Black History Month Profile: Hurricane Tyra Black

Never in tennis history have there been as many promising, talented African-American tennis players as there are today. In celebration of Black History Month, here is a look at one of those players – following in the tradition of Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe and the Williams sisters – who is on the cusp of breaking through and leaving her very own imprint on the top ranks of the professional game.

The Hurricane Tyra Black File

Age: 14
Resides: Boca Raton, FL
Current ITF World Junior Ranking: 86
Career-High ITF World Junior Ranking: 83 (January 2016)

Getting to Know Hurricane Tyra Black:

• Fourteen-year-old right-hander Hurricane Tyra Black is the younger sister of Tornado Alicia Black, 17, the  former Top-5 world-ranked junior and 2013 US Open girls’ finalist who is now playing on the pro circuit. Tyra is coached by Lawrence Carpio at the LAT Tennis Academy in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
   
• Black will participate in World Tennis Day festivities at the 9th Annual BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, March 8, taking the court in the junior match that will be held prior to matches featuring 21-time Grand Slam Champion Serena Williams vs. former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka vs. French star Gael Monfils.
   
• Black won three ITF junior titles in 2015 and kicked off 2016 by reaching the singles final and doubles semifinals at the 52nd Coffee Bowl in San Jose, Costa Rica.
   
• Black represented the United States at the 2015 ITF World Junior Tennis Competition in Prostejov, Czech Republic, and helped lead the U.S. team to the final. World Junior Tennis is the 14-and-under version of Fed Cup and Davis Cup.
   
• Black won the girls’ 12 singles title at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in 2013.