Career Highlights

• Member USC NCAA National Championship tennis team

• American Tennis Association Singles Champion

• 10-year veteran Women's Tennis Association (WTA) TOUR

• Achieved world ranking of # 17, competed at Wimbledon, US, French, and the Australian Open

• Captured in 1981,the Avon Championships of Detroit to become the first African American woman to win a major tennis tournament since Althea Gibson won the US Open in 1958.

• Two-Time VP Women's Tennis Association (WTA)

• TV Broadcaster, Corporate Spokesperson & Journalist

• Corporate Executive and International Media Director

• GAME PLAN, Inc. , an Event Marketing, Promotions, & Public Relations firm.

• Founder: Allen Tennis Training Academy

• Restaurateur: Allen's, Amelia Island, FL.

• Highest world ranked (#17) player ever to compete on the WTA TOUR with a college degree.

Full Story

Ohio High School Sports History
Leslie Allen, a native of Cleveland Ohio, grew up in a tennis playing family yet did not regularly play tennis or compete in tournaments as a junior. Never ranked nationally by the USTA she was one of the top professional tennis players of her generation. Thanks in part to Title IX legislation, and legal action, she was the number one player on Cleveland's Glenville High School boy's tennis team and the first girl in the state of Ohio to play on a boy's high school team.

NCAA Champion
A junior year walk-on, she was a member of the University of Southern California's # 1 ranked national championship tennis team and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Speech Communications.

WTA Tour Veteran
After a 3 month tour in Australia (sponsored by Pyramid Tennis Association) for her first international tournaments, in 1977 Leslie earned her first WTA Tour world ranking of #177. By 1979 she was competing in the main draw of Wimbledon, the French, US, and Australian Open. Allen went on to be one of the top 10 players in the US and achieved a career high ranking of #17 in the world.

In 1981 at the Avon Championships of Detroit, Leslie established her place in tennis history as the first African American woman to win a major tennis event since Althea Gibson's 1958 US Open victory. Allen competed on the WTA Tour for a decade; in addition to her singles titles, she was also a French Open Mixed Doubles Finalist and the holder of several WTA Tour Doubles Championships.

Spokesperson
Allen served as technical consultant to Prince Manufacturing, NIKE and as a spokesperson to Avon Products where she conceived and implemented a public relations campaign targeted to eight major US markets to increase media exposure for Avon's sponsorship of women's professional tennis. Allen also travels across the nation as a motivational speaker.

Television Broadcaster/Journalist
For TV networks including CBS, MSG, USA, WGN, and ESPN Allen has provided broadcast commentary at the French Open, Avon Championships, the Virginia Slims series, Kraft Tour, and other WTA Tour international tournaments. Allen also has had several articles published in various tennis publications.

Vice President
Ms. Allen was elected to the WTA Board of Directors and was a two time Vice President. She was instrumental in drafting rules and regulations for the women's tour, was the WTA spokesperson and liaison between players, corporate sponsors, governing bodies and the media.

Corporate & Business Career
At Kraft General Foods, Leslie joined the ranks of the corporate tennis world as an Event Manager where again she developed international promotional concepts and brand marketing strategies for Kraft General Food's tennis tour sponsorship.

At the USTA she was the Tournament Director for the ACURA U.S. Women's Hardcourt's in Stratton Mt., Vermont; the first African American Tournament Director in professional tennis. She was also a member of the US Open Committee.

For the Arthur Ashe Endowment, Leslie has directed all aspects of the Endowment's U.S. Open booth fundraising activities and other special events.

At the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a national scholarship organization for minority students, she was the Director of Development and Public Relations.

At GAME PLAN, Inc. an event marketing, promotions and public relations firm. Leslie is the president and CEO. Clients have included: The Arthur Ashe Endowment, Chase Manhattan Bank, Maxim Magazine, Mickey Mantle's Restaurant, National Marrow Donor Program, NYC Parks Foundation, Pyramid Tennis Association, Sehorn's Corner, and the Women's Sports Foundation.

In the late 1980's Leslie operated Allen Tennis Training Academy in Jacksonville Florida, a summer residential camp as well as co-owned and managed Allen's Restaurant in Amelia Island, Florida.

Varsity Tennis Coach at Riverdale Country School in Riverdale, NY.