| Gabriella Taylor | |
| Birth Date: | 7 March 1998 |
| Birth Place: | Southampton, England |
| Residence: | London, England |
| Plays: | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Careerprizemoney: | $213,542 |
| Singlestitles: | 6 ITF |
| Highestsinglesranking: | No. 162 (10 December 2018) |
| Australianopenresult: | Q1 (2019) |
| Frenchopenresult: | Q2 (2018) |
| Wimbledonresult: | 1R (2018) |
| Usopenresult: | Q1 (2018) |
| Doublestitles: | 3 ITF |
| Highestdoublesranking: | No. 479 (19 March 2018) |
| Wimbledondoublesresult: | Q1 (2017) |
Gabriella Patricia Taylor[1] (born 7 March 1998) is a British former tennis player.
Taylor won six singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 12 December 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 162. On 19 March 2018, she peaked at No. 479 in the WTA doubles rankings. Taylor retired from tennis in 2020.
Taylor was born on 7 March 1998 in Southampton, to a British father from Newcastle and a Bulgarian mother from Plovdiv. She moved to Marbella, Spain at the age of 13 to further her tennis career and to Barcelona at 19. She turned professional at the age of 16.
At the 2012 'British Junior National Championships' Taylor became under-14 girls' singles winner beating Katie Swan in the final 7–6(7), 6–3.[2] Later in the year she was runner-up at the world's most prestigious junior tournament Junior Orange Bowl losing to Maia Lumsden 6–3, 7–5,[3] both players having been semifinalists in that year's European equivalent the Petits As. The following year the two players teamed up to become Under-16 British National Junior Champions in the doubles competition.[4]
Taylor, Katie Swan, Freya Christie and Maia Lumsden were members of the 2014 British team, coached by Judy Murray, that triumphed in the Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy, an annual under-18's competition against the USA.[5] [6]
In November Taylor won her first ITF title in South Africa, unseeded she came from a set down to upset top seeded Naomi Totka of Hungary in three sets.[7]
In 2016, Taylor achieved her best juniors results in her sole junior major appearance at Wimbledon. She reached the quarterfinals[8] but had to retire in the following match against Kayla Day.[9] Taylor contracted a bacterial infection called leptospirosis, which would keep her from playing tennis for a month. Initially, she was thought to have been poisoned while her bag was left unoccupied, however, medical experts declared this to be highly unlikely.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Police later concluded that there was no evidence of deliberate poisoning.[16]
Taylor recovered sufficiently to reach three consecutive ITF finals at Heraklion, Greece in October and November although failing to win any.
In May, as the sixth seed, she won her first $25k tournament, beating third seed Danielle Lao in the final in straight sets.[17] Wimbledon granted wild card entries to her[18] in both the singles and the doubles (partnering Freya Christie) qualifying draws, losing both in the first round.[19] In November, she began working with coaches Xavier Budo and David Sunyer which she credits with changing her mindset, leading to her most successful period to date.
After three ITF title wins in February[20] and March, Taylor broke into the top 200 rankings for the first time.[21] She was subsequently chosen to represent Great Britain in the Fed Cup team alongside Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Anna Smith for the World Group II play-off tie in Japan,[22] however she did not play in any of the matches.[23]
Taylor made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2018 Nottingham Open. As a wildcard entry, she lost in the first round to defending champion Donna Vekić, in three sets.[24] In her first appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon, she lost to Eugenie Bouchard in three sets.
Following struggles with her mental health, Taylor retired from tennis in 2020 to pursue a career in art.[25] Her last professional tournament was an ITF event in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in March 2020, where she lost in a tight three-setter to Paige Hourigan in the round of 32.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[26]
| Tournament | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Win % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |||
| French Open | A | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |||
| Wimbledon | Q2 | A | Q2 | Q1 | 1R | Q2 | style=color:#767676 | NH | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | ||
| US Open | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |||
| style=text-align:left | Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 1 | 0–1 |
|
|
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1–0 | Nov 2015 | ITF Stellenbosch, South Africa | 10,000 | Clay |  Naomi Totka | 4–6, 6–2, 6–1 | |
| Loss | 1–1 | Oct 2016 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Valeria Savinykh | 2–6, 1–4 ret. | |
| Loss | 1–2 | Nov 2016 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Ioana Pietroiu | 3–6, 6–2, 2–6 | |
| Loss | 1–3 | Nov 2016 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard | Raluca Șerban | 4–6, 5–7 | |
| Win | 2–3 | May 2017 | ITF Changwon, South Korea | 25,000 | Hard |  Danielle Lao | 6–2, 6–2 | |
| Win | 3–3 | Dec 2017 | ITF Mumbai, India | 25,000 | Hard | Diāna Marcinkēviča | 4–6, 7–6(7), 6–3 | |
| Win | 4–3 | Feb 2018 | Launceston International, Australia | 25,000 | Hard | Asia Muhammad | 6–3, 6–4 | |
| Win | 5–3 | Feb 2018 | ITF Perth, Australia | 25,000 | Hard |  Myrtille Georges | 6–2, 7–5 | |
| Win | 6–3 | Mar 2018 | ITF Mildura, Australia | 25,000 | Grass | Shérazad Reix | 6–0, 6–3 | |
| Loss | 6–4 | Mar 2019 | ITF Nishi-Tama, Japan | 25,000 | Hard |  Daria Lopatetska | 6–7(4), 6–2, 3–6 | |
| Loss | 6–5 | Oct 2019 | ITF Antalya, Turkey | 15,000 | Hard |  Magdalena Pantuckova | 3–6, 1–6 | |
| Loss | 6–6 | Oct 2019 | ITF Antalya, Turkey | 15,000 | Hard | Daria Kruzhkova | 0–6, 0–3 ret. |
|
|
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1–0 | May 2016 | ITF Monzón, Spain | 10,000 | Hard | Alice Bacquié |  Estrella Cabeza Candela Cristina Sánchez-Quintanar | 6–1, 6–1 | |
| Loss | 1–1 | Jul 2017 | ITF Don Benito, Spain | 15,000 | Carpet |  Mia Eklund |  Maria Masini Olga Parres Azcoitia | 3–6, 3–6 | |
| Win | 2–1 | Mar 2018 | ITF Mildura, Australia | 25,000 | Grass |  Katy Dunne |  Alexandra Bozovic Olivia Tjandramulia | 5–7, 7–6(4), [10–5] | |
| Loss | 2–2 | Sep 2019 | ITF Marbella, Spain | 25,000 | Clay | Arantxa Rus | Andrea Lázaro García Irene Burillo Escorihuela | 7–5, 4–6, [4–10] | |
| Win | 3–2 | Oct 2019 | ITF Antalya, Turkey | 15,000 | Hard |  Mira Antonitsch | Viktoriia Dema Noa Liauw A Fong | 6–4, 6–7(5), [10–3] |