[3] She also won the European Under-16 Junior Championships partnering 14-year-old Tatjana Vorobjova in girls' doubles; they beat first seeded Czechs Barbora Krejčíková and Petra Rohanová.

[4] Kontaveit also made some breakthroughs on the pro circuit; winning her maiden ITF title at her home event in Tallinn in January, beating Zuzana Luknárová in the final.

[9] In December, Kontaveit won the Orange Bowl, a Grade-A tournament on the ITF Junior Circuit, where she beat Eugenie Bouchard and Yulia Putintseva (both with top 300 WTA rankings) en route to the title.

[13] She posted strong results at the junior major championships, reaching the semifinals of the French Open girls' singles, losing to eventual champion Annika Beck.

Kontaveit returned to Estonia to play in the Fed Cup, seemingly still suffering from illness as she put in poor performances and struggled to beat much lower ranked opponents.

Despite disappointing showings in the singles including losses to Olga Govortsova, Melis Sezer and Karin Knapp, she made her first WTA semifinal in doubles in Istanbul, partnering Elizaveta Kulichkova after being offered a wildcard.

At the French Open, she was seeded 25th and reached the fourth round for the second Grand Slam tournament in a row losing to eventual finalist Sloane Stephens.

Kontaveit hired Nigel Sears as her new coach at the start of the grass-court season but failed to defend her Rosmalen Open title, losing in the first round to Veronika Kudermetova.

During the tournament, she beat Sloane Stephens, Donna Vekić, Zhang Shuai, Katarina Siniaková and Wang Qiang to reach the final where she lost in straight sets to Aryna Sabalenka.

Kontaveit started the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International beating Suarez Navarro and Kvitová before losing to eventual finalist Lesia Tsurenko.

Seeded again 21st, she defeated Amanda Anisimova, Ajla Tomljanović and Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu to reach her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal.

At her first clay-court event of the season, she was seeded eighth; at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she defeated Caroline García in two sets to face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a rematch of last years quarterfinal.

[26] As the 28th seed at the Australian Open, she defeated Astra Sharma and Sorribes Tormo and then crushed Belinda Bencic, losing only one game, to reach the fourth round for the second time in her career.

[26] However, with her win in the fourth round against Iga Świątek, she became the first Estonian, male or female, to reach a quarterfinal at the Australian Open,[27] and with this tournament's result she moved up nine places in the WTA rankings to 22.

[26] At the first Premier 5 tournament at Doha, she defeated Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets before losing to ninth seed and eventual champion, Aryna Sabalenka, in a tight three-set match.

Seeded 12th at the Cincinnati Open, she defeated former top-ten player Daria Kasatkina, Jil Teichmann, and Marie Bouzková, to set up a quarterfinal clash against former world No.

In Australia, Kontaveit was placed in hard quarantine with 72 other players due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning she wasn't allowed to practice for the upcoming Australian Open and had to stay in her hotel room for 14 days.

She played the WTA 500 Grampians Trophy where she defeated Christina McHale, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Maria Sakkari to reach the final against American Ann Li.

As the second seed she defeated Lauren Davis, Caroline Garcia, Kateřina Siniaková and Sara Sorribes Tormo to reach her third final of the season against Irina-Camelia Begu.

As the second seed in Cluj-Napoca, she defeated Aleksandra Krunić, Alison Van Uytvanck, Anhelina Kalinina and Rebecca Peterson to reach her sixth final of the year.

[35] Kontaveit lost to Garbiñe Muguruza during the round robin stage, but defeated Barbora Krejčíková and Karolína Plíšková, in straight sets, to finish first in her group and advance to the semifinals.

[41] Continuing a streak of indoor hardcourt wins in 2021, Kontaveit won the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy as the second seed, reaching the final after defeating Jil Teichmann, Sorana Cîrstea, Belinda Bencic, and Jeļena Ostapenko.

[42] Kontaveit then played at the Qatar Ladies Open, and defeated Ana Konjuh, Elise Mertens, Ons Jabeur, and recent Dubai Tennis Championships champion, Jeļena Ostapenko, to reach the final.

Kontaveit then experienced a drop in form, losing in the third and second rounds at the Sunshine Double- falling to 30th seed Markéta Vondroušová at Indian Wells and an unseeded American player, Ann Li, in Miami.

[50] Kontaveit received a late wildcard entry into Hamburg European Open where she defeated Irina Bara and Rebecca Peterson to reach quarterfinals.

[62] Kontaveit announced on her Instagram page that due to lumbar disc degeneration diagnosis, she could not continue training, and would end her career as a professional tennis player after the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.

[65] Kontaveit is an aggressive baseline player who uses a variety of strokes to force opponents to hit awkward shots; this enables her to strike fast winners or draw quick errors.

She typically aims to receive short balls from her opponents, attacking with a high kick serve, altering pace with a backhand slice, and changing direction in a prolonged rally to do so.

[68] She is also noted for her speed around the baseline, allowing her to reach most shots, counterpunch effectively, and hit running forehands; this is aided by her exceptional footwork, stamina, and court coverage.

Kontaveit's movement also improved under Tursunov, allowing her to hit powerful groundstroke winners on the run and developing a more confident, positive mindset.