Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022 to become the highest-ranked Estonian tennis player in history. She also attained a career-high ranking of No. 95 in doubles on 2 March 2020.
Kontaveit won six singles titles on the WTA Tour as well as eleven singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She produced her best performance at a major by reaching the quarterfinals at the 2020 Australian Open, and she also contested two WTA 1000 finals at the 2018 Wuhan Open and 2022 Qatar Open. In 2021, after winning four titles in the span of seven tournaments between August and October, Kontaveit became the first Estonian to qualify for and participate in the WTA Finals, where she reached the final.
In June 2023, Kontaveit announced her retirement following her diagnosis of lumbar disc degeneration and she made her final professional appearance at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, where she played her final match on 7 July 2023. She played her farewell match at Tondiraba Ice Hall in Tallinn, Estonia against her close friend Ons Jabeur on 11 November 2023.
Career 2011: First ITF Circuit title Kontaveit had success on the junior tour in 2011, her best Grand Slam performance of the year being at Roland Garros. There, she made the quarterfinals with wins over world No. 6, Danka Kovinić, and future-Wimbledon junior champion, Ashleigh Barty. At the quarterfinal stage, she lost to Irina Khromacheva, the Wimbledon junior runner-up. She also won the European Under-16 Junior Championships partnering 14-year-old Tatjana Vorobjova in girls' doubles; they beat first seeded Czechs Barbora Krejčíková and Petra Rohanová.
Kontaveit also made some breakthroughs on the pro circuit; winning her maiden ITF title at her home event in Tallinn in January, beating Zuzana Luknárová in the final. She also made the finals in doubles, partnering compatriot Maret Ani.
Kontaveit was chosen for the 2011 Estonian Fed Cup team, but lost both of her singles matches in the World Group II tie against Spain.
In August, Kontaveit won her second title at the Savitaipale Open in Finland, where she beat Dutch player Lisanne van Riet in the final. She continued in October with a third $10k title at the Djursholm Tennis Club Stockholm Open as an unseeded player. She defeated top seed Marion Gaud in the quarterfinals, and then seventh seed Syna Kayser in the final. In December, Kontaveit won the Orange Bowl, a Grade-A tournament on the ITF Junior Circuit, where she beat Eugenie Bouchard and Yulia Putintseva (both with top 300 WTA rankings) en route to the title. Her junior ranking rose to her career high of No. 9.
2012: Junior US Open final
Kontaveit began the year at the Traralgon International, an under-18 girls tournament in Australia. Seeded second, she reached the third round where she lost to Taylor Townsend. At the Junior Australian Open, she defeated Miho Kowase and Lee So-ra to advance to the third round, before losing once more to eventual champion Taylor Townsend.
For the second year, Kontaveit was chosen for the Estonian Fed Cup team- she played in the Europe/Africa Zone I, where she achieved two the biggest wins of her career at the time. She posted Estonia's only win against Austria and became the lowest ranked player to beat a top-50 player in seven years, with her straight-sets victory over Tamira Paszek of Austria- however Estonia failed to win either of their ties. In the relegation play-offs, she achieved Estonia's only win in their tie against the Netherlands over Bibiane Schoofs, but despite Kontaveit's performances, Estonia was relegated to the Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone II.
Kontaveit was awarded a wildcard for the qualifying draw of her first WTA Tour tournament, the Danish Open in Copenhagen, where she won two qualifying matches, before losing in the final round of qualifying to Annika Beck.
She posted strong results at the junior major championships, reaching the semifinals of the French Open girls' singles, losing to eventual champion Annika Beck. At Wimbledon, she reached her second consecutive junior major semifinal, where she lost to the eventual champion Eugenie Bouchard.
In August, she won her fourth $10k title in San Luis Potosí, beating wildcard Victoria Rodríguez in the final, in straight sets.
Kontaveit became the first Estonian to reach the girls' singles finals at the US Open, but she was defeated in straight sets by Samantha Crawford.
2013: Last junior year, top 250 Kontaveit began her final year in junior tennis at the Australian Open. After some convincing wins, including over higher ranked opponents including Antonia Lottner and Anna Danilina, she lost in the semifinals to Kateřina Siniaková.
In March, Kontaveit received a wildcard into the main draw of the Miami Open due to her management deal with IMG. She lost to Christina McHale in straight sets.
She played the rest of the year at ITF tournaments, winning four titles from the five finals she reached- including her first $25k title in Moscow. These results helped her enter the world's top 250 for the first time at the age of 18.
2014: ITF wins, mononucleosis
Kontaveit started the year as No. 249 in the WTA rankings. In January, she qualified for her first WTA Tour tournament at the Auckland Open, losing to Sachie Ishizu in three sets in the first round of the main draw.
