked out the reigning French Open champion at Wimbledon. Williams had been on a 34-match winning streak coming into the match. Lisicki defeated Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian inactive professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Described as a 'resident Grand Slam up ...
of Estonia, reaching the Wimbledon semifinals for the second time in her career. She beat Agnieszka Radwańska in a three set semifinal in two hours and 18 minutes to advance to her first Grand Slam final, thereby becoming the first German woman to reach a major final since Steffi Graf at Wimbledon in 1999, and the first German player of either gender to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Rainer Schüttler at the 2003 Australian Open. However, she lost to Marion Bartoli, in straight sets.
Her next tournament was the Western & Southern Open, however she lost in her opening match in a tight three-setter against Jelena Janković. She then played at New Haven
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...
, beating Kristina Mladenovic in the first round before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles ...
in the second.
She then played the US Open as the 16th seed, where she defeated qualifier Vera Dushevina
Vera Yevgenyevna Dushevina (; born 6 October 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player.
She won one singles title and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. As a junior, she won the Wimbledon Championships, beating Maria Sharapova in ...
in the first round. She then won her second match against Paula Ormaechea before losing to Ekaterina Makarova in round three.
Lisicki missed most of the Asian swing, but competed at the China Open as the 13th seed. She advanced to the third round beating Chanelle Scheepers
Chanelle Scheepers ( ; born 13 March 1984) is a retired South African tennis player.
She won one singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 10 Octobe ...
and Venus Williams, before losing to home favourite Li Na. She then played the Osaka Open, again beating Scheepers in the first round, but was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a left hip injury before her second-round match.
Lisicki ended her 2013 season on a high by reaching the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Open. She beat Donna Vekić, Tereza Smitková and Karin Knapp in her opening three matches. She won the last set to love (6–0) in all three of these matches. In the semifinals, she succumbed to top seed and eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. She finished her year ranked as world No. 15.
2014: Illness and injuries, fastest-serve record and 4th WTA title
It was confirmed in October 2013 that Lisicki would begin her 2014 season alongside Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka at the Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
. She advanced to the second round with a win over Magdaléna Rybáriková, but then withdrew from the tournament due to illness.
At the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, it was announced that Lisicki would bring in Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...
as a coach. Seeded 15th, she began with a confident straight-sets victory over Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, but was upset in the second round by Monica Niculescu. At the Pattaya Open, Lisicki struggled to overcome Donna Vekić in the first round in three sets. After the match, she admitted that it had been almost impossible for her to serve effectively due to a right shoulder injury. She later withdrew from the tournament.
Lisicki then endured a poor run across the North American swing, losing in her first match in Indian Wells to Aleksandra Wozniak. In Indian Wells, Lisicki also competed in the doubles draw playing alongside coach Martina Hingis. After getting a wildcard into the main draw, they played seventh seeds Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Jacinta Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. 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 Assoc ...
and Casey Dellacqua
Casey Dellacqua ( ; born 11 February 1985) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current commentator. Her best singles results on the WTA Tour have been semifinal appearances at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open and 2014 Birmingham ...
. At the Miami Open, she beat Nadia Petrova in her opening match. However, she was forced to pull out before her third-round match against Kirsten Flipkens citing a bad flu. Despite pulling out of the singles draw, Lisicki was able to take a few days off to recover before she and Hingis started their campaign for the title. In the first round, they claimed their first win together by beating sixth seeds Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Šafářová. In the second round, Lisicki and Hingis convincingly defeated wildcards Sorana Cîrstea and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets. In their quarterfinal match, the pair pulled off an impressive comeback win beating Anabel Medina Garrigues
Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player.
As a player she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 16 in 2009, and won 11 singles and 28 doubles titles, including the 2008 ...
and Yaroslava Shvedova despite losing the first set and facing match points against them in the second. In the semifinals, they played fifth seeds and Indian Wells finalists Cara Black and Sania Mirza and beat them in straight sets. In their first final in only their second tournament together, Lisicki and Hingis played second seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova. Despite being the heavy favourites for the title, Vesnina and Makrarova would go on to lose the match in three sets. The win was Lisicki's third doubles title and her first off the indoor clay of Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
and Hingis' 38th doubles title and first since 2007.
