Valentina Sassi

Valentina Sassi
Full name	Valentina Sassi
Country (sports)	Italy
Born	12 July 1980 (age 44); Seravezza, Italy
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$175,976
Singles
Career titles	6 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 144 (8 April 2002)
Doubles
Career titles	7 ITF
Highest ranking	No. 153 (11 September 2006)

Valentina Sassi (born 12 July 1980) is an Italian tennis coach and an instructor of the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). She is a former professional tennis player^[1] and a doubles bronze medalist for Italy at the 2001 Mediterranean Games.

Born in Seravezza, Sassi made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Madrid Open in 2001, as a qualifier. In 2002, she reached her best singles ranking of 144, making main-draw appearances at Oporto and Casablanca that year. Sassi, a right-handed player, won six singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, before retiring in 2008.

Career

Sassi started playing tennis when she was six years old before developing into a professional tennis player. She made her WTA Tour debut at the Madrid Open in 2000,^[1] and competed in the majors of Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Australian Open, and the Internazionali di tennis in Rome. In 2004, she won the Italian Absolute Championships. At the peak of her career, Sassi played in doubles with players such as Jelena Janković, Kim Clijsters, Miroslava Vavrinec, Jelena Dokic and Daniela Hantuchová. She played 488 games with 60 per cent winning rate before quitting in 2006.^[1]^[2]

Coaching

Sassi moved to the United States in 2008 and started coaching tennis. Later, she joined Rick Macci tennis academy where she was involved in coaching players such as Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriati and Andy Roddick.^[3]^[4] In May 2020, Sassi earned the title of International Professional Tennis Coach as Instructor of the Italian Tennis Federation USPTA, the highest level instructor of young tennis players.^[5]

ITF Circuit finals

$50,000 tournaments
$25,000 tournaments
$10,000 tournaments

Singles: 10 (6–4)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	29 November 1998	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Hard	Joana Cortez	7–6, 3–6, 6–3
Win	2.	8 November 1999	Le Havre, France	Clay	Virginie Razzano	6–1, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	1.	1 May 2000	Bari, Italy	Clay	Natalia Gussoni	6–0, 4–6, 2–6
Win	3.	11 June 2001	Grado, Italy	Clay	Antonella Serra Zanetti	6–3, 7–5
Loss	2.	31 May 2004	Galatina, Italy	Clay	Paula García	1–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	3.	17 January 2006	Fort Walton Beach, United States	Hard	Gréta Arn	5–7, 2–6
Win	4.	14 July 2007	Imola, Italy	Hard	Giulia Gatto-Monticone	7–6⁽¹⁾, 6–2
Win	5.	12 September 2007	Casale Monferrato, Italy	Clay	Aurélie Védy	3–6, 7–6⁽⁷⁾, 6–2
Win	6.	29 September 2007	Ciampino, Italy	Clay	Verdiana Verardi	6–1, 1–6, 6–3
Loss	4.	19 October 2007	Settimo San Pietro, Italy	Clay	Anna Floris	6–7⁽²⁾, 3–6

Doubles: 17 (7–10)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	22 August 1999	Alghero, Italy	Carpet	Sabina Da Ponte	Roberta Vinci Flavia Pennetta	2–6, 1–6
Win	1.	7 November 1999	Saint-Raphaël, France	Hard	Maja Matevžič	Victoria Courmes-Benedetti Laëtitia Sanchez	6–3, 6–1
Loss	2.	6 August 2000	Alghero, Italy	Clay	Alice Canepa	Ayami Takase Tong Ka-po	6–3, 3–6, 1–6
Loss	3.	19 November 2000	Naples, United States	Clay	Maret Ani	Nana Miyagi Elena Tatarkova	3–5, 4–2, 4–2, 3–5, 1–4
Loss	4.	2 February 2003	Rockford, United States	Hard	Michaela Paštiková	Debby Haak Seda Noorlander	5–7, 4–6
Loss	5.	11 October 2005	Victoria, Mexico	Hard	Soledad Esperón	María José Argeri Letícia Sobral	3–6, 4–6
Loss	6.	13 November 2005	Mexico City	Clay	Francesca Lubiani	Jenifer Widjaja Carla Tiene	6–7⁽⁵⁾, 3–6
Win	2.	22 November 2005	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	Hard	Francesca Lubiani	Jenifer Widjaja Olga Brózda	6–3, 4–6, 7–5
Loss	7.	18 December 2005	Bergamo, Italy	Carpet (i)	Francesca Lubiani	Marina Shamayko Ekaterina Bychkova	1–6, 3–6
Win	3.	1 May 2006	Catania, Italy	Clay	Francesca Lubiani	Diana Brunel Virginie Pichet	w/o
Loss	8.	30 May 2006	Galatina, Italy	Clay	Kira Nagy	Danica Krstajić Renata Voráčová	4–6, 0–6
Win	4.	29 July 2006	Monteroni d'Arbia, Italy	Clay	Aurélie Védy	Matea Mezak Nika Ožegović	5–7, 6–4, 6–0
Win	5.	28 July 2007	Monteroni d'Arbia, Italy	Clay	Alisa Kleybanova	Elena Pioppo Verdiana Verardi	7–5, 6–2
Win	6.	25 August 2007	Trecastagni, Italy	Hard	Valentina Sulpizio	Lisa Sabino Nicole Clerico	4–6, 6–4, 7–5
Loss	9.	17 September 2007	Lecce, Italy	Clay	Kira Nagy	Claire de Gubernatis Tatjana Priachin	3–6, 2–6
Loss	10.	19 October 2007	Settimo San Pietro, Italy	Clay	Stefania Chieppa	Anna Floris Valentina Sulpizio	1–6, 4–6
Win	7.	5 May 2008	Florence, Italy	Clay	Kira Nagy	Ksenia Palkina Martina Caciotti	6–2, 6–3