Beginner's Guide: Jil Teichmann eyes second-week breakthrough in Paris

WATCH: Daria Kasatkina defeats Jil Teichmann in the 2022 Rome quarterfinals after the Swiss player retires

Last year, the Barcelona-born Swiss player missed out on Roland Garros due to injury. Now she’s back with a vengeance and ready to build on her clay-court momentum.

Get to know Teichmann before her bid to make her first Grand Slam second week in Paris:

The Basics

Born in Barcelona to Swiss parents and coached by former Spanish player Arantxa Parra Santonja, there’s a multifaceted flair in Teichmann’s game that reflects her own multicultural background. She speaks five languages—German, Spanish, English, French, and Catalan—and she’s fluent in tennis too, with her signature variety of shots confounding many opponents over the years.

The 24-year-old has been making a name for herself in tennis since her days as a standout junior, where she peaked at world No. 3. She was tipped for big things when took home a US Open junior doubles title partnered with Ipek Soylu in 2014, but her transition to the pros wasn’t always a smooth ride.

That all changed in 2019, when she lifted her first tour-level trophy in Prague as a qualifier and, in the very next week, won her second title in Palermo. She broke into the WTA’s Top 100 as a result, and she’s been on a steady climb ever since.

In 2021, she made her biggest breakthrough yet with a run to the final at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati. Along the way, she stunned world No. 2 Naomi Osaka, Belinda Bencic and Karolina Pliskova before being halted by world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty.

The Latest

Having been hampered by injuries last year, Teichmann is back with a vengeance.

After a solid start to the season on hard courts, she kicked things up a notch when the tour hit the European clay courts. She stormed through the draw in Madrid, reaching the semifinals without dropping a set, and backed it up with a quarterfinal appearance in Rome.

She’s translated that momentum into Grand Slam success, reaching the third round at a major for the first time after taking down Bernarda Pera and Olga Danilovic.

But don’t call her a clay-court player: multicultural and multifaceted, Teichmann is also very much a multi-surface threat.

“I see myself as an all-court player. I mean, my results speak for themselves, as well,” Teichmann told press in Paris. “I've had great runs on very fast courts indeed. Like, Dubai or Cincinnati are very fast conditions.

“I feel like I can play good everywhere and I'm just trying to bring up the results.”

Why It Matters

Teichmann has the perfect opportunity to keep building on her recent progress, having landed in the wide-open bottom half of the Roland Garros women’s draw. Some big names and top seeds have tumbled out of the tournament, most notably world No.2 and defending champion Barbora Krejcikova and No.6 seed and pre-tournament favorite Ons Jabeur.

She will face one of the highest seeds left in her section, No.15 Victoria Azarenka, and she’s determined to use every trick in her arsenal to take down the two-time Grand Slam winner for her first ever second-week berth.

“My game is all about variety, so definitely the drop shot is one of [my weapons],” she said. “It's all nice to play flat, but I like as well to push back and make you come in, on myself to come in and play a volley.

“I really like that kind of tennis. [I] like to play tennis, not to smash [the ball].”