A leader in the tennis industry with over 30 years of experience, including 11 years competing on the WTA Tour, leadership among peers representing players on the WTA Tour Board, speaker & advocate for women in sports, and high-performance coaching & mentorship to student-athletes and their families.
In her competitive tennis career, Marianne won 19 USTA Junior Championships and as a student-athlete at Stanford, she was an All American and a member of the 1986 NCAA National Championship team. She went on to enjoy an 11-year professional WTA career from 1986 to 1997. During that time, she reached a career-high ranking of #21 in singles and #45 in doubles, reaching the semi-finals of the 1995 Australian Open. She was a member of the United States Federation Cup Team and had wins over Martina Hingis, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Gabriella Sabatini and Pam Shriver.
As a player on the WTA Tour, Marianne was elected by her peers to serve as VP and President of the WTA Tour Players’ Association and to represent the players on the WTA Tour Board of Directors. During this time, she was instrumental in implementing a new ranking system, involved in negotiations with the Tournaments and Federations concerning Tour sponsorship, operations and budgets, pension plan and benefits, TV contracts, and hiring a new Executive Director and CEO of the WTA Tour.
Marianne currently lives in San Diego with her three boys. She mentors and educates fellow coaches, student-athletes, and families on a variety of topics within athletics and education through workshops, speaking events, and her blog website at mariannewerdel.com. She also works as a High-Performance Coach coaching and mentoring junior players. She is active in the non-profit arena with Stanford University Athletics, USTA, SCTA, Athletes Saving Athletes, and a variety of community organizations specializing in education, fundraising, and youth athletics.
