A former world number 7 Patty Schnyder had retired from tennis after the Roland Garros in 2011 and she stayed away from the action for more than four years, returning in July 2015 at the age of 36. She won one ITF title that year, reaching another final in December and we saw her in 20 tournaments in 2016, entering the Top 300 and setting the ground for an even better 2017.
Despite her age, Patty had played in five ITF finals, winning two titles and finishing the season in the Top 150, just a week after turning 39! The Swiss is currently ranked 183rd and she is the oldest player on the WTA rankings list, also the only born in 1978.
Competing in the US Open qualifying draw for the second year in a row, Patty has managed to win three matches and become the oldest player who has qualified for the main draw of the Grand Slam event (39 years and eight months)! The Swiss had reached the third round on debut in New York in 1997 at the age of 18, losing to Lindsey Davenport in straight sets before advancing into the quarter-final a year later after defeating Steffi Graf, still as a teenager.
Schnyder was the quarter-finalist 10 years later in 2008 and she will now have a chance to play in the US Open main draw for the first time since 2010. Her rival in the first round will be the 22nd seed and a former champion Maria Sharapova, with the Russian winning seven of the eight previous matches until Rome 2008 when they played for the last time.
A left-handed Swiss scored her only win over Maria three years earlier in Rome, hoping to continue her great run in New York and grab her first Grand Slam win in eight years.
