Leslie Allen (born March 12, 1957) is an American retired professional tennis player. Unranked in junior tennis, Leslie Allen was an ATA, NCAA & WTA Champion. Allen was a member of the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

national championship team and in 1977 graduated magna cum laude with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

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s. She joined the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

in 1977 and went on to reach a career high ranking of No. 17 in the world in February 1981. In 1981, Allen became the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman to win a significant pro tennis tournament since

Althea Gibson Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American ...

in 1958 when she won the Avon Championships of Detroit, although Renee Blount is also credited with this feat because she won the Futures of Columbus in 1979. Allen qualified for the season-ending 1981 Avon Championships which featured the eight best players of the winter Avon Championships Circuit. She was also a mixed doubles finalist at the 1983 French Open partnering Charles Strode After retiring from professional tennis, she became a television broadcaster and was also elected to the WTA Board of Directors.Leslie Allen reflects on landmark Detroit win
WTA, February 25, 2021 Allen founded the Leslie Allen Foundation to introduce young people to the 100+ careers behind the scenes in pro tennis. Through the Foundation's Win4Life program students are challenged to use the Win4Life 4D's (Desire, Dedication, Determination, Discipline) to succeed on and off the court. Allen currently works as a real estate agent in New Jersey and is a motivational speaker.

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

References

External links

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Leslie Allen Foundation
1957 births Living people African-American tennis coaches African-American female tennis players American female tennis players Sportspeople from Cleveland Tennis people from Ohio USC Trojans women's tennis players Female sports coaches 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women {{US-tennis-bio-stub