McCartney Kessler
Age: 25
Southern ties: From Calhoun, Georgia; trained in Marietta; an All-American at University of Florida.
Highlight reel: Shot into the Top 50 in January, after just a year playing on the WTA Tour; has two titles and a win over Coco Gauff.
Weapon of choice: Her backhand sealed her semifinal victory at 2025’s Austin Open in front of tennis fan Matthew McConaughey.
Off the court: Recently married; she met her husband on vacation on Florida’s Little Gasparilla Island.
Local haunt: Trains at Chattagnooga’s Baylor School with her brother, who coaches there.
Peyton Stearns
Age: 23
Southern ties: Played for University of Texas, where she was NCAA singles champ in 2022; lives in Sarasota, Florida.
Highlight reel: The feisty player finished in the Top 50 last year, winning a first title and getting to the US Open’s third round.
Weapon of choice: Her big forehands helped her best her first Top 10 player, Olympic gold medalist Qinwen Zheng, earlier this year in Dubai.
Off the court: Hangs with bro/tennis player Preston, along with Notre Dame football alum boyfriend.
Local haunt: Florida piers: “You can separate yourself from the world,” she said in 2024. “No one knows who you are at the fishing dock.”
Jessica Pegula
Age: 31
Southern ties: Learned to play in Hilton Head; lives in Boca Raton (though her family owns the Buffalo Bills and Sabres).
Highlight reel: This is her fourth straight season in the world’s Top 5, and she’s challenging Gauff for title of best American woman.
Weapon of choice: Her backhand carried her into last years’s US Open final.
Off the court: Owens Ready 24, a skin-care line for active lifestyles.
Local haunt: Pegula’s nonprofit, A Lending Paw, trains service dogs. Her own pups love walking near her Boca home.
Emma Navarro
Age: 24
Southern ties: Grew up in Charleston, South Carolina; won the 2021 NCAA singles title at University of Virginia.
Highlight reel: Rocketed into the Top 10 last year with her first title and a semifinal run at the US Open.
Weapon of choice: Any defensive stroke that extends the point, a superpower that propelled her past two of the world’s best in 2024.
Off the court: Golfs “lefty even though I play [tennis] right-handed,” she once told G&G.
Local haunt: “You can’t beat anywhere on Sullivan’s Island,” Navarro says. “Obstinate Daughter is great. Home Team is great. Poe’s is great.”
Coco Gauff
Age: 21
Southern ties: A third-gen resident of Florida’s Delray Beach, where her grandma helped desegregate a public high school.
Highlight reel: One-name superstar by fifteen, US Open champ by nineteen, world’s highest-paid female athlete at twenty-one and French Open titlist.
Weapon of choice: Her signature New Balance shoe collection, apropos for Gauff’s biggest weapons, her speed and defense.
Off the court: Loves the WNBA and being a big sis to two brothers.
Local haunt: Pompey Park, where she learned to play tennis and called Little League games at diamonds named for her grandfather.
Madison Keys
Age: 30
Southern ties: Left the Midwest early to train at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton; settled in Orlando.
Highlight reel: A prodigy since fourteen, Keys overcame mental demons to get a first Grand Slam win at the Aussie Open earlier this year.
Weapon of choice: Her crushing forehand, which averages eighty miles per hour-just as high as that of the top men.
Off the court: Hones barista-level foam-art skills on her home espresso setup.
Local haunt: Practices at United States Tennis Association’s National Campus in Lake Nona, where anyone can drop in for a clinic.
Ashlyn Krueger
Age: 21
Southern ties: A longtime resident of Dallas.
Highlight reel: Working with Maria Sharapova’s former coach, Krueger won her first title in 2023; just broke into Top 50.
Weapon of choice: Her big serve and return draw comparisons to Elena Rybakina, whom she just beat in Miami, her first win over a Top 10 player.
Off the court: Loves to hit pharmacies and boutiques while traveling the world on the pro tour.
Local haunt: Brookhaven Tennis Academy, site of her home courts.
Taylor Townsend
Age: 29
Southern ties: Her family moved to Atlanta so she could continue to train with the father of former pro Donald Young Jr.
Highlight reel: Once the number-one junior, Townsend revived her career and reigns as Wimbledon and Aussie Open doubles cochamp.
Weapon of choice: Her vintage serve- and-volley combo, most dangerous on Wimbledon’s grass.
Off the court: Hanging out and posting videos with Adyn, her four-year-old son and “best friend.”
Local haunt: The South Fulton Tennis Center, where she grew up training with Donald Young Sr.
Danielle Collins
Age: 31
Southern ties: Raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, and won the 2014 and 2016 NCAA singles titles at UVA.
Highlight reel: Made the Top 10 in 2024 after Miami and Charleston wins; scores airtime for sass (e.g., a “kiss my buns” gesture in Australia).
Weapon of choice: Her lethal backhand; there’s a GIF of her smoking it past a Wimbledon champ, then blowing on her racket like a pistol.
Off the court: Has five dogs and seven chickens. “I’m starting my little farm,” Collins says.
Local haunt: “In St. Pete, I love going to the Dali Museum. And the Violet Stone’s pizza-I honestly would argue it’s one of the best in the world.”
Amanda Anisimova
Age: 23
Southern ties: Grew up and lives in Aventura, Florida.
Highlight reel: A phenom burned out by twenty-one, Anisimova won her biggest title in February to crack the Top 20 and seal her comeback.
Weapon of choice: Her bombshell backhand stopped Mirra Andreeva’s thirteen-match winning streak in Miami this year.
Off the court: Painted during a 2023 mental-health break; sold works at a Tribeca gallery for charity.
Local haunt: Art Basel in Miami “strengthens my character every year,” she’s said on Instagram.
Image credits: From left: Sydney Low/Cal Sport Media via AP; Jason Heidrich/Icon Sportswire 2025/via AP; Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via AP; AP Photo/Ng Han Guan From left: Michele Eve Sandberg/Icon Sportswire 2022/via AP; Cal Sports Media via AP Images; Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP; Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via AP; Iwanczuk/NurPhoto via AP; Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via AP
