411 On The Forty – May 2020 Part Five
By Riley Zayas
- Part 1: Baseball signee named 2020 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year
- Part 2: Windle, Adams shine as Big 12 Athlete of the Year nominees
- Part 3: Men’s swimming and diving recruiting class ranked No. 1
- Part 4: ‘The Sheriff’ finishes goal set 30 years ago
- Part 5: Get to know: Bianca Turati
Get to know: Bianca Turati
Turati was a senior in 2019-20 on the women’s tennis team that finished its abbreviated spring season ranked No. 4 in the nation. The team was 2-0 in conference and already had taken down then-No. 15 Michigan and then-No. 8 North Carolina State.
3 Fast Facts
- Turati was one of six international players on UT’s women’s tennis team this past year. One of the others was her twin sister, Anna, who competed alongside Bianca in doubles play regularly for three seasons. They are natives of Barzano, Italy.
- Following a great play on the court, Turati’s so-called catch phrase is “Forza!” It translates in English to “strength.”
- After four years at Texas, Turati will turn pro. She already has played on an international level, competing in pro tournaments for the summer and fall of 2019.
Two career accomplishments
- Turati became the first Longhorn since 1995 to sit atop the ITA Singles Rankings at No. 1 when she claimed the top spot Feb. 7, 2018.
- In the fall of 2019, she won the 15k Singles Title on her home court in Austin at the H-E-B Women’s Pro Tennis Open with a three-set victory over her sister.
Quotable
On making the decision to turn pro and looking back on her time at Texas:
“I spent four wonderful years at Texas, it was super-fun and I think I’ve grown up so much since I got here,” Turati told Longhorn Network’s Lowell Galindo. “When I first got to Texas I wasn’t that confident and came here to get there, because I thought I wasn’t ready for the professional life and I wasn’t ready to give up my education yet. (Now) it’s really time for me to go after my dreams.”