SEATTLE – University of Washington Director of Athletics Scott Woodward has named Robin Stephenson the fifth head coach in UW Women’s Tennis history since the program began in 1975.
“I am extremely honored and humbled to have been given this opportunity,” Stephenson said. “This is a dream come true for me and I am excited to build on the continued success of the women's tennis program. I would like to especially thank Scott Woodward, Shondell Reed and the entire search committee for their diligence, belief in my vision and ultimately bringing me on board.”
“We are very excited to welcome Robin to the Husky family,” Woodward said. “There was a tremendous amount of interest in our women’s tennis head coaching position from around the country, and Robin clearly rose to the top. She has an outstanding background of competing and winning at the highest level as both a player and a coach, and I believe her future is very bright here at Washington.”
Stephenson, a former professional tennis player and All-American at Alabama, comes to Seattle after leading the Georgia State team to its most successful season in program history. The Panther’s 2013-14 campaign set several firsts and became the first women’s team in school history to advance in the NCAA Championship.
Stephenson’s squad also featured a national singles semifinals run and All-America honor along with the program’s first win in doubles play at the NCAA Championships. Her squad ended the year with the highest final singles and doubles rankings in program history, along with the second-highest team finish.
Along with promising seasons with the Panthers, Stephenson also owns Division I experience and a national championship from her time as a volunteer assistant at Georgia Tech. She coached the Yellow Jackets' women's tennis team from 2007-09, helping lead the team to a national title in her first season. Stephenson assisted with various aspects of the program and played a role in Tech’s first two National Indoor Championships in 2007 and 2008 as well as back-to-back ACC Championship titles in those same years.
As a collegiate student-athlete, Stephenson competed for the University of Alabama (2002-06) and finished as the most decorated player in program history. The All-American was the all-time winningest player in school history with 101 singles wins and doubles victories (66) until the 2013 season while reaching as high as No. 4 in the ITA singles rankings and No. 6 in doubles. Stephenson led the Tide to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances while making the singles cut in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
She earned All-American status as a singles participant during her junior season in 2005, one of the highest honors in collegiate tennis, after posting a 27-13 record with 16 victories over ranked opponents in 2005. She was a team captain her sophomore, junior and senior seasons and won the Regional Senior Player of the Year award in 2006.
In her professional career, Stephenson competed on the ITF and WTA tour for two years (2007-08). She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 152 in the world in doubles and No. 432 in singles. She won 13 professional doubles titles while on tour with various partners and competed around the world in the lead-up WTA events for the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open series.
Stephenson was coached by former top 50 ATP player Bryan Shelton, now the head men's tennis coach at the University of Florida. In total, Stephenson amassed a 101-53 career doubles record on the ITF and WTA tour and notched 44 singles victories.
Stephenson is a native of Kitchener, Ontario and graduated with a degree in communications and information sciences with a minor in psychology from Alabama in 2006.
