Rossana de los Ríos
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| Country |  Paraguay |
|
| Residence | Miami, USA/Asuncion, Paraguay | |
| Date of birth | September 16, 1975 | |
| Place of birth | Asuncion, Paraguay | |
| Height | 5' 7 (1.70 m) | |
| Weight | 120 lb. (54.5 kg) | |
| Turned pro | 1993 | |
| Plays | Right; Two-Handed Backhand | |
| Career prize money | $744,459 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 375-256 | |
| Career titles: | 8 ITF titles | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 51 (November 12, 2001) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 2R (2002, 2001) | |
| French Open | 4R (2000) | |
| Wimbledon | 2R (2002) | |
| US Open | 2R (2002) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 117-133 | |
| Career titles: | 6 ITF titles | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 52 (May 12, 2003) | |
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Infobox last updated on: May 19, 2008. |
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Rossana Neffa de los Rios (born September 16, 1975) is a professional Paraguayan tennis player. As of May 19 2008, she is ranked 83 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. She was born in the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion, and now lives in Miami, USA, with her 10-year-old daughter Ana Paula Neffa de los Rios and her husband Gustavo Neffa, a retired Paraguayan football player who used to play for the Boca Juniors. Rossana achieved a career high singles ranking of No. 51 in September 2001, and has been as high as No. 52 in doubles. She has played doubles with players such as Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
De Los Rios was a successful tennis player on the junior tennis circuit. She was the world number one junior in 1992 and won the 1992 Junior French Open, beating Paola Suarez 6–4 6–0 in the final. She turned professional in 1993, but within a year she had retired from professional tennis, citing her new marriage and her desire to raise a family. Five years later, however, Rossana rededicated herself, and made an inspiring run to the fourth round at the 2000 French Open, which was not only impressive for a player who had not played professionally for five years, but also made it through the qualifying rounds and included a win over Amanda Coetzer. After a series of injuries forced her out of action for some time in 2004 and most of 2005, Rossana found great success in 2006 and her WTA Ranking sky rocketed up over 150 places to just outside the top 200. In 2007, Rossana continues her fine form and has captured three of her seven ITF titles this year, including $25K Palm Beach Gardens in May and $50K Mestre and $75K Albuquerque in September.
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[edit] Personal life
[edit] Being a Mother
Rossana commented in 2002 about being one of the very few mothers on the WTA Tour.[1]:
| “ | Being a mother was more important than being tennis player. Tennis was just my job. I always thought I stop for good. After practicing and practicing, I do well. It was hard with my daughter. My husband traveled with me, but we still needed a nanny sometimes. For us it is still not easy. Ana is five and she likes to watch tennis. Most of the bigger tournaments have nurseries, which helps. My mind has changed after Ana. It is easy for the men. They are not having the babies. Still, is good they are fathers. It's important to be parent. | ” |
Rossana also stated that Ana Paula plans to become a professional tennis player like her mother. [Translation from Spanish] [2]:
| “ | She is going to be a great tennis player, tennis enchants her and she always wants to come with me and accept the hard life of the tennis players well, travelling. She is very [good] friend of the Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, but also of the American Serena Williams. On one occasion she was with Serena and she asked her [Ana Paula] if she wanted to be like her mother and she [Ana Paula] answered: "I want to be like you, who wins all the tournaments | ” |
It is also possible that Ana Paula will play for the United States as she trains there and has lived in Miami for most of her life. However, Rossana has said that it depends on whether she receives support from Paraguay.[3]
Speaking about whether she regrets getting married so young in her career rather than continuing her tennis career at the time, Rossana said that: [4]:
| “ | I could have come very far in tennis. In 1992 I won the Junior Roland Garros but I made decisions and I am happy with my life. [Gustavo] Played soccer in the leagues of Italy and Argentina, with the national team and in the Olympic Games and he was good in that, but now he talks more about tennis. The times changed for the women and he helps me to be able to play calm. Now my goal is to return to the top 100. I am well, but for two years I had knee and wrist injuries and I had to come back from that. Perhaps I will retire in a few years and then I would like to help so that the Paraguayan girls are developed and are able to have a future, but by then if I am in the top 30 maybe I will defer that project. (she says with a laugh) | ” |
[edit] Career Summary
[edit] 1989-1994
As a 14-year-old, Rossana played just three matches and won the first match of her career on the ITF circuit in Sao Paulo. In 1990 Rossana only played twelve matches and won six of them. In May 1991, Rossana won her first ever ITF title in Francaville. The next month, she got through seven matches to reach the final in Modena, but was beaten. In September, she won her second ITF title in Lima very convincingly, without dropping a set. Her win/loss record for the year finished at 40-18. The following year in 1992, Rossana won her third career ITF title in Maria Capua in October, including a win over Silvia Farina Elia. The following week she reached the final in Asuncion but was defeated by fellow Paraguayan Larissa Schaerer in the final. Finished the year in Mildura where she made the final. Her win/loss record for the year concluded at 34-19. In 1993 she made the final in Caserta in June. As the world number 118, caused a big upset at the Puerto Rican Open by defeating top seed and world number 30 (at the time) Brenda Schultz-McCarthy in the first round. Win/loss record for the year finished at 20-18. Clearly more focused on her personal life off the court than on the court, Rossana won just two out of ten matches in 1994 and only played up until April.
