Whitney Osuigwe ( ; born April 17, 2002) is an American

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. In 2017, Osuigwe was the ITF Junior World Champion. She won the juniors

2017 French Open The 2017 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 121st edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 28 May to 11 June and consisted of ...

to become the first American to win the girls' singles event in Paris in 28 years.

Personal life

Osuigwe has been playing tennis at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

since age six, where her father Desmond has been a teacher at the academy since 1997 and acts as her primary coach. Desmond is from

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and played professional tennis events at the

ITF Futures The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...

level before coming to the United States to attend college. Whitney has an older brother named Deandre who is a college basketball player and a younger sister named Victoria who also plays tennis.

Junior career

In June 2017, Osuigwe climbed to No. 2 in the junior rankings by dominating the clay-court events in the previous six months. She started by reaching the semifinals at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

in December, and then won two Grade-1 clay-court tournaments in back-to-back weeks in February. Osuigwe capped off her dominance in this part of the season by winning the 2017 Junior French Open over fellow American

Claire Liu Claire Liu (born May 25, 2000) is an American tennis player. On 24th October 2022, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 60. In 2017, she was the world No. 1 in the junior rankings, after winning the Wimbledon girls' sing ...

. In doing so, she became the first American to win the girls' event since

Jennifer Capriati Jennifer Maria Capriati (born March 29, 1976) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she won three singles Grand Slam titles and was the gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. C ...

in 1989, the fifth American champion overall, and the ninth youngest winner of the event at under 15 years and 2 months. This was also only the second time the final was contested between two Americans, with the other occurring in 1980. Osuigwe would go on to finish the season as the No.-1-ranked junior in the world, for which she was named the combined 2017 ITF Junior World Champion. Furthermore, she then won the

before the year came to a close. On August 12, 2018, Osuigwe won the

USTA Girls 18s National Championships The USTA Girls 18s National Championships is a prestigious junior tennis tournament held on outdoor hard courts in San Diego. It is the highest level domestic junior tournament hosted by the USTA. The tournament is contested in early August just be ...

which earned her a wildcard entry into the main draw of the US Open.

Professional career

Osuigwe made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2018 Miami Open, losing to her fellow wildcard and junior rival

. In January 2019, Osuigwe played alongside

David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...

on the Spain team in the

2019 Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup XXXI was the 31st and final edition of the Hopman Cup tournament between nations in men's and women's tennis that took place at the Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia. On 26 June 2018, the defending Swiss team of Roger Feder ...

, replacing

Garbiñe Muguruza Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...

who was out due to injury. Osuigwe played only the mixed-doubles match, losing to the French team which consisted of

Lucas Pouille Lucas Pouille (, born 23 February 1994) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 10, achieved on 19 March 2018 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 79, achieved on 11 April 2016. ...

and

Alizé Cornet Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circu ...

. In March, she entered the Miami Open main draw as a wildcard, winning her first-round match against fellow wildcard Mari Osaka, the sister of

Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...

Performance timeline

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current through the

2022 Australian Open The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...

.''

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

ITF Junior Circuit

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Junior Circuit finals

Singles: 10 (7 titles, 3 runner–ups)

Doubles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner–ups)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Osuigwe, Whitney 2002 births Living people American female tennis players African-American female tennis players Sportspeople from Bradenton, Florida French Open junior champions American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Tennis people from Florida Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women