Julia Grabher (born 2 July 1996) is an Austrian professional tennis player.[1] On 26 June 2023, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 56. On 29 August 2016, she peaked at No. 387 in the doubles rankings.
Grabher has won one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour, along with 13 singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
Playing for the Austria Fed Cup team, Grabher has a win–loss record of 6–14 in singles and 2–9 in doubles (overall 8–23), as of November 2024.
Professional career
2019–22: WTA Tour debut, first Challenger title
Grabher was given a wildcard for the main draw of the 2019 Ladies Linz but lost in the first round to Slovak player Viktória Kužmová, in straight sets.[2]
Entering as a lucky loser at the Madrid Open, she won her first WTA 1000-level match, defeating another lucky loser, Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova,[10] but lost in the second round to top seed Iga Świątek.[11]
At the Italian Open, she went one step further to reach the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career, defeating wildcard Nuria Brancaccio[12] and upsetting 26th seed Jil Teichmann,[13][14] before losing to eighth seed Daria Kasatkina.[15] As a result, she moved 15 positions up in the rankings, to a new career high of world No. 74, on 22 May.[16]
Grabher reached her maiden WTA Tour final at the Morocco Open in Rabat, after a three set win over Julia Riera in the semifinals.[17] However, she lost the final to Lucia Bronzetti, also in three sets.[18]
In August, Grabher became the first Austrian to win a title at a $100k tournament, at the ITF Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, Spain, defeating Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro in the final and climbing to world No.54 as a result.[24]
Grabher suffered a wrist injury shortly before the US Open and was forced to end her season early.[27]
2024: Comeback from injury
Six months after having surgery on her wrist, Grabher made her comeback to competitive action at the Antalya Challenger, losing in the first round to Noma Noha Akugue in three sets.[28] Using her protected ranking, she entered the US Open, but lost in the first round to qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse.[29]
Performance timeline
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
DNQ
A
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup, Hopman Cup, United Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.[1][30]
^Edition is split into the two years due to COVID-19.
^The first Premier 5 event of the year has switched back and forth between the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Ladies Open since 2009. Dubai was classified as a Premier 5 event from 2009 to 2011 before being succeeded by Doha for the 2012–2014 period. In 2015, Dubai regained its Premier 5 status while Doha was demoted to Premier status. The Premier 5 tournaments were reclassified as WTA 1000 tournaments in 2021.
^ abcdDuring the season, she did not play in the main draw of any tour-level tournaments. However, she played at the Billie Jean King Cup, which is not counted as a played tournament but matches counted.