Tina Samara (born July 26, 1974) is an American former 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.

Biography

Samara was born in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, to a Norwegian mother and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n father, before later settling in

Laurel Hollow, New York Laurel Hollow is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (s ...

. From 1992 to 1996, Samara attended the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, where she was a two-time

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n in tennis. She was a member of Georgia's NCAA championship winning team in 1994, partnering with Stacy Sheppard to win the title deciding doubles match. She and Sheppard became college tennis' top ranked doubles pairing in 1995. Samara represented her birth country Norway in the

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 ...

, appearing in a total of 12 ties between 1996 and 1998. As a professional player she was most successful in doubles, with a best ranking of 223 and one ITF title. She twice featured in the singles qualifying draw for the

US Open U.S. Open or US Open are open championship sporting tournaments that are hosted in the United States and in which anyone, especially amateur and professional, or American and non-American, may compete. The term may also be applied to non-sporting ev ...

. An experienced coach in college tennis, since 2008 she has been a head coach at the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and the University of the Pacific.

ITF finals

Doubles: 7 (1–6)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samara, Tina 1974 births Living people American female tennis players Norwegian female tennis players Georgia Bulldogs women's tennis players Tennis coaches from New York (state) People from Laurel Hollow, New York Tennis players from Nassau County, New York American people of Sri Lankan descent American people of Norwegian descent Norwegian people of Sri Lankan descent Tennis players from Oslo