Rebecca Catherine Marino (born December 16, 1990) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
professional tennis player. On 11 July 2011, she reached her highest
WTA singles ranking of 38. Marino was awarded ''Female Player of the Year'' by Tennis Canada two times, in 2010 and 2011.
She decided in late February 2013 to take an indefinite break from tennis.
During her break, she studied English literature at the
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
and was part of the rowing team.
She was also a certified Club Pro 1 coach at the UBC Tennis Centre.
In October 2017, Marino announced her intention to return to the pro circuit but her comeback was delayed due to ITF administrative regulations.
She was eligible to return at the end of January 2018 and won the title in her first tournament back, a $15k in
Antalya
Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...
.
Early life
Rebecca Marino was born in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
to Joe Marino, owner of the construction firm Marino General Contracting, and Catherine Hungerford. The family moved to
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
before she turned two. Her father was of
Italian descent.
Marino's uncle,
George Hungerford
George William Hungerford, (born January 2, 1944) is a Canadian lawyer and retired rower. He won the only gold medal for Canada at the 1964 Summer Olympics, in coxless pairs with Roger Jackson. The same year they were awarded the Lou Marsh Trop ...
, won gold for Canada at the
1964 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...
in
rowing.
She has a younger brother named Steven, who also competed in rowing at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
At five, Marino's mother signed her up for badminton. Before long, a tennis coach convinced her to switch racquets and she started playing tennis at age 10. At only 14, she won Vancouver’s premier amateur tennis tournament, the Stanley Park Open, becoming the tournament’s youngest champion in 75 years.
From August 2008 to April 2009, she trained in
Davos
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
, Switzerland with German coach
Nina Nittinger
Nina Nittinger (born 16 June 1976) is a German former professional tennis player.
Nittinger reached a best singles ranking of 286 in the world and won two ITF titles. She won a further five ITF titles in doubles.
All of her WTA Tour main-draw a ...
.
Later in 2009, she moved to
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
to train at the National Training Centre.
Tennis career
2005–09: Early years
Marino played the first professional event of her career at the $25k in Vancouver in August 2005, losing in qualifying.
In August 2006, she lost in the qualifying first round of the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
as a wildcard.
Marino won in August 2008 her first singles title at the $10k in Trecastagni and two in doubles, respectively, in Evansville, Indiana in July and in Southlake, Texas in October of the same year.
In November 2008, she won her first
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
main-draw match at the
Challenge Bell
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
as a qualifier, defeating
Jill Craybas
Jill N. Craybas (born July 4, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player.
From the 2000 US Open to the 2011 US Open, Craybas competed in 45 consecutive Grand Slam main draws; her best result coming in the 2005 Wimbledon Championship ...
in the first round. She was defeated by
Galina Voskoboeva in the second round.
In September 2009 at the
Challenge Bell
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
, Marino reached the second round for the second straight year with a win over
Lauren Albanese, but lost her next match to
Julia Görges
Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. A former top-ten singles player, she was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018, and was ranked inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No ...
.
2010: Breakthrough
Marino played the first Grand Slam of her career at the
US Open in August. After winning three qualifying matches to enter the main draw, she beat
Ksenia Pervak to set up a second round clash with world No. 4,
Venus Williams. She lost after a close first set which ended in a tiebreak. After the match, Venus said: "It seemed like every time I had an opening she came up with a big serve, so I guess I know what it is like now playing myself."
Her next tournament was in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
at the
Challenge Bell
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
in September where she beat fellow Canadian
Heidi El Tabakh
Heidi El Tabakh (born September 25, 1986) is an Egyptian-born Canadian former professional tennis player.
Her highest singles ranking by the WTA is 146, which she reached in October 2012. Her career-high of 173 in doubles, she set in February 20 ...
in the first round. Marino upset first seeded and world No. 14,
Marion Bartoli, in straight sets in the second round, which was her first career win against a top-20 player. She lost her quarterfinal match against
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former wo ...
.
She then stayed in the province of Québec and played a $50k in
Saguenay the following week. Marino made it to the final and defeated
Alison Riske in three tough sets to win the tournament, the second singles title of her career.
She won her second straight $50k two weeks later in
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
by defeating
Edina Gallovits in the final.
