Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player who is a former
world No. 1 in doubles.
She has won three
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
titles in singles and 27 in doubles. Babos is a four-time
Grand Slam tournament champion in women's doubles, having won the
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
and
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
Australian Opens, as well as the French Open in
2019
This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year.
Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
and
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
, all alongside
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam ...
.
Babos and Mladenovic were also finalists at the
2014 Wimbledon Championships
The 2014 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 128th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
,
2018 US Open and
2019 Australian Open, and Babos reached the final of the
2016 Wimbledon Championships
The 2016 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw commenced on 27 June 2016 and concluded on ...
with
Yaroslava Shvedova. In mixed doubles, she has reached two major finals, at the
2015 Wimbledon Championships
The 2015 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, from 29 June to 12 July 2015.
It was the 129th edit ...
with
Alexander Peya
Alexander Peya (born 27 June 1980) is an Austrian tennis coach and a former professional player. His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 3, first achieved in August 2013. He also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 92 in April 200 ...
, and the
2018 Australian Open
The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15 and 28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, double ...
partnering
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Machanda Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He attained the List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 ranking after winning his first Grand Slam (tenni ...
. Babos became world No. 1 for the first time in July 2018, holding the top ranking for 13 weeks, and was the first Hungarian player, male or female, to reach number one in either singles or doubles. She also has won another big titles on the
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
, they being the
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
,
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
and
2019
This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year.
Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
WTA Finals and two
WTA 1000 trophies.
In singles, Babos has a career-high ranking of No. 25, achieved in September 2016, and has won three titles on the WTA Tour, also finishing runner-up on five occasions. She has represented Hungary in
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
and
Billie Jean King Cup since 2011, and also competed at the
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
and
2016 Olympic Games.
Early and personal life
Tímea Babos was born on 10 May 1993 to mother Zsuzsanna and father Csaba in
Sopron
Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely.
When ...
, Hungary. She has an older sister. Coming from a sporty family, Babos decided to follow her family tradition. Her father is a coach at the tennis club her family owns in Sopron, while her mother is a housewife. Her sister was also a very good player and won NCAA titles when studying at Berkeley in the United States.
She was originally a swimmer and was national champion in Hungary, but during that time she looked differently at swimming, finding it quite boring and as hard work, so she started to come with her sister to tennis practice at the age of 8. Originally, she started playing tennis just for fun, but then her dad saw her talent, so she started to concentrate more on it and eventually stopped swimming.
She loved watching her sister's workouts with their father, when she was eight and her sister 16, so her parents signed her up for a class at a local club and after a few months, she was accepted into local events. Her breakthrough came at the age of nine, where after leading the u12 club team to four qualification round victories, she qualified for the u12 National Championships. A few weeks later, she won her first Hungarian National Championship title. At 15, she travelled to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to practice owing to her homeland's lack of sufficient facilities. One of the opportunities was practice on hardcourts; her country mostly has clay courts. Two years after her arrival in England, she got a good sponsorship deal, which meant she could return and train in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
.
Babos resides in her birthtown
Sopron
Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely.
When ...
in Hungary. Her nickname on tour is 'Babosdook', given to her by doubles partner Kristina Mladenovic as she is a big fan of horror films. The nickname is a reference to the film ''
The Babadook''. Tímea Babos has become the first Hungarian female tennis player to reach the world number one spot. She enjoyed watching
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viacheslavovna Dementieva (, ; born 15 October 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked world No. 3 in women's singles and world No. 5 in women's doubles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Dem ...
growing up. Her comment stated:
In an interview with Mancunian Matters, she noted that she is supporter of
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
, as well as her whole family.
Juniors

Babos reached a career-high ranking of No. 2 as a junior. She began competing on the
ITF Junior Circuit in September 2006 at the age of 13, winning the title in her debut event in doubles at the lowest-level Grade-5 Talentum Cup in homeland Hungary.
