SUMMARY
- Clara Burel is one of the top players from France on the WTA tour.
- Clara Burel made her debut in the ITF tour when she was 14 years old.
Clara Burel has been one of the rising stars on the WTA tour in the past few months. She is currently playing at the Australian Open. Burel is one of the highest-ranked players from France at present. She is now coached by Victor Prezelin and mentored by former player Thierry Champion. Burel turned professional in 2015 and played her first tour-level match in 2019 at the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old has played 253 matches in her career so far, securing 151 wins. Burel does not play doubles often and has so far competed in 33 matches and won eight of them. She made her grand slam debut in doubles in 2018 at the French Open. Burel lost in doubles in the opening round of the Australian Open while teaming up with Diane Parry.
Clara Burel’s relationship and family
Burel started playing tennis at the age of six; her parents have been supportive of her career since the start. Her parents, Vincent Burel and Stephanie Burel, raised her in Rennes, France. Vincent and Stephanie later shifted to Angers. Burel is the middle child in the family; she has an elder sister, Lola Burel, and a younger one, Jade Burel.
Burel is currently single and has not revealed anything to the public about her relationships. In 2018, she successfully obtained her Economic and Social Baccalaureate (Bac ES), which was one of the three main streams within the French general high school education system. She had started focusing on the sport at a young age and laid more emphasis on building a career.
At the age of 14, Burel left for Paris to train at the INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance. The renowned institution is known to produce athletes such as Stéphane Diagana, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, and many more. French tennis player Lucas Pouille had also trained at the INSEP. In a short time, Burel played her first ITF qualifier match in 2015.
Clara Burel’s rise through the ITF tour and juniors
Burel was only 14 years old when she played her first ITF qualifier match at Saint-Malo. The match gave her career-first earnings of $110. It took her 12 months to play in the main draw of the ITF tour, which earned her ranking points and a quarterfinal finish at Hammamet, Tunisia. In 2017, the then-teenager reached the semifinals of an ITF for the first time.
Burel was featured regularly on the ITF tour and won her first major title in 2018. In the same year, she went on to reach the finals of the Australian Open Juniors. Iga Swiatek knocked out Burel in the third round of the French Open juniors. At the Wimbledon juniors, she suffered the same fate again at the hands of Swiatek. Things turned out differently at the US Open for Burel.
Et voilà notre médaillée d’argent @clara_burel 🥈sur le podium #SimpleF des #JOJ2018 @BuenosAires2018 ! #espritbleu @FFTennis pic.twitter.com/0jbbT3ojLE
— Equipe France (@EquipeFRA) October 14, 2018
The 2018 US Open juniors saw Burel record a bagel in her quarterfinal win against Emma Raducanu. She went on to reach the finals. Burel recovered from her US Open setback and beat Swiatek in the quarterfinal of the Youth Olympics in Argentina. But she suffered a straight-set defeat in the final. It marked her fifth finish as a runner-up that year. Burel was feeling let down, as she had lost five finals in the season.
Clara Burel creates history at ITF Juniors Masters
Things changed during the ITF Junior Masters in Chengdu. Burel won five straight-set matches at the ITF Junior Masters. She defeated En Shuo Liang in the semifinal and avenged her final defeat at the Australian Open. Burel went on to become the first player from France to be crowned the ITF Junior Masters champion. Her hopes were lifted after the victory.
Burel was rewarded during the 2019 French Open at the ITF World Champions Dinner. She was among the players at the dinner. It motivated Burel as she played against players such as Gabriela Sabatini, Simona Halep, and Novak Djokovic. The Serbian player has also won honors at the ITF World Champions.
Clara Burel makes grand slam debut in 2019
A few months later, owing to her success in 2018, Burel received a wildcard entry for the 2019 Australian Open. She lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets and suffered an injury that season. Burel underwent wrist surgery and could not play much for the rest of the year. She made a comeback at the start of the 2020 season, which saw her record an eight-match winning streak in February.
Burel secured her first WTA tour win in Strasbourg, France, while beating Kateryna Volodko. She lost the next match to Shuai Zhang. The next event was the French Open, and the former junior world No. 1 won the opening round against Arantxa Rus in two hours and 57 minutes. In the second round, Burel beat Kaja Juvan in straight sets to reach the third round.
1. A 19 ans et 6 mois, @clara_burel s’est offert la toute première victoire de sa carrière en Grand Chelem. Une victoire au bout de la minuit, les démons de minuit (00h10) ! C’est le match le plus tardif jamais disputé à Roland Garros. #RG20 pic.twitter.com/hahIiarH52
— Jeu, Set et Maths (@JeuSetMaths) September 28, 2020
Burel became the youngest French player on the WTA tour since Alize Cornet in 2008 to reach the third round at the French Open. She lost to Zhang in the third round but climbed up 240 places in the rankings. Burel continued her form in the 2021 season, as she kept progressing in terms of rankings. She started the 2020 season ranked No. 782 and, by October, was ranked No. 240.
Clara Burel enters the top 100 in the rankings
Burel had a breakthrough on tour in the 2020 season. In the 2021 season, she reached the second round of Wimbledon as a qualifier. In the same month, Burel reached the finals for the first time on the WTA tour in Lausanne. She entered the top 100 of the rankings in August during the WTA 1000 in Montreal. She was ranked as high as No. 74 in the 2021 season.
In the 2022 season, Burel reached the third round at the US Open as a qualifier. She beat Elena Rybakina in the opening round and eventually lost to Aryna Sabalenka. Last year, Bureal reached the second round of the Australian Open to complete a win in each of the grand slams. She won her first WTA 125 title in her hometown of Angers, France.
Grosse semaine à la maison pour Clara Burel 🏠 pic.twitter.com/18wiNkR7Pn
— FFT (@FFTennis) December 11, 2023
Burel will be hoping to create new milestones in the sport this season. She has already amassed $1,754,163 in her career. The world No. 51 will be the one to watch out for this season among the youngsters.