French Open star Jasmine Paolini gets a boost with Italian teammate Sara Errani by her side. After all, both have entered the doubles final match this year and will soon be competing against Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova. Although the 37-year-old has enjoyed over two decades of a career in the tennis world, her outstanding performance on-court this season has further intrigued fans to discover more about her. Therefore, the question that resurfaces in everyone’s mind is: Who is Sara Errani?

After winning the Italian Open doubles match along with Jasmine Paolini, Errani’s current destination is the French Open. Although on the singles side, she did not qualify past the second round, Sara Errani has enjoyed competing in five semifinal doubles matches this season so far. But how did she begin her journey in tennis, especially in the doubles?

At only 12 years of age, she began her training in tennis and soon won her first ITF circuit tournament in 2005, but it was only the beginning. Her breakthrough year was 2012, when she first clinched the top 10 doubles ranking, but soon there were more achievements on her way. After her quarterfinal entry into the Australian Open, she became a doubles finalist at the French Open in the same year. Subsequently, later that year, Sara Errani held the World No. 1 spot in doubles for the first time and remained there for a total of 87 weeks.

Known as the “clay court” specialist, Sara Errani’s Grand Slam victory count is 5! However, even in the singles category, where she once held the top 5th ranking, her achievements were not negligible (9). But it was always the doubles victories (30) that pushed her to stardom in tennis. A former finalist in singles at the French Open, Errani’s prowess on court led her to become the second Italian woman to ever compete in a Grand Slam(2012) singles final.

A former doubles champion in the Australian Open (2013, 2014), Sara Errani’s victories were visible in the U.S. Open (2012) and in Wimbledon (2014) as well. After all, she also made history at Wimbledon by becoming the fifth pair (along with Roberta Vinci) in tennis history to clinch a career grand slam there.

Although she has reached the semifinals and quarterfinals of the French Open multiple times; she has yet to produce the same result in the singles category. But either way, her talent turned heads in the tennis world. However, she has also faced various challenges in her career, one of which happened when she was suspended from tennis due to a failed drug test in 2017. However, Errani fought back and once again returned to the courts in 2020.

A year later, the tennis world once again witnessed her incredible semifinal doubles match at the Italian Open. Consequently, she rose back to the top 200 spot in the doubles ranking. With her constant hard work and determination, Sara Errani again reached the top 100 in the singles in 2023, after she won an ITF title in Arcadia, California. However, the journey is far from over.

This season, Errani made her 194th win on clay. This is even more than any other active player on-court, with the second highest being Venus Williams (164). Adding to that, after almost a decade, she finally revived herself in Rome as well. Understandably, Sara Errani revealed how it was not “easy.”

Sara Errani explained her struggles of how “in doubles, it’s not easy”

The 28-year-old Italian player has experienced a rollercoaster of a journey in tennis. But after winning her Italian Open doubles final with Jasmine Paolini by her side, Sara Errani was overwhelmed with emotions. After defeating Coco Gauff and Erin Routliffe, the scoreboard showed a score of (6-3, 4-6, 10-8). However, according to Errani, “I don’t know how he won in the end.”

Further adding to it, she said, “The tour is not easy. To have somebody near, some friends, to spend the time and enjoy more the day by day, it helps a lot. In singles, in doubles, it’s not easy to do this life alone. So to have the opportunity to share it with a friend and to speak in the days and go to dinner, have fun, it’s very important.”

However, currently her aim is to produce the same result in the French Open final as well. As Sara Errani continues her journey in tennis, her story of resilience and commitment to the sport will forever remain etched in the history of tennis.