1. Overview
Gisela Dulko (xiˈsela ˈðulkoSpanish; born January 30, 1985) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. While she achieved notable success in singles play, reaching a career-high ranking of world No. 26 and winning four WTA titles, her particular strength lay in doubles. In doubles, she attained the world No. 1 ranking and secured 17 WTA titles, including the prestigious 2010 WTA Tour Championships and her sole Grand Slam title at the 2011 Australian Open in women's doubles, partnering with Flavia Pennetta. She also reached a mixed doubles final at the 2011 US Open with Eduardo Schwank. Throughout her career, Dulko was known for surprising top-ranked players, notably defeating Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2009 and Martina Navratilova in Navratilova's final Grand Slam singles match at Wimbledon in 2004. Dulko retired from professional tennis at the age of 27 on November 18, 2012.
2. Early life
Gisela Dulko was born and raised in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Her older brother, Alejandro, who is seven years her senior, served as her coach during her early development. She was born to Ana and Estanislao Dulko, with her father, Estanislao, being of Hungarian descent. At the age of twelve, Dulko relocated from Argentina to Miami, Florida, in the United States, to further pursue her professional tennis career.
3. Junior career
Dulko began playing tennis at the age of seven, inspired by watching her brother play. She enjoyed significant success during her junior career, particularly in doubles. She won three Grand Slam junior doubles titles: the 2000 US Open with fellow Argentine María Emilia Salerni, the 2001 Wimbledon Championships with Ashley Harklerroad, and the 2002 Australian Open with Angelique Widjaja. She officially turned professional in January 2001, at the age of 16.
4. Professional career
Gisela Dulko's professional tennis career spanned over a decade, marked by consistent performance, particularly in doubles, and a series of memorable upsets in singles.
4.1. 1999-2008: Early successes
Dulko made her professional debut in 2001. In April 2003, she claimed her first WTA doubles title at the Casablanca tournament in Morocco, partnering with María Emilia Salerni. Following this victory, she made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2003 French Open.
In 2004, Dulko was selected to represent Argentina in the Fed Cup for the second time, helping her team advance to the World Group quarterfinals. She also participated in the Athens Olympics for Argentina, where she lost in the first round of the women's singles event. In January 2005, Dulko reached her first singles final at the Hobart International in Australia, but she was defeated by Zheng Jie of China. Later in October 2005, she achieved a remarkable feat by winning three consecutive doubles titles: the Japan Open Tennis Championships with Maria Kirilenko, the PTT Bangkok Open with Shinobu Asagoe, and the Linz tournament with Květa Peschke.
At the 2006 Australian Open, Dulko and her partner Maria Kirilenko reached the quarterfinals of the women's doubles. She then advanced to the fourth round of the 2006 French Open singles, where she was stopped by Anna-Lena Grönefeld. In April 2007, Dulko secured her first WTA singles title by defeating Sorana Cîrstea at the Budapest Grand Prix. She followed this with her second WTA singles title in August 2007 at the Forest Hills Tennis Classic, beating Virginie Razzano. Her third singles title came in May 2008 at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fez, where she defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues. Dulko reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26 on November 21, 2005. In 2008, she participated in her second Olympic Games at the Beijing Olympics, exiting in the first round in singles and the second round in doubles.
4.2. 2009-2010: Doubles breakthrough and world No. 1
The years 2009 and 2010 marked a significant turning point in Dulko's career, particularly in doubles, leading to her ascendancy to the world No. 1 ranking.
In January 2009, Dulko competed at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic alongside Americans CoCo Vandeweghe and Venus Williams. She then started the year with a quarterfinal appearance at the Hobart International, losing to Iveta Benešová. At the 2009 Australian Open, she was defeated by the eventual champion, Serena Williams, in the second round. In the first round of the 2009 Fed Cup, she secured her team's only wins by defeating American players Melanie Oudin and Jill Craybas. Dulko reached her first final of 2009 at the Copa Sony Ericsson Colsanitas, where she lost to María José Martínez Sánchez. She subsequently advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2009 Monterrey Open and the 2009 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and the third round at mandatory events in Indian Wells and Miami. However, she experienced early exits at several other tournaments. At the 2009 French Open, she reached the third round before losing to Dominika Cibulková. At Wimbledon, she caused an upset in the second round by defeating the 24th seed, Maria Sharapova, in three sets, before losing to Nadia Petrova in the third round. At the US Open, Dulko advanced to the round of 16, where she suffered a decisive defeat against Kateryna Bondarenko. In doubles, she won the 2009 Hobart International and the 2009 Swedish Open with Flavia Pennetta, while also reaching finals at Bogotá, Indian Wells, and Stuttgart with Pennetta.
The 2010 season was particularly successful for Dulko. She won the Silver Group Championships at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic with Venus Williams and Michael Chang. She reached the quarterfinals at the Hobart International before losing to Medina Garrigues. At the 2010 Australian Open, she upset Ana Ivanović in the second round, ultimately losing to the ninth seed Vera Zvonareva in the third round. As the top seed at the Copa BBVA-Colsanitas, she reached the semifinals in singles and won the doubles title with Edina Gallovits. She also reached the semifinals at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. Seeded 31st at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Dulko secured one of the most significant victories of her career by defeating former world No. 1 Justine Henin, before falling to Agnieszka Radwańska.