Lisicki looked to carry momentum from the Miami title by going to Charleston and playing at the Family Circle Cup
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
. She entered the tournament as the fourth seed and received a bye in the first round of play. In the second round, she played Vania King and beat her in three sets. In the third round, she played compatriot Andrea Petkovic for the first time in her career. Lisicki lost to the eventual champion Petkovic, managing to score only one game in the whole match. Lisicki did not participate in Germany's Fed Cup semifinal victory over Australia, moving from the outdoor green clay of Charleston to the indoor red clay of Stuttgart. She lost in the opening round to ninth seed Ana Ivanovic.
Lisicki then competed at the Madrid Open where she was the 15th seed. She fell in the third round to Simona Halep in three sets. At Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, she fell in her opening match to Samantha Stosur in straight sets. Lisicki reached the second round at Roland Garros where she retired against compatriot Mona Barthel after injuring her wrist.
In June, Lisicki split with coach Hingis, citing "different concepts" as the reason. As the 19th seed at 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 ...
, she could not repeat her feat from the previous year, only managing to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to Simona Halep. Along the way, she defeated Julia Glushko, Karolína Plíšková, Ivanovic and Shvedova, fighting through a shoulder injury against the Kazakh.
In July, Lisicki slipped down to 30 in the world rankings. In her first-round match at the Stanford Classic against Ivanovic, Lisicki set a world record serve for a female tennis player, clocked at . However, Lisicki lost the match in straight sets. At the Rogers Cup in Montreal the following week, Lisicki defeated former world No. 5, Sara Errani, in the first round in straight sets. After coming from a set down to defeat Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 5 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Keys has won ten WTA Tour-level career singles ...
in the next round, she lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets. The following week in Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
was almost a repeat. In the second round, Lisicki defeated Errani once more in a match that lasted three hours before being beaten by Radwańska, only managing to win two games. Lisicki, the 26th seed, reached the third round at the US Open where she lost to Maria Sharapova.
In September, Lisicki participated in Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
as the top seed after receiving a wildcard. She defeated Monica Niculescu and Grace Min
Grace Min (born May 6, 1994) is an American tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 97, achieved on 2 March 2015, and she peaked at No. 308 in the doubles rankings, on 17 September 2012. Min won the 2011 US Open girls ...
to reach the quarterfinals. Then, she defeated Zheng Saisai and Francesca Schiavone to reach her first final of 2014. She won her fourth WTA title by defeating Karolína Plíšková, her first singles title in more than three years. Lisicki received a wildcard at the Pan Pacific Open but lost to Casey Dellacqua in the first round. At the Wuhan Open, she upset Lucie Šafářová in the first round before falling to Elina Svitolina in the second, despite leading 5–0 in the first set. At the China Open, she reached the third round for the second straight year by defeating Xu Shilin and Eugenie Bouchard
Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; , ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian professional tennis and pickleball player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player repr ...
. She then lost to Ivanovic in straight sets. Lisicki then played in Linz
Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...
as the fifth seed. She accepted a wild card into the event. She lost to Karin Knapp in three sets in the first round. The following week, Lisicki was upset by Denisa Allertová in the second round at the Luxembourg Open having overcome Daniela Hantuchová in her opening match. Lisicki's last match of 2014 was at the 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 ...
where Germany faced Czech Republic. She was selected to play the doubles tie alongside Anna-Lena Grönefeld. They defeated the pair of Hlaváčková and Hradecká. Lisicki ended the year at No. 27.
2015: First Premier Mandatory semifinal and most aces record
Lisicki had a rough start to the year, losing in the first rounds at the Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournaments, WTA 500 tournament and an ATP World T ...
