After a hip surgery interrupted her junior year, Florida women’s tennis graduate Alicia Dudeney returned for a dominant senior season that made her teammates question what she couldn't do.
“She can definitely do it all,” freshman teammate Talia Neilson-Gatenby said. “She’s the most inspirational person I’ve probably met.”
Dudeney capped her time at Florida with a Final Four run at the NCAA Doubles Championships. She went 11-1 in singles and 9-2 in doubles against SEC opponents and finished with All-SEC First Team honors and top-50 ITA rankings in both doubles and singles.
Her determination to finish her time in Gainesville on the right foot made her run special.
“I hope that people see me as someone who was a great teammate,” Dudeney said. “Someone who works really hard and just put Florida first.”
After making the SEC All-Freshman team in her first year at the University of Florida, Dudeney entered her sophomore season with an opportunity to take a significant leap. Former head coach Roland Thornqvist advanced her to the No. 1 spot in doubles, allowing Dudeney to compete against the toughest competition on the doubles court.
However, a minor discomfort in her hip at the beginning of the season limited her action over the next two seasons. Dudeney attempted to play through the injury but decided to undergo surgery in the following offseason.
“It definitely is a scary thing,” Dudeney said. “You don’t know how it's going to recover, you don't know if it's ever going to be the same.”
Dudeney was sidelined until December 2023, trepidatiously anticipating her return to the court as she waited for her health to improve. The setback weighed on her mentally, but she continued to carry herself with composure throughout the recovery process.
“I know it was tough for her,” senior Bente Spee said. “[She carried herself] very well and very professionally.”
Dudeney returned to the court in the spring, where her struggles overcoming surgery reflected in her play.
She finished her junior year 14-11 in singles and 9-9 in doubles, marking her lowest win percentages at UF in both categories. The fall season marked the first time Dudeney failed to win on court two in doubles, going 0-3.
Dudeney’s struggles were also evident in her singles court position. Her junior season was the only time she failed to play on courts one or two and the only time she appeared on courts five and six.
“I was straight into season my junior year, so it definitely was tough,” Dudeney said. “I tried to put all of my thoughts and everything into just doing the right thing.”
After resting during the summer, Dudeney returned to full speed in doubles alongside junior Rachel Gailis. The tandem signed up for the doubles regionals after Thornqvist unexpectedly decided to retire on Oct. 7, 2024.
“With everything that was going on, I kind of just wanted to have fun out there with everyone,” Dudeney said. “I think that’s kind of what all of us needed.”
The two had never played together in doubles before regionals, but it took just one match for the pair to adjust to each other’s playing styles.
Gailis and Dudeney rode their momentum toward the regional doubles title, punching their ticket to the 2024 NCAA Doubles Championships, where they defeated No. 1 UCLA tandem Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle in straight sets in the Round of 16.
“After that match, we were like, ‘Wait, I think we can make a run in this tournament,’” Gailis said.
The pair’s success set them up for a thrilling match against Virginia graduate student Melodie Collard and freshman Elaine Chervinsky. After taking the first set 6-1, the UF pair dropped the second set 3-6 and the superset tiebreaker 8-10.
Collard and Chervinsky won the tournament, and Florida’s tandem saw the curtains close on their final fall season together.
“From the start of regionals, if someone had told us that we would make the semis, we probably would have laughed,” Dudeney said.
Dudeney and Gailis finished the fall ranked No. 3 in the ITA’s doubles rankings, marking the highest for either of the two during their time in Florida. It helped build confidence ahead of Dudeney’s final spring at UF.
In her last semester as a Gator, Dudeney maintained her success in doubles but rose to another level in singles.
She finished off her senior spring with an 11-match singles win streak and was named to the All-SEC First Team, securing her best conference records in singles and doubles.
Dudeney played an essential role in Florida’s biggest win of its spring season at home versus No. 9 Texas on March 7.
In doubles, Dudeney and Spee defeated Char Kempenaers-Pocz and Salma Drugdova 6-3, helping UF secure the doubles point. In singles, Dudeney took down No. 69 Eszter Meri in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
Dudeney’s victories helped Florida prevail over Texas 4-3, recording its biggest upset of the 2025 spring season.
“Her results are the cherry on top of her trying to lead by example,” Spee said. “I don’t think she is necessarily the loudest voice in the locker room, but she shows up with a good attitude every day.”
Dudeney’s winning ways didn’t end there.
In a road match on April 4 against No. 6 Tennessee, she recorded her highest-ranked win in singles. The Florida senior defeated No. 34 Catherine Aulia in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 — a silver lining in Florida’s 5-2 loss to the Lady Volunteers.
“We were all rooting for [Dudeney],” Neilson-Gatenby said. “It was still nice for us to also be able to celebrate her.”
Dudeney’s senior season put her among some of the best in collegiate women’s tennis. She first appeared on the ITA’s singles rankings on March 18 at No. 91 and finished at No. 44 in the May 21 rankings.
For the first time during her four years at UF, she got “a true singles ranking,” she said.
Dudeney consistently appeared in the ITA’s doubles rankings. For the entire season, Gailis and Dudeney were among the top-20 pairs, but as the season progressed, Spee and Dudeney also cracked the list.
By the end of the spring season, Dudeney appeared twice in the ITA’s May 21 doubles rankings: No. 16 with Spee and No. 25 with Gailis.
In her last home match April 13, the senior recorded her highest-ranked doubles victory at home on senior day versus Ole Miss. With Spee, Dudeney cruised to a 6-1 win over No. 31 Ludmila Kareisova and Anaelle Leclercq.
“We all spoke that if there was anyone we wanted to win that day, it was definitely going to be Alicia and [Spee],” Neilson-Gatenby said.
Dudeney wrapped up her season in the first round of the SEC Tournament against Alabama. With the contest tied 3-apiece, all eyes were on her match against junior Maria Andrienko to decide who advanced.
Dudeney delivered for Florida once again, beating Andrienko in a three-set thriller and securing a 4-3 victory for the Gators.
Florida’s season ended in the second round of the SEC Tournament against Vanderbilt. The Gators failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986.
“I have had the most amazing four years as a Gator,” Dudeney said. “It truly was the best decision of my life to go there.”
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Summer 2025 women's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
