Gabriella Taylor

Gabriella Patricia Taylor[3] (born 7 March 1998) is a British tennis player.

Gabriella Taylor

Country (sports)	Great Britain
Residence	Barcelona, Spain
Born	(1998-03-07) 7 March 1998 Southampton, England
Plays	Right-handed (two handed backhand)
Coach	Xavier Budo, David Sunyer (2018)[1]
Prize money	$168,904
Singles
Career record	106–63
Career titles	6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 162 (10 December 2018)[2]
Current ranking	No. 187 (31 December 2018)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	Q1 (2019)
French Open	Q2 (2018)
Wimbledon	1R (2018)
US Open	Q1 (2018)
Doubles
Career record	22–19
Career titles	3 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 479 (19 March 2018)
Current ranking	No. 529 (31 December 2018)
Last updated on: 2 January 2019.

Taylor has won six singles and two doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On 12 December 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 162. She attained her best doubles ranking of world No. 479 on 19 March 2018.

Personal life

Taylor was born on 7 March 1998 in Southampton, to a British father from Newcastle and a Bulgarian mother from Plovdiv. She started playing tennis at the age of 4. She began to play in local tennis groups in Southampton’s David Lloyd until coaches saw her potential to take her on with individual lessons. She moved to Marbella, Spain at the age of 13 to further her tennis career and to Barcelona at 19. She turned pro at the age of 16.

Taylor speaks English, Bulgarian and Spanish. She loves animals and has a Maltese terrier, and also enjoys playing music such as piano and guitar.

In 2020, Taylor opened up about her struggles with her mental health such as anxiety.

Career

Juniors

At the 2012 'British Junior National Championships' Taylor became 14 & Under Girls Singles winner beating Katie Swan in the final 7–6⁽⁷⁾, 6–3.[4] Later in the year she was runner-up at the world's most prestigious junior tournament Junior Orange Bowl losing to Maia Lumsden 6–3, 7–5,[5] both players having been semi-finalists in that year's European equivalent the Petits As. The following year the two players teamed up to become under-16 British National Junior Champions in the Doubles competition.[6]

Taylor, Katie Swan, Freya Christie and Maia Lumsden were members of the 2014 GB team, coached by Judy Murray, that triumphed in the Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy, an annual Under-18s competition against the USA.[7][8]

2015

In November Taylor won her first Futures(ITF) title in South Africa, unseeded she came from a set down to upset top seeded Naomi Totka of Hungary 4–6, 6–2, 6–1.[9]

2016 – Wimbledon Juniors 'poisoning' incident and recovery

In 2016, Taylor achieved her best juniors grand slam result in her sole junior grand slam appearance at Wimbledon. She reached the quarterfinals[10] before having to retire in a match against Kayla Day.[11] Taylor contracted a bacterial infection called leptospirosis, which would keep her from playing tennis for a month. Initially she was thought to have been poisoned while her bag was left unoccupied, however, medical experts declared this to be highly unlikely.[12][13][14][15][16][17] Police later concluded that there was no evidence of deliberate poisoning.[18]

Taylor recovered sufficiently to reach three consecutive ITF finals at Heraklion, Greece in October and November although failing to win any.

2017

In May, as sixth seed, she won her first 25k ITF tournament, beating third seed Danielle Lao 6–2, 6–2 in the final.[19] Wimbledon granted wild card entries to her[20] in both the singles and the doubles (partnering Freya Christie) qualifying draws, losing both in the first round.[21] In November she began working with coaches Xavier Budo and David Sunyer, which she credits with changing her mindset, leading to her most successful period to date.[22]

2018

After three ITF title wins in February[23] and March, Taylor broke into the top 200 rankings for the first time.[24] She was subsequently chosen to represent Great Britain in the Fed Cup team alongside Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Anna Smith for the World Group II play-off tie in Japan,[22] however she did not play in any of the matches.[25]

Taylor made her WTA main draw debut at the 2018 Nottingham Open. As a wild card entry, she lost in the first round to the defending champion Donna Vekić in three sets.[26] In her first appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon, she lost to Eugenie Bouchard in three sets.

ITF finals

Singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runner–ups)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000/$80,000 tournaments $50,000/$60,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000/$15,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (4–5) Clay (1–0) Grass (1–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Nov 2015	ITF Stellenbosch, South Africa	10,000	Clay	Naomi Totka	4–6, 6–2, 6–1
Loss	1–1	Oct 2016	ITF Heraklion, Greece	10,000	Hard	Valeria Savinykh	2–6, 1–4 ret
Loss	1–2	Nov 2016	ITF Heraklion, Greece	10,000	Hard	Ioana Pietroiu	3–6, 6–2, 2–6
Loss	1–3	Nov 2016	ITF Heraklion, Greece	10,000	Hard	Raluca Șerban	4–6, 5–7
Win	2–3	May 2017	ITF Changwon, South Korea	25,000	Hard	Danielle Lao	6–2, 6–2
Win	3–3	Dec 2017	ITF Navi Mumbai, India	25,000	Hard	Diāna Marcinkēviča	4–6, 7–6^(9–7), 6–3
Win	4–3	Feb 2018	ITF Launceston, Australia	25,000	Hard	Asia Muhammad	6–3, 6–4
Win	5–3	Feb 2018	ITF Perth, Australia	25,000	Hard	Myrtille Georges	6–2, 7–5
Win	6–3	Mar 2018	ITF Mildura, Australia	25,000	Grass	Shérazad Reix	6–0, 6–3
Loss	6–4	Mar 2019	ITF Nishi-Tama, Japan	25,000	Hard	Daria Lopatetska	6–7 ^(4–7), 6–2, 3–6
Loss	6–5	Oct 2019	ITF Antalya, Turkey	15,000	Hard	Magdalena Pantuckova	3–6, 1–6
Loss	6–6	Oct 2019	ITF Antalya, Turkey	15,000	Hard	Daria Kruzhkova	0–6, 0–3 ret