(champion in doubles with Hingis), the Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
and the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, losing to Shvedova, Suárez Navarro, and Mladenovic respectively. She finally picked up her first win of the year in Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
beating Monica Niculescu before bowing out to Ana Ivanovic. Lisicki would then suffer more first round losses in Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová and in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
to eventual finalist Alexandra Dulgheru.
Lisicki rediscovered her form during the North American swing. At Indian Wells, she beat Roberta Vinci to record her first ever win at the tournament. She continued winning by beating Sara Errani and Caroline Garcia to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, she beat the defending champion Flavia Pennetta in a three set thriller, saving three match points to advance to the semifinals for the first time at a Premier Mandatory event. She lost to Jelena Janković in the semifinals in three sets despite leading by a set and a break. Lisicki carried her good form over to Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
where she beat fellow countrywoman Julia Görges, Ana Ivanovic, and Sara Errani to advance to her second Premier Mandatory quarterfinal in a row. She lost to eventual champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals in three sets.
Lisicki then played for Germany in the semifinals against Russia at the 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 ...
where she lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in three sets despite having a match point in the second set. She also played in the doubles with Andrea Petkovic but the pair lost to Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina to give Russia the win and a place in the final.
Lisicki began on clay in Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
and was handed her first career double bagel loss to Zarina Diyas
Zarina Diyas (; ; born 18 October 1993) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as No. 31 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Diyas has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2017 Japan Women' ...
in the first round. This followed with another first round exit at the Madrid Open to CoCo Vandeweghe. Lisicki then played at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia and picked up her first clay win by beating Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Stephens has won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including the 2 ...
before losing to Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets. She then played at the Nuremberg Cup and lost in the second round to Lara Arruabarrena in three sets despite having a match point in the third set. Lisicki then played at the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
as the 20th seed. She beat Monica Puig in the first round in straight sets. In the second round, after winning the first set, her opponent Daria Gavrilova
Daria Saville (née Gavrilova; born 5 March 1994) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 2021. On 28 August 2017, she reached her best singles rank ...
retired, allowing Lisicki to advance to the third round, where she was defeated by eventual finalist, Lucie Šafářová in straight sets.
Lisicki started her grass-court season at Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. In her second-round win over Belinda Bencic, Lisicki broke the record for the most aces in a singles match, hitting a total of 27 aces. She then beat 2009 champion Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Champion ...
and 2013 champion Daniela Hantuchová to advance to the semifinals. She lost to fellow countrywoman and eventual champion Angelique Kerber, in straight sets. Lisicki then played at 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 ...
as the 18th seed. She beat Jarmila Gajdošová and Christina McHale to advance to the third round. She lost to Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets ending a streak of making the quarterfinals or better which she had done in her five previous appearances.
Lisicki began her summer hardcourt season at Stanford
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
where she lost to Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round in three sets after being up a set and 4–1. Lisicki then played at the Rogers Cup, beating last year's finalist, Venus Williams and Barbora Strýcová to advance to the third round where she lost to eventual champion, Belinda Bencic in three sets despite having a match point in the third set. She then played at the Western & Southern Open and lost in the first round to Caroline Garcia in three sets. Lisicki then played at the US Open as the 24th seed. She beat qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich (born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She achieved her best singles ranking of world No. 29 on 19 September 2022, and peaked at No. 39 in the WTA doubles rankings on 23 August 2021 ...
and Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She had a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 26, which was achieved on 22 October 2018. Giorgi was known for her aggressive style of pla ...
in the first two rounds. In the third round she beat Barbora Strýcová in three tight sets, coming from 1–5 down in the third set to advance to the fourth round for the first time at the tournament since 2011. It was the final singles match ever played on the Grandstand court. She lost to Simona Halep in three sets, in a match that had a combined 105 unforced errors and 17 breaks of serve.
After the completion of the US Open, Lisicki reported that she would not compete for the rest of the season due to a knee injury. Lisicki ended the year at No. 32.
