Sabine Katharina Lisicki (; born 22 September 1989) is a German inactive professional tennis player.
Lisicki turned professional in 2006, and her breakthrough came in 2009 when she reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships, and also won her first title on the WTA Tour, at the Family Circle Cup. In March 2010, she suffered an ankle injury at the Indian Wells Open that kept her out of competition for five months and saw her fall out of the top 200. Lisicki rebounded in 2011 and won the Birmingham Classic, before entering the Wimbledon Championships as a wildcard and going on to reach the semifinals, where she lost to Maria Sharapova. In doing so she became only the second woman in Wimbledon history to make it to the semifinals while entering the tournament as a wildcard. She followed that two months later by winning her third WTA tournament, the Texas Open. In 2012, she achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 12 and again reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Again, in 2012 she suffered from another ankle injury that prevented her from having better results on tour. Lisicki reached the final of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, losing to Marion Bartoli. The following year, she had another quarterfinal at Wimbledon and won her first title in three years when she won the Hong Kong Open.
In doubles, Lisicki won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2011 with Samantha Stosur and in 2013 with Mona Barthel and the 2014 Miami Open with coach Martina Hingis. She also reached the doubles final at Wimbledon in 2011 with Stosur and came fourth in the mixed-doubles event at the 2012 London Olympics with Christopher Kas.
Between 2014 and 2018, Lisicki held the world record for the fastest serve by a female tennis player. A serve was measured during her first-round encounter against Ana Ivanovic at the 2014 Stanford Classic. She also held the record for the most aces in a singles match, hitting 27 aces during her second-round encounter against Belinda Bencic at the 2015 Birmingham Classic, until it was surpassed by Kristýna Plíšková at the 2016 Australian Open.
Early life Lisicki's parents emigrated to West Germany from Poland in 1979; her father, Dr. Richard Lisicki, is of German and Polish descent and her mother, Elisabeth, of Polish. They came to Germany as "Aussiedler", descended from German citizens who lived in the former eastern territories of Germany which had become part of Poland after World War II. In a 2009 interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, her father put emphasis on Lisicki being German: "Sabine is a German – not only because of her birth here [in Germany]." Lisicki was born in Troisdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 1989. Her father, who introduced her to the sport at the age of seven, has a doctorate in sport science and is her coach. Her mother is a painter specialising in ceramics.
Career Early years Since 2004, Lisicki has trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where she is sponsored and managed by IMG. She is coached by her father, who studied sport science in Wrocław and Cologne. Early in her career, Lisicki could not fly to tournaments because of a lack of funding. She had to be driven across Europe in a car by her parents so that she could attend tournaments. Lisicki said: "My parents did everything possible to let me play tennis. That's what I appreciated so much. My dad has worked from 8 in the morning til 9 in the evening to make it possible so I can play tennis. We had to cancel tournaments because we couldn't afford to go there."
In 2006, Lisicki competed at the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, where she defeated Ragini Vimal in the first, but lost in the final qualifying round to Sanaa Bhambri. She competed in her first WTA Tour main-draw match when she was given a wildcard to play at the German Open. She lost in the first round to Mara Santangelo, in three sets.
Lisicki had a successful year in 2007 on the ITF Circuit and climbed from world No. 497 to No. 198 in the WTA rankings. She won two titles, one in Jersey and the other in Toronto. She defeated top-seed Katie O'Brien at the Vancouver Open."Discontented top women's seed out; Katie O'Brien seen off by Germany's hard-hitting Sabine Lisicki, 17", The Province, 3 August 2007, p. A51.
2008: Start of the journey At the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam tournament, she defeated the 16th-seeded player, Dinara Safina, as well as Mariya Koryttseva to reach the third round as a qualifier. She lost her third round match to Caroline Wozniacki. In the first round of the Fed Cup against the United States, Lisicki defeated Lindsay Davenport in straight sets. Lisicki next reached the fourth round of the Miami Open, a Tier I event, where she defeated sixth seeded Anna Chakvetadze in straight sets, but was defeated in the next round by Elena Dementieva.
At Wimbledon, Lisicki lost in the first round to the 2007 runner-up, 11th seed Marion Bartoli. In October, Lisicki reached her first WTA tournament final at the Tashkent Open, where she lost in three sets to fellow teenager Sorana Cîrstea.
2009: Breakthrough year Lisicki started her year at the Hopman Cup in Perth where she advanced to the third round before losing to Dominika Cibulková in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Lisicki defeated the 30th seed Aleksandra Wozniak in the opening round before losing to Samantha Stosur in straight sets. She then took part in Germany's 3–2 win over Switzerland in their Fed Cup World Group II tie, defeating Timea Bacsinszky but losing to Patty Schnyder.
At the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Lisicki reached the semifinals, defeating third seed Lucie Šafářová on the way before losing to eventual winner Victoria Azarenka. Lisicki then took part in the first Premier Mandatory tournament of the year in North America. At the Indian Wells Open, she lost in the first round to Elena Vesnina. At the Miami Open, she lost in the second round to 26th seed Iveta Benešová.