There, she also made her singles debut but lost in the second round.
By the end of the year, she didn't play at any tournament. But she then continued her success in doubles, winning the following tournament, the Grade-5 Mostar Open in April 2007. In the second half of the year, she won Grade-3 Budaörs Cup and then Grade-2 TrueVisions Thailand Open, both in doubles.
The following year, she made a progress, reaching the semifinal in singles and final in doubles event at the Grade-1 Barranquilla Junior Tennis Tournament Country Club. In March, she made a step further, reaching her first Grade-1 singles final and doubles title at the Mitsubishi-Lancer International Juniors Championships.
Babos then made her
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
debut at the junior
2008 French Open, reaching the second round in both singles and doubles. 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
* W ...
, she lost in the first round, but made it to the quarterfinals in doubles.
In August, she played at the Canadian Open Junior Championships, reaching quarterfinals in singles and final in doubles.
On her debut at the
US Open, she reached only the first round in singles and second round in doubles.
At her last tournament of the 2008 season, she reached singles quarterfinals and title in doubles at the Grade-A
Osaka Mayor's Cup.
Babos started to produce strong results at the junior Grand Slam and other Grade-A and Grade-1 events in 2009. She started year with great performances at the Grade-1 tournaments winning both singles and doubles title at the Copa Gatorade in January and at the Sarawak Chief Minister's Cup in March. At the same grade, she won the Japan Open Junior Championships in singles, while in doubles she finished runner–up.
At the
2009 French Open
The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 108th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 24 through J ...
, she managed to get to her first Grand Slam final in doubles event. Partnering with
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 – Mixed doubles, 2016 ...
, they lost to
Elena Bogdan and
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn
Noppawan "Nok" Lertcheewakarn (; born 18 November 1991) is a former professional Thai tennis player. At 2009 Wimbledon Championships, she won the junior singles title. She reached career-high WTA rankings of 149 in singles and 97 in doubles.
...
in a tough final, in three sets. 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
* W ...
, she reached her first major singles semifinal but failed in the second round in doubles. Later, Babos left her mark at the Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup, winning doubles event and finishing runner–up in singles.
She finished 2009 season with singles second round and quarterfinal in doubles at the
Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...
.
Babos had a strong start into next season, winning her first singles tournament of the year, the Grade-1 Loy Yang Traralgon International.
She followed this with singles quarterfinal and final in doubles at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
. The first major for Babos came at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
in the doubles alongside
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She has achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Stephens has won eight WTA Tour-level singles titles, including the 2 ...
, defeating
Lara Arruabarrena
Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (; born 20 March 1992) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. On 3 July 2017, she reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of 52, and her best doubles ranking is world No. 28, set on 22 February 2016.
Over ...
and
María Teresa Torró Flor in the final, and not dropping a single set in the entire tournament.
Babos won another major title with Stephens defeating
Irina Khromacheva and
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
in the final of
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
* W ...
. Babos also won the title at the
US Open, again with Stephens, by walkover in the final. This was her last junior tournament.
Professional
2009–11: Success in early ITF events

Still playing tournaments of the
ITF Junior Circuit, Babos began competing on 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 developmenta ...
in 2009 at the age of 15, reaching the final in her debut event in Bournemouth.
The following week, she played on another 10k event in the United Kingdom, and won her first title.
Babos continued winning one and losing two 10k finals, by the end of the 2009 season. She had a strong start in doubles too, winning one of two finals that she reached on the ITF Circuit.
She started 2010 with mixed results, but her first improvement was at a 25k event in Budapest where she reached her first final in that category, but finished as runner–up. In early July, she made her
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
debut at the
Hungarian Open as a wildcard player, but lost to
Timea Bacsinszky
Timea Bacsinszky (; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. A former top ten singles player, Bacsinszky reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, on 16 May 2016. She won four singles and five doubles titles o ...
in the first round.
The following week, she won her first 25k title in Woking.
