Kylie McKenzie (born 21 March 1999) is an American tennis player from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Junior career

From

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, McKenzie joined the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

’s full-time training team in California at twelve years-old. She subsequently won the national under-16 championship at fifteen years-old. McKenzie played in the 2015 US Girls’ singles, where she reached the quarter-final before losing to Fanny Stollar. Aged eighteen she transferred to the USTA facility in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. McKenzie alleged coach Anibal Aranda touched her vagina after a practice in November 2018 at the USTA's training center in Florida when she was nineteen years-old. McKenzie has since said that the sexual abuse had negatively affected her confidence, self-esteem and caused anxiety that had a detrimental effect on her tennis career. The Police stated there was probable cause for a charge of battery, and turned the evidence over to the state attorney's office, which ultimately opted not to pursue a case. The coach was suspended and then fired by the USTA.

Legal action

In March 2022 McKenzie filed a federal lawsuit against the

after an investigation by SafeSport found it was "more likely than not" that she had suffered a sexual assault by a coach at a United States Tennis Association training centre. In May 2024, a jury in Florida awarded McKenzie $3m in compensation with an additional $6m in punitive damages.

Professional career

McKenzie began a professional tennis career in August 2021, based at the iTUSA Tennis Academy in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

. In March 2023 she reached the final of an ITF T15 event in Monastir before she was defeated by Nina Radovanovic in the final.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Kylie Living people Sportspeople from Phoenix, Arizona American female tennis players 1999 births