Stephanie Nickitas (born 1977) is a former professional and college

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 from the United States.

Biography

Nickitas trained as a junior at the Saddlebrook Academy near Tampa, Florida. She played

Junior Fed Cup Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup are the international team events in junior tennis (16-and-under age category). History Competitions were launched by the ITF in 1985 as the 16-and-under World Youth Cup, and rebranded in 2002 under ...

tennis for the United States and twice made the girls' doubles semi-finals at the US Open juniors, in 1993 and 1994. In both of those years she also featured in the women's doubles draw with regular junior partner

Cristina Moros Cristina Moros (born February 10, 1977) is an American former professional tennis player. Moros is originally from Florida and was a world number one junior in doubles. Her father Julio, a Venezuelan by birth, is a tennis coach who was a long ti ...

. With University of Florida teammate

Dawn Buth Dawn Alexis Buth (born May 29, 1976) is an American former college and professional tennis player. As a collegiate player, she played for the University of Florida and won two national doubles championships. As a professional, she played on the I ...

, Nickitas made further US Open main draw appearances in the women's doubles in 1996 and 1997. The pair had received US Open wildcards each year for winning the NCAA doubles championships. They were the first players in women's NCAA history to win back to back Division I titles and reached a third successive final in 1998, but lost to California's

Amanda Augustus Amanda Augustus (born January 19, 1978) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Augustus, who grew up in Los Angeles County, attended UC Berkeley and was one of the most successful tennis players in California ...

and

Amy Jensen Amy Jensen (born 31 July 1978) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Biography Originally from Brisbane, Jensen had a successful career in American college tennis playing for UC Berkeley. From 1998 to 2000 she won three success ...

. A six-time All-American, she also won two NCAA team championships with Florida. She graduated in 1999 with a degree in business administration. Since finishing up as a player she has worked as a collegiate tennis coach. She was an assistant coach at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and then

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, before a nine-season stint as head coach of the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

, which ended with her retirement in 2016.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nickitas, Stephanie 1977 births Living people American female tennis players Tennis people from Florida Florida Gators women's tennis players UCF Knights women's tennis coaches Harvard Crimson women's tennis coaches Duke Blue Devils women's tennis coaches American tennis coaches