2016: Struggles, in and out of top 100
Lisicki began her 2016 season at the Hopman Cup representing Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
with Alexander Zverev
Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player and the current world No. 3. He has won 24 ATP Tour titles in singles and two in doubles, and has been runner-up at three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, ma ...
. They were eliminated in the group stage with a 1–2 record, with their only victory coming against France. Her next tournament was the Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
where she lost in the second round to eventual champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Seeded 30th at the Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she was defeated in the second round by Denisa Allertová.
In Doha
Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
, Lisicki lost in the first round to Monica Niculescu. Seeded third at the Malaysian Open, she reached the quarterfinals where she was defeated by Naomi Broady
Naomi Broady ( ; born 28 February 1990) is a British former tennis player.
She won one WTA Tour doubles title, as well as nine singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 7 March 2016, she reached her best singles ranki ...
. Seeded 29th at Indian Wells, she lost in the second round to Johanna Larsson. Seeded 29th in Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, she was defeated in the second round by Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
, despite having a 5–0 lead and one match point in the third set.
Seeded 15th at the Charleston Open
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
, which was formerly called the Family Circle Cup, Lisicki lost in the second round to Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva (, ; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 27 January 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 76 on 17 March 2025.
Puti ...
. At the Porsche Grand Prix, she was defeated in the first round by Tímea Babos
Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
She has won three WTA Tour titles in singles and 27 in doubles. Babos is a f ...
. Competing in Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, she lost in the second round to eighth seed Carla Suárez Navarro. At the Italian Open, she was ousted in the first round by Daria Gavrilova
Daria Saville (née Gavrilova; born 5 March 1994) is a Russian-born Australian professional tennis player. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 2021. On 28 August 2017, she reached her best singles rank ...
. At the Nuremberg Cup, Lisicki avenged her loss to Lara Arruabarrena the previous year before losing to Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets. At the French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Lisicki lost to qualifier Verónica Cepede Royg
Verónica Cepede Royg (; born 21 January 1992) is a Paraguayan former tennis player.
On 7 August 2017, she reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 73. Her best doubles ranking is No. 85, achieved on 19 September 2016. Cepede Royg has wo ...
in the first round in straight sets.
Lisicki started her grass season at the Mallorca Open. She beat Kristina Mladenovic before losing to Mariana Duque in three sets. Lisicki then played at 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 ...
. She easily beat recent French Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers in straight sets and in the second round she beat 14th seed Sam Stosur in straight sets. She then fell to Yaroslava Shvedova in the third round.
Lisicki started her hardcourt season at Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, where she defeated Kristína Kučová
Kristína Kučová (; born 23 May 1990) is a Slovak tennis player. On 12 September 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 71. On 5 October 2009, she peaked at No. 168 in the WTA doubles rankings.
She has won one singles title on ...
before losing to Kristina Mladenovic, also in straight sets. At the Canadian Open qualifying, after receiving a walkover in the first round, she fell to Magda Linette. This loss saw her fall out of the top 100. She couldn't qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
. She played at the Cincinnati Open qualifying stage and knocked out Anastasija Sevastova in round one, but was defeated by Zheng Saisai in round two. At the US Open, Lisicki lost to Yulia Putintseva in the first round, but in doubles, she and Alla Kudryavtseva
Alla Alexandrovna Kudryavtseva (; born 3 November 1987) is a retired Russian tennis player.
Kudryavtseva won one singles title and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as two singles titles and 15 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circ ...
defeated Varatchaya Wongteanchai
Varatchaya "Pias" Wongteanchai (; born 7 September 1989) is a former professional tennis player from Thailand.
In her career, she won two doubles titles on the WTA Tour, with four singles titles and 31 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. ...
/Yang Zhaoxuan
Yang Zhaoxuan (; ; born 11 February 1995) is a Chinese tennis player.
She reached her best WTA doubles ranking of world No. 9 on 30 January 2023.
Yang has won seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA Challenger doubles title. In Sept ...
and second seed Chan Hao-ching
Chan Hao-ching (; ; born September 19, 1993), also known as Angel Chan, is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. She is primarily a doubles specialist, having won twenty-one WTA Tour, two WTA Challenger and six ITF titles in that discipline. ...
