Last Updated on July 9, 2023
Brazil-born female professional tennis player Beatriz Haddad Maia has been the talk of the internet after making her way to the final of the 2022 Toronto National Bank Open. And this was a big surprise, considering the number of top players she knocked out to book a tie with Simona Halep in the tournament’s final. Unfortunately, she lost to Halep.
Haddad was born in Sao Paulo on the 30th of May 1996 into a family of Lebanese descent. Her father was Ayrton Elias Filho, while her mother was named Lais Scaff Haddad. Her mother and grandmother were well-known tennis players in Brazil, making it only normal for her to step into the big game at the age of five.
However, her story has been bitter-sweet over the years. She has suffered from back-to-back injury crises and was also a victim of a wrong doping accusation, which led to her suspension in 2019. She returned to the game after discovering she had unknowingly taken the contaminated food item.
Let’s quickly talk about her coach before we look more into her story.
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Who Is Beatriz Haddad Maia’s Current Coach?
Rafael Paciaroni
The current coach of Haddad is Rafael Paciaroni. Rafael has been her long-term coach, although we could not find when they began their relationship.
Nevertheless, the training partnership must have begun in 2017 when Haddad was listed among the beneficiaries of the Grand Slam Development Fund Programme. The program was introduced to assist promising young players to progress quickly in the game.
Rafael currently manages Haddad as a full-time coach while he still works with some other developing players under the program. Not so much is known about Rafael except that he has served as a tennis development coach at several facilities in Brazil and England.
There is no record of him being a professional tennis player before, and the names of past players he had worked with could not be found. We are not surprised since development coaches usually do not get the accolades they deserve.
2023 was a landmark year for Brazilian tennis player Beatriz Haddad Maia, all under the watchful guidance of her coach Rafael Paciaroni. Beatriz started the year strong, reaching the quarterfinals at the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi, following an intense three-set match with qualifier Yulia Putintseva. She also made it to the semifinals, defeating third seed and top-10 player Elena Rybakina, marking a six-match winning streak against top-10 players. However, she faced defeat in the semifinal match against Belinda Bencic. Despite the loss, Beatriz’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed as she moved to a career-high ranking of No. 12 in February 2023.
In the doubles arena, Beatriz found significant success partnering with Victoria Azarenka. Together, they won Beatriz’s maiden WTA 1000 doubles title at the Madrid Open, defeating top seeds Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff in a memorable final. Following this victory, Beatriz moved into the top 10 in the doubles rankings in May 2023. Singles success continued as well at the French Open, where Beatriz made it to the third round for the first time, defeating players like Tatjana Maria and Diana Shnaider. She even reached the quarterfinals, becoming the first Brazilian to do so since Maria Bueno in 1968. This dream run continued as she went on to defeat seventh seed Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinals to become the first Brazilian woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros in the Open Era. While she lost the semifinal to top seed and world No. 1, Iga Świątek, she entered the top 10 in singles in June 2023, marking another milestone in her career.
Previous Coaches From research, we believe Haddad has been more of a lone player since becoming a pro in 2014. The player was reported to have claimed she did not have a coach for a long time since she could not afford to pay a coach. Therefore, she participated in more tournaments to gather more money but was lucky to be part of the beneficiaries of the Grand Slam Development Fund Programme that listed her under Rafael at that time.
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Beatriz Haddad Maia’s Achievements With Different Coaches
We have collected in the table the data about the trophies won by Beatriz Haddad Maia under the guidance of various coaches.
| Coaches | Years of Completion | Titles |
| Rafael Paciaroni | 2017- till date | 2017 Bogota Open (Doubles) 2022 Sydney Open (Doubles) 2022 Nottingham Open (Doubles) 2022 Nottingham Open 2022 Birmingham Open 2023 – Madrid (w/Azarenka) |
Haddad is a top player who has survived the ups and downs of playing tennis to remain consistent in the game. Linking up with her coach, Rafael, has also helped her as he is gradually propelling her to the top of her game. We hope to see her win more titles soon with Rafael.
