A 9-year-old from Flower Mound is making waves in the tennis world, winning a major regional tournament and advancing to nationals.
Emilia Ancelin of Flower Mound won the 10U division of the Little Mo Texas/South Regional Tennis Championship at the end of May.
Next, she will travel to Austin in September to face some of the best in the country at the Little Mo National tournament.
“Winning felt amazing because all my work has paid off, but my favorite part was having fun and making memories,” said Ancelin. “No, my goal is to play my best at nationals, learn from it and see how far I can go.”
The Little Mo tournament has seen some of the best tennis players in the world compete early in their career, including Coco Gauff, Taylor Fritz, Andy Roddick, Taylor Townsend, Tommy Paul, Katie Swan, Evan King and more.
Ancelin’s father, Baptiste Ancelin, commended his daughter for her hard work on and off the court.
“She has been training incredibly hard, balancing her time on the court with her schoolwork at Prairie Trail Elementary School,” he said in a press release.
According to her father, Emilia is also trilingual and can fluently speak English, French and Spanish. He said that brings a truly global perspective to her competitive drive.
For Emilia, it has helped her enjoy tournaments outside of the competition, as well.
“Getting to play against other kids from other states helped me make new friends,” she said. “Now, I’m excited to play against great players from all around the world.”
Emilia said she hopes to be a professional tennis player when she grows up, and the best one, at that.
If she joins the professional ranks, Emilia would join another southern Denton County native in Ashlyn Krueger, who grew up in Highland Village and has since competed in multiple major tournaments, including the 2026 Roland-Garros French Open.
