Leslie Allen (b. March 12, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio, USA) is a retired American professional tennis player.

Allen was a member of the University of Southern California national championship team and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in speech communications. She joined the WTA Tour in 1977 and went on to reach a career high ranking on #17 in the world.

In 1981, Allen became the first African American woman to win a tennis tournament since Althea Gibson when she won the Avon Championships of Detroit. She also was a mixed doubles finalist at the 1983 French Open. After retiring from professional tennis, she became a television broadcaster and was also elected to the WTA Board of Directors. Allen founded the Leslie Allen Foundation to help inner city children develop skills through tennis to become productive members of society. She is currently the varsity tennis coach at Riverdale Country School in Riverdale, New York.

[edit] Grand Slam mixed doubles final (1)

[edit] Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Partnering	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1983	French Open	Charles Strode	Barbara Jordan Eliot Teltscher	6-2, 6-3

[edit] External links

• Leslie Allen profile on the WTA Tour's official website
• Leslie Allen Foundation

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