Katarzyna Kawa (; born 17 November 1992) is a Polish professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player. Her career-high

WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1. Ranking method The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A pla ...

are 112 in singles, achieved November 2020, and world No. 70 in doubles, set on 26 September 2022. She has won one WTA Challenger doubles title, and also seven singles and 19 doubles titles on tournaments of the

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmental ...

Personal

Katarzyna Kawa was born in

Krynica-Zdrój Krynica-Zdrój (until 31 December 2001 Krynica, rue, Крениця, uk, Криниця) is a town in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is inhabited by over eleven thousand people. It is the biggest spa town in ...

, but moved in 2013 to

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, Poland, where she currently resides. She started playing tennis at age seven and is coached by Grzegorz Garczyński.http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=100102952 Parents are Anna and Jacek, two sisters are Monika and Weronika, and brother is Radomir. Hobbies include reading and traveling. Idolizes

Justine Henin Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in tenni ...

and

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. ...

. Favorite shot is her backhand and her favorite surfaces to compete on are both clay and grass.

Career

2019: First WTA final and breakthrough

2019_Roland_Garros_Qualifying_Tournament_-_52_%28cropped%29

In July, Kawa made it through the qualifying rounds at the Baltic Open to book her spot in the final with a straight-sets victory over Bernarda Pera. Kawa reached the semifinal after beating Anna Danilina, Naiktha Bains, Ysaline Bonaventure, Jana Fett, Chloe Paquet. In the final, she lost to the top seed Anastasija Sevastova, in three sets.

2020-21: Major debut & WTA Tour quarterfinal

In 2020, she made her major debut at the US Open as a direct entry. At the 2021 National Tennis Championships in

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capi ...

, Kawa ended runner-up in singles and won the title in doubles alongside

Weronika Falkowska Weronika Falkowska (born 17 June 2000) is a Polish tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world ...

. She continued at the Poland Open in

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

where she upset third seed

Irina-Camelia Begu Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 22 in the world, in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest WTA doubles ranking, also No. 22. Begu ...

in the second round, before she lost her quarterfinal match against

Kateryna Kozlova Kateryna Baindl ( uk, Катерина Ігорівна Баіндль, née Kozlova; born 20 February 1994) is a Ukrainian tennis player. On 19 February 2018, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 62. On 22 October 2012, she ...

2022: Wimbledon debut and first win

She qualified for the first time for the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

, and recorded her first main-draw match win at this major over

Rebecca Marino Rebecca Catherine Marino (born December 16, 1990) is a Canadian 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 ...

. At the Poland Open held in Warsaw, Kawa reached her first WTA Tour doubles final, partnering with

Alicja Rosolska Alicja Rosolska (; born 1 December 1985) is a professional tennis player from Poland. On 9 June 2003, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 636. On 10 June 2019, she peaked at No. 23 in the doubles rankings. Rosolska has won nine ...

, they finished runners-up.

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

WTA Challenger finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 15 (7 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Doubles: 33 (19 titles, 14 runner-ups)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawa, Katarzyna 1992 births Living people Polish female tennis players People from Krynica-Zdrój 20th-century Polish women 21st-century Polish women