Angelica Gavaldon made history as one of Mexico’s greatest tennis players by achieving the highest world ranking ever for a Mexican woman in the modern era. Now, the former professional tennis star is teaching a new generation of players in Coronado and Mexico who aspire to emulate her.
Gavaldon, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 34 in the world, spent more than 12 years on the professional tour, defeating numerous top 10 players along the way and was recently inducted into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame.
“I feel a huge responsibility and privilege to be able to help the players that want to achieve what I did and that want to follow in my footsteps,” Gavaldon says.
Her love for tennis began at age 6 while growing up in Tijuana, Mexico.
“When I saw tennis for the first time Wimbledon, watching it on TV, I remember I told my dad I’m gonna play there one day,” Gavaldon said.
Her mother began teaching her the basics of tennis, while her father, an avid tennis fan, arranged lessons for Gavaldon, her older brother and her younger sister at tennis clubs in Tijuana.
Gavaldon quickly developed an intense passion for the sport, saying, “I was very obsessive and I fell in love with training. I mean, I would spend hours and hours and hours and I had that personality since I was 6 years old, and the results just started coming.”
By age 8, Gavaldon was competing in international tournaments, including one in Venezuela where she lost in the singles final to future tennis legend and World No. 1 Monica Seles.
She did however later win the doubles title at that junior tournament with Seles. When Gavaldon was 12, her family moved to Coronado, where she continued developing her skills and eventually climbed to No. 3 in the U.S. junior rankings.
At just 14, she received an opportunity to compete in her first professional tournament in San Diego.
“The director of the tournament approached my parents and told them that she wanted to give me a wildcard into the main draw,” Galvadon said.
The young tennis player made an immediate impression.
“And I remember I played my first round against a top 100 player, WTA player from Japan and I beat her,” she described.
Although Gavaldon lost a close match to a top 10 player in the following round, the experience gave her the confidence to enter more pro tournaments as an amateur.
At 16, Gavaldon stunned the tennis world by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, one of tennis’ four Grand Slam tournaments.
She turned professional afterward and became part of a new generation of rising women’s tennis stars, competing alongside some of the sport’s biggest names.
“They used to call us new kids on the block. It was Monica Seles, Capriati, Magdalena Maleeva, Anke Huber and me. And out of all of those, I used to beat all of them except Seles,” she said.
Over a professional career spanning more than 12 years, Gavaldon reached the Australian Open quarterfinals twice, played in all of the Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, like she told her dad she would, and played in multiple Olympics for Mexico.
Her accomplishments recently earned her a place in the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame at the Balboa Tennis Club where she played junior tournaments and high school matches for the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, for whom she won CIF singles as a freshman and sophomore.
“I mean, it’s an amazing honor to me. I was very, very, very touched,” she said.
The recognition was especially meaningful because of her late father’s influence on her career.
“I wish my dad was here to see it, because I know he was a great supporter of tennis,” she said.
These days, besides teaching players from both sides of the border, she mentors young players from Mexico competing on the professional tennis tour.
She describes her coaching philosophy as “strict, loving discipline,” combining the work ethic that fueled her own success with a desire to help others discover opportunities through tennis.
“Tennis has been, you know, my whole life since I was 6 and to be able to guide the kids that really love this sport and that really want to get good and really want to have college opportunities, or maybe one day going on the pro tour. I mean, I feel really honored to be able to open doors for them,” Galvadon said.
Her commitment to the sport also extends beyond competitive tennis.
Gavaldon volunteers at Sacred Heart Parish School in Coronado, where she attended as a child. There, she teaches children around the same age she was when she first began playing tennis.
“And one of the reasons I love this is because it’s kind of the way I started playing tennis. I would always play in my backyard or just find a spot and paint a line,” Galvadon described.
For Gavaldon, introducing children to the game is another way to share a lifelong passion.
“And it’s super fun to get them involved in a sport that I love so much,” she said.
Gavaldon also keeps busy as a mom to her teenage son, Noah, who unlike his mother, has little interest in tennis. He prefers playing basketball.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.