It’s an ideal outlook for one of Southern California’s top rising stars. Tsehay Driscoll, ranked for years among the section’s most promising young athletes, is on the verge of her collegiate career after committing to Princeton University, where she will join the Tigers tennis squad and embark on the next step in a long, storied journey. As an African-American female athlete, she has thrived while admiring some of the world’s top players – predominantly the GOAT – and this next step may well place Driscoll on a path to becoming a role model herself.

Despite growing up in the backyard of numerous great college programs in SoCal, Driscoll had her sights set on the east coast. Impressed by the Tigers’ coaching staff, she made her decision to commit in late 2022. “When I was 10 years old, I was watching the NCAA championships, and I knew I really wanted to be part of a college team like that,” said Driscoll. “I think SoCal really helped me further my tennis career. The competition here was so good while I was growing up, but I wanted a different vibe. Princeton just has a great tennis team and a great education.”

Just as the NCAAs motivated her to compete at the college level, she holds similar sentiment on growing up in the era of one of tennis’ most iconic athletes, and it serves to motivate her even more. “Serena’s fierceness and drive to be so fiery on the tennis court,” Driscoll exclaimed. “She always just proved everybody wrong. I love that when I was younger, I could see someone who looked exactly like me playing tennis.”

The influence that Serena Williams has had on this generation of young tennis stars is massive, and for Tsehay Driscoll, it is clear that recognizing this impact and history is essential. “We’ve had such a hard journey,” she says with respect to her ancestry, as we enter Black History Month in February. “Women in general, and also women of color. I think having a month to really talk about our history and get our recognition is great.”

February 1st also marks National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and for young female athletes like Driscoll, it is another opportunity to recognize the need for more diversity in athletics. “Of course, I wouldn’t be here without Title IX,” said Driscoll. “I’m so grateful for all the women, like Billie Jean King, who started Title IX and pushed for it. I couldn’t be happier or more grateful to have this opportunity to play tennis in college.”

Despite the advancements being made on a larger scale to increase opportunities for female athletes, work is being done at all levels to further women’s sports. Driscoll herself recalls an instance at a junior tournament in SoCal where she had to argue for the girls’ matches to be played on center court. “They had all the boys playing on center court,” she said. “I knew that wasn’t right in my heart, so I went up to the tournament desk and said this isn’t fair. I asked to please put us on center court, and they did, and everyone enjoyed it.”

Junior players like Driscoll are the future of the tennis world, so it is encouraging to see the awareness that she and her peers have to continue fighting for women’s sports and for the next generation. With National Signing Day approaching, Driscoll had some advice for other high school athletes being recruited or making the jump to the next level. “For people playing tennis, I want them to make sure they’re having fun,” explained Driscoll. “Taking time away from the sport makes me love it more. Over the summer, I would go backpacking, and I wouldn’t pick up a tennis racquet for months, but I would come back and be more free and play better on the tennis court. Make sure that you have other things outside of tennis that make you happy.”