On top of the world

Gwenda Ward hits a forehand as she practices at the Fort King Municipal Tennis Center in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, April 9, 2026. Ward, 77, is a championship tournament tennis player who competes in the 75-age group of women’s singles in the International Tennis Federation as well as other competitions. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2026.

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Posted April 14, 2026 | By Susan Smiley-Height / Photos by Bruce Ackerman and courtesy USTA/ITF

Talk about being at the top of your game.

Ocala’s own Gwenda Ward is at the pinnacle when it comes to playing tournament tennis.

Ward, 77, is number one in the world in her age group so far this year with the International Tennis Federation. In 2025, she also ended the year in the number one spot.

She has notched numerous gold, silver and bronze medals with the ITF as well as a tall stack of prized gold and silver balls awarded by the United States Tennis Association to winners and runner’s up in singles or doubles national titles in her age divisions over a number of years.

Ward, who grew up playing tennis in South Carolina, was one of the first female athletes at the University of South Florida. A mother of two, she continued to play tennis throughout her career but devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best when she was 67. Since then, she has gone on to compete at the international level, winning the world mixed doubles championship this year for the Mixed 75+ Doubles competition as part of the International Tennis Federation tournament. She also won the U.S. singles and doubles championships for her age group this year, according to supplied materials.

As the national governing body, the USTA is responsible for the management of U.S. tennis teams competing in international tournaments, like the ones in which Ward has competed. The USTA also is responsible for the national rankings of players, which determines who competes in tournaments, Axtman explained.

Last October, Ward was on an American team competing in the ITF World Team Championships on the red clay courts in Bol, Croatia. The tournament is the super-senior equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup competitions, where top American tennis players represent their country in the 75-, 80-, 85-and-over age groups.

Winning the Queens Cup (women’s 75 and over) for the U.S. for the first time since 2017 was the team of Ward, Liane Bryson, Toni Novack and Judy Dixon. Ward also brought home a mixed doubles title in the 75+ category and finished runner-up in singles. 

As for all the “hardware” she has earned playing tennis, Ward noted that, “All my gold balls and medals are highlights.” 

“I won a gold medal in mixed doubles at the World Individual Championships last year with Bruno Renoult, a Frenchman I’d never met or played with before. I won two gold balls on grass in 2024 and 2025 with different partners. Gold for singles and mixed doubles this year at the National Clay Court Championship in Pelham, Alabama. So far this year, I have won three singles titles in my age group in California, Florida and Alabama,” she shared. 

“But the awards are a byproduct, not the main show,” she asserted. “The best part of competing is the preparation and tactical awareness in real time on court. That’s the joy and real prize.  The rest is ephemeral.”

BACK STORY

Ward was born in Laurens, South Carolina, and her family moved to Sullivan’s Island, near Charleston, when she was 5. Her father was a football coach and then became the recreation director for the city of Charleston. She and her four sisters all played tennis on the island and then for the high school tennis team. Their mother, who was an English teacher, and also taught tennis and helped several top players reach national prominence. 

“I was always athletic, as were my sisters. We played basketball, track, tennis and table tennis. But I also was a reader. As a teen, I watched William F. Buckley on TV but didn’t understand his vocabulary. I decided I wanted to understand the words he used and so set about expanding my vocabulary,” Ward shared.

She graduated high school, worked six months at Bell South, then attended the University of South Florida on a tennis scholarship, along with two of her sisters. Then she got married, left school, moved to Ocala and had two children.

Her son, Clarke Tanner, owns a physical therapy company in Richmond, Virginia. 

“He is my go-to person for tennis injuries. My daughter, Cindy Tanner, teaches English at Eastside High School in Gainesville. My daughter is an excellent problem solver,” Ward noted. 

“I helped my first husband run a successful horse farm — breeding, training and racing Appaloosa racehorses, then thoroughbreds. I went back to school at the University of Florida to finish a degree in English literature. After a divorce, I earned credits towards a master’s degree in English education while teaching at Lake Weir High School.  I earned my master’s and was awarded a Fulbright to teach in Denmark in 1994-95, where I taught in three high schools. When I returned, I taught seniors at Belleview High School until I retired in 2016. I also coached girls’ basketball at Lake Weir and tennis teams at LWHS and BHS and was an adjunct instructor at the College of Central Florida for 17 years. I ran my first marathon at the age of 67, during my last year of teaching, to find a new challenge,” Ward offered. 

Ward married Robert “Bobby” Ward III in 1995. He passed away in 2022, after battling pancreatic cancer.  

