Ella Seidel

Seidel was born in Hamburg, Germany and attended the Sportgymnasium Alter Teichweg school there, where she was able to graduate high school two years early at the age of 17, allowing her to focus on her tennis career.^[2] She also spent time training in Kühlungsborn, a Baltic Sea resort town where her parents owned a holiday home.^[3]

Seidel made her WTA main-draw debut at the WTA 250 2022 Hamburg European Open in the doubles draw partnering with Nastasja Schunk, winning her first round match against Elixane Lechemia and Sabrina Santamaria.^[4] She made her singles main-draw debut as a wildcard at the 2023 edition of the tournament, losing to fellow German Jule Niemeier in the first round.^[5]

Ranked No. 172, Seidel qualified to make her major debut at the Australian Open on her first attempt of qualifying at any major,^[6] where she lost to world No. 2 and eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in the first round.^[7]

After gaining entry into the main-draw as a lucky loser at the Budapest Grand Prix in July, she defeated seventh seed Moyuka Uchijima by retirement^[8] and Anna Bondár to reach her first WTA Tour quarterfinal,^[9] at which point she lost to top seed and eventual champion Diana Shnaider.^[10] The following week at the Prague Open, Seidel made it back-to-back quarterfinal appearances by overcoming seventh seed Nadia Podoroska^[11] and lucky loser Ena Shibahara,^[12] before losing in the last eight to Linda Nosková.^[13]

Ranked No. 124 at the WTA 500 Ningbo Open, she entered the main-draw as lucky loser and defeated fellow lucky loser Kathinka von Deichmann,^[14] before losing to Yulia Putintseva.^[15] She also got into the main-draw of the Guangzhou Open as a lucky loser but lost for a second time to fellow qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew, having also previously lost to her in the last round of qualifying.^[16]

Seidel reached the quarterfinals at the Transylvania Open in February with wins over eighth seed Jaqueline Cristian^[17] and Anna Blinkova,^[18] before her run was ended by top seed and eventual champion Anastasia Potapova.^[19]

She qualified for her maiden appearance in the main-draw at Wimbledon, but was forced to retire injured in her first round match against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, after slipping into an unmarked ditch at the back of the court.^[20]

Having made it through qualifying at the Cincinnati Open in August, Seidel recorded her first win at a WTA 1000 on her debut at this level, defeating Polina Kudermetova in three sets.^[21] She then defeated eighth seed Emma Navarro, for her first win against a top-20 ranked opponent,^[22] and 29th seed McCartney Kessler to reach a WTA 1000 fourth round for the first time,^[23] at which point she lost to fellow qualifier Varvara Gracheva in three sets.^[24] As a result she reached the top 105 in the singles rankings on 18 August 2025.^[1] At the WTA 500, the 2025 Korea Open, Seidel also qualified and this time reached the quarterfinals, defeating defending champion and sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in a close to three and a half hour match (third longest match of 2025), coming from 5-2 down in the third set.^[25][26] Seidel made her debut in the top 100 reaching a new career-high singles ranking of world No. 95 on 22 September 2025.^[27]

Only WTA Tour (incl. Grand Slams) main-draw and Billie Jean King Cup results are considered in the career statistics.

Current through the 2026 Stuttgart Open.

Current through the 2026 Stuttgart Open.