Czech tennis player (born 2008)
Laura Samson (also known as Laura Samsonová; born 10 March 2008) is a Czech tennis player.[1] She won the girls' doubles title at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships and was a runner-up in girls' singles at the 2024 French Open.
In 2024, she changed her surname to gender neutral form to be distinguished from another circuit tennis player, Russian Liudmila Samsonova, with whom she was presented under the same short name L. Samsonova.[2]
Junior career
A member of TK Sparta Prague, Samsonová won her first junior title as a 13 year-old at a J5 event in Prostějov in a October 2021, without dropping a set. It was her first junior-level event. She then won her second J5 event in November 2021 in Silla-Saledar in Spain, and reached the final in her third, in Montemar.[3][4]
In July 2023, she won the Wimbledon girls' doubles title with compatriot Alena Kovačková. In the final, they faced Hannah Klugman and Isabelle Lacy of Great Britain, winning in straight sets. They were the first Czech pairing to win the title since Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková in 2013.[5]
In June 2024, she reached the final of the French Open girls' singles tournament, but lost to compatriot Tereza Valentová.[6] Defending the Wimbledon girls' doubles title alongside Kovačková in 2024, they lost in the quarter finals to Mika Stojsavljevic and Mingge Xu.[7]