Tina Samara
Tina Samara (born July 26, 1974) is an American former professional tennis player. Biography. Samara was born in Oslo, to a Norwegian mother and Sri Lankan father, before later settling in Laurel Hollow, New York. From 1992 to 1996, Samara attended the University of Georgia, where she was a two-time All-American in tennis. She was a member of Georgia's NCAA championship winning team in 1994, partnering with Stacy Sheppard to win the title deciding doubles match. She and Sheppard became college tennis' top ranked doubles pairing in 1995. Samara represented her birth country Norway in  the Fed Cup, appearing in a total of 12 ties between 1996 and 1998. As a professional player she was most successful in doubles, with a best ranking of 223 and one ITF title. She twice featured in the singles qualifying draw for the US Open. An experienced coach in college tennis, since 2008 she has been a head coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, West Virginia University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of the Pacific.