Jimmy and Colette Evert Award 2018

The Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida along with Evert Tennis Academy have decided to present the “Jimmy and Collette Evert Award” to Payton Andrews. This award is given to one male and one female player in Florida in order to give back to players, families and the tennis community in the state, and provides the player with the opportunity to attend Evert for a full week in the Developmental Boarding Program at no cost. 

Payton is a very passionate tennis player from Bradenton, Florida. She is 18 years old and currently lives in Tampa Bay Florida. Her family has lived in California, Alabama and finally moved to Tampa Bay when Payton was 12 years old. Her Father, Todd Andrews has been a tennis coach for 40 years and is Payton’s mentor and instructor. Her mother, Paula Kramer, is the CFO at a brewery.

Back home, Payton trains every day with her dad for about 4 hours each day, and does fitness daily. Payton is used to playing tournaments and her main goal in tennis is to see how far she can go and how good she can get playing the sport that she loves.

“What I like the most about tennis is how competitive it can get, when you and your opponent are trying to prove who is better, that’s my favorite part” she says.

Payton is homeschooled, and will be graduating in October of this year. Her favorite subjects are English and History. And her goals after she graduates are to continue to pursue and work on her tennis career by playing more/bigger tournaments and continue her daily training.

Off the court, Payton enjoys playing the guitar and piano, which she has been playing since she was 7 years old. As well as reading books, mainly suspense and thrillers. Payton also enjoys watching scary movies, paying very close attention to detail.

Payton’s favorite tennis player is Steffi Graf, she says, because of her style and her composure on court. She thinks she was an all around amazing player and hopes she can have the same attitude as her on court.

 For a week, Payton got to attend Evert and be in the Developmental Boarding program, which she enjoyed greatly.

“It’s a really fun program, and the best thing about it, is how challenging it is. Level of competition you don’t get anywhere else. I had great match play with some great players.”

She explained how great the environment is at Evert, due to the staff, the high quality coaches, and the level of play that she got at the academy. 

As Payton finished up her week at the academy, she looks forward to continue playing and expanding her knowledge as well as intensifying her game in order to compete in many tournaments later on this year.

John and Chrissie Evert, continuing their father’s (Jimmy Evert) coaching legacy by installing four core values: Excellence, Resilience, Integrity and Leadership, founded Evert Tennis Academy in 1996. Our mission is to develop collegiate and professional tennis players, while building well rounded student-athletes. Our family-oriented environment encourages players to reach their goals by embracing daily challenges on the court, in the classroom, and during competition. 

The Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida is an organization that has provided money to junior players who stood out in the state as an incentive and reward for their accomplishments and position in the community.