Despite the fact she still didn't make her WTA Tour debut in doubles, Babos won four 25k events, two of them in Australia and one in the United Kingdom and in New Zealand.
At the
Hungarian Open in July 2011, Babos realized her first WTA match-win, defeating
Anna-Giulia Remondina, but lost in the next round to
Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she is a Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam, Career Grand Slam champion having won all Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major tournaments and reac ...
. There, she also made her doubles debut, partnering with
Katalin Marosi
Katalin Marosi (born 12 November 1979) is a Hungarian former professional tennis player.
In her career, Marosi won 15 singles and 31 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF W ...
, but she lost her first WTA Tour doubles match. Her first
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
appearance was at the
US Open; she failed to reach the main-draw, losing in the qualification.
In late October, she won her first 50k event in both singles and doubles at the
Challenger de Saguenay.
She reached another $50k final in doubles, and also reached semifinals in singles.
2012–13: First singles and doubles WTA Tour title
Singles
Babos had strong start of the 2012 season. At the first tournament of the year, she finished runner–up at the
Blossum Cup in Quanzhou, losing there to
Kimiko Date. At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she failed to reach her first main draw. A month later, she reached her first WTA Tour singles semifinal at the
Copa Colsanitas.
She won against one qualifier, wildcard and seeded player, before she lost in the semifinal to
Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
She has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of world No. 30 achieved on 28 October 2024. She peaked at No. 71 in singles on 3 ...
. She reached her first WTA Tour singles final at the
Monterrey Open, and won the title. These good results helped Babos rise from No. 107 to 68 in the following WTA rankings to make her top-100 debut.
Babos continued to improve, making her major debut at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, where she lost to
Sesil Karatantcheva
Sesil Radoslavova Karatantcheva (; born 8 August 1989) is a Bulgarian former tennis player.
On 7 November 2005, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 35. On 19 April 2010, she peaked at No. 154 in the doubles rankings.
In her career ...
in the first round. 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
* W ...
, she recorded her first major match win, defeating wildcard player
Melanie Oudin, but lost in the next round to the experienced Russian player
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova ( ; born 8 June 1982) is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world in both disciplines (doing s ...
. In early August, she made her
Premier 5/Premier Mandatory debut at the
Canadian Open, reaching the main draw through qualifying, and then the following week, she recorded her first Premier/Premier Mandatory win at the
Cincinnati Open. In 2013, as her highlights in singles, she reached only three quarterfinals at the International-level
Brasil Tennis Cup, the
Monterrey Open and
Hungarian Open. She finished runner–up at the 75k event
Viccourt Cup in Donetsk, and won the 50k
Soweto Open in Johannesburg.
Doubles
In the first half of 2012, Babos reached three International-level semifinals. First at the
Copa Colsanitas alongside
Valeria Savinykh, followed by the semifinal of the
Morocco Open alongside
Mandy Minella
Mandy Minella (born 22 November 1985) is a Luxembourgish politician and former professional tennis player. Having made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2001, she peaked at No. 66 in the WTA singles rankings in September 2012, and No. 47 in doubles ...
, and finally that of the
Internationaux de Strasbourg
The Internationaux de Strasbourg (formally known as the Strasbourg Grand Prix) is a professional women's tennis tournament held in Strasbourg, France. The tournament has been organized in May since its inception in 1987 and serves as a warm-up eve ...
alongside
Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei (; ; born 4 January 1986) is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. A former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in Doubles tennis, doubles with nine Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles, she is rega ...
.
She then won her first WTA Tour doubles title at the
Birmingham Classic with Hsieh, defeating
Liezel Huber
Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African- American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara B ...
and
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven major titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On June 12, ...
in three sets.
This year, Babos also made her Grand Slam debut at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, at the same time she debuted in singles as well. She partnered with Hsieh, and they were eliminated by
Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. Errani is one of only seven women who have completed a career Grand Slam (tennis)#Golden Slam, Golden Slam in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, a former ...
and Roberta Vinci in the second round.
