Florida women’s tennis coach Thornqvist retires

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Longtime Florida women’s tennis coach Roland Thornqvist retired Monday, ending his career with more than 500 wins and four national championships.

Thornqvist, 54, led the Gators to NCAA championships in 2003, 2011, 2012 and 2017. He won 11 Southeastern Conference titles and finished each of his 23 seasons with a winning record as well as a berth in the NCAA tournament.

“Today is certainly bittersweet, but I will forever be a Florida Gator,” said Thornqvist, who also guided the program to two national runner-up finishes.

A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Thornqvist came to Florida in June 2001 after coaching at North Carolina (1998-2001) and Kansas (1996-98). He ends his coaching career with a 507-107 record at Florida and a 582-157 career mark.

At Florida, he coached Lauren Embree, Jessica Lehnhoff, Alexis Gordon, Allie Will, Brooke Austin and McCartney Kessler to SEC Player of the Year honors.

Associate head coach Jeremy Bayon will take over as interim head coach as Florida officials search for Thornqvist’s successor.