Francesca Schiavone, born in Milan on 23 June 1980, is an Italian tennis coach and former tennis player.

Considered one of the strongest Italian tennis players of all time, she was the winner of the Roland Garros 2010, and was the first Italian tennis player, and the third chronologically among Italians, to have won a tournament of the Great Slam: together with the 2015 US Open won by Flavia Pennetta, this is the most important victory for Italian women's tennis.

She is currently the only Italian player to have played in two Grand Slam finals, having reached the last act at the Roland Garros also in 2011, as well as the last tennis player in the world to have won a Grand Slam tournament Slam using a one-handed backhand.

In her career you won a total of eight WTA tournaments in singles and seven in doubles, accumulating prize money in excess of 10 million dollars (she was the first Italian to achieve this result).

She was No. 4 in the world in January 2011 thanks to her victory in the round of 16 of the 2011 Australian Open over Svetlana Kuznecova after 4 hours and 44 minutes of play: this is the second longest match ever in the history of women's tennis. She is the only Italian to have reached at least the quarterfinals in singles, and the semifinals in doubles, in all Grand Slam events.