Tímea Babos

Tímea Babos (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈtiːmɛɒ ˈbɒboʃ]; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player.

The native form of this personal name is Babos Tímea. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Tímea Babos

Babos at the 2019 Wimbledon qualifying
Country (sports)	Hungary
Residence	Sopron, Hungary
Born	(1993-05-10) 10 May 1993 Sopron, Hungary
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	2011
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Michael Joyce
Prize money	US$ 7,610,082
Official website	babostimea.hu
Singles
Career record	332–252 (56.8%)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 25 (19 September 2016)
Current ranking	No. 100 (16 March 2020)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2016, 2018, 2019)
French Open	2R (2016)
Wimbledon	2R (2012, 2015, 2016)
US Open	3R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	338–146 (69.8%)
Career titles	23
Highest ranking	No. 1 (16 July 2018)
Current ranking	No. 4 (3 February 2020)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (2018, 2020)
French Open	W (2019)
Wimbledon	F (2014, 2016)
US Open	F (2018)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals	W (2017, 2018, 2019)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	F (2018)
French Open	SF (2014)
Wimbledon	F (2015)
US Open	QF (2017)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	20–9
Medal record Representing a mixed-NOCs team Youth Olympic Games 2010 Singapore Girls' doubles
Last updated on: 9 May 2020.

Babos, who was born in Sopron, has won three singles and 23 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and one doubles WTA 125K series title, as well as 12 singles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In September 2016, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 25, and in July 2018, she reached No. 1 in the doubles rankings, becoming the first Hungarian player to reach the top of the WTA rankings in either singles or doubles.

An accomplished junior player, Babos's greatest success has come in doubles, winning the 2018 Australian Open, the 2019 French Open and the 2020 Australian Open, and having reached the women's doubles final of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships and 2018 US Open with Kristina Mladenovic of France and the 2016 Wimbledon Championships with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, and the mixed doubles final of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships with Alexander Peya of Austria and the 2018 Australian Open with Rohan Bopanna of India. Her nickname on tour is 'Babosdook', given to her by doubles partner Kristina Mladenovic as she is a big fan of horror films. The nickname is a reference to the film The Babadook.

Career

2010

At the Australian Open she competed in the girls' singles junior event. Babos was the first seed. In the first round, she beat Australian Ashling Sumner. In the second round, she defeated Sandra Zaniewska. In the third round, she beat Anna Arina Marenko. Then she faced Kristýna Plíšková and lost in three sets. Babos also competed in the girls' doubles event and also was seeded top along with Gabriela Dabrowski. In the final, they lost to Jana Čepelová and Chantal Škamlová.[1]

Tímea Babos in action during the 2009 US Open girls' junior event

In May, Babos won the French Open girls' doubles event with Sloane Stephens.[2] The duo didn't lose a set in the entire tournament.[2] In the final, they beat Lara Arruabarrena and María Teresa Torró Flor of Spain.[2]

Babos and Stephens won the Wimbledon Championships, beating Elina Svitolina and Irina Khromacheva in the final.[3]

Two days after winning this title, she participated in her first WTA event in Budapest, losing to third seed Timea Bacsinszky in the first round.

In her last junior tournament, the US Open, she lost in the second round in singles, but won doubles with Stephens, becoming the first junior doubles team to win Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year.

2011

Babos continued to mainly participate on the ITF Women's Circuit. She started the year at her second WTA tournament in Monterrey via wild card, but lost in the first round of qualifying to 138th ranked Aleksandra Wozniak. She then suffered early-round exits at her next five ITF tournaments, not getting past the second round of any of them. Babos broke the streak by winning her sixth ITF title at a $25k tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan. She defeated Diana Isaeva, Tamara Čurović, eighth-seeded Ekaterina Yashina, third-seeded Veronika Kapshay, and finally, second-seeded Tadeja Majerič, all in straight sets. Despite her success, her ranking fell from 261 to 301.