The next week, Marino won her third straight $50k in
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
where she defeated
Ashley Weinhold.
In November, she lost in the semifinals of the $50K in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
against
Alizé Lim, stopping her winning streak at 18.
2011: First WTA final and career-high ranking of No. 38
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
in January, Marino defeated
Junri Namigata in the first round. She lost in the second round against sixth seed
Francesca Schiavone with a score of 7–9 in the final set.
In February, Marino reached her first WTA final at the event in
Memphis, where she faced
Magdaléna Rybáriková. She was forced to retire from the match after losing the first set because of an abdominal strain.
Marino qualified for the
Indian Wells Open
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
in March, but lost in the first round to
Ekaterina Makarova.
Following her first round exit, Marino took part in the inaugural $100k
Bahamas Women's Open. As the fourth seed, she defeated qualifier
Sophie Ferguson in the first round,
Pauline Parmentier, and another qualifier,
Heather Watson
Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships partnering Henri K ...
to reach the semifinals, where she lost against fifth seeded
Angelique Kerber.
At the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
in May, she won her first round match over
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kateryna Volodymyrivna Volodko (née Bondarenko; uk, Катерина Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 8 August 1986) is a tennis player from Ukraine. She was the doubles champion in 2008 at the Australian Open, partnering ...
and her second round match against
María José Martínez Sánchez. She lost against 13th seed
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian inactive professional tennis player. She is a two-time major singles champion, winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and finishing runner-up at two other majors. I ...
in the third round, her best Grand Slam performance so far.
The next month, she reached the second round for her fourth straight Grand Slam at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
where she lost to
Roberta Vinci.
At the
US Open in August, Marino lost for the first time of her career in the first round of a Grand Slam to
Gisela Dulko.
In September, she reached the quarterfinals of the
Challenge Bell
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
for the second straight year after beating fellow Canadians
Stéphanie Dubois and
Aleksandra Wozniak in the first and second round, respectively, but lost to
Michaëlla Krajicek
Michaëlla Krajicek ( cz, Michaela Krajíčková; born 9 January 1989) is a Dutch former tennis player. She won three singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one WTA 125 tournaments, WTA 125 doubles title, and 14 singles and ...
.
At the last tournament of her season, the
Luxembourg Open in October, she surprised the second seed and No. 15 player in the world
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
in the first round which was the second win of her career over a top-20 player. She lost her second round match against qualifier
Bibiane Schoofs.
2012–13: Breaks from tennis
In January 2012, Marino lost in the first round of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
to
Gréta Arn
Gréta Arn (born 13 April 1979) is a Hungarian retired tennis player of Danube Swabian German descent.
She has won two titles on the WTA Tour, the 2007 Estoril Open in Portugal, and the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, as well as f ...
.
She took a break from tennis to deal with mental and physical fatigue from February 2012 to late August 2012.
Marino made a comeback the second week of September 2012 at the $25k in Redding, California, losing in the second round to
Sachie Ishizu.
The next month, in only her fifth tournament since coming back, she defeated fellow Canadian
Sharon Fichman to win the $25k in Rock Hill, South Carolina as a qualifier.
She then lost a week later in the first round of the $50k
Saguenay Challenger to
Maria Sanchez
Maria Victoria Sanchez (born November 26, 1989) is a former tennis player from the United States. In July 2013, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 107. On 22 April 2019, she peaked at No. 51 of the WTA doubles ranking. Sa ...
, stopping her winning streak at eight matches.
In November 2012, at the $50k
Toronto Challenger, Marino was forced to retire in her second round match after suffering an abdominal strain. She was supposed to end her season the next week at the $75k event in
Phoenix, but had to withdraw following her injury.
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
in January 2013, her first Grand Slam championship since coming back, Marino made it to the main draw with her protected ranking of 115, but lost to
Peng Shuai in the opening round.
After playing some ITF and WTA tournaments, she decided in late February 2013 to take a second break from tennis with no timetable for her return.
2017–18: Return to competition
Marino started training again during the first week of September 2017 and decided to return to competition in October 2017, after being away from the game for nearly five years.
She was scheduled to play the $60k
Saguenay Challenger but her comeback was delayed by three months due to ITF administrative regulations.
She returned at a $15k event in Antalya at the end of January 2018 and won the title in her first tournament back, not losing a set along the way.
