Women's Tennis' Anna Turati to Return for Additional Season
University of Texas Women's Tennis All-American will return to UT for the upcoming 2020-21 season, Turati announced Thursday. She was granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA due to the shortened 2020 season.
"Longhorn Nation, I've decided to come back to Austin for my senior season in 2021," Turati said. "I couldn't accept the fact that the coronavirus took away my last season as a Longhorn, so I want to end my college career on my own terms.
"I know this is the right decision for me, as I can continue to develop and train at a high level with such an amazing staff and team," Turati continued. "I also will be able to complete my degree at one of the top academic universities in the world. I'm sure that this experience here at UT is preparing me best for my future, both on and off the court. I'm very excited to get back on the court and fight for Texas, wearing burnt orange. Hook 'em!"
During her previous four seasons with the Longhorns, Turati has compiled a career overall singles mark of 94-16, including a 58-8 record in dual-match play. She also has registered a career overall doubles mark of 52-29, including a 43-22 record in dual-match play. Turati is on pace to earn her bachelor's degree in Exercise Science in May 2021.
Turati, who earned ITA singles All-America honors in 2020, concluded the shortened season at No. 4 in the final Oracle/ITA national singles rankings (March 3). She was named the 2020 ITA Texas Regional Most Improved Senior, and she shared the 2020 ITA Texas Regional Senior Player of the Year honors with her twin sister, .
Turati registered a 22-4 overall singles during the 2019-20 campaign and earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Week accolades on Jan. 14. She posted an 11-1 mark at the No. 2 singles line for the Longhorns in dual-match play in the spring, including three wins against ranked opponents.
In the fall of 2019, recorded an 11-3 singles mark against collegiate competition. She advanced to the quarterfinals at the Oracle ITA Masters, the semifinals at the ITA All-American Championships and the championship match at the ITA National Fall Championships. Nine of her 11 wins in the fall came against ITA nationally-ranked opponents, including three Top-10 wins over No. 2 Estela Perez-Somarriba (Miami), No. 5 Kelly Chen (Duke) and No. 7 Sara Daavettila (North Carolina).
In addition, Turati has won four ITF (International Tennis Federation) pro circuit singles titles and three doubles titles since the start of summer 2019. She captured three 15k singles championships and one doubles title in the summer of 2019 on clay courts in Tabarka, Tunisia. Turati later won her first 15k singles title on hardcourt at the ITF Norman (Okla.) tourney in October 2019. She also paired with teammate Fernanda Labraña to win the doubles crown in Norman, and she teamed with twin sister Bianca to capture the doubles championship at the ITF 15k tourney in Austin, the H-E-B Women's Pro Tennis Open in October 2019.
Texas completed the shortened 2020 dual-match season with an 11-3 record and held the No. 4 spot in the final Oracle/ITA Collegiate Division I team national rankings (March 10).