G16 Doubles Summer Grand Slam Champion

Capturing the Girls 18s doubles title at last weekend’s Excellence tournament is yet another accomplishment in a storied junior career filled with a variety of other significant doubles titles that Abigail Chiu has earned in sectional, national and international competition.

Abigail first made her mark as one of the premiere doubles players in the country by winning a Bronze Ball at the Girls 12s Hardcourt Nationals in 2010. This victory was the beginning of a remarkable string of USTA Balls in doubles including winning a Silver Ball at the Girls 14s Winter Nationals in 2012 and a Gold Ball at the Girls 14s Easter Bowl in 2013 that highlight just a few of Abigail’s accomplishments in national competition. Abigail has also distinguished herself in international doubles competition by reaching the finals of the prestigious Eddie Herr tournament in 2012 as well as winning 3 ITF titles in Paraguay (2013), Daytona Beach (2013) and in her hometown of Austin (2015). However, perhaps the best indication of Abigail’s dominance in doubles was represented by her earning the #1 ranking in USTA National girls 16s doubles. Abigail’s impressive body of work in doubles is best summed up by ATA Head Coach, Doug Davis, who has served as Abigail’s primary coach for the past 4 years: “Abigail Chiu is the winningest player in ATA history in doubles events on an annual basis with a varied range of partners in every level of junior tennis in the US.”

Abigail’s doubles skills have also served her well with college coaches during her recruitment process. College coaches prefer recruiting players who are not only good singles players (Abigail has earned the #1 singles ranking in Texas in 12s, 14s, and 16s), but also accomplished doubles players. Coach Lucie Schmidhauser, who has traveled to many national tournaments with Abigail over the past 2 years, recalled an insight Paul Wardlaw, Brown University Head Women’s Tennis Coach, shared with her while watching Abigail and her partner dominate their opponents at Claycourt Nationals in July: it is easier to make great doubles players into valuable singles players than the other way around. This may be one of the reasons Abigail has been heavily recruited by Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth while also being seriously considered by Harvard. Coach Lucie is confident that “Abigail will be a force to be reckoned with in Division One college tennis with her attacking mindset, superb volleys, quick reflexes, and strong fundamentals.”