Kimberly Birrell is an Australian baseliner who claimed her first WTA Tour-level singles title at the Korea Open in September of 2026. We’ll look closer at her career and current racquet specs.
Kimberly Birrell’s tennis racquet
Kimberly Birrell’s racquet is a Babolat Pure Drive 100. The main question is which generation of Pure Drive it is. We have argued here in the Tennisnerd team that the Babolat Pure Drive 2025 is the best one yet. My friends and fellow play-testers on Tennisnerd, Daniel and Henrik, have both switched to it and they have completely different playing styles, which is interesting. You need to like a lot free power to play a Pure Drive, but if you do, this one is very good.
Birrell’s racquet used to have painted Cortex on it, an older technology, if we go back to 2018, but since 2021, she has played without the Cortex and my guess is therefore that she uses a Babolat Pure Drive 2021 with RPM Blast. But she could as well have been open to switching to the new one. If you have more information about Birrell’s racquet, please let us know in the comments below.
Bio and Career
- Born: April 29, 1998, Düsseldorf, Germany. Started playing tennis at age 4.
- Nationality: Australian
- Height: 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
- Plays: Right-handed
- Career-high ranking: No. 56 (September 2026)
After breaking through at the Australian Open in 2019, a series of elbow injuries and surgeries kept her away from the tour for long periods. Her return has been a gradual one, with Birrell establishing herself as a regular presence on the WTA Tour in her late 20s.
- Australian Open breakthrough (2019): Birrell made her first major impact at her home Grand Slam in 2019. As a wildcard, she defeated Paula Badosa and No. 29 seed Donna Vekic to reach the third round. It remains her best singles result at a Grand Slam.
- The long road back: After reaching a career-high of No. 154 in May 2019, Birrell underwent elbow surgery and played only a handful of professional matches between July 2019 and January 2022. She returned to the ITF circuit in 2022 and climbed from outside the world’s top 700 to No. 167 by the end of the season.
- Top 100 breakthrough: Birrell reached her first WTA quarterfinal in Mérida in 2023 and broke into the Top 100 later that year. In 2024, she reached her first WTA-level singles final in Osaka as a qualifier, finishing runner-up to Suzan Lamens.
- Breakthrough 2025: Birrell produced the best season of her career in 2025. She reached the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International, including a win over world No. 8 Emma Navarro, before reaching another WTA final in Chennai. She climbed to a career-high No. 60 and finished the season inside the Top 100 for the first time.
- Australian Open mixed doubles finalist: Birrell and John-Patrick Smith reached the mixed doubles final at the 2025 Australian Open, where they finished runner-up in an all-Australian final against Olivia Gadecki and John Peers.
- Continued rise in 2026: Birrell reached the semifinals in Adelaide and Austin and continued to establish herself at WTA level. She also returned to the Australian Billie Jean King Cup team and reached a new career-high ranking of No. 56 in September 2026. In September of 2026 she won her first WTA title at the Korea Open in Seoul as the 2nd seed.
- Billie Jean King Cup: A regular member of Australia’s team, Birrell made her debut in 2016 and has remained involved throughout her career. In 2026, she was selected for Australia’s home qualifier against Great Britain.
