The tennis player Bia Haddad Maia is breaking records and making history for Brazil over the years. Let’s find out more about the story of the top Brazilian player!
THE BEGINNING
Born in 1996 in the state of São Paulo, Bia started playing tennis at a very young age. Influenced by her mother and grandmother, who also play tennis, her love for the sport flourished in her life when she was around five years old. 22 years later, Haddad became the number #1 Brazilian woman player since the professionalization of tennis in 1968 (the so-called Open Era of tennis).
In general, she is the second-best Brazilian ranked in history, only behind Gustavo Kuerten, Guga, who was number #1 in the world and won three grand slams.
DOPING AND WRIST SURGERY
In July 2019, Bia shocked the tennis world after being suspended for failing a drug test. Later, she proved that she didn’t do it on purpose and that the supplements she was taking were previously contaminated. Therefore, her suspension was reduced and it had only a ten-month length.
Haddad said in a podcast that she received a letter from the International Tennis Federation and as soon as she saw the words “provisional suspension” she went to the bathroom and started crying. She also said that she never finished reading what was written.
She was free to play again in May 2020, but everything was paralyzed because of Covid-19, so she only got back in September of that year. Due to her low ranking, she had to rebuild everything from the beginning and play in smaller tournaments, like the ITF events, that are a tier below the WTA Tour.
Despite all of these setbacks, Bia couldn’t be stopped. She had a great couple of months in her comeback and won four ITF titles, proving to be a real fighter.
Nevertheless, 2020 had another plot twist for the Brazilian. In November she had to go under surgery as a consequence of an injury in her left hand, a benign bone tumor. Thankfully she had a great recovery and was able to be back on court again at the beginning of 2021.
BACK ON TRACK
By 2021, she was back in the top 100 of the world and won another five ITF tournaments. In 2022, Haddad won her first two big titles on the WTA tour. And in 2023, she had her best results on tour so far: she made a grand slam semifinal and became the first Brazilian woman since 1968 to do it.
Overall, she’s the second Brazilian woman to reach this milestone. Before the Open Era, only the legendary Maria Esther Bueno, who Bia mentioned as a big inspiration, had better results. Maria is the only player from Brazil to have won multiple singles grand-slam titles in different surfaces.
With the result in Roland Garros, Haddad debuted in the top 10 in the world. But she didn’t stop there and also won the biggest title of her career, the WTA Elite Trophy.
In the first grand slam of 2024, the Australian Open, she made it to the 3rd round and equaled Guga, who had Brazil’s best result at this tournament. There’s still a lot to happen until the Olympics, but Bia has a solid chance to classify through her ranking and says that Paris 2024 is a big goal for her. We definitely hope for another good year for the Brazilian!
After everything she went through in 2020, she still had the strength to come back and write history. Her story is a big example of resilience and she’s a great inspiration for young kids who dream about playing tennis like Bia Haddad someday.
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The article above was edited by Duda Kabzas.
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