Alycia Parks

Alycia Parks is an American professional tennis player, who has competed professionally since 2018.

Alycia Parks was born on December 31, 2000, in Port St Lucie, Florida, United States, to Michael and Erica Parks. She has a sister named Mikayla, who has her own clothing line, which sells fashionable and athletic clothing. Her mother was the first to notice her tennis ability when she was five years old.

Parks’ father was involved in an incident at an ITF match in 2019 between her and Katherine Sebov. After Sebov allegedly aggressively squeezed Parks’ thumb after the contest, she reacted, and her father then intervened, screaming for Sebov to be disqualified for her actions.

The American made her WTA Tour debut at the 2021 MUSC Health Open. She defeated Grace Min in the opening round before falling to the top seed, Ons Jabeur, in her next match. This was followed by an appearance at the US Open, where she tied Venus Williams for the fastest serve recorded by a woman at Flushing Meadows (129mph).

Parks did not qualify for any of the Grand Slams in 2022, although she did record three WTA Tour victories during the season. Most of her time was spent on the ITF Circuit, where she reached two finals. Parks' biggest singles success came at the end of the season by winning two WTA 125 finals to climb the rankings.

A breakthrough came at the Lyon Open in February 2023. Parks defeated Julia Grabher, Petra Martic, Danka Kovinic, and Maryna Zanevska to progress to the final. She then recorded a stunning 7-6, 7-5 triumph against home favorite and top seed Caroline Garcia to claim her maiden WTA title.

Parks also won a maiden Grand Slam match at Wimbledon in 2023 against Anna-Lena Friedsam. In addition, the American had her first run to the third round of a WTA 1000 event in Madrid, which included beating two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.

The 2024 Australian Open saw Parks make the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. She prevailed against 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez in the second round before losing to her compatriot and 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff.

Parks is also a very strong doubles player. This was shown by winning the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati alongside Taylor Townsend. They achieved this by overcoming Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 in the final.