During the clay-court season, Lisicki lost in the second round of the Amelia Island Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach to eventual finalist and fifth seed Aleksandra Wozniak. On the green clay at the Charleston Open in, Lisicki won her first WTA Tour title without dropping a set, defeating the fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the final. She had previously defeated second seeded Venus Williams in the third round and No. 6 seed Marion Bartoli in the semifinals. She then took part in Germany's Fed Cup World Group play-off win against China. She defeated world No. 16 Zheng Jie in the first singles match, and partnered with Anna-Lena Grönefeld to win the decisive doubles match.
Lisicki advanced to the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart before losing to third-seeded Jelena Janković in straight sets. She then advanced to the quarterfinals at the Portugal Open where she lost to compatriot Anna-Lena Grönefeld, retiring when 2–6 down. At the French Open, Lisicki lost to Lucie Šafářová in the first round.
On her first match on grass at the Eastbourne International, Lisicki lost to Samantha Stosur in the first round. In doubles, Lisicki and her partner Ana Ivanovic lost in the first round to Cara Black and Liezel Huber.
Lisicki played her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon, where she was beaten by world No. 1, Dinara Safina. On her way to the quarterfinal, she had defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the first round, Patricia Mayr in the second, the 2009 French Open champion and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth.
Seeded 23rd, Lisicki advanced to the second round at the 2009 US Open, but lost to qualifier Anastasia Rodionova. On 3 September 2009, daytime, Rodionova's match point, Lisicki slipped while going to return a backhand and injured her left ankle. She left the court in a wheelchair as Rodionova advanced to the third round. Lisicki later reported that an MRI showed no tears. The injury was a sprain, and Lisicki returned to her base in Florida for rehabilitation.
She returned to the tour at the Pan Pacific Open at the end of September, where she reached the second round before losing in three sets to seventh seed Jelena Janković. In October, she reached the final of the Luxembourg Open, but lost to Timea Bacsinszky. On her way to the final she beat Iveta Benešová, Polona Hercog, Patty Schnyder and Shahar Pe'er.
Lisicki qualified for the Tournament of Champions. She lost her first round-robin match to Aravane Rezaï, but won her second round-robin match against Melinda Czink.
2010: Injuries and struggles Lisicki started the season by playing at the Hopman Cup for Germany. She won her singles ties against Elena Dementieva and Laura Robson but lost to Yaroslava Shvedova. Partnering with Philipp Kohlschreiber, they lost all their doubles matches, so Germany did not proceed to the finals.
As the 21st seed, Lisicki was defeated at the Australian Open in the second round by Alberta Brianti, in three sets. She then played the Pattaya Open in Bangkok where she was the second seed and lost her second-round match to home player Tamarine Tanasugarn. At Dubai, she lost her second-round match against Venus Williams. Her next two tournaments were at Indian Wells and Miami. In both tournaments, Lisicki retired in the second round because of an ankle injury. The injury sidelined her for five months, and she withdrew from tournaments at Ponte Vedra and Charleston. She also missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Lisicki had to learn how to walk again and faced suggestions that she should retire rather than risk further injury. She later said: "I always believed. Always. No matter what happened. I can still remember when the doctor told me that I have to be on crutches the next six weeks. That period made me such a much stronger person and player. I know anything is possible after learning how to walk again. I love the sport so much and I miss it when I cannot be out there on the court. It just gives me the belief to overcome anything."
Coming into the US Open ranked world No. 96, Lisicki advanced to the second round before losing to seventh seed and eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva. After the US Open, she failed to qualify for the Luxembourg Open causing her ranking to fall to No. 179 in the WTA rankings.
2011: Return to form Lisicki started the season at the Auckland Open where she lost to Yanina Wickmayer in three sets in the second round. At Melbourne, Lisicki played the qualifying tournament and lost in the second round to Vesna Manasieva. After losing at the Indian Wells Open to Sorana Cîrstea in the qualifying rounds in March, Lisicki fell down the rankings to No. 218. She lifted her form and reached the third round at the Miami Open, where she was defeated by Maria Sharapova.
At the Family Circle Cup, Lisicki reached the third round, but lost to Sania Mirza in two sets. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she lost in the quarterfinals against her compatriot Julia Görges, eventual champion of the tournament. In doubles, Lisicki partnered with former world No. 1 doubles player Samantha Stosur to win her first ever career doubles title. At the French Open, Lisicki advanced to the second round against the number three seed, Vera Zvonareva. Lisicki had a match point at 5–2 of the third set, but she lost the point and eventually the match. Afterwards, she lay on the court, sobbing, and was taken off on a stretcher due to injury.Chase, Chris. "After blowing 5–2 lead in final set, Lisicki taken off on stretcher". sports.yahoo.com, 25 May 2011, retrieved 25 May 2011.