Leslie Allen

Leslie Allen is a dynamic speaker,  life skills coach, and award-winning athlete development specialist. She is an ATA, NCAA, and WTA champion who was ranked as high as  # 17 in the world.  College tennis played a pivotal role in her  rise to the  top of the game. Late to catch the tennis bug, Leslie Allen when she finally did get serious, decided she was going to play college and pro tennis. Thanks to Title IX she became the first girl to play on a boys HS tennis team in the state of OH.  Her college career began with an academic scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University. Wanting to combine strong academics and big-time athletics she knew she had to transfer.  Allen walked on at  #1 ranked University of Southern California (USC) and played # 5 on their championship team.  She graduated with honors from USC with a degree in Speech Communications and plans to join the WTA tour. Allen knows first hand the complexities of navigating in a world that was not designed for her. As a Black female tennis pro, she redesigned the tennis world and maintained a top twenty world ranking. When Allen won the singles title at the Avon Championships of Detroit in 1981, she made history as the first African American woman to win a major pro tournament since Althea Gibson’s 1958 US Open victory.  Allen won a combined 9 WTA singles & doubles titles and was a French Open Mixed Doubles finalist. Allen is an International Tennis Hall of Fame Tennis Educational Merit Award 2010 honoree and was inducted into the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016. Off-court she has worn many hats in tennis; a WTA Tournament Director,   Television Commentator, WTA Board Player Rep (securing equal prize money for women at all Grand Slams),   Division I  Head Coach at Fordham University, and Women’s Tour Global Media Director. Joining trailblazers and personal mentors Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King, Leslie Allen broke barriers and overcame adversity when the odds were stacked against her. She believes wholeheartedly in the importance of having impeccable life skills to succeed on and off the playing field. Through Win4Life Enterprises Allen works with corporations, colleges, nonprofits, and individuals to inspire and teach the life skills needed to be a true winner in life.   For more than two decades, Allen has empowered hundreds across the country through Win4Life mentorship and training where she shares her passion to educate, empower and lead. Allen is a real estate professional and resides in Morristown NJ. She has one daughter who lives in GA and is a college volleyball coach. Leslie enjoys yoga, thrift store explorations, and nature photography.