[edit] 1995-1999
Marriage to Gustavo Neffa, gave birth to Ana-Paula Neffa De Los Rios on January 17 1997. Rossana commented on her return to the WTA Tour [5]:
| “ | I decided to play tennis again because one fine morning, I woke up feeling like I wanted to do it. | ” |
She returned in June 1999, after a five-year absence from the tour. In just her fifth tournament back, she won her fifth ITF title in Buenos Aires- losing just nine games in five matches. Her win/loss record for the year finished at 31-9.
[edit] 2000
Was Rossana’s most successful year on the WTA Tour. She won 22 out of 29 matches between March and June on the ITF circuit, but didn’t win a title. In June, Rossana easily qualified for the main draw of the French Open, losing just eleven games in three matches. In the main draw, she defeated Roger Federer’s current girlfriend, Miroslava Vavrinec in the first round, and Marlene Weingartner in the second round before upsetting the world number ten (at the time) Amanda Coetzer 7–5 6–7(4) 6–4. She then fell to fellow qualifier Marta Marrero- the occasion marked the first time two qualifiers had met in the fourth round of the French Open. In July, Rossana qualified for Wimbledon before being defeated by Tamarine Tanasugarn. She then went on to win just one of her next five matches before the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Here, she defeated Kveta Peschke 6–3 6–0 in the first round and Lindsay Davenport w/o. Jelena Dokic defeated her in the third round. Rossana finished the year with her return to the ITF circuit which saw her win 12 of her next 17 matches, including two finals at Miramar and Pittsburgh. Won 45 matches in total during the year, and lost 21.
[edit] 2001
Did not win two matches back-to-back until Madrid in May. In the first round she defeated Cristina Torrens Valero 6–1 6–0, and then recorded her greatest victory to date, with a 7–5 2–6 6–4 win over world number six (at the time) Monica Seles. [6]:
| “ | I knew that I could beat Monica, but when I was near victory I was thinking a lot of things, and I had to concentrate very hard to win. This is my most important victory, and I dedicate it to my husband. | ” |
She was defeated in the Quarterfinals, however. At the French Open in June, Rossana defeated Elena Likhovtseva in the opening round before losing a tight match in the second round to Petra Mandula. She then lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Jelena Dokic. In Knokke-Heist (Tier IV) in July, Rossana defeated world number 20 (at the time) Silvia Farina Elia 6–3 6–1 and reached the Quarterfinals. Two months later, Rossana recorded her best WTA Tour appearance to date, advancing to the Semifinals of Bahia (Tier II) including another win over Silvia Farina Elia, this time 6–3 6–2. Second seed Jelena Dokic put her run to an end. Finished the year with another Semifinal in Pattaya City (Tier V), losing to Patty Schnyder 7–5 0–6 6–3. Her win/loss record finished at 25-28.
[edit] 2002
Advanced to the second round of the Australian Open for the first time in January. Reached the Quarterfinals of Bogota in February. Won just three of her next thirteen matches until the French Open in June, where she recorded a third round appearance but fell to Elena Dementieva. Advanced to the second round of Wimbledon but was defeated at the hands of Monica Seles. In September, Rossana reached the Quarterfinals of Bali (Tier III) by upsetting top seed Tamarine Tanasugarn 2–6 6–4 6–2. She was then defeated by Conchita Martinez in straight sets. In Bratislava (Tier V), Rossana stunned Francesca Schiavone in straight sets and reached the Quarterfinals. She led Slovenian Maja Matevzic 6–1 5–2 but bowed out 1–6 7–5 6–1. She won 21 matches in total during the year, and lost 30.
