Valentina Sassi
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 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 ITF singles and seven ITF doubles titles 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 draw debut at the Madrid Open in 2000. She played in great international slams of Roland Garros, Wimbledon Site 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 Jankovic, Kim Clijsters, Miroslava Vavrinec, Jelena Dokic and Daniela Hantuchova. She played 488 games with 60 per cent winning rate before quitting in 2006 . 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. 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.