Clara Tauson (born 21 December 2002) is a Danish professional tennis player. In 2016, at age 13, she became the youngest Danish champion in tennis history (Caroline Wozniacki held the previous record when she won at age 14).[2] Her career-high rankings are world No. 33 in singles and No. 432 in doubles, reached in February 2022. Up to date, she has won two career titles both on hardcourt indoors.
As a junior, she played amateur tournaments from 2013 till 2019 and started mixing this with prize money tournaments in 2017. Her best amateur result was girls' 2019 Australian Open winner. The same year, she became the first Danish girl to top the junior world ranking.[3] On the professional ITF Circuit, she has won eleven titles, the first at age 14. Her WTA Tour debut came in April 2019 and her debut in a senior level major came at the 2020 French Open. She ended her junior years in top 200 in the WTA rankings.
In 2021, her first year as a senior, she won her two first WTA singles titles at the Lyon Open and at Luxembourg Open on top of one Challenger and two ITF tournament wins. At the same time she broke into top 50 on the WTA rankings. Her 2022 season was marred by injuries, however, she managed to pass her first million US$ in prize money. She has also represented Denmark in Fed/BJK Cup with a win–loss record of 14–5 (as of April 2024).
Clara's talent for tennis was discovered when she was six years old. At ten, she left her local school to attend one that would allow her to focus on tennis. In the beginning, she was often compared to Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark's best player at the time. She did not find herself to be the same kind of player as Wozniacki, whom she saw as more of a baseline player.[7] Clara Tauson started playing junior tournaments in 2013 age 10. Her family financed her until 2017 when she started playing professional tournaments.[7] In 2019, she became a full-time professional. She focuses on singles but has also played doubles tournaments and Fed Cup.
2009–2016: Early career and Danish champion
Tauson started playing tennis at age six.[8] In 2011, she won the U9 tournament at the Zealand championships and the club championship for the U10.[9] In 2014, she became triple Danish U12 champion, winning girls' singles, girls' doubles and mixed doubles with Holger Rune.[10] She debuted on the Tennis Europe junior tour on 26 August 2013.[11] Her first tournament victory came in 2015.[12] In February 2016, Tauson debuted on the ITF Junior Circuit, the premier level for worldwide competition among U18 tennis players.[13] During the year she reached five finals, winning one.[14] In girls' doubles she reached four finals, winning one.[15] In August 2016, aged 13, she won the Danish Tennis Championship, beating Hannah Viller Møller in the final, and breaking the record of Caroline Wozniacki, who won it aged 14.[16] She was awarded Danish Junior Tennis Player of the Year for 2016 for her overall performance.[17]
2017–2020: Junior professionalism and top 200
Tauson wins her first ITF title in Stockholm, 2017
In 2017, Tauson made her debut for the Denmark Fed Cup team. She lost her doubles but Denmark won the match.[18] At the European Youth Olympic Festival in July, she won the tennis tournament as the top seed.[19][20] In September she made her Grand Slam debut at the junior competition of US Open but did not make it to the main draw.[21] The same month, she debuted on the professional ITF Women's Circuit.[22] In October, she entered the WTA world-rankings when she reached her first ITF final.[23] The following month, she took her first ITF title.[24] Her biggest victories in 2018 were the European Junior Championship in girls' singles and Osaka Mayor's Cup, her first Grade-A junior tournament win.[25][26] She got a sponsor contract with Japanese sports equipment producer Yonex.[27] At the end of the year, she won bronze at the ITF Junior Masters.[28]
She played her first Junior Grand Slam main draw at the 2019 Australian Open where she was top-seeded in girls' singles, and won the title—the first Danish girl to do so.[29] The next week, she also became the first Dane to top the girls' singles world ranking.[30] Both had been done before by Kristian Pless in 1999 for a Danish boy. In April 2019, she entered her first WTA Tour tournament on a qualifier's wildcard.[31] She made it to the main draw and lost her first-round match.[32] In May, she played her last amateur tournament becoming a full time professional.[33] In February 2020, she helped bringing Denmark back to Europe/Africa Group I in Fed Cup.[34] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her career was put on a hold until August. In September, she broke into the WTA top 200 for the first time in her career. This allowed her to enter the French Open qualifying. The French Open, which was postponed due to the pandemic, was her first senior level Grand Slam appearance. After winning her qualification matches, Tauson beat world No. 25, Jennifer Brady from the United States, in her first main-draw match before losing in the second round to Danielle Collins, another American.[35][36]
2021: First WTA Tour titles and top 50
Following wins at two ITF tournaments, Tauson entered the Lyon Open as a qualifier at the end of February. There, she won her first WTA Tour title, beating the top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova en route,[37] and fellow qualifier Viktorija Golubic in the final. With the win, Tauson entered the top 100 for the first time, becoming the second youngest player in the top 100 behind Coco Gauff. The next week, she qualified for her first WTA 500 tournament in St. Petersburg Throphy, before losing to eventual winner Daria Kasatkina in the first round.[38]
At the opening of the clay-court season in April, she was seeded for the first time on the WTA Tour at the Copa Colsanitas.[39] However, she lost to qualifier Daniela Seguel, in the first round.[40] Her next competition was the WTA Charleston 2 event. She reached the quarterfinals but had to retire against Camila Osorio, because of a knee injury.[41][42] The injury prevented her from participating in the WTA 1000 Madrid Open. Instead, she participated in the Open de Saint-Malo in both singles and double. While she was eliminated early on in the singles, she managed to reach the semifinals in doubles with her partner Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus.[43][44] In May, she entered the main draw of the French Open, losing to Viktoria Azarenka in the second round.
