Tyra Grant, who until this week was one of the most promising young players in American women’s tennis, has decided to represent Italy.
Grant, 17, is the daughter of an American father and an Italian mother. She was born in Rome and raised in Vigevano, a town near Milan in northern Italy, before training at the Piatti Academy in Bordighera, where men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner also spent his formative tennis years. She relocated to Florida in 2023 and has since spent significant time training in the U.S., including at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
Grant was not immediately available for comment through her representatives at IMG. In a text message April 30, a U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) spokesperson confirmed that Grant had informed the organization that she would represent Italy, while a spokesperson for Italy’s tennis federation, the FITP, said Grant and officials had been in talks and that a formal announcement could happen soon. The Italian Open, for which Grant has received a singles wild card, begins May 7 in Rome.
A spokesperson for the WTA confirmed that the organization had approved Grant’s request to change her nationality and that the change was scheduled to go into effect for the Italian Open. All a player needs to change her nationality for tennis is a valid passport or other proof of nationality, citizenship, domicile or residence. Players who request a change after the start of the season are not allowed to request another change until the next season, except in exceptional circumstances.
Grant has a career-high singles ranking of No. 356 and has won three junior Grand Slam doubles titles. She last year won the Wimbledon girls’ doubles title with another American rising talent, Iva Jovic, and reached the semifinals of the girls’ singles at the 2024 French Open.
Grant received a singles qualifying wild card to the 2025 Madrid Open, which is still owned by IMG as a deal for its sale to a consortium led by Endeavour chief executive Ari Emanuel approaches. She beat world No. 80 Tatjana Maria in the first round, but lost in the second. Perhaps more notable is the wild card to the Italian Open. Of 10 singles wild cards awarded, Grant’s was the only given to a non-Italian athlete, at least at the time.
In Madrid, Grant played with an American flag next to her name. But the week of April 28 in Rome, where Grant is playing in the pre-qualifying tournament for doubles ahead of the Italian Open, there is an Italian flag next to her name.
It is not uncommon for American athletes with dual citizenship to choose to represent countries other than the U.S., where there is less competition for sponsorship dollars and potentially being the best in that country is worth more than being one of many elite players. Italy has just one female player, Jasmine Paolini, in the top 50 and three players in the top 100. The U.S. has four women in the top 10, two of them Grand Slam champions, and 18 in the top 100.
Naomi Osaka, born in Japan but raised largely in the U.S. by a Japanese mother and Haitian father, chose to represent Japan and soon became the world’s highest-paid female athlete. She lit the Olympic flame at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Eileen Gu, a freestyle skier from California with a Chinese mother, represents China, where there are fewer winter sports athletes. Gu became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing after winning two gold medals and one silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Grant’s father, Tyrone, grew up in Brooklyn and played college basketball at St. John’s University in Queens. He signed a contract with the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA but did not last with the team and went on to a lengthy career in Europe, where his partner at the time, Cinzia Giovinco, gave birth to Tyra. Grant’s brother, Tyson, also plays tennis as well.
In an interview with The Athletic last year, Grant, who speaks fluent Italian, said she found the experience at the USTA campus in Orlando far different from her training in Europe in one very significant way.
“There’s more people like me,” Grant, who said she there trained regularly with other Black juniors and pros for the first time, explained after a match during Wimbledon juniors in July.
(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)