Doubles: 5 (3–2)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000/$80,000 tournaments $50,000/$60,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000/$15,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (2–0) Clay (0–1) Grass (1–0) Carpet (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Category	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	13 May 2016	$10,000	Monzon, Spain	Hard	Alice Bacquié	Estrella Cabeza Candela Cristina Sánchez-Quintanar	6–1, 6–1
Runner-up	1.	20 July 2017	$15,000	Don Benito, Spain	Carpet	Mia Eklund	Maria Masini Olga Parres Azcoitia	3–6, 3–6
Winner	2.	9 March 2018	$25,000	Mildura, Australia	Grass	Katy Dunne	Alexandra Bozovic Olivia Tjandramulia	5–7, 7–6^(7–4), [10–5]
Runner-up	2.	7 September 2019	$25,000	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Arantxa Rus	Andrea Lazaro Garcia Irene Burillo Escorihuela	7–5, 4–6, [4–10]
Winner	3.	26 October 2019	$15,000	Antalya, Turkey	Hard	Mira Antonitsch	Viktoriia Dema Noa Liauw A Fong	6–4, 6–7 ^(5–7), [10–3]

References

1. ITF Player Profile: Gabriella Taylor
2. "WTA ranking". WTA.
3. Briggs, Simon (18 March 2014). "Tennis academies facing a overhaul as they fail to deliver in hunt for the next Andy Murray". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
4. "British Tennis – AEGON British Junior National Championships 2012–14&U, 16&U & 18&U – General". lta.tournamentsoftware.com. Lawn Tennis Association. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
5. MacDonald, Hugh (9 January 2013). "'I just want to be a tennis player . . . I just love winning'". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
6. "Scots shine at British Junior Championships – LTA". www3.lta.org.uk. 27 August 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
7. "The Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy". MCB Tennis. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
8. "2014 Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy" (PDF). United States Tennis Association. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
9. "SA's Harris captures Futures 3 Tournament". Sport24. 22 November 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
10. Nakrani, Sachin (6 July 2016). "Wimbledon 2016: Britain's Gabriella Taylor reaches girls' quarter-finals". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
11. "Gabriella Taylor: Tennis player in hospital after retiring from Wimbledon with virus". BBC Sport. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
12. Ross, Alice; MacInnes, Paul (11 August 2016). "Tennis player Gabriella Taylor 'highly unlikely' to have been poisoned". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
13. Bodkin, Henry; Dean, Sam; Wilkinson, Nazrin (11 August 2016). "'It was like the world was shutting down': Gabriella Taylor talks for the first time about her Wimbledon 'poisoning' ordeal". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
14. Dearden, Lizzie (11 August 2016). "British tennis player 'poisoned' at Wimbledon". The Independent. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
15. "Cops think Wimbledon player might've been poisoned by rat pee". NY Daily News. 11 August 2016.
16. Smith, Alexander (11 August 2016). "Family Claims Rising Tennis Star Was Poisoned at Wimbledon". NBC News. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
17. "Experts cast doubt on tennis 'poisoning'". BBC News. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
18. Rumsby, Ben (21 June 2017). "'Poisoned' Wimbledon player Gabriella Taylor granted wildcard". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
19. Furness, Glenys (15 May 2017). "Gabriella Taylor claims first 25K title in Changwon | Britwatch Sports". www.britwatchsports.com. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
20. Rumsby, Ben (21 June 2017). "'Poisoned' Wimbledon player Gabriella Taylor granted wildcard". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
21. "Wimbledon 2017". ITF Tennis.
22. "Gabi Taylor: Fed Cup first selection could open door to first Grand Slam". BBC Sport. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
23. "Tasmania is Taylor made for British teen". ITF Tennis. 14 Feb 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
24. "Gabriella Taylor: British tennis player looks forward to breaking into top 200". BBC Sport. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
25. "Fed Cup: GB captain Anne Keothavong on Johanna Konta, Heather Watson & youngsters". BBC Sport. 22 April 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
26. "Reigning champ Vekic battles past Taylor in Nottingham". WTATennis.com. 12 Jun 2018. Retrieved 12 Jun 2018.

External links

• Gabriella Taylor at the Women's Tennis Association
• Gabriella Taylor at the International Tennis Federation