Raquel Atawo (née Kops-Jones; born December 8, 1982) is an American former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player, who is currently the head woman's tennis coach for the

Washington State Cougars The Washington State Cougars (known informally as the Cougs) are the athletic teams that represent Washington State University. Located in Pullman, Washington, WSU is a member of the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division I. The athletic program com ...

. She is primarily a doubles specialist, winning 18 WTA doubles titles, including two Premier-5 titles at the 2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open and the 2014 Cincinnati Masters, and reaching the semifinals of the

2014 Australian Open The 2014 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 13 and 26 January 2014. It was the 102nd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...

2015 Wimbledon Championships Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

and

2016 Wimbledon Championships The 2016 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw commenced on 27 June 2016 and concluded on ...

, all alongside her regular partner, fellow American

Abigail Spears Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She was suspended for doping offences from 7 November 2019 until 7 September 2021. Biography 2000–2011 Spears turned professional in ...

. Before serving as the head coach at Washington State, Atawo was an assistant women's tennis coach for Auburn University and a volunteer coach for University of California women's tennis.

Biography

Raquel's mother is Nancy Kops, and her father is Lawrence Jones. She has two sisters, Renee and Khristy. She married Toby Atawo on July 18, 2015.WTAtennis.com biography
/ref>

Career

Her best results in doubles at

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

events have been reaching the semifinals at the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

in 2014 and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in 2015 and 2016, both while partnered with

. Kops-Jones has a career-high doubles ranking of No. 10, achieved on March 2, 2015. She has won 18 WTA doubles titles. In 2008, she played for the

Boston Lobsters The Boston Lobsters were a World TeamTennis team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Lobsters played home matches at the Walter Brown Arena, Boston University, in Boston, MA. The most recent Boston Lobsters were a reincarnation of two pr ...

, and in 2019, played for the

Philadelphia Freedoms The Philadelphia Freedoms is a tennis team currently competing in World TeamTennis. Overview The team traces its origins to WTT's inaugural season, in 1974. The original team starred tennis legend and social pioneer Billie Jean King, who h ...

—both teams in the World TeamTennis Pro League.

2012

Kops-Jones and compatriot Abigail Spears were one of the most successful doubles teams of the 2012 season, winning four titles, at Carlsbad,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. The pair also reached two other finals and the quarterfinals of

Significant finals

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

WTA career finals

Doubles: 18 titles, 8 runner-ups

Doubles performance timeline

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atawo, Raquel African-American female tennis players American female tennis players Sportspeople from Fresno, California Tennis people from California 1982 births Living people California Golden Bears women's tennis players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women