Question & Answer with Alice Tym, Trailblazer of the Florida Women’s Tennis Program

Alice Tym blazed a trail as the founder of the women’s tennis team while a student at the University of Florida in 1960, and continued her myriad of contributions to the game as a champion player, coach and teaching professional.

A standout junior player in her native Peoria, Illinois, Tym captained her college team all four years while earning Phi Beta Kappa academic honors. She went on to earn an M.A. from Florida in 1966 as a Ford Foundation Fellow. From 1964 to 1970, she played on the international circuit, winning titles on five continents and securing a world ranking as high as No. 13 in 1969.

As head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga from 1974 to 1978, Tym started the varsity women’s program and guided her teams to two AIAW Small College National Championships.

Appointed Director of Tennis at Yale in 1978, she coached the nationally ranked women’s team for four years and won the Ivy Championships in 1981. Tym returned to UT to take up a distinguished teaching career in the Geography Department, maintaining her involvement in athletics as an active horsewoman and gold medalist in the National Senior Olympics. As of 2011, Tym continued to teach various geography courses at UT. Outside of teaching and tennis, Tym was a writer for the World Tennis magazine.

Tym was inducted into the ITA Women’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008. She is also a member of the Greater Chattanooga Sports Hall of Fame, the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame, and the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.

Continuing her involvement in competitive sports, Tym still regularly competes in pickleball tournaments nationally.

For more information about Alice and the importance of college tennis in her life, check out our Q&A with Alice below.

How was college tennis vital to your career and life?

College tennis propelled me onto a tennis career that culminated with my being ranked 13 in the world. I played the international circuit for 6 years all over the world. College tennis made that possible.

Can you explain your journey to college tennis and the thought process behind your decision to play at the collegiate level.

My collegiate tennis experience consisted of a lot of practice on the clay courts. I got a late start in tennis so I had plenty of catching up to do. I married the number one men’s player and he helped me learn. Once I got the women’s team organized I benefited from matches at Miami, Rollins, and FSU. My sophomore summer I began going to Europe to play. The most memorable part of college tennis was the wonderful friends I made and the opportunity I had to meet new people. For example, I found a Japanese girl who wanted to play on the team, Tayko Kumagi. We became good friends and later I visited her in Japan. It was an opportunity for me to learn about a wider world and it inspired me to want to experience it. The shared experiences of teammates creates a special bond.

How did these experiences impact your collegiate career and what did you learn from these experiences that you have taken with you after college?

I had to organize my time. My parents expected me to be academic and in those days 1/4 of the freshman class flunked out by Christmas. I studied. I was Phi Beta Kappa and earned a Ford Foundation Fellowship. Tennis helped me make friends (I did not know one single person when I arrived on campus). Tennis also gave me a physical outlet. I loved to play so I was happy on the court. I wanted to be a tennis player and I wanted to see the world.

From what these experience(s) taught you, what advice would you share and give to current and future collegiate tennis student-athletes?

My advice to college players is to take advantage of every opportunity you are given and create opportunities for yourself. Now players have good coaching. Listen. Experiment. Now players have teammates from across the country. Make new friends. I just returned from my Yale team’s 33rd reunion in La Jolla. I loved coaching and these young women are the epitome of teamwork. They turned their college experiences into a lifelong joy. You create your own world. College tennis players have power. Make the world a better place for everyone. Tennis is a wonderful vehicle for a fulfilling life.

If you could go back and play one more year of college tennis today, is there anything you would change or try to do differently?

If I could go back and play one more year I would be thrilled. I would have to practice so hard because players now are so strong, so fit, and so talented. They would be the ones giving me advice! I would tell them that they need to protect all that they have. Title IX made it all possible and they need to keep fighting for women’s rights. Women’s sports didn’t really happen until it became a law. Young women should not take it for granted. Equal rights are not a gift; equal rights are the prize of a hard fought endeavor. Today, players are given name brand uniforms. I wore my own shorts. Players receive scholarships. I played number one for four years and never received a penny in aid. You have climbed that mountain. Now reach back and bring other young women up there with you. That is the legacy of women’s sports.

About the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s and Women’s Halls of Fame aspire to preserve and celebrate the history and further the development of intercollegiate tennis through the collection of historic memorabilia and with inductions of notable players, coaches, and contributors.

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.