Tessi, who comes from Ingeniero Maschwitz, began to play tennis at the age of three and as a child was taught by her father Atilio and brother Ricardo.

[1] As a 15 year old she made the quarter-finals of the doubles in her debut WTA Tour tournament, the 1987 Argentine Open, partnering Florencia Labat.

[2] Over the next few years her ranking steadily improved with her first WTA Tour singles quarter-final coming at Guaruja in 1989 and another at São Paulo in 1990, beating Mary Pierce en route.

At the 1991 Italian Open she had a win over Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and lost a close two set match to fellow young talent Jennifer Capriati.

She didn't her tennis career until she completed her studies and when she came back it was with a limited impact, only featuring in lower level ITF tournaments.