Nadia Podoroska

Nadia Natacha Podoroska (Spanish pronunciation: [ˌnaðja poðoˈɾoska]; born 10 February 1997) is an Argentine professional tennis player. On 12 July 2021, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 36, and on 18 October 2021, she peaked at No. 62 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Podoroska has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour and three singles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour along with 14 singles titles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

Podoroska competed for Argentina at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Podoroska was born on 10 February 1997, in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, and grew up in a middle-class family in Fisherton, a neighborhood founded in the late 1880s by railroad workers. She is one of three children born to father Marcelo and mother Irene; she is of Ukrainian descent as her grandparents were Ukrainian, but she does not speak the language at all. Her father was a watchmaker by profession who over the years became a pharmacist, and her mother is also a pharmacist. Nadia was the first in her family to play tennis, a sport that she began practicing at the Fisherton Athletic Club at age five. As a child, she followed the performances of the Argentine male tennis players, especially Guillermo Cañas, although not so much of the national female representatives because they were broadcast infrequently on television. Among the female tennis players, she admired the Williams sisters.

Her first years on the circuit were complicated due to financial difficulties competing internationally. In late 2017, she suffered several injuries that jeopardized her career. Upon her return, she decided to live in Alicante, Spain to settle in Europe and have greater chances of competing weekly. In addition, she began to be trained by Juan Pablo Guzmán and Emiliano Redondi. She added Pedro Merani to her team, with whom she performs mental training based on bompu zen and neuroscience, an aspect that she considered important to change her attitude towards tennis and its matches.

In October, Podoroska became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of the French Open when she beat third seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Podoroska was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year for her rankings achievement and her solid performance throughout the season.

She continued her good form when she reached the quarterfinals of the Yarra Valley Classic by defeating fourth-seeded Petra Kvitová.

In May, at the Italian Open, she defeated 23 times Grand Slam champion and eighth-seeded Serena Williams in the second round. This was her third top-ten win in the last eight months. Williams was playing her 1000th match of her career.