/ Chan Yung-jan in the first two rounds, but then fell to 13th seed Andreja Klepač/Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 20, on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she became the No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding thi ...
.
At the 2016 Japan Women's Open – Singles, Japan Open, Lisicki lost to Johanna Larsson. Then at the 2016 Guangzhou International Women's Open – Singles, Guangzhou Open, she safely reached the quarterfinals by beating Kwan Yau Ng and Peng Shuai, but finally lost to Jelena Janković. At the 2016 Wuhan Open – Singles, Wuhan Open, Lisicki was defeated by Ekaterina Makarova and at the 2016 China Open – Women's singles, China Open, Lisicki beat Lučić-Baroni but lost to Svitolina. She received a wildcard in both the Wuhan Open and China Open and after this, Lisicki was back in the top 100 again.
At the 2016 BGL Luxembourg Open – Singles, Luxembourg Open, she beat Viktorija Golubic but lost to second seed Caroline Wozniacki. Lisicki next played at the 2016 Hawaii Tennis Open – Singles, Hawaii Open and beat Julia Boserup and Verónica Cepede Royg, but retired injured in the third set of her quarterfinal against Jacqueline Cako. Lisicki ended the year at No. 93.
2017: Restart
Lisicki was supposed to participate at the Kooyong Classic; however, she withdrew due to a shoulder injury, which also kept her out of the 2017 Australian Open, Australian Open.
Lisicki returned to the courts in June at the 2017 Mallorca Open – Singles, Mallorca Open. She reached the quarterfinals beating fifth seed Kiki Bertens and Shelby Rogers. She ended up losing to eventual finalist Julia Görges. At 2017 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, Wimbledon, she was defeated in the first round by 27th seed Ana Konjuh.
Lisicki made it to the quarterfinals at the 2017 Citi Open – Women's singles, Washington Open eliminating qualifier Valentini Grammatikopoulou and Aryna Sabalenka. She ended up losing to fifth seed Océane Dodin. At the 2017 US Open – Women's singles, US Open, she was defeated in the first round by 27th seed Zhang Shuai.
In October, Lisicki competed at the 2017 BGL Luxembourg Open – Singles, Luxembourg Open. She lost in the second round to lucky loser Naomi Broady. Her final tournament of the year was at the 2017 Open de Limoges – Singles, Open de Limoges. She reached the semifinal where she retired during the second set against Antonia Lottner.
Lisicki ended the year ranked 268.
2018: Injury struggles
Skipping the Australian Open, Lisicki played at the 2018 Taiwan Open – Singles, Taiwan Open, which was her first tournament after a break caused by a knee injury. She reached her first semifinal since 2015, losing to Kateryna Kozlova. In 2018 Qatar Total Open – Singles, Doha, she was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Markéta Vondroušová. At the 2018 Hungarian Ladies Open – Singles, Hungarian Open, she lost her second-round match to lucky loser Viktória Kužmová. She was defeated in the first round of qualifying at 2018 BNP Paribas Open – Women's singles, Indian Wells and 2018 Miami Open – Women's singles, Miami by Sofia Kenin and Andrea Petkovic.
2019: Continued struggles, rankings drop
In her first 2019 Australian Open, Australian Open appearance since 2016, Lisicki lost in the first qualifying round to Isabelle Wallace. That was her third straight first-round qualifying loss at a major event. She next lost in the first round of 2019 Thailand Open – Singles, Hua Hin to Garbiñe Muguruza. She lost in the first qualifying round to Zarina Diyas
Zarina Diyas (; ; born 18 October 1993) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as No. 31 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Diyas has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2017 Japan Women' ...
at 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships – Women's singles, Dubai, and lost in the first round of 2019 Volvo Car Open – Singles, Charleston to Sofia Kenin. She lost in the first round of 2019 Copa Colsanitas – Singles, Bogotá to the eventual champion Amanda Anisimova, and lost in the first qualifying round at 2019 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix – Singles, Stuttgart to Isabella Shinikova. She then lost in the first qualifying round of 2019 Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem – Singles, Rabat to Bibiane Schoofs, and lost in the first round of 2019 Nürnberger Versicherungscup – Singles, Nuremberg to Ajla Tomljanović.
