BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU women’s tennis head coach Taylor Fogleman announced today the signing of British native Ella McDonald, who will join the Tigers for the 2026 dual season.

McDonald holds a WTA singles ranking of No. 535, with a career-high ranking of No. 352, achieved on May 26, 2025. On the doubles courts, she is currently ranked a career best at WTA No. 161.

“We are so excited and humbled to welcome Ella to our program,” said head coach Taylor Fogleman. “She is a young lady that has already accomplished a great deal in her junior and early professional career. We know she has lofty goals when it comes to her tennis. We look forward to diligently working with her to make all of those goals a reality.”

The British native joins the program after LSU capped off its unprecedented 2025 season with a 24-8 record and the club’s first Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Team Championships.

Before her journey on the pro tour, McDonald showed promise, reaching an ITF Junior ranking of No. 8 in 2023. Between 2019 and 2023, she amassed six singles and 10 doubles crowns.

In her early professional events, McDonald has enjoyed similar success, earning three singles and 13 doubles titles on the professional tour.

In 2025, McDonald captured a singles title at the W15 Monastir in May. Transitioning to doubles play, the incoming freshman picked up her first two doubles titles of the year in March at the W35 Helsinki and W50 Santo Domingo.

She carried that momentum into April with a victory at the W35 Santa Margherita di Pula and later captured the doubles championship at the Wrexham Open in October. Most recently, McDonald picked up her fifth doubles title of the year in November at the W50 Funchal.

McDonald has also competed in multiple Grand Slams throughout her time in junior and professional play.

In junior play, she earned singles victories at the U.S. Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon, while reaching the quarterfinals in doubles play at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon.

On the pro tour, McDonald earned wild cards into the Wimbledon Singles qualifying event in 2022 and 2025.

This past summer at Wimbledon, McDonald earned a first-round doubles victory alongside fellow British native Mingge Xu, defeating the team of WTA No. 13 Linda Noskova and WTA No. 72 Rebecca Sramkova.

“As excited as I am for Ella to bring her skills to the courts at LSU, I’m more ecstatic for the LSU community to get to know this young lady,” Fogleman added. “She’s a fantastic person with an incredibly supportive family. Great things are ahead for her and the Tigers!”