Auburn Women's Tennis is led by a dynamic duo, a husband and wife team of tennis teachers. Assistant coach Christine Gray has teamed with her husband, head coach Tim Gray, for the last two years to lead the women of Auburn tennis. "She brings a lot of knowledge in that respect to the program," Tim said. "I would say we ham and egg it with each other, if you will. I think we really play of each other's strengths. It's a good match." Christine and Tim met in Rhode Island while both were on a recruiting trip at Brown University. Christine had been head coach at Wellesly College for seven years before meeting Tim and making the move to Auburn.
"It made sense for Tim to stay with such a great program--Division I, SEC," Christine said. "So I had to decide to move from my position at Wellesly and I was willing to take a sacrifice in coaching to come down here." Prior to her stint at Wellesly, Christine was a high school history teacher and tennis coach at various levels. She graduated from Brown University where she played tennis for four years and earned a degree in international relations and received a master's of education from Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1997. She was part of the team that won the Ivy League Championship in 1991 and was named Outstanding Senior Athlete in 1992. Tim said he knew Christine during her post-Brown, Wellesly years. The two knew of each other but had never met personally.
"It was one of those things where a mutual friend said, 'Hey, you guys should get to know each other,'" Tim said. "The rest is history." Originally, Christine moved to Auburn thinking she would get involved in education in some way. But fate, or luck, stepped in. "His assistant coach pursued an opportunity to attend medical school and so the search was opened up and I applied and thankfully, with some head coaching experience and having an advanced degree in education, I think those both helped me get my foot in the door here," Christine said.
Tim said adding Christine has helped the program. "She was a very good player, very good tactician and was a very good head coach in her own right, prior to coming here," Tim said. Christine said she doesn't get to play as much tennis as she would like, mostly because of the responsibilities inherent in being assistant coach. But she does still get to play every now and then--practice with the girls, mixed doubles with Tim and, occasionally, a classic battle of the sexes. "He toys with me on the court," Christine said. Tim doesn't deny Christine's claims, but said it's "hard to compare." "She was a great tennis player, still hits a really good ball," Tim said. "She was part of the team that won the Ivy Leagues back in 1891."
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