In doubles, Dulko and Pennetta formed a formidable partnership. They won their first WTA Premier title at the Sony Ericsson Open, defeating Petrova and Samantha Stosur. They continued their success, winning the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome, extending their winning streak to 19 matches before losing in the final of the Madrid Open to the formidable Serena and Venus Williams. At the 2010 French Open, Dulko created the first upset by defeating the No. 10 seed Victoria Azarenka in the first round of singles, though she lost in the second round. She lost in the first round of singles at Wimbledon but reached the doubles semifinals with Pennetta. They defended their doubles title at the 2010 Swedish Open and won a marathon final at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, marking their fifth title of the season. Despite being top seeds at the US Open, they lost in the quarterfinals in doubles to the eventual champions Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova. Dulko reached the third round in singles before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Dulko and Pennetta won their sixth event of the season at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow and, as top seeds, they were invited to the Tour Championships in Doha, where they defeated Peschke and Srebotnik in the final to claim the year-end championship. On November 1, 2010, Gisela Dulko officially became the world No. 1 ranked doubles player.
4.3. 2011-2012: Grand Slam title and retirement
The pinnacle of Dulko's doubles career came in 2011. Partnering with Flavia Pennetta, she won her first Grand Slam women's doubles title at the 2011 Australian Open, defeating the Belarusian-Russian pair of Azarenka and Kirilenko with a score of 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the final.
In singles, Dulko reached her first final of 2011 at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, where she was the fourth seed. She defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja to win her fourth career singles title. Although she struggled in subsequent tournaments, she found form again at the 2011 French Open, advancing to the fourth round by defeating the 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur in three sets. However, she was forced to retire due to a leg injury in the second set of her match against Marion Bartoli. At the 2011 US Open, Dulko reached the mixed doubles final with her partner Eduardo Schwank, but they were defeated by the American pair of Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock in a close match, 7-6(7-4), 4-6, [10-8].
On November 18, 2012, at the age of 27, Gisela Dulko officially announced her retirement from professional tennis. She cited a personal feeling that she no longer possessed the "same drive" and willingness to make the "sacrifices" required to compete at the demanding level of the WTA circuit.
5. Career statistics
Gisela Dulko's professional career statistics showcase her strong performance, particularly in doubles, where she achieved significant success. Her overall career record was 614 wins and 424 losses. She held a singles record of 309 wins and 242 losses, and a doubles record of 305 wins and 182 losses. Her career prize money totaled 4.25 M USD.
5.1. Grand Slam finals
Dulko appeared in two Grand Slam finals during her career, winning one title in women's doubles and finishing as a runner-up in mixed doubles.
5.1.1. Doubles: 1 (1-0)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 2011 | Australian Open | Hard | Flavia Pennetta (Italy) | Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) | 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 |
5.1.2. Mixed doubles: 1 (0-1)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 2011 | US Open | Hard | Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) | Melanie Oudin (United States) | 7-6(7-4), 4-6, [10-8] |
5.2. Doubles performance timeline
This table illustrates Gisela Dulko's performance in women's doubles at Grand Slam tournaments and the WTA Tour Championships.
| Tournament | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | W-L | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | 2R | 2R | QF | 3R | 1R | 2R | QF | W | 3R | 19-8 | ||||||
| French Open | A | 2R | 3R | 2R | 3R | QF | 1R | 2R | QF | QF | 2R | 17-10 | ||||||
| Wimbledon | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | SF | A | A | 6-9 | ||||||
| US Open | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 3R | QF | 3R | A | 12-8 | ||||||
| Win-loss | 0-1 | 1-3 | 5-4 | 4-4 | 5-4 | 7-4 | 2-4 | 5-4 | 13-4 | 9-1 | 3-2 | 54-35 | ||||||
| Year-end championships | ||||||||||||||||||
| WTA Finals | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | W | SF | A | 2-1 | ||||||
| Titles/Runner-ups | 0-1 | 1-0 | 0-2 | 3-1 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 8-2 | 1-0 | 0-0 | 17-11 | ||||||
| Year-end ranking | 125 | 96 | 34 | 26 | 29 | 23 | 132 | 27 | 1 | 9 | 46 | N/A | ||||||
5.3. Singles performance timeline
This table illustrates Gisela Dulko's performance in singles at Grand Slam tournaments.
| Tournament | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | Career W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | LQ | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 6-9 |
| French Open | LQ | 1R | 3R | 2R | 4R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 4R | LQ | 14-9 |
| Wimbledon | LQ | LQ | 3R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 1R | A | LQ | 8-7 |
| US Open | LQ | LQ | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 3R | 2R | A | 8-8 |
6. Personal life
Gisela Dulko was married to the Argentine international football player Fernando Gago. The couple tied the knot in July 2011. Together, they have two sons and one daughter. Their first son, Mateo, was born in June 2013. Their second child, a daughter named Antonella, was born in August 2015. The couple separated in 2021 following Gago's affair with one of Dulko's friends.
7. Awards and recognition
Throughout her career, Gisela Dulko received several significant awards and recognitions for her achievements, particularly in doubles.
- 2010 - WTA Award for Doubles Team of the Year (with Flavia Pennetta)
- 2010 - ITF Doubles World Champion (with Flavia Pennetta)
