Ellen Perez (born 10 October 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. Her career-high rankings in singles and doubles are world No. 162 and No. 7, achieved in August 2019 and in April 2024. She has won seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, three doubles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour, as well as two singles and 19 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Ellen is the daughter of John and Milića Perez. Ellen is of Spanish descent on her father's side and of Macedonian descent on her mother's side. She picked up a tennis racket at the age of three after receiving a totem tennis pole as a Christmas gift, and she started regular coaching at the age of seven. In 2012, she won the Gallipoli Youth Cup held in Ipswich, Queensland.[1]
She played three seasons of college tennis at the University of Georgia in the United States from 2014 to 2017.[1] She was named an All-American five times across singles and doubles.[2]
Career
2012–2014: The beginnings
Perez made her debut on the ITF Women's Circuit in March 2012 in Bundaberg, losing in three sets to Jennifer Elie. In September 2013, she recorded her first main-draw singles win in Toowoomba after qualifying. Perez reached the quarterfinals losing to Azra Hadzic. In December 2013, she won her first ITF doubles title in Hong Kong with Abbie Myers.
In 2014, Perez reached the quarterfinal of the Burnie International and Melbourne, and then competed on the ITF Circuit in Europe until June when she started attending college in the United States. Perez ended 2014 with a singles rank of 655 and a doubles rank of 517.
2015–2016: First major appearance
In June 2015, Perez returned to play at Bethany Beach where she qualified and reached the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final. The following week in Charlotte, she reached the doubles final. She played ITF events across U.S. for the remainder of 2015.
Perez started her 2016 season in June in U.S. without qualifying for the main draw. In July, she qualified for and won her first singles ITF title in Brussels without dropping a set. She reached a semifinal and final at two subsequent events.[3] Perez won four doubles titles in five weeks across June and July 2016.
In August, Perez won the Australian Wildcard Play-off to make her major singles debut at the US Open. She lost to Zhang Shuai in straight sets. Perez said of the experience "It definitely didn't go as planned, or as hoped, but it was great to be able to have my Grand Slam debut and get out on court in front of all the fans and what-not. It was nice."[4] She ended 2016 with a singles rank of 632 and doubles rank of 414.
She returned to play in June where she reached three consecutive doubles finals, winning one. Doubles success continued throughout the rest of the year. In July, Perez qualified for and reached the singles final of Gatineau. This increased her singles ranking to a career-high of 363.[6] Perez returned to Australia and reached the semifinals of Toowoomba and quarterfinals of Cairns.
Perez began the 2018 season, after being given wildcard into the Sydney International where she upset world No. 11, Kristina Mladenovic, in the first round. Her first win on the WTA Tour came when Mladenovic retired with the score 4–6, 2–4.[7] Perez lost in round two to Ashleigh Barty.[8]
At the Australian Open, Perez lost in the first round of qualifying to Valentini Grammatikopoulou. She made the second round at the Burnie International, Launceston International and at Perth, and then reached the final of the Clay Court International in April, losing to Jaimee Fourlis. Perez traveled to Europe and North America's ITF Circuit with limited success. In September, she attempted to qualify for two WTA tournaments in Asia before returning to Australia in October where she reached four consecutive ITF finals.
2019–2021: Three career titles, Olympics debut and quarterfinals in doubles
In July, Perez partnered Samantha Stosur in women's doubles at the 2020 Olympic Games, where they reached the quarterfinals. In the same month, Perez entered the final of an ITF event in Lisbon, Portugal. In October, she reached another ITF final in Portugal.[10] She won her third title at the 2021 Tenerife Ladies Open with Ulrikke Eikeri.[11] Perez ended 2021 with a singles rank of 196 and a doubles rank of 42.[citation needed]
2022: US Open semifinal, Wimbledon quarterfinal, two WTA 1000 finals & top 30
She reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, having never won a match before at this major, and back-to-back WTA 1000 finals at the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open with Nicole Melichar.[13] She also reached the US Open semifinals for the first time, having never get past the third round at this major.
2023–2025: French Open semifinal, WTA Finals debut and finalist, world No. 8
At the French Open, with Nicole Melichar-Martinez, Perez reached the quarterfinals for the first time, having never previously progressed beyond the second round at this major.[14] With her win over protected ranking pair of Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzková, she became the 21st Australian woman to advance to a Roland Garros semifinal in doubles in the Open Era.[15]
She qualified for the 2023 WTA Finals and reached the final with Melichar-Martinez, a first time at this level for both players.[16] They lost to Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva in the championship match.[17]
Perez and Melichar-Martinez qualified for the 2024 WTA Finals and reached the semifinals after compiling a record of two wins and one loss in the group stages.[20] They lost in the last four to second seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe in straight sets.[21]
In 2025, at the start of the Middle East swing she lifted the title in Abu Dhabi partnering Jelena Ostapenko. As a result she returned to the top 10 in the doubles rankings on 10 February 2025.[22]
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (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, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
↑ 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.
↑ Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
↑ 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. The Dubai Championships were classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by the Qatar Open for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, the Dubai Championships regained its Premier 5 status while the Qatar Open was demoted to Premier status. The two tournaments have since alternated status every year.
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