She failed to qualify for the ITF tournament in 2019 Surbiton Trophy – Women's singles, Surbiton, and also failed to qualify for the tournament in 2019 Rosmalen Grass Court Championships – Women's singles, Rosmalen, losing in the first qualifying round to Greet Minnen. She next lost in the second qualifying round of 2019 Mallorca Open – Singles, Mallorca to Kaja Juvan, despite defeating compatriot Mona Barthel in the first qualifying round. She received a wildcard for the 2019 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles qualifying, Wimbledon qualifying, where she lost in the final round to Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, after defeating Tímea Babos and Ankita Raina. Despite failing to qualify for the main draw, this was her best showing since her first-round finish at the 2017 US Open – Women's singles, 2017 US Open. Her final event of the year was the WTA 125 2019 Karlsruhe Open – Singles, Karlsruhe Open, where she was defeated in the first round by Jasmine Paolini. She ended the year ranked No. 335.
2020: Severe injury
Her first event of the year was the WTA 125 2020 TK Sparta Prague Open – Singles, Prague Open, where she reached the fourth round, defeating Samantha Murray Sharan, Stephanie Wagner, and Chihiro Muramatsu, before losing to Francesca Jones (tennis), Francesca Jones. Lisicki participated in her first WTA event of the year at 2020 Upper Austria Ladies Linz – Singles, Linz, where she defeated Bibiane Schoofs in the first qualifying round before falling to Tereza Martincová. In doubles, at the same event with Jodie Burrage, she retired from her first-round match against Ulrikke Eikeri and Yana Sizikova, whilst the pair led 6–5 in the first set. Lisicki fell on court, and tore her anterior cruciate ligament, and announced later that she had received surgery for the injury. She ended the year ranked No. 622.
2022: Comeback and first WTA Tour win since 2018
In May, eighteen months after surgery, Lisicki made her return to professional tennis in the qualifying draw of the 2022 FineMark Women's Pro Tennis Championship – Singles, FineMark Pro Championship, a $100k event played on clay courts. She won her first match against Ena Shibahara, a top ten ranked doubles player. In the final round of qualifying, she easily lost to Gabriela Lee, who went on to win the tournament. Lisicki then played a $25k clay tournament i
Sarasota
She beat Anastasia Nefedova in the first round, and then beat fourth seed Sofia Shapatava in the second. In the quarterfinal, she played seventh seed Ashlyn Krueger but withdrew from the match when trailing by a set.
Lisicki began her grass-court season at the 2022 Surbiton Trophy – Women's singles, Surbiton Trophy. To qualify, she beat Naiktha Bains and Marcela Zacarías both in straight sets. In the main draw, she lost to Kateryna Baindl. She then received wildcards to compete in the 2022 WTA German Open, German Open in Berlin. In the 2022 WTA German Open – Singles, singles draw, she beat Asia Muhammad in the first round of qualifying, before losing to Daria Saville in the final round. In the 2022 WTA German Open – Doubles, doubles draw, she partnered Bianca Andreescu as a wildcard pair. They beat Yang Zhaoxuan
Yang Zhaoxuan (; ; born 11 February 1995) is a Chinese tennis player.
She reached her best WTA doubles ranking of world No. 9 on 30 January 2023.
Yang has won seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA Challenger doubles title. In Sept ...
and Xu Yifan in the first round and the third seeds Muhammad and Shibahara in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they lost to the top seeds, Storm Sanders and Kateřina Siniaková.
