Profile:
Country: Italy
Birth Date: 29 April 1987
Birth Place: Bologna, Italy
Residence: Bologna, Italy
Height: 5 ft. 5 in. ( 1.65 metres )
Weight: 132 lbs. ( 60 kilos )
Plays: Right
Turned Pro: 2002
Boigraphy:
Sara tried a few different sports (football, swimming, athletics) before settling on tennis. She first got picked to represent Italy at the age of 12, in an international tournament in Auray (France). The same year, she went to the Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Florida, USA, where she stayed for 10 months. She didn't speak a word English when she arrived, and is the youngest player ever to stay there without parents. Sara said about this time: "...it was quite hard, I was crying nearly every day, but I didn't say a word to mum and dad, because I knew my family was making an effort and I didn't want to fail...". After this year, Sara went back to Italy and at the age of 14 she started to play in the Under 18 ITF circuit. When she was 15 years and 7 months old, she became the best Italian player Under 18, which she stayed until she turned 18.
Despite her promising results, Sara found it hard to become a professional player in Italy. She didn't receive a lot of support from coaches and other people who were professionally involved in tennis. They didn't seem to have a lot of faith in her abilities as a player, probably because of her small physique. For this reason, at the age of 17, Sara decided to move to Spain, where she found the perfect circumstances for her to train and to become a successful tennisplayer. After Sara won her second WTA title, in Portoroz in 2008, she said: "...I want to dedicate this victory to all the Italians that never believed in me as a tennis player, and always said I would never go anywhere."
Images:
Sara Errani
Sara Errani
Sara Errani
Sara Errani
Sara Errani