Babos used the tournament as a springboard for the rest of the year, as her results improved dramatically afterwards compared to the beginning of her season. She reached the semifinals of another $25k tournament in Kristinehamn, falling to second-seeded Alexandra Cadanțu in three sets, before winning her seventh ITF title and second of the year at a $25k tournament in Stuttgart as the seventh seed. It was not as easy as Astana, but she won after being pushed to three sets in three matches, including the final. Babos then continued to her home country at the Budapest Grand Prix where she won her first WTA tour main draw match. She defeated Anna Remondina before falling to eventual champion and top-seeded Roberta Vinci in three close sets. Following Budapest, she broke into the top 200 for the first time, jumping from 231st to 177th. She then proceeded to end her clay-court season with a semifinal appearance in A Coruña.

She continued her hard court season where she hit her second bad streak of the year, reaching only one quarterfinal in eight tournaments. She entered a $50k tournament in Saguenay, ranked 181st. There she won her biggest title to date as the third seed. Her first three matches were all in straight sets, before defeating top-seeded Mirjana Lučić, and finally, struggling to a win over fifth-seeded American Julia Boserup. Babos then reached the semi-finals in a $50k tournament in Toronto and a $25k tournament in Bratislava. She ended the season with her ninth ITF title in a $25k tournament in Helsinki, winning the tournament without dropping a set. Babos finished the year with a 41–19 record, ranked 153rd, having won four ITF tournaments.

In doubles, Babos accumulated similar success in doubles with different partners. She won a $25k tournament in Irapuato, Mexico, with Johanna Konta, a $25k tournament in Bath, Somerset, with Anne Kremer, a $25k tournament in A Coruña with Victoria Larrière, and a $50k tournament in Saguenay, Quebec. She also reached the final of four other ITF tournaments. Babos finished the year with a 34–13 record, ranked 161st and winning four tournaments from eight final appearances.

2012

Babos began the season at an ITF tournament in Quanzhou, China. She reached the final of the $50k event just to fall short against 1st seeded Kimiko Date-Krumm in straight sets. She entered the qualifiers of the Australian Open as the 21st seed two weeks later, where after a first-round win over Margalita Chakhnashvili she fell to Irena Pavlovic of France.

Her next tournament was the Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas in Bogotá. With only one WTA main-draw win under her belt before the event, she caused some surprise to reach the semi-finals without dropping a single set where she was beaten by Alexandra Panova, who finished runner-up of the tournament.[4]

Babos surpassed this achievement in the following week by winning her first WTA title at the Monterrey Open. Babos knocked out, among others, second seed Sara Errani and 3rd seed Sorana Cîrstea en route to the final, where she met Alexandra Cadanțu. Babos continued to play on the level she showed throughout the tournament and won the clash without facing a single break point during the match.[4] Following this success, Babos rose from No. 107 to No. 68 in the following week's WTA rankings to make her top-100 debut.[5]

At the US Open, Babos was upset in the first round by British qualifier Johanna Konta in straight sets.[6]

2013

Babos' start of the season was marked by early exits in her tournaments, including the Australian Open, where she lost to Kristina Mladenovic in the first round. She reached the second round at the Qatar Open and the Copa Colsanitas (losing to Sara Errani and Mandy Minella, respectively) and the quarterfinals at the Brasil Tennis Cup, losing there to eventual champion Monica Niculescu. At the latter, she had already fallen from the top 100.

