Roberta Vinci is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7, in May 2016. She is the fourth Italian woman to reach the top 10 in singles, after Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani. At 33 years and 4 days old, she became the oldest player ever to debut in the top 10.

Padel ,also sometimes called padel tennis, is a racket sport of Mexican origin, typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Although padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the rules, strokes, and technique are different. The balls used are similar but with a little less pressure. The main differences are that the court has walls and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in the game of squash and that solid, stringless bats are used. The height of the ball being served must be at or below the waist level.