In 2013, Babos made more progress in doubles than in singles. Unlike failing to win the title in singles, she won four International titles in doubles. First she won
Copa Colsanitas in February, partnering with Mandy Minella. She then won the
Monterrey Open in April alongside Kimiko Date. Later in April, she won the
Morocco Open, again with Minella, and finally, in early September, the
Tashkent Open, partnering with
Yaroslava Shvedova.
2014–15: Grand Slam final, debut at the WTA Finals, top 10
Babos continued with modest results in singles on the WTA Tour, falling mostly in the first round. Success she had on the ITF Circuit, where she won the 75k
Kangaroo Cup in Gifu, and then the 100k
Internationaux de la Vienne in Poitiers.
In doubles, she had a strong start, winning at the Premier-level
Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
, her second doubles title of the year. She reached another Premier final at the
Open GdF Suez, but ended runner-up alongside
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam ...
. After a few non-significant results, she reached the final at the
Monterrey Open but lost in the final. Two weeks later, she won the
Malaysian Open alongside
Chan Hao-ching
Chan Hao-ching (; ; born September 19, 1993), also known as Angel Chan, is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. She is primarily a doubles specialist, having won twenty-one WTA Tour, two WTA Challenger and six ITF titles in that discipline. ...
.
In late June, Babos made big improvement, reaching her first Grand Slam final 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
* W ...
alongside Mladenovic. They lost to Italian former champions, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. With this result, Babos advanced to the top 30. Again with Mladenovic, she reached the final at the
Cincinnati Open, but they lost after the retirement.
In the first half of the 2015 season, Babos continued to struggle with her singles results. She then reached the final at the
Morocco Open, losing to
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA rankings, WTA. Svitolina has won 18 WTA Tour single ...
. By the end of the year, she reached only one quarterfinal at the
Tianjin Open
The Tianjin Open was an International-level WTA tennis event held at the Tianjin International Tennis Center. The venue has a center court that seats 3,500 people, as well as 12 outdoor courts with lights, four indoor courts and a tennis club.
I ...
, losing to
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...
. In doubles, she realized her first title of the year at the Premier 5
Dubai Championships, with Mladenovic. In late March, she reached the semifinals at the
Miami Open. Clay-court season was successful for Babos, winning title at the
Morocco Open, and later another Premier 5 title at the
Italian Open. Grass-court season started with the semifinal at the
Rosmalen Championships and the quarterfinal of the
Birmingham Classic.
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
* W ...
, she failed to repeat last year result, this time finishing alongside Mladenovic one round earlier, losing in the semifinals. She also reached the
mixed-doubles final alongside
Alexander Peya
Alexander Peya (born 27 June 1980) is an Austrian tennis coach and a former professional player. His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 3, first achieved in August 2013. He also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 92 in April 200 ...
, but they lost to
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...
/
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...
. After that, she reached quarterfinals at the
Cincinnati Open and
China Open.
At the end of the year, Babos debuted at the
WTA Finals, where she alongside Mladenovic failed to pass the round-robin group.
2016: Top 30 in singles, Wimbledon final in doubles
Singles
After years of weak singles performances, Babos, at the opening week, reached semifinal which she lost to
Alison Riske
Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an inactive American tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014, at the Tianjin Open.
S ...
.
Followed by second round of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, quarterfinal of the
St. Petersburg Trophy and third round of the Premier 5
Qatar Open. At the
Miami Open, she reached the round of 16 for the first time at some Premier 5/Mandatory tournament, missing her chance to reach the quarterfinal, losing to
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 34 wee ...
. She continued, reaching the quarterfinal at the
Katowice Open
The Katowice Open was a professional women's tennis tournament played on an indoor Hard court, hard tennis court, court in Katowice, Poland and was held in April. The event was affiliated with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and was an WTA I ...
and semifinal at the
Morocco Open. At the
Italian Open, she beat
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
in the second round, before losing to
Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 5 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA. Keys has won ten WTA Tour-level career singles ...
