- December 10, 2025
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There was a routine Gabriella Rawles would follow before every one of her tennis matches.
She needed to prepare her body for the physical stresses of facing high-level opponents.
Resistance bands were part of that warm-up. As a 14-year-old on the International Tennis Federation’s junior circuit, shoulder issues were a concern.
But on a rainy day in Santa Tecla, El Salvador, her routine was disrupted.
“I’ll never forget,” Rawles said. “It was the one match that I didn’t do my bands before.”
It was a tournament early November 2022. After winning a second-round singles match in the morning, she was scheduled to compete in doubles quarterfinals that afternoon. Rain just kept pushing the match back.
When the court was finally playable, Rawles didn’t have time to warm up with the bands. She was thrown into the match, and on an overhead at the net, she felt a pop in her right shoulder.
She didn’t think much of it at the time. Now, over three years removed from that day, she still hasn’t forgotten what transpired. That labrum tear nearly derailed her career entirely.
Rawles has been resurgent. The Lakewood Ranch resident committed to the Notre Dame women’s tennis program Nov. 26 as a five-star recruit, ranked No. 21 in the Class of 2026, per Tennis Recruiting Network. She’ll join the Fighting Irish in January after graduating early from ICL Academy.
“I haven’t been anywhere long enough and trained consistently enough to get the most out of myself,” Rawles said. “Hopefully, starting at Notre Dame, I’ll be able to train again consistently, and be surrounded by a good support system.”
Her recruitment process was short-lived — and intentionally so. She wasn’t interested in speaking with colleges until she felt truly confident with her game. That didn’t come until August.
As a freshman, she won the ITF Grade 5 junior singles title in Valledupar, Colombia, as well as the Grade 5 junior doubles crown in Kamloops, Canada. On the Universal Tennis Rating circuit, she went 188-77 in singles play from 2017 through 2021.
But those accolades came before her shoulder injury so they meant little to college coaches. They wanted to evaluate a more recent resume.
Rawles offered exactly that by winning the Battle of Boca women’s open singles title on April 28. She’s compiled a 21-14 singles record in UTR events this year, and believes greater things are ahead.
“There’s still a lot of ways that I’m not as good as I was before (the injury),” Rawles said. “Although I’ve gotten better with my strokes and everything, mentally, I’m just not quite there.”
She approached the 2023 season by doing extensive physical therapy, and for a while, that helped. Months passed without her feeling any pain in her right shoulder.
It became hard for the sophomore to plot a future strategy. What if she pushed herself and found success on the court? What if she pushed too hard and re-injured herself?
At the same time, a different internal battle was being waged.
Rawles did everything in her power to stay in the game — too much. The day-by-day grind had made lessons and tournaments seem to blur together.
The thrill of a well-placed ace or joy of a perfectly-executed forehand didn’t feel the same as it had in the past. She was just going through the motions, no longer carrying a genuine love for the sport.
“When you do something that much for that long, it’s hard to continue doing it for yourself instead of for others,” Rawles said. “The pressure that I was feeling to do well in competitions came more from other people.”
Tennis, after all, was what brought her to the country. She grew up in Southampton, England, and started out not in tennis, but in horseback riding, just like all the women in her family.
Joining a local kids club at 5 years old sparked her interest in racket sports. One of her friends there returned from a vacation to Bradenton with a raving review about IMG Academy.
As Rawles and her brother, Louis Rawles, spent more time on the courts, their parents, Heath Rawles and Elizabeth Young, thought a week-long summer trip to Florida would be wise.
A week became a month. A month became years.
The family realized that England wasn’t the environment to support their quickly-blossoming passion for tennis. There, kids have to use sponge balls until they’re 12 years old before ever competing with standard yellow balls.
Just like that, Gabriella and Louis Rawles were enrolled at IMG Academy. She stayed for two years before leaving in search of more personalized coaching.
Though her brother ultimately left the sport behind, she stayed addicted. At 9 years old, according to Rawles, her future on the court became clear at the “Little Mo” Nationals in Texas.
“It was just a crazy experience. All of us were playing hide-and-seek in the hotel. I met people from all different parts of the world,” Rawles said. “That was when I first realized I wanted to play tennis at a higher level.”
That little version of herself — driven by a pure passion for tennis — could never have imagined she would need surgery in January 2024 to repair a torn right labrum. She could never have known how extended time away from the court would make her feel.
Returning to IMG Academy for rehab, Rawles couldn’t play any sort of tennis for three months. From months four through six of recovery, she could hit, but not with full force. That came in month seven, and even after that, any pain required a stop in activity.
Attempting a comeback was a humbling experience.
“I always was pretty good for my age. I’d be playing people older than me and I’d be beating them,” Rawles said. “Suddenly, two years had passed, and now I’m the older one playing younger people and losing.”
Her 2025 schedule represents the first full season of tennis Rawles has played since 2022. Even after being largely inactive in tournament play for two years, a Power Four program is eager to have her services.
She’s smashing forehands cross-court and down the line because she genuinely wants to — not because she feels an obligation to do so.
Tennis is hers once more.