The next week, she won her second straight title at a $15k in Antalya, without losing a set once again.
Again in Antalya the week after, she captured her third $15k event in a row.
Playing her fourth straight tournament in Antalya, the first on clay, Marino lost her quarterfinal match, ending her winning-streak at 19 matches.
At her next tournament in March, a $25k tournament in Kōfu, she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier but was defeated by world No. 101,
Luksika Kumkhum
Luksika "Luk" Kumkhum ( th, ลักษิกา คำขำ; ; born 21 July 1993) is a Thai tennis player. She turned professional in 2011, and reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 66 on 19 November 2018. On 16 July 2018, she ...
, in three sets.
In April at the $25k in Osaka, she advanced to her fourth final of the season where she lost to
Destanee Aiava
Destanee Gabriella Aiava (born 10 May 2000) is an Australian professional tennis player.
She has career-high WTA rankings of 147 in singles, achieved on 11 September 2017, and of 192 in doubles, achieved October 2019. Aiava has won five single ...
.
2020–21: Hiatus and another comeback to the tour
Marino began the season using a protected ranking to gain entry into the qualifying tournament for the
2021 Australian Open
The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It was ...
, held in Dubai mid-January. She qualified for her first Grand Slam tournament in ten years, defeating
Jaqueline Cristian
Jaqueline Adina Cristian (born 5 June 1998) is a professional tennis player from Romania.
Cristian has career-high WTA rankings of 58 in singles and 168 in doubles. Up to date, she has won ten doubles and ten singles titles on tournaments of t ...
,
Viktoriya Tomova and
Maryna Zanevska without dropping a set. She was granted direct entry into the
Gippsland Trophy, one of three makeshift WTA lead-up tournaments created for the participants of the upcoming Australian Open, also held in Melbourne, however she lost in the first round to
Jasmine Paolini
Jasmine Paolini (; born 4 January 1996) is an Italian tennis player. She reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 44 in singles and 122 in doubles. Paolini has won one singles title (at the 2021 Slovenian Open) and one doubles title on the WTA To ...
.
Marino won her first-round match at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
defeating
Kimberly Birrell
Kimberly Birrell (born 29 April 1998) is an Australian tennis player.
She has won two singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Circuit. Birrell reached her best singles ranking of world No. 154 on 6 May 2019.
Personal life
Birrell was ...
6–0, 7–6, but was defeated in the second round by
Markéta Vondroušová 6–1, 7–5, despite serving for the second set up 5–3. She won her qualifying match against
Mayo Hibi
is a Japanese former professional tennis player.
She has won eight singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 3 February 2020, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 157. On 26 May 2014, she peaked at No. 378 ...
6–4, 6–3 at the
Phillip Island Trophy, another makeshift tournament created in light of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. In the first round, she beat
Mona Barthel to set up a second-round meeting with fourth seeded
Petra Martić
Petra Martić (; born 19 January 1991) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14, achieved in January 2020. Martić has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and one doubles tou ...
.
2022: US Open third round
At the
US Open, she reached the third round for the first time at this major and only a second time at a Grand Slam level defeating
Daria Snigur
Daria Serhiivna Snigur ( uk, Дарія Сергіївна Снігур; born 27 March 2002) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Snigur has a career-high WTA rankings of world No. 105 in singles, achieved on 14 November 2022. She has won six singles ti ...
. She lost to
Zhang Shuai in the third round.
Performance timeline
''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.''
Singles
''Current after the 2023 Australian Open.''
Doubles
WTA career finals
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
WTA 125 finals
Doubles: 1 (title)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 22 (13 titles, 9 runner–ups)
Doubles: 9 (3 titles, 6 runner–ups)
Record against top-10 players
Marino's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface.
* ''statistics correct .''
Awards
* 2010 – Tennis Canada: Female Player of the Year
* 2011 – Tennis Canada: Female Player of the Year
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
UBC Thunderbirds profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marino, Rebecca
1990 births
Living people
Canadian female tennis players
Canadian people of Italian descent
Racket sportspeople from British Columbia
Tennis players from Toronto
Sportspeople from Vancouver
Tennis players at the 2019 Pan American Games
Pan American Games competitors for Canada