She then went on to play Fed Cup in Tallinn, winning 49 games in a row spanning three Fed Cup matches and two matches in the following week's ITF event in her hometown. After losing in the final to Timea Bacsinszky, she then played another ITF event in Moscow, where she lost in the final to Aliaksandra Sasnovich. After mediocre performances at the Miami Open and the WTA event in Monterrey, she performed well in a series of ITF tournaments on green clay in the United States. She held two match points to make the final of a tournament in Indian Harbour Beach, but lost the match to Taylor Townsend, who went on to win the tournament. Kontaveit lost in the final round of qualifying for the French Open.
Kontaveit qualified for Wimbledon for the first time in 2014. She held match point in the first round against Casey Dellacqua, but lost the match in three sets. She then qualified for the Swedish Open, beating top seed Alizé Cornet in the first round. She lost in the second round to Jana Čepelová.
Kontaveit travelled to North America and played in an ITF event in Vancouver, receiving a wildcard into the Canadian Open, however did not play again for the remainder of the year after being diagnosed with infectious mononucleosis. At the end of the season, Kontaveit found a new coach in Australian Paul McNamee, and began training in Istanbul at the KozaWOS Academy.
2015: Recovery, US Open fourth round and top 100 After an extended training block in Australia to end 2014, Kontaveit's first tournament since the Canadian Open was the Auckland Open, where she lost to Urszula Radwańska in three sets. She then played her first Australian Open, defeating Paula Kania in the first round of qualifying before losing a close match against Evgeniya Rodina.
Kontaveit returned to Estonia to play in the Fed Cup, seemingly still suffering from illness as she put in poor performances and struggled to beat much lower ranked opponents. She made a strong return to the ITF Circuit at her training base in Istanbul, where she made the semifinals, her equal best result before losing to Shahar Pe'er. She then went to Wiesbaden in Germany, where she was routed by Adrijana Lekaj, winning only three games. Kontaveit then headed to La Marsa, Tunisia where she lost to Romina Oprandi at the semifinal stage. Participating in the French Open qualifying again, she defeated Katerina Stewart, before losing to French wildcard Clothilde de Bernardi.
Kontaveit transferred to the grass in Eastbourne, and won the $50k event, her biggest ITF title so far, without losing a set. She then continued this form in Surbiton, making the semifinals before losing a three-set match to Naomi Osaka. She then qualified and made the semifinals in Ilkley, beating players including Zhu Lin, Jeļena Ostapenko and Wang Yafan. However, she lost to Magda Linette after leading 5–1 in the third set and holding a match point. Despite this loss, Kontaveit had the most wins of any player on grass, and this form granted her a main-draw wildcard to the Wimbledon Championships. She lost in the first round to the former world No. 1, Victoria Azarenka.
Kontaveit played three WTA tournaments after Wimbledon, the Swedish Open, İstanbul Cup and Baku Cup. Despite disappointing showings in the singles including losses to Olga Govortsova, Melis Sezer and Karin Knapp, she made her first WTA semifinal in doubles in Istanbul, partnering Elizaveta Kulichkova after being offered a wildcard. At the Vancouver Open, Kontaveit qualified and beat Zhang Shuai and Patricia Maria Țig before losing to Alla Kudryavtseva in the quarterfinals.
Kontaveit had her first Grand Slam breakthrough at the US Open. Starting as an unseeded player in qualifying, she beat Stephanie Vogt, María Teresa Torró Flor and Naomi Broady to qualify for the main draw. There, Kontaveit then beat Casey Dellacqua, 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Madison Brengle to reach the fourth round proper, where she lost to 23rd seed Venus Williams, in straight sets. With this result Kontaveit broke into the top 100 for the first time, moving up over 60 places.
She finished the year by participating in WTA tournaments in Guangzhou, Tashkent and Luxembourg. However, a thigh injury hindered her performance at the latter events and she ended her season with a retirement in qualifying in Luxembourg.
2016: Out of the top 100
Kontaveit started the season with a quarterfinal run at the Shenzhen Open before losing in the first round of the Australian Open to Garbiñe Muguruza. After losing in the first round of the Mexican Open to No. 4 seed Johanna Konta, she reached the semifinals in Monterrey, losing there to Kirsten Flipkens; however, she failed to qualify for both Indian Wells and Miami. She also lost in the first round of the French Open to Venus Williams.
During her grass-court season, Kontaveit reached the quarterfinals at the Nottingham Open (losing to Alison Riske) and qualified for the Eastbourne International (losing in the first round to Anna-Lena Friedsam) before losing in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships to Barbora Strýcová. Her next six tournaments (including the US Open) also ended in early exits; therefore, her ranking plummeted and she fell from the top 100. Her best year-end performance was a semifinal run in the Guangzhou International Open.
2017: First WTA title and top 40 Kontaveit started season ranked 121. Her first tournament was the Australian Open and she was named one of the seven alternates through on the entry list, but a number of withdrawals that did not qualify to the main draw. She lost to Maria Sakkari in the first round. She then won the Open Andrézieux-Bouthéon 42, beating Ivana Jorović in the final. After that, she entered the Hungarian Ladies Open's main draw as a qualifier, losing to eventual semifinalist Julia Görges in the first round.