[edit] 2003-2005 and Injury
Rossana had a disappointing 2003 season. She didn’t reach the Quarterfinals or better in any WTA Tour tournament, but on the ITF circuit she did manage to advance to the Semifinals of Troy in October. She lost in the opening rounds of the Australian Open and the French Open, and was defeated 6–0 6–0 by Kim Clijsters in the first round at Wimbledon. She won 29 matches (18 of which were in qualifying) and lost 29 matches. In 2004 Rossana did not compete in any WTA or ITF Tournament until May due to injury. She won two matches in qualifying for the French Open in just her second tournament of the year, but lost in the final round. The following week she made the Semifinals of Allentown on the ITF circuit, as well as the final of College Park in July. She lost in the first round of qualification at the U.S. Open in September, but rebounded with a Semifinal at Ashburn on the ITF tour and more impressively, qualified for Philadelphia (Tier II) and reached the second round before being defeated by Anastasia Myskina 6–4 7–6(0). She won 19 matches during the year and lost a total of 13. Things began well for Rossana in 2005, starting with a Semifinal appearance in Waikoloa on the ITF tour. However, a knee injury kept her out of play from February to October. Upon her return to the ITF tour, Rossana had fallen over 100 positions on the WTA Tour rankings- from #186 to #289. In her return tournament, she impressively reached the Semifinals of Pelham. In October, she reached the Quarterfinals of San Francisco. She won 9 matches out of 16 for the year.
[edit] 2006
Was Rossana’s second most successful year on the WTA Tour. Although she won just five of her first nine matches, it was Indian Harbour Beach in May which saw Rossana reach her first ITF Final since Collage Park in 2004. Ranked as low as #452, she came through in qualifying, winning seven consecutive matches enroute to the final. She was defeated by Edina Gallovits 3–6 7–6(5) 7–6(0) despite Rossana leading 5–0 in the final set and having six match points. Despite the loss, next week Rossana went on to reach the final in Palm Beach Gardens, beating the eighth, fourth and second seeds respectively, before losing in the final. In July she qualified for Cincinnati (Tier III) but lost to world number 26 (at the time) Katarina Srebotnik 6–3 7–6(3), after serving for the set at 5–3 in the second set. She reached the Quarterfinals in Lexington later in the month, but lost 7–6(6) 4–6 7–6(6) to Stephanie Dubois, despite leading 4–2 in the final set. She fell in the first round qualifying of the U.S. Open to Erika Takao, in what was her first Grand Slam qualifying match in two years.
In November, she recorded her worst loss of the year in qualifying for Pittsburgh, but reversed it the next week with an impressive win over sixth seed Aleksandra Wozniak, to record her best win of the year. She went on to reach the Semifinals. Two weeks later, Rossana claimed her first ITF title since 1999. She won the Santaluz tournament in San Diego, beating sixth seed Ivana Abramovic 6–0 6–2 in the final. The win for Rossana encouraged her to compete in Australia in 2007, and resurrected her ranking to just outside the top 200. She climbed 117 ranking positions in the year, from #386 to #209 in the twelve months, and won 31 matches compared to 14 losses.
[edit] 2007
To commence 2007, Rossana suffered a first round defeat in $50K Waikoloa to start her 2007 season. In her next tournament, she reached the Semifinals of $25K Palm Desert, beating top seed Edina Gallovits 6–2 6–1. In February, she fell in the first round of $75K Midland the next week but still secured a position inside the top 200 at #193- the first time she had broken into the top 200 since 2004. In late February, she competed in Acapulco (Tier III), marking her first tier tournament since Cincinnati in July 2006. She fell in the first round in a close match to the second seed Tathiana Garbin, 4–6 6–2 6–4. In April, Rossana represented Paraguay in the annual Federation Cup. Paraguay won all four matches in their Pool and defeated Ecuador in the play-off and as a result qualified for Group 1 of the Americas Zone for 2008. In early May, Rossana recorded her 19th and 20th Quarterfinal appearances at $50K Charlottesville and $50K Indian Harbour Beach respectively. She fell to the eventual winner Edina Gallovits in both events, both times the score being 6–2 6–2. The following week, Rossana won her first ITF title in 2007 and her sixth in her career in $25K Palm Beach Gardens. As the second seed, she won five matches in the process and lost just one set, beating former top ten player Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 7–5 6–4 in the final.