In July, she entered her first Wimbledon Championships in both singles and doubles.[45] Later that month, she was, due to cancellations, offered a ticket to the Olympic tournament in Tokyo but declined because of an injury.[46] In the run-up to the US Open, Tauson won the Chicago Challenger, defeating Emma Raducanu in the final.[47] At the US Open, she entered the main draw and won her first-round match against Clara Burel from France while losing her second to world No. 1, Ashleigh Barty.[48] Two weeks later, she won her second WTA title at the Luxembourg Open, beating the defending champion Jeļena Ostapenko in the final.[49] Even though an injury kept her out of tournaments for the next two weeks, the points earned helped her to climb into the top 50. She ended the season as runner-up in the Courmayeur Open.[50]
2022: Australian Open 3rd round and injuries
Tauson made her Australian Open main-draw debut as a senior defeating Astra Sharma in the first round. She then upset sixth seed Anett Kontaveit in straight sets marking her first top-ten win. She lost the following round to eventual runner-up Danielle Collins in three close sets thereby ending her so far best Grand Slam tournament. From February till March, Tauson played three WTA 1000 tournaments in a row: Qatar, Indian Wells and Miami Open. Qatar marked her WTA 1000 main-draw debut when she defeated Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the first, round before losing to third seed Paula Badosa, in straight sets. In Indian Wells, she entered the second round as a seeded player and made it to the third round where she lost to eventual champion Iga Świątek, in three sets. In Miami, she retired in the first round against Zhang Shuai.
In Madrid, she lost in the first round. Later she withdrew from what could have been her fifth WTA 1000 event, the Italian Open, because of a back injury.[51] This also kept her out of the French Open.[52] Likewise in Wimbledon, her next tournament, she had to withdraw in the first round.[53]
At the Washington Open, she played and lost her first complete match since Wimbledon.[54] Her first win since March came at the Thoreau Tennis Open against Katie Boulter.[55] In US Open she lost in the first round against ninth seed Garbiñe Muguruza.[56] In August, she played and lost three doubles matches: In Washington with Emma Raducanu, in Cleveland with Camila Osorio, and in Flushing Meadows with Ann Li as her partner.[57][58][56] The same month she also passed her first million in prize money.
After being as low as 140 in the rankings in October, she returned to tournaments and top 100 in December when she reached the final in Limoges only to get a new injury, this time in the foot, which kept her out of the 2023 Australian Open.[59] At the same time, she had to stop the co-operation with her coach since 2019 due to a lack of finances.[5]
2023: French Open 3rd round, back to top 100
Tauson at the 2023 French Open
She returned to tournaments at the end of January at the Lyon Open but failed in qualifying. Her first main-draw win came on 8 February as a lucky loser in Linz against third seed Irina-Camelia Begu.[60] February and March she went back to playing ITF tournaments and in April she played Billie Jean King Cup (a prerequisite for participating in the Olympic Games). During this period she slipped out of top 100.
At the French Open, as a qualifier, Tauson reached again the third round of a major defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Leylah Fernandez.[61] As a result, she moved 40 positions up in the rankings and returned to the top 100.
In the Wimbledon qualifying, she took her first victory on grass defeating Emina Bektas.[62] She did not qualify in singles and withdrew from doubles. Later in July she participated in Hopman Cup with her junior mix-double partner Holger Rune. She won her matches, but the two were eliminated after the preliminary round.
The 2023 US Open was the first since 2002 in which Denmark had three singles players: Holger Rune, Clara Tauson and Caroline Wozniacki (in order of ranking). Holger Rune lost in first round, Clara Tauson in the second whereas Caroline Wozniacki, who was on a wildcard, reached the fourth round.[63]
After having to withdraw from Guangzhou Open due to a heat collapse Clara Tauson came back at the Ningbo Open where she defeated Elina Avanesyan whom she lost to in the French Open.[64]
2024: Back in WTA-1000
In January Clara Tauson reached second round in Austarlian Open. She then participated in two WTA-1000 tournaments, her first since 2022. She reached second round in both.
In April, Clara Tauson and Caroline Wozniacki both played for Denmark in Billie Jean King Cup. This looked like an easy promotion for Denmark to the World Group II play-offs, but Caroline Wozniacki got sick and withdrew after just one set against Austria. Nevertheless, Clara Tauson and the rest of the Danish team managed to secure the promotion without her. Notably, Clara Tauson won all her matches and even beat Maria Sakkari, her second top ten Win.[65]
Playing style
Tauson is a power baseliner. She is able to produce a high number of winners from her forehand and backhand side as well as overpower her opponents. She possesses a reliable serve and good movement on the court as well.
Performance timeline
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
DNQ
A
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Billie Jean King Cup, Olympic Games, Hopman Cup, United Cup and Grand Slam tournaments are included in win–loss records.
↑ Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
1 2 The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
↑ During the season, she did not play in the main draw of any tour-level tournaments. However, she played at the Billie Jean King Cup, which is not counted as a played tournament but matches counted.
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World No. 139 Clara Tauson won her first WTA singles tennis title as a qualifier, defeating Viktorija Golubic in the final of the 2021 Lyon Open, 6–4, 6–1. Tauson did not drop a set throughout the entire tournament, including qualifying rounds, and dropped just 35 games across seven matches. Tauson became the second Danish player in history, after Caroline Wozniacki, to win a WTA Tour singles title. The final match was the first WTA singles final to be contested between two qualifiers since the 2017 Japan Women's Open.
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