Who Is Peyton Stearns’ Athletic Mother? Which Sport Did She Excel In During Her Heyday?

America’s Peyton Stearns has finally clinched her first WTA singles title in Rabat! She’s now all set to step onto the court at the 2024 French Open against Croatia’s Lucija Ciric Bagaric in just a few hours from now. But looking at one of the brightest prospects of American tennis, one wonders what her beginning was. What, or rather who inspired her to choose tennis over gymnastics? While Stearns’ family’s unwavering support has fueled her rapid rise, the 22-year-old has always had a special knack for sports right from a young age. But it was her mother, Denise Stearns, who gave it a direction.

Stearns started playing tennis at the age of 8, although she had been following in her mother’s footsteps before that. Denise Stearns is a University of Texas graduate and she was a member of the college gymnastics team. And while she never pushed the same sport on her daughter, she reportedly did nudge a young Peyton toward tennis because her mother detested the baseball outfits!

“When she was younger, she had a book that she made, and it says, ‘I want to go to the University of Texas,'” Denise Stearns told Reporting Texas. “I found it and I was like, ‘Oh my God.'” But the sporting part came a little later.

The 22-year-old American tennis player has quite an interesting story surrounding her introduction to the racquet sport. During her childhood days, Peyton Stearns often used to visit her neighbor’s house to play with whiffle balls. After seeing her knack in the sport, her neighbor advised her mother to look into softball for her daughter.

But Denise Stearns refused the idea completely. She didn’t like the outfits, and then they came up with a new suggestion of letting Peyton Stearns try her luck in tennis. After hearing this idea, her mother agreed to it and introduced Peyton Stearns to the racquet sport. Her father, Mike Stearns had played tennis in college and this motivated them to look further into the sport. She played college tennis at the University of Texas. Later on, she became the first women’s player from Texas to win the NCAA championship.

Peyton told Reporting Texas, “My mom surprisingly didn’t push UT on me during the commitment process but was very happy with my decision.” But what a fortuitous turn of events it was!

Stearns made her WTA debut in 2021 at the Silicon Valley Classic and then a year later she made her Grand Slam debut as a wildcard entrant at the 2022 US Open. She is currently ranked at the 62nd spot in the women’s singles ranking. But what were the initial reactions of her mother, when she took up the racquet sport instead of gymnastics?

The Stearns family, despite ‘no knowledge of tennis’ is a tennis family now!

While Peyton Stearns claims the title of a WTA pro now, her brother is also following in tennis footsteps. Preston Stearns plays collegiate tennis for Ohio State University and is on the ATP track. Speaking on that, Peyton Stearns said, “I think the fact my parents raised two tennis players who went to top D1 schools with little to no knowledge of tennis is crazy. Especially when most tennis players originate from tennis families or know what they are doing.“

Denise Stearns is often spotted in the stands during her daughter’s matches. It’s quite interesting how outfits of a particular game led her to take another. But at the same time, it has perhaps now become a blessing in disguise for American tennis. Can Peyton Stearns become the next star in the women’s tennis world?