Maya Tahan (; born 9 January 1999) is an Israeli former

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 been ranked as high as No. 578 in singles by the

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. The association governs the WTA Tour, which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, and was founded to create a better future fo ...

(WTA) in September 2019. Her career-high WTA doubles ranking is 456 which she achieved October 2019.

Early life and education

Tahan is from

Tel Mond Tel Mond () is a town in the Sharon region of Israel, located east of Netanya and north of Kfar Saba. In it had a population of .. History Tel Mond was founded on 16 June 1929 by Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett. Lord Melchett was a British in ...

, Israel, to a family of

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

descent. Her parents are Gil and Merav Tahan. Her father is a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF), and her mother is a financial officer. She has an older sister, Roni, and two younger sisters, Dana and Shira.

Tennis career

Tahan began playing tennis at the age of eight and moved to train at the Netanya Tennis Club when she was 11 years old. She attended Rabin High School. She served in the

for two years. In December 2017, she won the Israel national doubles championship title partnering with

Vlada Ekshibarova Vlada Ekshibarova (; born 14 March 1989) is an Israeli-Uzbekistani tennis player. She has won eight singles and 15 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 14 July 2008, Ekshibarova reached her best singles ranking of world No. 352. On 20 June 201 ...

. Tahan won two $15k singles tournaments in 2018, and $10k doubles events, and won a $25k doubles tournament in August 2019. She played collegiate tennis for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

in 2019–20, but had her spring season cut short by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United States On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case was reported on January 20, and United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health and Human Services Secreta ...

. She recorded 7–4 in singles, and 2–6 in doubles. Tahan also has represented

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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 ...

in 2016, 2017, and 2019, and has a win–loss record of 2–5.

ITF Circuit finals

Singles (2–0)

Doubles (10–5)

References

External links

* * * * 1999 births Living people Israeli female tennis players People from Tel Mond Sportspeople from Central District (Israel) Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli Mizrahi Jews Miami Hurricanes women's tennis players Israeli expatriate tennis players in the United States 21st-century Israeli sportswomen {{Israel-tennis-bio-stub