Who is Timea Bacsinszky?
Of the semifinalists in the women’s draw of the 2015 French Open, the 25-year-old Swiss is the least known. Having never made it past the third round of any grand slam tournament before, Bacsinszky is a true dark horse at Roland Garros this year. Yes, semifinalists Ana Ivanovic and Lucie Safarova are somewhat surprises as well, but Ivanovic has won the French before, and this is Safarova’s second grand slam semifinal in less than a year. Of course, no one is shocked to see Serena in the semis, who is the clear favorite to beat Bacsinszky tomorrow.
But there’s a reason most folks — besides truly dedicated tennis fans — don’t know who Timea Bacsinszky is. After picking up a racket at age three and growing up a tennis prodigy, she became apathetic towards tennis and immersed herself in hotel management, writes Ben Rothenberg in the New York Times. According to the Times, Bacsinszky entered the French Open in 2013 after an automated email notified her that her ranking was good enough to qualify. She’s won two of four career WTA titles in the past couple of months and with this semifinal run is probably saying, “over it,” to hotel management.
Anyone who casually takes a personal day from work to go play in the French Open is a winner to me, so I did my Google image research and like a good tennis blogger who should know these things, figured out who Timea Bacsinszky is. Now there’s only one question left. Do you know?
