Unlike many other collegiate tennis athletes, Louise Allen’s journey to the world of tennis was an unconventional one. Picking up a racquet in her teenage years, Allen relied on natural athleticism to propel her to greatness when at the age of 17, she won her first tournament.
Under the guidance of her coach Jim Leighton, Allen took her talents to Trinity. While on the team, Allen was a four-time All-American and the 1983 NCAA Division I Women’s Doubles champion, alongside partner Gretchen Rush, as a junior at Trinity. That same year, Allen captured the 1983 Pan American Games Women’s Doubles title and was the recipient of the Broderick Award, now known as the Honda Sports Award. This award is given annually to the nation’s best collegiate women’s tennis player. By the time of graduation, Allen had compiled a singles record of 115-11 and remained undefeated at home in singles and doubles throughout her collegiate career.
During her senior year and following graduation from Trinity, Allen competed on the professional tour, reaching a career high world ranking of No. 62. Suffering a career threatening double knee injury that kept her out of the game for 2 years, Allen fought her way back and played professionally for another 6 years, reaching No. 70 in the world and playing in all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Once retiring from the tour in 1992, the same year she was nominated for WTA Comeback Player of the Year, Allen attended the University of Texas, Austin, where she earned her MBA. Since then, Allen has remained in Austin, excelling in the software and tech world, now as Chief Product Officer of Planview. “There is so much I learned from tennis that I took with me into business. It’s not surprising to me that 90% of women executives played a high-level sport. We’re fiercely competitive, work well on a team and are used to often being the only woman in the room.”
Although Allen no longer competes on the court, her passion for the sport remains, evident in her support of her eldest son, Leighton, a senior on the Oklahoma State Men’s Team. To this day, Allen contributes her collegiate tennis career to not only laying the foundation for her professional success but also to the exemplifying power it played in shaping her life. Allen is a member of the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame and Trinity Athletics Hall of Fame.
The ceremony to celebrate Louise, and three other inductees, will take place on the campus of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia on Saturday, October 5th at 5:30 pm. To RSVP, click on the link below.
About the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame –The ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, founded in 1995, was created to celebrate the milestones in women’s collegiate tennis, from the early struggles for recognition to the achievement of full-fledged intercollegiate competition. The Women’s Hall of Fame is operated by The College of William & Mary and is housed in the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center on the William & Mary campus. Since 1995, over 80 players, coaches and contributors have been inducted. Players are eligible for election to the Hall of Fame 10 years after the conclusion of their collegiate career. Coaches are eligible immediately following retirement. The main criteria for election are college accomplishments and honors earned after college.
About the ITA – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. Comprised of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 varsity programs, 3,000 coaches, and 1,350 college tennis officials, the ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational to their student-athletes. Follow the 2023-24 college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
