Luisa Stefani

Luisa Stefani Bio

Luisa Veras Stefani (born 9 August 1997) is a professional tennis player from Brazil who specializes in doubles. She is the first Brazilian woman to reach the WTA top 10 in the Open era, achieving that milestone on 1 November 2021 when she reached a career-high ranking of world No. 9 in doubles. She later improved her career-high to world No. 7 on 8 June 2026. Stefani is also a Grand Slam mixed doubles champion and an Olympic medalist, partnering Laura Pigossi at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to win bronze in women’s doubles.

Standing 1.68 m tall and playing right-handed with a two-handed backhand, Stefani turned professional in 2015 and represents Brazil from her residence in São Paulo. She is widely regarded as one of the most successful Brazilian doubles players of the modern era, with 15 WTA Tour doubles titles to her name.

Early Life and Background

Luisa Veras Stefani was born on 9 August 1997 in São Paulo, Brazil. She began playing tennis at the age of 10, enrolled by her mother, who had taken tennis lessons to improve her Frescobol skills. Stefani enjoyed the sport immediately and asked to play more often, eventually deciding to pursue a professional career in tennis.

At the age of 14, Stefani’s family moved to the United States so that she could train and develop in a stronger competitive environment. She enrolled at Saddlebrook Tennis Academy, where she sharpened her game and competed in the main draws of all four junior Grand Slams. She reached two junior Grand Slam doubles semifinals, at the 2014 French Open and the 2015 US Open, and attained a career-high ITF Junior ranking of world No. 10 in March 2015.

Stefani later attended Pepperdine University on a college scholarship, where she studied advertising before pausing her academic program. Playing for the Pepperdine Waves in the Intercollegiate Tennis tour, she was ranked as high as No. 2 in the ITA rankings and was named the 2015 ITA National Rookie of the Year after a 40–6 freshman season. She reached the semifinals of the 2016 NCAA Singles Championships, where she lost to eventual champion Danielle Collins.

Path to Professional Tennis

Stefani made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2015 Brasil Tennis Cup, where she received a singles main-draw wildcard. Through her teenage years, she balanced junior Grand Slam competition with college tennis at Pepperdine, steadily building the doubles skills that would later define her career.

Until 2019, Stefani tried to play both singles and doubles on tour. After an invitation to make her doubles debut at the 2019 Monterrey Open with Giuliana Olmos led to a semifinal and a rise in the rankings, she decided to focus exclusively on doubles. That same year, she reached her first WTA Tour doubles final at the Korea Open with Hayley Carter and won her first career title at the Tashkent Open. By October 2019, she had cracked the top 100 in doubles at No. 75.

At the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Stefani won a bronze medal in doubles alongside Carolina Alves, signaling her arrival as a medal-winning international competitor.

Luisa Stefani Career

Early Career (2015–2019)

Stefani’s early professional years were split between singles development and doubles experimentation. After her 2015 WTA Tour debut in Brazil and her college career at Pepperdine, she gradually shifted her focus toward doubles, where she found greater success and faster ranking improvement.

Her breakthrough came in 2019 when, alongside Hayley Carter, she won her first WTA Tour title at the Tashkent Open and entered the top 100. The pair quickly became a consistent doubles team, and their partnership set the foundation for Stefani’s climb into the upper reaches of the doubles rankings.

WTA Doubles Breakthrough (2020–2021)

In 2020, Stefani and Carter reached the Australian Open third round, won a Challenger title in Newport, and reached the Lexington Open title in August. At the US Open, Stefani produced her best Grand Slam doubles run to that point, reaching the quarterfinals. That achievement ended a 38-year drought for Brazilian women in Grand Slam doubles, last seen at Wimbledon in 1982.

The 2021 season defined Stefani’s career. She and Carter reached their first WTA 1000 final at the Miami Open, and at the postponed Tokyo Olympics, Stefani partnered Laura Pigossi to win the bronze medal in women’s doubles. The pair saved four match points against Karolína Plíšková and Markéta Vondroušová in the round of 16, then upset Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina to become the first Brazilians ever to win an Olympic tennis medal. Later in 2021, Stefani won the Canadian Open with Gabriela Dabrowski, reached the Cincinnati Open final, and at the US Open reached her first Grand Slam doubles semifinal before withdrawing with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. After surgery, she rose to No. 9 in the world on 1 November 2021, becoming the first Brazilian woman in the Open era to reach the WTA top 10 in doubles.

Olympic Bronze Era (2020–2021)

The Tokyo Olympics stood as the defining team moment of Stefani’s early career. With Pigossi ranked only No. 190 in doubles, the duo entered the draw as underdogs one week before the Games opened. Their semifinal upset of Kudermetova and Vesnina and the bronze-medal finish cemented their place in Brazilian tennis history and elevated Stefani’s profile ahead of her top-10 breakthrough later that season.

Comeback and Mixed-Doubles Title (2022–2023)

After nearly a year recovering from knee surgery, Stefani returned to action at the 2022 Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and won the WTA 250 title in Chennai with Dabrowski. Later in 2022, partnering Storm Sanders, she won a WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara, defeating fellow Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia in an all-Brazilian final. That result moved her more than 160 ranking spots, from No. 217 back into the top 100, finishing the year at No. 48.

