To celebrate Liv Hovde's Wimbledon win, the city of McKinney honored the 16-year-old tennis player by declaring July 19, 2022, as "2022 Wimbledon Girls' Champion Liv Hovde Day."
"I have no words to explain what I felt winning," said Hovde during the ceremony.
"You probably felt that McKinney was so behind you that it really drove you," said Mayor George Fuller. "We couldn't be prouder of your accomplishment as the whole community has talked about it — and can't stop talking about it."
The tennis champ was joined by her parents as she accepted the Liv Hovde day proclamation.
As Local Profile previously reported, Hovde defeated Luca Udvardy of Hungary on the No. 1 Court to become the Wimbledon 2022 Girls’ Singles champion. The second American to win the title at the All-England Club in the past 30 years, Hovde took the tournament in straight sets, winning her first junior Grand Slam.
Hovde moved to McKinney when she was 10 years old and trained at the city's The Courts of McKinney public tennis facility with Coach Matt Hanlin for two years. At that time, her potential was already evident when she won the Texas Grand Slam U12 and later competed in her first international tournament at Les Petites As in Tarbes, France.
According to the city, she continues to practice regularly in McKinney.
The city is also constructing an $11 million indoor tennis facility at Gabe Nesbitt Community Park. "The new facility is being constructed next to the existing outdoor tennis facility, The Courts of McKinney, and will have six indoor courts, bringing the total number of courts within the complex to 29," the city of McKinney said in an official statement. "The building will include training rooms, administrative offices, locker rooms, and a second-level viewing mezzanine, creating one of the premier public tennis facilities in the country." The facility is slated to be finished this year.
