Monica Puig is a Puerto Rican professional tennis player. She is the first Puerto Rican in history to win a gold medal at the Olympics in Rio 2016. She is also a Central American and Caribbean champion and Pan American silver medalist.
Monica Puig was born on September 27, 1993, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was introduced to tennis at an early age. In 2007, she entered her first tournament at the Prince Cup, but withdrew from the qualifying draw. As a junior, she won Summer Smash Regional Championships and Tennis Plaza Cup in Florida, USA. She was the runner-up at the junior Australian Open and the junior French Open / Roland Garros in 2011.
Monica Puig made her professional debut in 2009 at $25,000 Bayamon (Puerto Rico), but was eliminated in the first round. The next year, she won her first trophy at $10,000 Torrent (Spain). She also reached the semi-finals at $10,000 Badalona (Spain).
In 2011, she focused more on professional tennis, winning $25,000 W25 Chiasso (Switzerland) and $10,000 San Luis Potosi (Mexico), as well as being a runner-up at $25,000 W25 Surprise, AZ (USA) and $25,000 Bayamon (Puerto Rico). The same year, Monica Puig debuted in the WTA tour at WTA 500 Volvo Car Open in Charleston, USA, but was eliminated in the first round.
The Puerto Rican player continue improving her gameplay and in 2012 won more prestigious trophies at $50,000 Joue-Les-Tours (France) and $100,000 Poitiers (France). during the year, she was also the runner-up at $25,000 Poza Rica (Mexico), $25,000 W25 Perigueux (France), and $60,000 Ankara (Turkey).
In 2013, Monica Puig focused mostly to the WTA tour, combining her calendar with the ITF. She made her first breakthrough at WTA 250 Portugal Open, where reached the quarter-finals. Later the same year, she reached the third round of the French Open / Roland Garros and the fourth round of the Wimbledon. Thanks to the good performance, her ranking improved and during the year she entered for the first top in Top 100 (in May) and Top 50 (in July). She ended the year at No 56.
Monica Puig won her first WTA trophy in 2014 at WTA 250 Internationaux de Strasbourg. However, she failed to make something significant during the same and the next year, with the biggest success being the semi-finals at WTA 250 PTT Pattaya Open in 2015. Thus, for a while, she even left Top 100.
Monica Puig made her biggest success in 2016 when won the gold medal at Rio Olympics. Earlier in the year, she proved to be in great form and during the year was runner-up at the WTA 500 Sydney International, reached the third round of the Australian Open, BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, as well as the semi-finals at WTA 250 Viking Open Nottingham and WTA 500 Viking Open Nottingham. Thus, her ranking boosted up and she entered back in the Top 50, ending the year at No 32.
In 2017, Monica Puig tried to keep her good results and defend her points. In February, she reached the semi-finals at WTA 500 Qatar Total Open, the third round of WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, as well as the WTA 250 Acapulco Open. However, the year did not continue as successful as she expected and lost in the starting rounds of all next championships. She made another good performance only in October, at WTA 250 BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, where was the runner-up. So, after the bad year, Monica Puig dropped out of the Top 50.
In 2018, the Puerto Rican tennis player reached the fourth round of the WTA 1000 Miami Open, semi-finals of the WTA 500 Connecticut Open, and the quarter-finals of WTA 1000 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. This helped her to enter for a while again in the Top 50 but ended the year at No 53.
Monica Puig made a great performance at WTA 500 Volvo Car Open in 2019, reaching the semi-finals. However, she suffered from a right elbow injury and loss form. In 2020, she missed the Auckland Open and the Australian Open due to her undergoing right elbow surgery. She took part at the US Open and the French Open / Roland Garros in 2020 but lost in the first rounds. She didn’t play any more tournaments for the rest of the season.
Monica Puig hot photos