The 2023 season produced her crowning Grand Slam moment. Withdrawn from the women’s doubles at the Australian Open after Caty McNally’s injury, Stefani instead entered the mixed doubles with Brazilian partner Rafael Matos. They defeated Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in straight sets to become the first all-Brazilian pair to win a major title. Stefani became the second Brazilian woman ever to win a Grand Slam title, after Maria Bueno, and the first Brazilian woman to win the Australian Open mixed doubles. She also won WTA 500 titles in Adelaide with Taylor Townsend, in Abu Dhabi with Zhang Shuai, and in Berlin on grass with Caroline Garcia, climbing back into the top 10 after the US Open. At the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, she and Pigossi won doubles gold.

Dabrowski Reunion and Top-10 Return (2026)

In November 2025, Stefani announced she would reunite with Gabriela Dabrowski for the 2026 season. After Dabrowski recovered from a foot injury, the pair reached the Australian Open women’s doubles semifinal, won the Abu Dhabi Open for their third title together, and reached the Miami Open semifinal. They won the Strasbourg title in straight sets, Stefani’s first successful title defense and her 15th WTA Tour title, before reaching the French Open women’s doubles semifinal. Following Roland Garros, Stefani reached a new career-high of world No. 7 in the WTA doubles rankings on 8 June 2026.

Driving Style and Strengths

Stefani plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand and thrives on fast, aggressive doubles partnerships built around sharp net play and composed returning. Her coaches have highlighted her competitive temperament and her ability to absorb pressure in tight tiebreaks, qualities that have powered her through multiple championship tiebreaks and match-point saves in big moments.

Notable Events and Milestones

Stefani’s signature milestones include her 2021 Olympic bronze with Laura Pigossi, her 2023 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Rafael Matos, her WTA Finals run in 2025 with Tímea Babos where she became the first Brazilian to reach the WTA Finals final, and her career-high world No. 7 doubles ranking reached on 8 June 2026. She has saved match points in Olympic and WTA 1000 finals, demonstrating her reputation for clutch doubles play.

Luisa Stefani Career Wins

Across her career, Luisa Veras Stefani has compiled an extensive doubles résumé, with 15 WTA Tour doubles titles, including three at the WTA 1000 level and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. Her doubles career record stands at 323–141, and she has won 22 ITF Circuit doubles finals along with three WTA 125 doubles titles.

WTA Tour and Grand Slam Highlights

Stefani’s first WTA Tour title came at the 2019 Tashkent Open with Hayley Carter. She has since added WTA 1000 titles in Montreal (2021), Guadalajara (2022), and Strasbourg (2026), plus WTA 500 titles in Adelaide, Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Linz, and Strasbourg (2025). Her first Grand Slam title came at the 2023 Australian Open in mixed doubles with Rafael Matos, and she has reached WTA Finals in 2025, becoming the first Brazilian to reach the WTA Finals final.

Stefani has reached four Grand Slam women’s doubles semifinals: the 2021 US Open, the 2023 US Open, the 2026 Australian Open, and the 2026 French Open. She reached the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon in 2025 with Joe Salisbury, finishing as runner-up.

Other Wins and Performances

Beyond the WTA Tour, Stefani won a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima with Carolina Alves and doubles gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago with Laura Pigossi. She has a Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup career record of 10–2 and has represented Brazil in multiple ties, including a 2023 playoff win over South Korea in Brasília alongside Ingrid Martins.

Luisa Stefani Family

Family Background and Racing Lineage

Stefani was raised in São Paulo, Brazil, and introduced to tennis by her mother, who had taken tennis lessons to improve her Frescobol skills. Her family’s decision to relocate to the United States when she was 14 helped launch her professional career, and she later honored her late maternal grandfather, Airton, by tattooing the Portuguese phrase “Foco, força e fé” on her right arm after her 2023 Australian Open mixed doubles win.

Personal Life

Since 2022, Stefani has been in a relationship with Guilherme Pachane, a former Brazilian collegiate tennis player who has served as her head coach since 2024. She has described herself as a fan of the television series Ted Lasso, particularly the character Roy Kent, and has expressed a desire to meet the cast. Stefani bears an Olympic rings tattoo on her left arm, completed shortly after her 2020 Tokyo bronze medal.

2025 Season Performance

Luisa Stefani entered the 2025 season confident in her recovery from knee surgery and signed a sponsorship deal with the Brazilian sportswear company Slyce. She debuted the Slyce uniform at the Australian Open, where she partnered Peyton Stearns in women’s doubles and reached the second round. She also partnered Marcelo Arevalo in mixed doubles at the Australian Open, reaching the semifinals.

Stefani’s strongest stretch of the year came alongside Tímea Babos. The pair won the WTA 500 title in Linz, the Strasbourg WTA 500 on clay (her first career clay title), and the SP Open in São Paulo. They qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in Stefani’s career and became the first Brazilian pair to reach the WTA Finals final, finishing as runners-up to Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova. Stefani ended 2025 ranked No. 14 in the WTA doubles rankings.

Outside the WTA Tour, Stefani joined Brazil’s Billie Jean King Cup team for ties against Portugal and Australia in Hobart, helping Brazil sweep Portugal before falling to Australia. With her 2025 momentum and the reunion with Gabriela Dabrowski confirmed for 2026, Stefani enters the new season positioned to push deeper into Grand Slam doubles draws and contend for major titles.