Traci Green: Hall of Fame Inductee

“As a kid, I would just do anything my sister would do,” said Green III, a former standout player himself who is now a tennis teaching professional in Philadelphia. “If she was going to play soccer, I was going to play soccer. If it was tennis, I was playing tennis. I just wanted to be as good as her or better.”

Armed with a stoic nature and motivational capabilities, Traci crafted her own unique coaching style by watching her mother and being mentored by Arthur Ashe. This style turned her into the type of coach that her players and their families speak of highly, as she continues as the Sheila Kelly Palandjian Head Coach for Harvard Women's Tennis.

“She is a very understanding coach,” said Harvard senior Angel You. “She has a very holistic view on coaching. She really gets to understand the player and adapts her coaching style to teach each player, looking to improve on everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Throughout Green’s junior tennis career, she was a highly-ranked local and national player and a two-time member of the US Junior National Team. These successes led her to more accolades and awards as a collegiate athlete at the University of Florida. She was a member of the Gators' 1998 NCAA championship team, won two ITA national indoor championships and was ranked No. 5 nationally in doubles and No. 12 in singles during the 1999-2000 season. She also ranks among Florida's career leaders in singles and doubles wins and was a three-time first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in both singles and doubles.

Green led the program to the biggest turnaround in 35 years of Harvard women's tennis, leading a program with a losing record to winning an Ivy League title just two years after she began coaching the team. With that, Green became the first African-American coach at Harvard to win an Ivy League title. 

Most recently, Green led her team to a historic 2023-24 season, finishing the year 19-5 and 5-2 in the conference, with a program record of 14 consecutive victories. Harvard ultimately finished second in the conference and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking its first appearance since 2010. The team finished its historic season ranked No. 41 in the final ITA Division I Women's Team Rankings. 

“I’m about people being the best they can be each day,” Green said about her coaching. “I try to get the best out of each player as much as I can, knowing every day is a new day – it’s not easy, but we have fun doing it.” 

Currently, Green serves on the USTA Board as a Presidential Appointee and is the President of the Black Women in Sport Foundation. She is also the former Vice Chair of the Sportsmen's Tennis and Enrichment Center.