. In early August, she advanced to the
Brasil Cup final, but lost to
Irina-Camelia Begu
Irina-Camelia Begu (born 26 August 1990) is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA ranking, WTA singles ranking of world No. 22 , in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. She is ...
. She then reached her first Premier 5 quarterfinal at the
Cincinnati Open, losing there to fourth seed
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Venezuelan-born Spanish former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Asso ...
. At the
US Open, she reached third round for the first time at major event in singles, but then was defeated by seed
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 64 w ...
. So she made her top 30 debut, and in the following week, she climbed to her career-high singles ranking of 25.
In her last two singles tournaments, Babos reached the quarterfinal at the
Kremlin Cup and then qualified for the first time for the year-end
WTA Elite Trophy. However, she lost in her round-robin group to Bacsinszky and
Zhang Shuai
Zhang Shuai ( zh , s = 张帅 , p = Zhāng Shuài ; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has a career-high doubles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 2, achieved in July 2022 and a singles ranking of No. 22 re ...
.
Doubles
The season also was successful in doubles. In the United States, Babos reached the semifinals at the Premier Mandatory
Indian Wells Open, followed with the final at the same-category
Miami Open, where she ended runner-up. In July, she reached another Grand Slam final 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
* W ...
. This time partnering with Shvedova, she lost to Serena and Venus Williams. At Premier 5 tournaments, she also did quite well, reaching quarterfinals at four out of five tournaments. For the second time in a row, she qualified for the
WTA Finals. Format of competition had changed, having eliminated round-robin group at first. Babos alongside Shvedova lost in the first round to
Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles ...
and
Bethanie Mattek-Sands. It was her first season without a doubles title since 2012.
2017: WTA Finals title

This was first season when Babos reached more than one singles final. In her homeland, she played at the
Hungarian Open, where she defeated Lucie Šafářová in the final and marked her second career-singles title. In September, she reached another two international-level finals at the
Tournoi de Québec
The was a WTA Tour International level tennis tournament held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Held from 1993 to 2018, the tournament was the last women's professional tennis tournament still played on indoor carpet courts. It was held at the PE ...
and
Tashkent Open, but failed to win the title at both of them. During the year, she reached only one quarterfinal at the
Monterrey Open, where she lost to seed No. 2
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (; born 3 July 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 11 on 8 November 2021. Pavlyuchenkova has won twelve singles titles ...
. Despite the fact she reached three singles finals, she dropped in her ranking, starting year inside top 30, but then finished outside the top 50.
In doubles, she reached two new Premier Mandatory finals, at the
Madrid Open and
China Open, but these were her others unsuccessful attempts to win her first title in that category. 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
* W ...
, she failed to reach her previous-year result, losing in the third round, but then she get into the quarterfinal at the
US Open.
Before the end of the year, she won three international-level tournament,
as well Premier-level tournaments
Sydney International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
and
Kremlin Cup. Once again, she qualified for the
WTA Finals. Together with
Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková, she won the title, defeating
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings#Current rankings, singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest-ranked Dutch female playe ...
and
Johanna Larsson
Johanna Larsson (; born 17 August 1988) is a Swedish former tennis player. In her career, she won two singles and 14 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, with 13 singles and 17 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. Her career-high WTA rankin ...
in the final.
2018: Grand Slam title, world No. 1 in doubles
Babos continued with reaching finals in singles. In late January, after the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
where she recorded top-ten win against
CoCo Vandeweghe in the first round, Babos went to the Taipei to play at the
Taiwan Open. There she won her third singles title, defeating
Kateryna Kozlova in the final. Later, in April, she reached another hardcourt singles final at the
Monterrey Open, but this time lost to top seed Garbiñe Muguruza. During the year, she also reached one quarterfinal at the
Shenzhen Open in the first week of the year.
