She made history for her country at Roland Garros but has only won one Grand Slam match in the last three years

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This WTA player has been unable to recreate the success that saw her make history for her country at Roland Garros.

There have been some historic moments for different nations this year, perhaps none other than Valentin Vacherot winning the Shanghai Masters and becoming the first ATP 1000 champion from Monaco.

Alexandra Eala also made history for her country earlier this year, and has continued to do so representing the Philippines.

One other WTA player made history for her country four years ago, but she has struggled to continue that momentum ever since.

Tamara Zidansek: The WTA player who made history for her country at Roland Garros

Tamara Zidansek was a relatively unknown player leading into Roland Garros in 2021, a tournament where she had never actually won a main draw match before.

The Slovenian had shown some signs of form coming into the clay court major, having reached just her second WTA Tour final at the tournament in Bogota, Colombia.

Despite this, no-one was expecting the then world number 85 to go on the run that she did in Paris.

This seemed even more unlikely as she was drawn against former US Open champion and sixth seed Bianca Andreescu in the first round.

However, Zidansek was able to go against the odds and beat Andreescu, 6(1)-7 7-6(2) 9-7, in a gruelling three hour and 23 opening match.

This was only the start for Zidansek, who would then beat Madison Brengle, Katerina Siniakova and Sorana Cirstea to reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals.

Similarly to her first round match, Zidansek would then have another lengthy battle in her quarterfinal match against Paula Badosa, winning 7-5 4-6 8-6.

As a result, Zidansek became the first player from Slovenia to reach a Grand Slam singles semifinal in a historic moment for the relatively small European nation.

Zidansek’s breakthrough run would come to an end in the semifinals after she was beaten by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but she was still able to break into the top 50 for the first time.

What has happened to Tamara Zidansek since she reached the Roland Garros semifinals?

Zidansek did actually continue her momentum shortly after her run to the Roland Garros semifinals, finding more success on clay.

At the tournament in Lausanne, Zidansek would win five consecutive matches to claim her first WTA title.

The following year after reaching the third round of the Australian Open, Zidansek would reach a career-high ranking of world number 22, but it has mainly been downhill for the Slovenian since then.

Zidansek would reach the third round of Roland Garros at her next Grand Slam, and she has only won one main draw match at a major ever since.

That came at Roland Garros last year, but Zidansek failed to even qualify for the last three Grand Slams.

Zidansek has also not won a main draw match at a WTA tournament since last year, and mainly plays on the lower-level tournaments in 2025.

The 27-year-old fell outside the top 200 earlier this year, but after Zidansek won an ITF title in Bucharest she has been able to climb back up to her current ranking of world number 157.