Fresh from victory, Rossana quickly flew to Paris for the first time since 2004 to compete in the qualfication event of the second grand slam of 2007, Roland Garros. She caused a stir by easily qualifying, easily winning three straight sets matches. Unfortunately, she lost to the 32nd seeded Martina Muller in straight sets in the first round.[7]. Her next tournament was the $75K Prerov,where she reached the quarterfinals in singles, before losing to Sofia Arvidsson in straight sets, and reached the doubles final with her partner Edina Gallovits, where they lost to top seeds in three sets. A fortnight later she participated in the Qualifying event in Wimbledon which marked her first grass court match since 2003. She passed the first round in straight sets but lost to Anda Perianu, despite Rossana serving for the match at 5–3 in the final set. Rossana then flew to Italy and made back to back Semifinal appearances in $25K Padova and $50K Cuneo, including a win over top seed Edina Gallovits in Cuneo. She then played in $100K Biella. There, she reached the second round losing to world number 36 Agnieszka Radwańska 6–0 6–2. Rossana then played in Rio De Janeiro for the Pan American Games, representing Paraguay. As the number 4 seed, she won her first round easily, but lost in the second round to Yamile Fors of Cuba, 7–6 (6) 3–6 7–5.
After this loss, she took some time off, and her next tournament was the U.S. Open qualifying event. There, she lost in the first round to Carla Suarez Navarro, 6–0 6–3. Next, Rossana went to the $50K Mestre in Italy. There, as the fifth seed, she won her second tournament of 2007, beating Alisa Kleybanova in the final 6–4 3–6 6–1. Straight after her victory, she went to the $100K Bordeaux but lost in the first round to the number 7 seed, Ekaterina Bychkova, despite winning the first set. The next week, Rossana claimed her biggest ITF title to date and the 8th ITF title of her career in $75K Albuquerque. The victory marked her second title in just three weeks. Enroute to the title in Albuquerque, Rossana won five matches- three of them in three sets- resulting in her ranking rising from #136 to #114. Rossana then made two back to back Quarterfinal appearances in $50K San Francisco and $50K Lawrenceville. She lost in the first round of Quebec City and fell in the Quarterfinals of $25K Mexico City to conclude the year.
[edit] 2008
In January, Rossana played in Australia for the first time since 2003. She won a match in qualifying at the Sydney Medibank International and the Australian Open. She represented Paraguay in the Federation Cup two weeks later, where Paraguay lost 3–0 to Puerto Rico and 3–0 to Brazil, but defeated Uruguay 3–0 and Mexico 2–0 to secure Paraguay's position in the Americas Zone I for 2009. In February, Rossana played her first main draw WTA match for the year in Vina Del Mar. She defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 7–6(8) 6–4, which marked her first main draw WTA victory since Philadelphia in 2004. She also reached the second round in Bogota and Miami, which resulted in her breaking back inside the WTA Top 100 Rankings for the first time since 2003. Rossana then reached the final of $25K Pelham and in May she qualified for Strasbourg, winning three qualifying matches. She will compete in Roland Garros and for the first time in 19 grand slams, Rossana's ranking will be high enough for her to directly enter the main draw.
[edit] Grand Slam Record
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | Q2 | - | - | - | - | 1R | 2R | 2R | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - |
| French Open | 1R | 1RQ | - | - | Q3 | 1R | 3R | 2R | 4RQ | - | - | - | - | - | - | Q3 | - |
| Wimbledon | - | Q2 | - | - | - | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1RQ | - | - | - | - | - | - | Q1 | - |
| U.S. Open | - | Q1 | Q1 | - | Q1 | Q2 | 2R | 1R | 1R | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - |
Key: Q1 - First Round Qualifying. Q2 - Second Round Qualifying. Q3 - Third (Final) Round Qualifying. Q - Qualified.
1R - First Round. 2R - Second Round. 3R - Third Round. 4R - Fourth Round.
