Tina Samara (born July 26, 1974) 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.

Biography

Samara was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, to a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

mother and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n father, before later settling in

Laurel Hollow, New York Laurel Hollow is a village in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 1,952 at the 2010 census. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Laurel Hollow was the eighth ...

. From 1992 to 1996, Samara attended the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, where she was a two-time

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in tennis. She was a member of Georgia's NCAA championship winning team in 1994, partnering with Stacy Sheppard to win the title deciding doubles match. She and Sheppard became college tennis' top ranked doubles pairing in 1995. Samara represented her birth country Norway in the

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

, appearing in a total of 12 ties between 1996 and 1998. As a professional player she was most successful in doubles, with a best ranking of 223 and one ITF title. She twice featured in the singles qualifying draw for the US Open. An experienced coach in college tennis, since 2008 she has been a head coach at the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and the University of the Pacific.

ITF finals

Doubles: 7 (1–6)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samara, Tina 1974 births Living people American female tennis players Norwegian female tennis players Tennis people from New York (state) Georgia Bulldogs women's tennis players American tennis coaches People from Laurel Hollow, New York Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York American people of Sri Lankan descent American people of Norwegian descent Norwegian people of Sri Lankan descent Sportspeople from Oslo