Beatriz Haddad Maia was born on May 30, 1996 in Sao Paulo and started playing tennis at 5 years old, influenced by her mother, Lais Scaff Haddad, and grandmother, Arlette Scaff Haddad, who were also tennis players
From an early age he showed dedication to the sport and, at 14, left São Paulo and moved to Florianópolis, to train at the Academy of Larri Passos, notorious for his work with Gustavo Kuerten
In her youth career, she reached 15th place in the world ranking, as well as winning two pairs vice-championships at Roland Garros in 2012 and 2013. She was also a semifinalist in Wimbledon in 2011
As a professional, he won several titles in various competitions. In the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) circuit, it won two simple grass tournaments in 2022: Nottingham’s WTA 250 and Birmingham’s WTA 250
In doubles in the WTA circuit, it has four titles: Bogota (2015 and 2017), Sydney and Nottingham (both in 2022). He also won two WTA 1000 titles in pairs in 2021 and 2023, and has 26 titles in the ITF (International Tennis Federation) circuit)
Bia Haddad made history in Roland Garros 2023 by becoming the first Brazilian to qualify for the semifinal since Maria Esther Bueno in 1968
Throughout his career, Bia faced significant challenges such as shoulder injuries, herniated disc, broken vertebrae after a domestic accident and a benign tumor in his left hand
Already in 2019, suffered from a long suspension for doping. Shortly after being eliminated in the second round of Wimbledon’s main key, he received an ITF email stating that four substances were found on his anti-doping exam
She was preventively suspended for three months and took another four to be able to prove her innocence. Substances entered the tennis player from a contaminated supplement
Adding the suspension time, the removal due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the recovery after the removal of a tumor, Bia was almost a year off the court and did not qualify for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo
I had a lot of reasons to doubt, to think about giving up. […] Starting over, in tennis, it’s very difficult. I lost rhythm, I was out of the ranking. Recovering this space was an achievement
Bia Haddad in an interview with UOL
The athlete, however, turned around. In June 2023 it reached 10th place in the world WTA ranking, which repeated in October 2024
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