Last Updated on August 19, 2022
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.
Current Coach Of Beatriz Haddad
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.
Their relationship has been excellent so far, with Haddad winning five titles which include 2 Singles titles and 3 Doubles titles, under the guidance of Rafael. Four of these titles came in 2022 as she looks forward to recovering her form fully.
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.
Remarkable Wins of Beatriz Haddad Maia
Haddad has played against some big players and also participated in big tournaments in her career. Some of the matches and games she had won surprised the spectators and herself. Here are some of her remarkable triumphs in 2022:
- WTA 250 Nottingham Open: This is the biggest Singles title she has won in her career, but she did not end the tournament with just this title. She also walked home with the Doubles title of the game alongside Zhang Shuai.
- Birmingham Classic Open: She had to face her Doubles partner, Zhang Shuai, in the tournament’s final and won the title relatively too easily following Zhang’s retirement after the first set.
- Iga Swiatek: She defeated a World number 1 on her way to the Toronto National Bank Open final to record the most significant win of her career and her fifth win against a top 5 player. She also defeated some other top players before losing the final to Simona Halep.
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 |
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.