ISABELLA “BELLA” TCHERKES ZADE
PRO TIER: ACADEMY, HIGH PERFORMANCE
Isabella Tcherkes Zade was born and raised in Parma, Italy, where she first excelled in swimming before transitioning to tennis at age 11. She quickly distinguished herself, capturing Italian Club Championships in both the U14 and U16 divisions. On the international stage, Isabella became the Orange Bowl U16 Doubles Champion and Singles Semifinalist, earning a world junior ranking of No. 88 (U16) and No. 162 (U18). She went on to win three ITF Junior Singles titles and nine ITF Junior Doubles titles while competing under the Italian Federation alongside players such as Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Flavio Cobolli, and Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Her professional career highlights include achieving a WTA doubles ranking of No. 819 with two ITF Pro Doubles titles, as well as an ITF singles ranking of No. 617 and an appearance at the Rome Masters 1000 Pre-Qualifying event.
Isabella began her collegiate career at Division I Southern Methodist University (SMU), where she earned rankings of No. 60 in doubles and No. 110 in singles. After transferring to Division I Loyola Marymount University (LMU), she was recognized in 2021 as the seventh-ranked Italian player in the ITA. Serving as team captain, she helped guide LMU to a program-best No. 17 ITA team ranking in Spring 2022, the same season she reached a career-high ITA doubles ranking of No. 18 and contributed to the team’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002.
Academically, Isabella graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems and Business Analytics and summa cum laude with an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship. Fluent in six languages, she brings a global perspective and an open, forward-thinking approach to her professional endeavors.