Despite the fact she left her mark in singles, more success came in doubles. Babos continued with good results, but this time she made even more remarkable results. At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she won her first Grand Slam title, partnering with Kristina Mladenovic. They defeated Russian duo
Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova (; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She is a four-time Gra ...
/
Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
Vesnina is a four-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, h ...
. She also reached the
mixed doubles final alongside
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Machanda Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.
He attained the List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 ranking after winning his first Grand Slam (tenni ...
; they lost to
Gabriela Dabrowski and
Mate Pavić
Mate Pavić (; born 4 July 1993) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He is the current world No. 1 in doubles by the ATP. Pavić is one of only six men to complete the Career Golden Slam in doubles.
He is a seven-time Grand Slam champio ...
. Things continued on the right track, reaching a Premier Mandatory semifinal at the
Indian Wells Open and then final of the
Madrid Open from the same category. She followed this win with quarterfinals of the
Italian Open and
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, before she won title at the Premier-level
Birmignam Classic. After the quarterfinal loss in
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
* W ...
, Babos became world No. 1 doubles player on the July 16. She then continued with two other quarterfinals, at the
Canadian Open and
Cincinnati Open, before she reached another Grand Slam final at the
US Open.
Unlike at the Australian Open, this time Babos and Mladenovic, failed to win another Grand Slam title, losing to
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Jacinta Barty (born 24 April 1996) is an Australian former professional tennis player and cricketer. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
and CoCo Vandeweghe. Later, another two quarterfinals at the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Voyah) is a WTA 1000 tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its ...
and
China Open, before she participated at the WTA Finals.
For the second time in a row, Babos won the
WTA Finals title, this time with Mladenovic.
2019–20: Three major doubles titles
While struggling to do well in singles during 2019 and 2020, Babos shone in doubles. At the start of the 2019 season, Babos alongside Mladenovic reached her first final at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, but they lost to Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai in the straight-sets. In April 2019, she and Mladenovic won the
Istanbul Cup, losing only one game in the final match against
Alexa Guarachi and
Sabrina Santamaria. Another Grand Slam final they reached at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
. This time, they beat Chinese players
Duan Yingying and
Zheng Saisai
Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born 5 February 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 34, achieved on 2 March 2020, and a doubles ranking of No. 15, achieved on 11 July 2016. In her career, she wo ...
. Followed by a
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
* W ...
semifinal, again partnering with Mladenovic.
At the
US Open, she reached her first doubles quarterfinal there, thus completing quarterfinals at all four majors in the same year. Before she qualified for the
WTA Finals, she got to the quarterfinal at the
China Open and semifinal at the
Kremlin Cup.
For the first time since 2015, WTA Finals brought back round-robin group, and Babos and Mladenovic won all three matches, as well as the semifinal and final. It was the third title for Babos, and the second alongside Mladenovic.
Babos continued playing well in 2020. At her first tournament, the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, she won her third major title, all with Mladenovic. They beat
Barbora Strýcová
Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles.
She won two Gra ...
and Hsieh Su-wei in the final, and did not drop a single set during the whole tournament. In late February, she and Mladenovic missed the chance to reach another final, losing to Gabriela Dabrowski and
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 5 in singles and No. 4 in doubles by the WTA. Ostapenko has won nine WTA Tour-level singles and eleven doubles tit ...
in three sets in the semifinal of the
Qatar Ladies Open. Then, after six months of absence due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Babos competed at the
US Open. Babos and Mladenovic continued the good performances, winning their first-round match, before being disqualified from the tournament due to Mladenovic's contact with French player
Benoît Paire
Benoît "Ben" Paire (; born 8 May 1989) is a French professional tennis player.
His best result in a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam has been reaching the fourth round, which he has achieved on four occasions. He has won three singles titles, ...
who had been tested positive for COVID-19. However, that did not stop them to defend their title at the
French Open
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, defeating Alexa Guarachi and
Desirae Krawczyk in the final.
