PLAYER PROFILE
Taylah Preston
5
AUSTRALIAN
RANKING
RANKING
139
WTA
RANKING
RANKING
- Age18
- Born27 October 2005
- LivesPerth, Western Australia
- PlaysRight-handed
- CoachBrad Dyer
“I was lucky enough to go in Arthur Ashe and watch Coco Gauff, who's obviously not that much older than me. I think that was great for me to see... people just (slightly) older than me, they're playing on the big court.”
— Taylah Preston, 21 Sep 2022
» Now in the junior top 10, Preston eyes professional events
ON-COURT
- Started playing as a four-year-old at Greenwood Tennis Club
- Her first coach was Glen Popovsky
- Names backhand as her signature shot
- Won 25 of her 28 singles matches on the ITF World Junior Tour in 2021
- Won three ITF World Junior Tour singles titles and four doubles titles in 2021
- Coached by Brad Dyer at the Next Step Tennis Academy
- Says competing is the best part of playing tennis
- Dream is to win Grand Slam titles and be world No.1
- Achieved a top-10 world junior ranking in September 2022
- Was an orange girl for the Australian team at the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Glasgow
- Made her Grand Slam main-draw debut as a wildcard at Australian Open 2024, where she played childhood idol Elina Svitolina
- Advanced to her first singles final at a WTA 125 tournament in Mexico in February 2024
- Later that month, scored her first top-50 win over Magdalena Frech to reach the second round of the WTA 500 event in San Diego
- Made her Billie Jean King Cup debut in April 2024 and became the first teen debutante to win a singles match for Australia since Ash Barty in 2013.
OFF-COURT
- Father, Greg, is a boat builder and mother, Sarah, is a bookkeeper
- She has a younger sister, Chloe
- If she wasn’t playing tennis, she’d love to be working with animals
- Does not have a favourite player: “I like different things about different players,” she says
- Names her parents (“because of how hard they both work to help me”) and Ash Barty (“it’s really cool to see an Australian doing everything she is, while being so humble”) as her role models
- Favourite food is sushi
- Named Female Junior Athlete of the Year at the Australian Tennis Awards in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
YEAR-END RANKINGS
2023 | 244 |
2022 | 606 |
Taylah Preston in the news
Madrid: Kokkinakis, Saville, Sharma on brink of qualifying
23 April, 2024
Thanasi Kokkinakis, Daria Saville and Astra Sharma won their opening-round qualifying matches in Madrid, putting each of them one victory away from a main-draw berth.
Read moreThanasi Kokkinakis, Daria Saville and Astra Sharma won their opening-round qualifying matches in Madrid, putting each of them one victory away from a main-draw berth.
Aussie weekly wrap: Kokkinakis returns to winners’ circle
15 April, 2024
Thanasi Kokkinakis soars back into the world's top 100 after clinching an ATP Challenger singles title in America.
Read moreThanasi Kokkinakis soars back into the world's top 100 after clinching an ATP Challenger singles title in America.
Preston books Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals berth at Brisbane
13 April, 2024
Teenager Taylah Preston has handed the hosts a 3-0 lead over Mexico after dismissing Marcela Zacarias on debut at Pat Rafter Arena.
Read moreTeenager Taylah Preston has handed the hosts a 3-0 lead over Mexico after dismissing Marcela Zacarias on debut at Pat Rafter Arena.
Stosur’s charges deliver the early verdict on their new captain
11 April, 2024
Ellen Perez, Storm Hunter, Daria Saville, Arina Rodionova and Taylah Preston tip the hat to their mentor on the eve of the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier against Mexico.
Read moreEllen Perez, Storm Hunter, Daria Saville, Arina Rodionova and Taylah Preston tip the hat to their mentor on the eve of the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifier against Mexico.