Who is Tyra Grant, the very young Italian-American summoned for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
Davis Cup captain Tathiana Garbin has summoned 17-year-old Italian-American Tyra Grant ahead of the Billie Jean King Cup finals, scheduled Sept. 16-21 in Shenzhen, China, in which Italy will have to defend the trophy it won last year. An absolute novelty: Grant will join Lucia Bronzetti, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini. Let’s find out who this very young tennis player is.
Tyra Caterina Grant was born in Rome on March 12, 2008 and grew up in Vigevano. She is the daughter of U.S. basketball player Tyrone Grant, who also played for Olimpia Milano and Virtus Bologna in his career, and Cinzia Giovinco, a tennis teacher who is now her coach. He has a younger brother, Tyson, also a budding tennis player, and dual citizenship. From 2015 to 2022 she trained in Bordighera at the Riccardo Piatti Center, then for a year with the U.S. Federtennis in Orlando, Florida.
She currently trains at the New Casale Tennis Club in Casale Monferrato. After representing the United States since she entered her first international tournament at age 13, she has been defending the Italian colors since the past Internazionali d’Italia. As a junior she was No. 2 ITF and won the doubles in 2022 at the Orange Bowl with Iva Jovic, with whom she also won the junior doubles tournaments at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2024, while at Roland Garros in 2023 she triumphed with Clervie Ngounoue.
Her first professional appearance was in the US Open qualifiers last year, where she was beaten in the first round by Hailey Baptiste. Also eliminated right away in the main draw of the women’s doubles paired with Jovic, in the mixed together with Aleksandar Kovacevic but here the two are beaten by Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori. This year in singles she has a singles record of 28 wins and 16 losses; in Rome she lost in the first round in three sets to Croatian Antonia Ruzic, failing two match points. She is currently world number 208, her best ranking, at the end of 2024 she was number 574.
“Tyra Grant is a young athlete who has already shown tremendous potential and important signs of growth – says Garbin – We believe it is essential to offer an opportunity of such prestige to the younger generation as well since, our main task, is to ensure continuity to the team technical project and build a’concrete legacy for the future.”
“Martina Trevisan is continuing on the path of recovery after an’operation, and respecting individual timing is an integral part of our vision – Garbin continues. Choosing is never easy but these girls, both those who will represent Italy in Shenzhen and those who will cheer for our colors from afar, know that they are all indispensable within this project. The strength of our group comes precisely from the’union of experience and the future”.
