Gabriella Taylor
Gabriella Patricia Taylor is a British tennis player.
Taylor has won six singles and two doubles titles on the ITF tour in her career. On 12 December 2018, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 162. She attained her best doubles ranking of world No. 479 on 19 March 2018.
Personal life
Taylor was born on 7 March 1998 in Southampton, to a British father from Newcastle and a Bulgarian mother from Plovdiv.She started playing tennis at the age of 4. She began to play in local tennis groups in Southampton’s David Lloyd until coaches saw her potential to take her on with individual lessons. She moved to Marbella, Spain at the age of 13 to further her tennis career and to Barcelona at 19. She turned pro at the age of 16.
Taylor speaks English, Bulgarian and Spanish. She loves animals and has a Maltese terrier, and also enjoys playing music such as piano and guitar.
In 2020, Taylor opened up about her struggles with her mental health such as anxiety.
Career
Juniors
At the 2012 'British Junior National Championships' Taylor became 14 & Under Girls Singles winner beating Katie Swan in the final 7–6, 6–3. Later in the year she was runner-up at the world's most prestigious junior tournament Junior Orange Bowl losing to Maia Lumsden 6–3, 7–5, both players having been semi-finalists in that year's European equivalent the Petits As. The following year the two players teamed up to become under-16 British National Junior Champions in the Doubles competition.Taylor, Katie Swan, Freya Christie and Maia Lumsden were members of the 2014 GB team, coached by Judy Murray, that triumphed in the Maureen Connolly Challenge Trophy, an annual Under-18s competition against the USA.
2015
In November Taylor won her first Futures title in South Africa, unseeded she came from a set down to upset top seeded Naomi Totka of Hungary 4–6, 6–2, 6–1.2016 – Wimbledon Juniors 'poisoning' incident and recovery
In 2016, Taylor achieved her best juniors grand slam result in her sole junior grand slam appearance at Wimbledon. She reached the quarterfinals before having to retire in a match against Kayla Day. Taylor contracted a bacterial infection called leptospirosis, which would keep her from playing tennis for a month. Initially she was thought to have been poisoned while her bag was left unoccupied, however, medical experts declared this to be highly unlikely. Police later concluded that there was no evidence of deliberate poisoning.Taylor recovered sufficiently to reach three consecutive ITF finals at Heraklion, Greece in October and November although failing to win any.
2017
In May, as sixth seed, she won her first 25k ITF tournament, beating third seed Danielle Lao 6–2, 6–2 in the final. Wimbledon granted wild card entries to her in both the singles and the doubles qualifying draws, losing both in the first round. In November she began working with coaches Xavier Budo and David Sunyer, which she credits with changing her mindset, leading to her most successful period to date.2018
After three ITF title wins in February and March, Taylor broke into the top 200 rankings for the first time. She was subsequently chosen to represent Great Britain in the Fed Cup team alongside Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Anna Smith for the World Group II play-off tie in Japan, however she did not play in any of the matches.Taylor made her WTA main draw debut at the 2018 Nottingham Open. As a wild card entry, she lost in the first round to the defending champion Donna Vekić in three sets. In her first appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon, she lost to Eugenie Bouchard in three sets.
ITF finals
Singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runner–ups)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Nov 2015 | ITF Stellenbosch, South Africa | 10,000 | Clay |  Naomi Totka | 4–6, 6–2, 6–1 |
| Loss | 1–1 | Oct 2016 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Valeria Savinykh | 2–6, 1–4 ret |
| Loss | 1–2 | Nov 2016 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard |  Ioana Pietroiu | 3–6, 6–2, 2–6 |
| Loss | 1–3 | Nov 2016 | ITF Heraklion, Greece | 10,000 | Hard | Raluca Șerban | 4–6, 5–7 |
| Win | 2–3 | May 2017 | ITF Changwon, South Korea | 25,000 | Hard |  Danielle Lao | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Win | 3–3 | Dec 2017 | ITF Navi Mumbai, India | 25,000 | Hard |  Diāna Marcinkēviča | 4–6, 7–6, 6–3 |
| Win | 4–3 | Feb 2018 | ITF Launceston, Australia | 25,000 | Hard | Asia Muhammad | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Win | 5–3 | Feb 2018 | ITF Perth, Australia | 25,000 | Hard |  Myrtille Georges | 6–2, 7–5 |
| Win | 6–3 | Mar 2018 | ITF Mildura, Australia | 25,000 | Grass | Shérazad Reix | 6–0, 6–3 |
| Loss | 6–4 | Mar 2019 | ITF Nishi-Tama, Japan | 25,000 | Hard |  Daria Lopatetska | 6–7 , 6–2, 3–6 |
| Loss | 6–5 | Oct 2019 | ITF Antalya, Turkey | 15,000 | Hard |  Magdalena Pantuckova | 3–6, 1–6 |
| Loss | 6–6 | Oct 2019 | ITF Antalya, Turkey | 15,000 | Hard | Daria Kruzhkova | 0–6, 0–3 ret |
Doubles: 5 (3–2)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Category | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 13 May 2016 | $10,000 | Monzon, Spain | Hard | Alice Bacquié |  Estrella Cabeza Candela Cristina Sánchez-Quintanar | 6–1, 6–1 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 20 July 2017 | $15,000 | Don Benito, Spain | Carpet |  Mia Eklund |  Maria Masini Olga Parres Azcoitia | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Winner | 2. | 9 March 2018 | $25,000 | Mildura, Australia | Grass |  Katy Dunne |  Alexandra Bozovic Olivia Tjandramulia | 5–7, 7–6, |
| Runner-up | 2. | 7 September 2019 | $25,000 | Marbella, Spain | Clay |  Arantxa Rus | Andrea Lazaro Garcia Irene Burillo Escorihuela | 7–5, 4–6, |
| Winner | 3. | 26 October 2019 | $15,000 | Antalya, Turkey | Hard |  Mira Antonitsch | Viktoriia Dema Noa Liauw A Fong | 6–4, 6–7 , |