Wearing orange and blue for the first time, Scarlett Nicholson stood on the sidelines as the Florida women’s tennis team prepared for its second match of the spring season against then-No. 11 North Carolina State. The former Georgia Tech player knew her midseason transfer made her ineligible to compete, but nothing could overpower her excitement to be part of a new team.
That feeling quickly flatlined when, right before the start of the match, associate head coach Axel Damiens asked her to change out of the Gators’ team uniform. NCAA rules didn’t allow non-competing players to wear the kit.
“I went to the bathroom and cried,” Nicholson said. “I just felt kind of disconnected.”
After feeling like she was plateauing last season at Georgia Tech, Nicholson cut short her two-year career as a Yellow Jacket. The junior said the university athletics program started to stagnate in the midst of Name, Image and Likeness lawsuits and funding cuts for non-revenue sports like tennis.
“It was kind of depressing,” Nicholson said. “Every single day was like ‘budget cut this’ and ‘we can’t afford that.’”
Looking to get a fresh start, Nicholson spoke to her coaches from home to find a better school. The decision to transfer in the middle of the year wasn't easy, but the 20-year-old knew coaches prioritize players with multiple years of eligibility, making it even harder to find a new program as a senior.
Florida always came to mind for Nicholson when thinking of where she wanted to go. The former Georgia Tech player faced the Gators twice in her last season as a Yellow Jacket. Ranked the No. 16 player in the country, Nicholson took a surprising three-set loss to Xinyi Nong in the round of 32 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regionals last October.
Her fate against Florida was no different at the ITA Sectional Championship in November. After taking the first set from Gabia Paskauskas, she dropped the next two to take a 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 loss.
“If you can’t beat them, join them,” Nicholson said. “I was really impressed with the coaching.”
But the losses weren’t what she remembered most.
What really sold Nicholson was how excited and hopeful the Florida coaching staff was about her possibility of joining the team. Crossing off all other universities on her list, she said no one believed in her more than coach Per Nilsson.
Nicholson followed her gut feeling and officially made the switch to Florida in January. Her immediate feeling that she didn't belong flipped quickly once she familiarized herself with the team.
“Nobody was making me feel left out,” Nicholson said. “The coaches were still invested in me.”
She did almost everything the team did, including following the regular practice schedule. The Toronto native trained before every game and watched her teammates tackle tough opponents, learning from their mistakes and triumphs.
Being a spectator to the Gators’ matches only made Nicholson hungrier to compete. The energy within the team, she said, made it easy to stay motivated.
“Everyone is really motivated to make a name for ourselves again,” Nicholson said. “They’re focused on tennis and building the team up.”
The Gators are well on their way to bringing Florida back to the top. They ended the 2026 spring season with a 17-8 record after coach Nilsson built a team from scratch — Nikola Daubnerova was the only player from the previous year’s roster to remain with UF in 2026.
Eager to build off the Gators’ flashes of success, Nicholson will finally get the opportunity to play matches this fall.
“I just can't wait to be competing for the Gators finally,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
The junior has taken the summer break to begin preparing for the upcoming season, competing in several tournaments across North America.
Despite having no play time in the spring, Nicholson proved she could still dominate on the court. She reached the semifinals in the Universal Tennis Rating Newport Beach tournament in California, ultimately falling 6-3, 7-5 to Letizia Corsini.
Nicholson didn’t stop there. She also competed in the International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour event in Granby, Quebec, before advancing through the qualifying draw at the ITF Tournament in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to earn a spot in the main draw.
Traveling with the Canadian Tennis Federation, which she has represented for almost a decade, Nicholson said its support is key to her success.
She plans to continue competing in other Canadian tournaments to stay competitive before returning to Gainesville, she said.
“I just want to keep competing,” she said, “and see how I translate all the work I've done this semester into matches.”
What began as a season full of doubt gave Nicholson a new perspective. After months spent learning from the sidelines, she’s ready to make the most of her first full season in orange and blue.
“I got a break when I needed it,” Nicholson said. “Now, I'm ready to hit the ground running.”
Contact Sofia Alamo at salamo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @alamosofiaa.
Sofia Alamo is a Sports Journalism freshman at UF and the university’s Women’s Tennis beat reporter. Her favorite sports are soccer and tennis, and she aspires to be a sports broadcaster in the future.
