Jessica Giuggioli

Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Piombino, Italy
High School:
Kentucky

Dominant Hand: Right

Jessica was born in Piombino, Italy, and is the daughter of Loriano Giuggioli and Sonia Brunello.

She began playing tennis when she was nine years old. Growing up in Italy, she played many different sports, but truly fell in love with tennis the first time she picked up a racket and "saw people playing it the right way." She had very strong swinging volleys, and rose quickly in the European ranks. She was a doubles finalist in the Italian Championships, and rose to top 400 in the European Tennis Association for women.

She left Italy for two years prior to college to train at the Van der Meer Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where she was one of their top juniors. She played her first two years of college tennis at the University of Kentucky. She was a mainstay in their top six and was named All-SEC as a freshman. She helped Kentucky to two NCAA appearances as well as two final top 35 national rankings prior to transferring to Mizzou.

Jessica beams saying one of her funniest tennis memories has simply been playing mixed doubles with her father, Loriano. She doesn't go into too much detail, but just laughs. Off the court, Jessica enjoys hanging out with friends, going to movies, listening to music, and anything competitve. Jessica specifically does not like eating meat or doing extensive math. Although there are many interesting things about Jessica, she considers the fact that she has lived here in the U.S. for five years by herself to be an interesting thing about her.

Favorite Food: Pizza, Ice Cream

Hero: Her Parents

Favorite Actor: Russell Crowe

Favorite Athlete: Roger Federer

Favorite Actress: Julia Roberts

Favorite Tennis Player: Maria Sharapova

Favorite Movie: Rocky

Favorite Book: The Harry Potter Series

Favorite Website: www.facebook.com or any tennis website

What Jessica is listening to now: R&B, House Music