After losing in the first round of Indian Wells to Johanna Larsson, Babos played in Monterrey, where she was the defending champion. She beat local wildcard Ana Sofía Sánchez before beating fourth seed Ana Ivanovic in three sets. She then lost to Niculescu, but managed to win the doubles title alongside Kimiko Date, beating Tamarine Tanasugarn and Eva Birnerová in the finals. After entering the Morocco Open (where she partnered Mandy Minella in the doubles and beat Petra Martić and Kristina Mladenovic to win the title) as a qualifier and winning a $50k in Johannesburg, Babos suffered another sequence of early-round exits (except at the Budapest Open, where she reached the quarterfinals), including losses at the three remaining Grand Slams. Her last tournament was a $50k in Toronto, where she lost the final to Victoria Duval. Babos ended the year ranked No. 88 in the singles rankings and No. 45 in the doubles, after winning two other titles at a 125k tournament in Suzhou (partnering Michaëlla Krajicek) and in Tashkent (partnering Yaroslava Shvedova).

2018

Babos began her season at the WTA Shenzhen Open. Seeded eighth, she reached the quarterfinals beating Chinese wildcard Wang Xiyu and Magda Linette. She lost her quarterfinal match to fourth seed Irina-Camelia Begu.[7] In Hobart at the Hobart International, Babos was defeated in the first round by fifth seed Lesia Tsurenko.[8] At the Australian Open, Babos recorded her second top-10 win over tenth seed CoCo Vandeweghe in the first round.[9] She lost in the second round to Carla Suárez Navarro.[10] In doubles, Babos partnered with Kristina Mladenovic to win the Women's Doubles crown, defeating second seeds Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina in the final.[11] She also reached the Mixed Doubles final alongside Rohan Bopanna. They lost in the final to Gabriela Dabrowski/Mate Pavić.[12]

Seeded fourth at the Taiwan Open, Babos reached the final after wins over Arina Rodionova, qualifier Dalila Jakupović, seventh seed Magda Linette, and Wang Yafan. She won the title defeating Kateryna Kozlova in the final.[13] She also reached final in Monterrey, where she lost to Garbiñe Muguruza.[14]

Babos and Mladenovic also reached final in Madrid, where they lost to Makarova and Vesnina.[15] At French Open, they lost in quarterfinals to Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya.[16]

Babos and Mladenovic won doubles at Birmingham Classic, defeating Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs in the final. At Wimbledon, they reached quarterfinals, where they lost to Alicja Rosolska and Abigail Spears.[17] After Wimbledon, Babos became No. 1 in doubles rankings for the first time.[18]

2019

Babos and Mladenovic were the defending champions at Australian Open. They lost in the final to Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai[19] Babos and Mladenovic made the final of the French Open.[20]

Career statistics

Main article: Tímea Babos career statistics

Performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

G

F-S

SF-B

NMS

NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (P) postponed; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	Q2	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	1R	0 / 8	3–8	27%
French Open	A	1R	Q2	Q3	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R		0 / 6	1–6	14%
Wimbledon	A	2R	1R	1R	2R	2R	1R	1R	Q1	NH	0 / 7	3–7	30%
US Open	Q1	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	2R	1R	2R		0 / 8	4–8	33%
Win–Loss	0–0	1–3	0–3	0–3	1–4	5–4	1–4	1–4	2–3	0–1	0 / 29	11–29	28%

Doubles

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	SR	W–L	Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	1R	3R	2R	2R	3R	W	F	W	2 / 8	23–6	79%
French Open	A	2R	1R	1R	2R	3R	2R	QF	W		1 / 8	14–7	67%
Wimbledon	A	1R	1R	F	SF	F	3R	QF	SF	NH	0 / 8	23–8	74%
US Open	A	1R	2R	1R	3R	3R	QF	F	QF		0 / 8	19–8	70%
Win–Loss	0–0	1–3	1–4	7–4	8–4	10–4	8–4	17–3	21–3	6–0	3 / 32	79–29	73%
Year-end championships
WTA Finals	A	A	A	A	RR	QF	W	W	W		3 / 5	12–3	80%
Career statistics
Year-end ranking	145	90	45	21	11	15	7	3	3		$7,610,082

Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner–ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2014	Wimbledon	Grass	Kristina Mladenovic	Sara Errani Roberta Vinci	1–6, 3–6
Loss	2016	Wimbledon	Grass	Yaroslava Shvedova	Serena Williams Venus Williams	3–6, 4–6
Win	2018	Australian Open	Hard	Kristina Mladenovic	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–4, 6–3
Loss	2018	US Open	Hard	Kristina Mladenovic	Ashleigh Barty CoCo Vandeweghe	6–3, 6–7^(2–7), 6–7^(6–8)
Loss	2019	Australian Open	Hard	Kristina Mladenovic	Samantha Stosur Zhang Shuai	3–6, 4–6
Win	2019	French Open	Clay	Kristina Mladenovic	Duan Yingying Zheng Saisai	6–2, 6–3
Win	2020	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Kristina Mladenovic	Hsieh Su-wei Barbora Strýcová	6–2, 6–1

Mixed doubles: 2 (2 runner–ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2015	Wimbledon	Grass	Alexander Peya	Leander Paes Martina Hingis	1–6, 1–6
Loss	2018	Australian Open	Hard	Rohan Bopanna	Gabriela Dabrowski Mate Pavić	6–2, 4–6, [9–11]

WTA Tour Finals

Doubles: 3 (3 titles)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2017	WTA Finals, Singapore	Hard (i)	Andrea Hlaváčková	Kiki Bertens Johanna Larsson	4–6, 6–4, [10–5]
Win	2018	WTA Finals, Singapore (2)	Hard (i)	Kristina Mladenovic	Barbora Krejčíková Kateřina Siniaková	6–4, 7–5
Win	2019	WTA Finals, China (3)	Hard (i)	Kristina Mladenovic	Hsieh Su-wei Barbora Strýcová	6–1, 6–3

References

1. Hemmings, Mark (2 February 2010). "Teen Gosling tennis star Babos sure of success in 2010". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
2. "Zut alors! Hertfordshire Gosling girl wins 2010 French Open Grand Slam". Gosling Sports. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
3. Burke, Michael (4 July 2010). "Stephens/Babos fight back to win girls' doubles". Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
4. "Babos captures first WTA title in Monterrey". Women's Tennis Association. 26 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
5. Oddo, Chris. "Heroes and Zeros: Big Servers, Break Dancers and a Ninja". Tennis Now. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
6. Mitchell, Kevin (28 August 2012). "US Open 2012: Britain's Johanna Konta beats Timea Babos on debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
7. "Halep, Begu to square off in Shenzhen semifinals". 4 January 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
8. "Eugenie Bouchard beaten in 1st round at Hobart International". 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
9. David Kane (15 January 2018). "Babos & Mladenovic rock Russians to win Aussie Open". Retrieved 26 January 2018.
10. "Kostyuk becomes youngest player in 21 years to reach 3rd round of Grand Slam". 17 January 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
11. "Babos & Mladenovic rock Russians to win Aussie Open". 26 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
12. "Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos lose final to Mate Pavic and Gabriela Dabrowski". 28 January 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
13. "Babos conquers Kozlova to win Taipei City championship". 4 February 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
14. "Muguruza fights back to win Monterrey title over Babos". 9 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
15. "Makarova, Vesnina continue chase for No. 1 with Madrid title". 12 May 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
16. "Sestini Hlavackova, Strycova set up all-Czech doubles SF in Paris". 6 June 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
17. "Spears and Rosolska stun Babos and Mladenovic to make Wimbledon SF". 11 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
18. "Babos to become Doubles No.1 after Wimbledon". 9 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
19. "Dreams come true for Stosur, Zhang with win over Babos, Mladenovic for Melbourne doubles crown". WTA Tennis. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
20. "Mladenovic seals doubles No. 1, place in French Open final with Babos". WTA Tennis. Retrieved 7 June 2019.

External links

• Tímea Babos at the Women's Tennis Association
• Tímea Babos at the International Tennis Federation
• Tímea Babos at the Fed Cup
• Official website (in Hungarian)