Anna Fitzpatrick

Anna Fitzpatrick (born 6 April 1989) is a British former professional tennis player.

Personal life

Fitzpatrick attended St Thomas of Canterbury school in Sheffield, St Mary's Roman Catholic High School, Chesterfield and Woodhouse Grove School in Apperley Bridge, City of Bradford. She has three older brothers. Growing up, she played tennis at Beauchief Tennis Club and at Graves Tennis Centre.

Playing style Fitzpatrick liked to play aggressively, coming to the net as often as possible. When at the back of the court she was looking for opportunities to attack, and often tried to serve and volley to change the pace of the match. According to Fitzpatrick, her volley was "what [her] whole game is built on" and her least favourite surface is clay.

Career Junior (2003–2007) Fitzpatrick's first match on the junior ITF circuit came in July 2003 and her last in June 2007. During her four-year junior tennis career, she did not reach any tournament finals but reached the semi-finals of three tournaments, one of which was the 2007 Wimbledon girls' tournament where she lost to eventual champion, Urszula Radwańska, 6–7(3), 3–6. She also lost in the quarterfinals of a total of five tournaments. Her win–loss record for singles competition was 25–26.

As a junior doubles competitor, Fitzpatrick won one tournament (partnering Jade Curtis) and was a runner-up in another. She was also a semi-finalist four times and lost in the quarterfinals in nine tournaments. One of the tournaments in which Fitzpatrick became a quarterfinalist was in the 2007 Wimbledon girls' doubles tournament with Jade Curtis. She ended her junior career with a doubles win–loss record of 27–28. Her career-high combined singles and doubles ranking was world No. 180 (achieved 9 July 2007).

2005 saw Fitzpatrick play in a total of eleven ITF tournaments. She lost in round two in two tournaments, the first round in three and the qualifying stages a total of six times. Her first year-end ranking was world No. 1102. In July, she reached the semifinals of a $10k event in Calgary (where she won the doubles tournament to give her the first doubles title of her career) and in September she reached the semifinals of another $10k event, this one in Nottingham. She did not pass the second round in any other ITF tournaments that season and finished the year with a ranking of world No. 383.

2008 In April 2008, Fitzpatrick reached her first ITF quarterfinal of the year in Toluca, a $10k tournament. Just two weeks later she reached her second of the year, this one in Irapuato $25k. In June, the first of four consecutive wildcards allowed her direct entry into the main draw of the $50k event in Surbiton where she lost to Georgie Stoop in round one. Her second wild card of June entered her into the main draw of the DFS Classic, a Tier III tournament. She was beaten by Melanie South, 4–6, 4–6, in round one. Wild card number three allowed her access into the qualifying draw of the International Women's Open where world No. 62, Ekaterina Makarova, beat her in straight sets, 6–7(4), 3–6. Her fourth of four consecutive wild cards gave her entry into the qualifying draw of Wimbledon where she was beaten by Yuliana Fedak from Ukraine. In early August, Fitzpatrick injured her foot while playing in an ITF in Portugal. The injury turned out to be a stress fracture in her left foot and it put her out of action for the rest of the season and as a result, she ended the season ranked world No. 424.

2009 Fitzpatrick returned to the ITF Circuit in March 2009. In her first tournament since injuring her foot, she partnered Stefania Boffa to win the title at the $10k tournament in Bath. She and Boffa again joined forced in their next tournament, the $25k in Jersey, where they reached the semifinals. She made her first real impact in singles in July when she reached a $10k quarterfinal before immediately going on to reach the final of another $10k. She beat the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds before losing to Heather Watson, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6, in the final. In August, Fitzpatrick played her final tournament of 2009 (a $10k in London) where she was beaten by compatriot, Jocelyn Rae, in the semifinals. During this tournament, her foot injury worsened once again and forced her out until March/April 2010. As a result of this, Fitzpatrick's year-end singles ranking for 2009 was 761.

ITF Circuit finals Singles (3–4) Legend$25,000 tournaments$10,000 tournaments Finals by surface Hard (2–3) Grass (1–1)

Doubles (19–13) Finals by category$50,000 tournaments$25,000 tournaments (5–3)$10,000 tournaments (14–10) Finals by surface Hard (18–10) Clay (1–1) Grass (0–2)