Lisicki won her first main draw match on the WTA Tour since 2018 as a wildcard at the 2022 Bad Homburg Open – Singles, Bad Homburg Open, defeating her compatriot Tamara Korpatsch. She then beat Belgian Greet Minnen in the second round, before losing to the eventual champion Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals. With this result, she re-entered the top 500 in the WTA world rankings.
Lisicki's next tournament was the 2022 Hamburg European Open – Women's singles, Hamburg Open, where she received a wildcard to play in the qualifying tournament. In the qualifying draw, she defeated twelfth seed Stefanie Vögele
Stefanie Vögele (born 10 March 1990) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 11 November 2013. Her highest WTA rankings, WTA ranking in doubles is 100, which she reached on 5 January ...
and first seed Kateryna Baindl. In the first round of the main draw, she lost to Aleksandra Krunić.
Lisicki did not play again until November, when she was awarded a wildcard into the main draw of the 2022 Calgary National Bank Challenger – Women's singles, Calgary Challenger. In the first two rounds, she beat qualifiers Carmen Corley and Martyna Ostrzygalo in straight sets, respectively. In the quarterfinals, she lost to eventual champion Robin Montgomery in two tiebreak sets. She then accepted a wildcard into the 2022 Andorrà Open – Singles, Andorra Open, where she defeated sixth seed Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a career Grand Slam (tennis)#Golden Slam, Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former ...
in the first round, but lost to Alycia Parks in the quarter-finals.
2023: First title since 2014
Lisicki won her first title in nine years at the 2023 Calgary National Bank Challenger – Women's singles, Calgary Challenger, a W60 tournament.
Playing style
A baseliner, Lisicki hits "heavy balls" with topspin and pace. She has a strong forehand and backhand, hitting balls with power, depth and angles. She is nicknamed "Boom Boom" for her "huge serve and thumping groundstrokes". Germany Fed Cup team Captain Barbara Rittner has compared her to Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German 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 a r ...
, saying that she can "impose her game" and "plays with the same force" as Graf.[
]
Serve
Lisicki's serve is among the most powerful on the WTA Tour, having been described variously as a "cannon" and a "howitzer". She is known to hit serves at speeds of over 120 mph, and at the 2014 Bank of the West Classic she broke the WTA fastest serve record with a speed of 131 mph, a record previously held by Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been 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 11 wee ...
at 129 mph.
Her serve is often regarded as her main weapon and with it, for the year up to November 2013, she was ranked fifth in the WTA for first service points won, 70.7%, and fifth for service games won, 73.7%. She was ranked second in the aces count in 2013, only behind Serena Williams, and was ranked fifth in 2014. Lisicki also held the record for the most aces in a singles match. She broke the record of 24, held jointly by Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an 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 (WT ...
and Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian inactive professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Described as a 'resident Grand Slam up ...
, by hitting 27 aces during her second-round encounter against Belinda Bencic at the 2015 Aegon Classic on 17 June 2015.[
Lisicki, however, can be hindered by her weak and inconsistent second serve, which is usually only around 70 to 80 mph, and an occasionally high double-fault counts.]
Surfaces
Lisicki's favourite surface is grass and she has had the most success on that surface. She used to "hate" playing on grass because she is allergic to it and had a five-match losing streak on grass in 2009. She is now on medication for her allergy and "loves" playing on it.
Personal life
Lisicki lives in Bradenton, Florida
Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...
, USA, and owns a Yorkshire Terrier named Happy. She is fluent in German, English and Polish. Her off-court interests include reading, music, and athletics. She is a fan of the Germany national football team and of Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. She is gluten-intolerant.
Lisicki was previously in a relationship with German comedian Oliver Pocher, whom she dated for almost three years. The couple split in 2016.
On 8 March 2024, Lisicki announced on Instagram that she and her fiancé were expecting a baby. On 8 September 2024, she announced that she had given birth to a daughter.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles
Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisicki, Sabine
1989 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Troisdorf
Tennis players from Cologne (region)
German expatriates in the United States
German female tennis players
German people of Polish descent
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic tennis players for Germany
Sportspeople from Bradenton, Florida
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
21st-century German sportswomen