“Once I retired from teaching in 2016, I spent that summer planning a trip to Europe with my best friend. In 2017, we took the trip. In 2018, I decided to play Florida tournaments and a few national tournaments.  In my first tournament, I beat the third seed and the second seed fairly easily, then lost in the semifinals. Nothing like a little success to spur on determination. My husband was eager for me to keep aiming for the championship rounds and was willing to feed cats and dogs while I traveled. So that was the point where I honestly assessed my strengths and weaknesses and decided to be the best player I could be.  From 2019-2025, I rose in rankings from 0 to #1 in the nation and #1 in the ITF world rankings in my age group,” Ward shared proudly. 

“The rise wasn’t easy. I had a lot of hard work and help along the way in terms of encouragement and reckonings. Anyone who participates in sports at a high level has to confront nerves, fears, doubts and pressure. That’s the mental part of the game. How you deal with it determines who wins or loses. I have had good coaching to get me where I am, but the first step is to believe in the possibility, be willing to work hard, then control your thoughts while in the game. Apparently, I have figured something out,” she said.

PARTNERSHIPS

In tournament play, as opposed to league play, the competitors go to great lengths sometimes to find a partner or make it onto a team, such as the USTA international team on which Ward has played the last three years.  

“I find somebody and somebody finds me, like when I played mixed doubles and we got a gold. I was contacted by somebody who said, ‘Would you be interested in playing with Bruno Renoult? He’s French.’ And I said, ‘Is he any good?’ She said, ‘He’s very good.’ I said, ‘Okay.’  So, then I looked him up and I thought, ‘Oh, he’s so good, he won’t ask me.’  But I was two in the world at the time and sure enough that night he contacted me and asked if I would be interested. We’re both left-handed. And, sure enough, we had to beat some good people to do it, but we won in Croatia,” she outlined.

Ward can often be found playing sets at the Fort King Municipal Tennis Center in Ocala, often with a group of other willing singles opponents, along with tennis pro Jeff Williams.

Williams said he grew up playing golf in Ocala, which transitioned well into learning to play tennis as a young adult. He started teaching tennis around the age of 30, about 15 years ago. He and Ward have been working together for about seven years. He works as an independent contractor at the Fort King venue.

Williams said that fundamentals are key to success, “all the way to the best, highest-level players.”

“It’s always comes back to front of house, because when it comes to a strategy and then competition, it’s more about awareness in the game and that comes at such a natural way. If you have a good technique and you have good fundamentals, you’ll be more confident, and if you’re more confident, then you’ll have more awareness in the game and so most of what we’re doing is repetitive,” he noted.

He said of connecting with Ward, that “she had a passion to get in the top 10 for nationals. She had some goals and she had taken lessons with other pros. We had a few lessons together and our personalities jived well. She was making good progress at the beginning, and it has just been growing ever since,” he said.

As for how he approaches coaching, he shared that, “It’s really hard to play with intention in any sport because it’s meant to come from a natural place so you learn how to balance that — when should you use your mind and when do you allow your instincts. Tennis highlights that aspect more than any other sport, so I would say learn how to use your athleticism but also be really mindful in the game.”

Ward noted that after she competes in a tournament, she will come back to Williams and tell him where she faced difficulty and then they work out a strategy to avoid that complication the next time around.

“Her personality is aggressive,” Williams offered. “We’re able to use her aggressive style, but it’s more fine-tuned, it’s more specific towards what’s effective versus just unleashing that aggressiveness without any intention. Now it’s like she’s got so much more intention in her game.”

“He will say things like mindfulness, intention, all of the calming cerebral things that are more sensible in terms of my game and my visioning and all the things you have to do, and then anybody who’s an athlete at a high-level has to grapple with the distractions and if you can quiet the mind the body knows what to. We work very well together,” Ward added.

In between playing sets in Ocala, Ward is thinking about upcoming tournaments in Canada, Austria and Spain while she enjoys walking and running, being active in her church, reading, thinking and “living a full life.”

“Tennis has taught me patience, hard work and humility. It has provided an arena for my competitive nature,” she said. “It’s taught me that playing tennis well is only a small matter given life’s larger struggles and worries. And, that I am blessed with talent but also by the friendships made on and off the court.”

“Gwenda is one of the top, if not the top player in the world for her age. Her ability at her age shows that tennis is the world’s healthiest sport and Gwenda is a perfect example of that. It’s been an honor to have her each year representing Team USA in international competitions. On the court, she is as competitive as they come and gives 100% for her team,” said Adam Hutchinson, USTA Director, Adult Competition.