Ayana Akli (born July 6, 2001) is an American professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. She has career-high

rankings A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

of No. 313 in singles, achieved on July 14, 2025, and No. 258 in doubles, achieved on July 14, 2025. She played collegiate tennis at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

and the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

Early life

Akli was born in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

, to Komi and Linda Akli. Her father is a former professional tennis player who immigrated to the United States from Togo in 1996 and was the childhood coach of

Frances Tiafoe Frances Tiafoe Jr. ( ; born January 20, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. He reached his career high at world No. 10 in singles on June 19, 2023, becoming the first Sierra Leonean American man to be ranked in the top 10 by the ...

. She began playing tennis at the age of four and trained at the

Junior Tennis Champions Center The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is a tennis training center and preparatory school in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1999, JTCC trains junior, collegiate and professional tennis players. The center hosts United States Tennis Ass ...

in College Park. She attended

Wheaton High School Wheaton High School is a U.S. four-year public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located in the unincorporated Wheaton- Glenmont section of Montgomery County, near Silver Spring, about 5 miles north of Washington, D.C. The high ...

, where she was a three-time state champion in girls' singles. She received a degree in civil engineering from the

Career

In 2019, Akli signed a letter of intent to play collegiate tennis for the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

. After two years, she transferred to the

. Playing for the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

, she reached career-high national rankings of No. 3 in singles and No. 10 in doubles. She also received ITA All-American and All- SEC honors and was named the SEC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In October 2023, she reached the semifinals of the Christus Health Pro Challenge as a qualifier. In July 2024, she reached the semifinals of the Championnats Banque Nationale de Granby as a qualifier. Later that year, she won her first professional doubles title at the W35 USTA Pro Circuit event in Redding, partnering Eryn Cayetano.

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akli, Ayana 2001 births Living people American female tennis players American people of Togolese descent Maryland Terrapins women's tennis players South Carolina Gamecocks women's tennis players Sportspeople from Silver Spring, Maryland Sportspeople of Togolese descent Tennis players from Maryland