Taylor Garcia is a 23-year-old professional pickleball player located in the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. area. Taylor is originally from Mandeville, Louisiana -- just 25 minutes north of New Orleans -- but she found her way to Virginia in 2018 to play college tennis for Washington and Lee University in Lexington. Competing for the top-15 ranked program in NCAA Division III and top program in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC), Garcia cemented herself as one of the most decorated Generals women’s tennis players when she became a two-time Singles All-American and NCAA Individual Qualifier (2021, 2022), the 2022 ITA Regional Senior Player of the Year, the 2021 Conference Player of the Year, and reached career high national rankings of #15 in singles and #19 in doubles. In a unique eligibility opportunity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Garcia recently concluded her “5th year” of collegiate tennis for Division I George Mason University. For the Patriots, Garcia competed from the #1 doubles and #2 singles positions and gained All-Conference Second Team honors after leading the team with 15 wins on the season.
Garcia first picked up a pickleball paddle in January 2023, but she did not start regularly practicing until April 2023 when her last collegiate tennis season concluded. Within just 3 months, she has competitively played pickleball giants like Irina Tereschenko, Lea Jansen, and Salome Devidze, and taken down top players such as Judit Castillo and Milan Rane.Since April, Garcia has fallen in love with all things pickleball and skyrocketed in skill level. Given her racket sports background of a decorated tennis career and her undeniable hunger to compete, Garcia is poised to become one of the best professional players on the women’s side -- with her Ace CLUB paddle in hand. She can’t wait to showcase her talents to the pickleball community at several pro tournaments over the next year… If she’s playing in your town, be sure to come out to watch her compete with the paddle that's so good, it feels illegal! NEVER FOLD!
