Liudmila Dmitriyevna Samsonova is a Russian tennis player. Samsonova was born 11 November 1998 in the industrial city of Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Their family moved with the then-one-year-old Liudmila to Italy. She started playing tennis at the age of six, joining Riccardo Piatti's tennis academy in Sanremo after the local tennis federation helped her financially with that. Until 2018, Liudmila represented Italy in professional tennis, before switching to the Russian flag. She also competed for Italy, from 2014 to 2018. Samsonova has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19.
In July 2021, she explained the reason behind her decision was the extra pressure of competing for the Italian national team, a country where tennis is more followed than in Russia where she feels like competing only for herself, especially considering her hard-hitting game style. She also competed for Italy, from 2014 to 2018. Samsonova has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19. She won her first WTA Tour title at the 2021 German Open, a WTA 500 title, and has overall won four singles titles on the WTA Tour. She has also won a total of six titles on the ITF Circuit. At the 2020–21 Billie Jean King Cup, Samsonova led the Russian team to their first triumph since 2008, winning all five of her matches in both singles and doubles.
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Samsonova reached her highest ITF junior ranking on 18 July 2016, peaking at the 65th spot on the rankings. Her biggest achievements were winning consecutive ITF Junior Circuit Grade 2 tournaments in 2016, defeating notable players such as Kaja Juvan and Marta Kostyuk.
Liudmila Samsonova made her professional debut in 2013 at consecutive ITF Circuit tournaments in Umag, but lost both her singles matches. 2014 saw Samsonova winning her first ITF title at a $10k event in Rome, beating three seeded players to clinch the victory despite being unranked. The win allowed her to debut on the WTA rankings. Samsonova’s first real breakthrough came when she was leaving her teenage years. Reaching three $15k finals in Hammamet, Pula and Mâcon in 2017, respectively, the Russian almost halved her ranking and ended the year ranked 552nd. She then earned the biggest win of her career over world No.11 Kiki Bertens after losing just three games, reaching the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career.
Beginning her first career grass-court season at the German Open in Berlin, starting as a qualifier, she reached her first WTA final. In the final, she upset world No. 12, Belinda Bencic, from a set down to win her maiden WTA title in her career. After receiving a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon (her debut). There, she reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career after defeating the giant-killing Kaia Kanepi, 22nd seed Jessica Pegula and former Grand Slam champion Sloane Stephens in three sets.
| Competition | Best result | Year |
| Australian Open | Second Round | 2021, 2022 |
| French Open | First Round | 2019, 2020. 2022 |
| Wimbledon | Fourth Round | 2021 |
| US Open | Fourth Round | 2022 |
Ludmilla Samsonova is in a relationship with Ale Sandro. Ludmilla Samsonova and Ale Sandro are not married yet. Although much is not known about Ale Sandro, he is supposedly a tennis player as well.
Liudmila was born on 11 November 1998 in Olenegorsk, Russia, to her father Dmitry and mother Svetlana. Her father Dmitry, a table tennis player, was invited to play for the club “Ferentino” based in Torino. Her father urged her to start playing either table tennis or lawn tennis, choosing the latter.
Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter) Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter)
Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter)
Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter) Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter)
Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter) Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter)
Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter) Liudmila Samsonova in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter)
