Lauren Embree is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 college and international tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player.

Born in Naples, Florida

Naples, Florida

Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...

, Embree made her USTA Pro Circuit debut at the age of 16. As a junior

Junior tennis

Junior Tennis refers to tennis games where the participants are aged 18 and under. Eligibility to compete is not based on age, but year of birth: as a result, some players must move out of juniors soon after their 18th birthday, while others can play juniors until they are nearly 19...

, she has competed in the 2006 U.S. Open Junior championships and reached the round of 16 at the 2009 Australian Open Junior Championships

2009 Australian Open - Girls' Singles

Arantxa Rus was the defending champion, but she did not participate that year.Ksenia Pervak won in the final 6–3, 6–1, against Laura Robson.-Seeds:# Noppawan Lertcheewakarn # Ana Bogdan # Ksenia Pervak...

.

Embree graduated from Lely High School

Lely High School

Lely High School is a public high school located in unincorporated Collier County, Florida, United States, east of Naples.The school serves Naples Manor, Marco Island, and unincorporated areas of collier county. The school is a part of the District School Board of Collier County. Lely's Feeder...

 in Naples in 2009, and in May of the same year, she qualified as a wild card

Wild card (sports)

The term wild card refers broadly to a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play.-International sports:...

 for the 2009 French Open

2009 French Open

The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 108th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...

, her first participation in a Grand Slam

Grand Slam (tennis)

The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

 tournament. She lost to Nadia Petrova

Nadia Petrova

Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...

 in the first round, and turned down a €15,000 prize to remain an amateur.

She accepted an athletic scholarship

Athletic scholarship

An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...

 to attend the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

 in Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...

, and now plays for coach Roland Thornqvist

Roland Thornqvist

Roland Thornqvist is a Swedish-born American college tennis coach and former college tennis player. Thornqvist is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...

's Florida Gators women's tennis

Florida Gators women's tennis

The Florida Gators women's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . They play their home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's...

 team in National Collegiate Athletic Association

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 (NCAA) competition. In 2011, she was a key member of the Gators' national championship team that defeated the Stanford Cardinal

Stanford Cardinal

The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.-Nickname and mascot history:Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams...

women's tennis team in the final of the NCAA women's tennis tournament.

External links

• WTA Tour player profile