2021-22: WTA 1000 semifinal, back to top 100 in doubles
Babos started her 2021 season at the first edition of the
Gippsland Trophy where she lost in the second round to 12th seed Caroline Garcia. She also lost in the second round at the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
in singles.
Seeded fifth in doubles, she reached the semifinals at
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
with
Veronika Kudermetova
Veronika Eduardovna Kudermetova (born 24 April 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, achieved on 24 October 2022, and a best WTA doubles ranking of No. 2, reached on 6 June 2022. In ...
.
She withdrew from the
2022 Australian Open as she was not willing to comply with the COVID-19 rules. As a result, in April 2022 she hit her lowest doubles ranking of No. 242. She finished the 2022 season ranked No. 92 in doubles.
2023-2024: Back to WTA Tour in singles and majors in doubles
In singles, Babos qualified for the main draw of the
Morocco Open in Rabat, and defeated
Irina Khromacheva in the first round, her first singles win at a WTA 250 level in over two years. Ranked No. 181, she entered the singles main draw of the WTA 500
Zhengzhou Open as a lucky loser.
2025: New partner and back to the titles
Partnering
Luisa Stefani, in January Babos won the doubles title at the WTA 500
Upper Austria Ladies Linz, defeating
Lyudmyla and
Nadiia Kichenok
Nadiia Viktorivna Kichenok (, born 20 July 1992) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. On 31 January 2022, she reached a career-high of No. 29 in the WTA doubles rankings. Kichenok has won nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including fo ...
in the final and in May won the WTA 500
Internationaux de Strasbourg
The Internationaux de Strasbourg (formally known as the Strasbourg Grand Prix) is a professional women's tennis tournament held in Strasbourg, France. The tournament has been organized in May since its inception in 1987 and serves as a warm-up eve ...
, defeating in the final
Guo Hanyu and
Nicole Melichar-Martinez.
Playing style
Babos has an aggressive style of play with a good mix of shots. During time she developed her game and now she is capable of throwing some nice variations with
slices and
drop-shots, as well as using her doubles skills to take the net often, trying to reach
winners
Winners Merchants International L.P. is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. Its market niche is similar to the American chain TJ Maxx, and it is a partnered retailer to department stores HomeSense and Marshall ...
as much as possible.
Her father taught her not to be aggressive player nor defensive but neutral one, where she can hit slice and drop shots sometimes. Because of her height and power, her biggest strength is her
serve, which really helps when she is playing on faster courts like
grass
Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...
or
indoor hard.
She grew up playing on
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
.
Endorsements
Tímea Babos has plenty of sponsors. She has taken part in the MOL Talent Support Programme since 2008, and then in 2011, she became a participant in the MOL professional sponsorship programme. She uses VCORE-98 Racquet by
Yonex
is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running.
Its range of products manufactured and commercialized includes equipment for badminton and tennis ( rackets, s ...
. In 2016, she signed Sponsorship Agreement with
Fila, previously having endorsement deals with
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
and
K-Swiss, that did not last long. Among her other sponsors, there are
Samsung
Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
, Swedish drink brand "Vitamin Well", Hungarian company Cardo and Finnish brand Ice Power.
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
Singles
Doubles
Notes
*
† Babos and Mladenovic were forced to withdraw before second-round match due to COVID-related precautions for Kristina Mladenovic.
Grand Slam tournament finals
Doubles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner–ups)
Mixed doubles: 2 (2 runner–ups)
WTA Finals
Doubles: 3 (3 titles)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babos, Timea
1993 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Sopron
Hungarian female tennis players
Tennis players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
Australian Open (tennis) champions
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Wimbledon junior champions
French Open junior champions
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for Hungary
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles
French Open champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players
ITF World Champions
21st-century Hungarian sportswomen