Tennis player Neyssa Etienne was born 43 years ago

Forty-three years ago, on 31 October 1983, Neyssa Etienne was born in Port-au-Prince. A now-retired professional tennis player, she is among the best women players in the history of Haitian tennis.

A top junior

She started playing tennis very young. In 2001, she reached No. 25 in the world junior singles rankings and No. 5 in doubles, and made the quarterfinals of the US Open junior tournament. As a junior, she won five ITF singles titles and 14 in doubles.

Sydney and the tour

She turned professional in 1999 and represented Haiti at the Olympic tournament in Sydney in 2000, where she lost in the first round. On the ITF circuit, she won one singles title and two in doubles. Her best WTA singles ranking was No. 397, on 15 September 2003. She also played for Haiti in the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly the Fed Cup, with a record of 8 wins and 5 losses.

College tennis

From 2003 to 2006, she played for the USF Bulls at the University of South Florida. After running into eligibility problems with the NCAA, she became the team's No. 1 singles player.