reString Interviews Will Woodall

Will Woodall became the first reString athlete in August 2024.

In 2026, he became the first reString coach.

In just a few years, he won an NCAA team title at Virginia, played a Masters 1000 in his second tournament back from injury, and joined a coaching team on the WTA Tour.

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Why Will Woodall Chose Virginia

The University of Virginia (UVA) was barely on Woodall’s radar when he was considering college tennis. But within a couple of hours of arriving on campus, he had decided to go there.

The University of North Carolina was one of his top choices. Texas and Stanford were ahead of Virginia too, something he now puts down to a junior player trying to be different.

He visited Virginia just before a planned trip to North Carolina and told his parents the day he visited that he had made up his mind.

Getting to Virginia was one thing. But earning a place in the lineup was another.

Ryan Shane had won an NCAA singles title and played at the US Open in the years before Woodall arrived. That was the standard, and every place on the team had to be earned.

Junior tennis had taught Woodall to focus on himself, whereas college tennis asked him to put the team first. Learning to do that while trying to establish himself in the lineup was one of the hardest adjustments in his first year.

Playing His Final Season Through a Wrist Injury

Woodall had an enjoyable time at UVA, but says he played his final season at Virginia with two tendons in his wrist that his surgeon warned could snap at any moment.

The injury happened in March 2022. He missed the rest of the season and watched his teammates win the national championship from the sidelines.

After that, he received cortisone treatment, then had surgery in August. However, he was still in enough pain to miss the first two months of his final season.

When the coaches asked whether he could play through it, it was not even a question for Woodall. If this was going to be the end of his playing career, he wanted to finish at Virginia and help the team defend its title.

His coach limited him to between ten and twenty returns a week in practice. Any more would leave his wrist too painful for matches.

As the season progressed he received more surgery and then his hand became infected.

Woodall says there was a real risk of losing his hand and the infection spreading to his bloodstream. His surgeon later told him he could have died.

Even after all of that, he texted his coaches to say he would do it again for Virginia’s orange and blue.

What Virginia’s Team Culture Meant to Him

For Woodall, Virginia’s success starts with its culture.

Time spent together off court mattered. So did having difficult conversations and learning to put the team first. Those relationships were central to what the players achieved together.

That connection lasts long after college. When a Virginia player takes the court at the DC Open, former teammates turn up to watch, years after they last shared a lineup.

It is the part of college tennis that stayed with Woodall, and the part he would struggle to replace when he eventually went on the pro tour.

A Year Away From Tennis

After college, Woodall stepped away from tennis. Following four or five operations, his hand was in such poor shape that he could not even grip a dumbbell.

For a year, he worked a corporate job, did a little coaching, and took a break from the constant attention his wrist had demanded. No daily treatment, no massage, no rehabilitation routine.

Then after a while, he went out to hit and realised how much the pain had eased.

There was still some discomfort, but compared with what he had been through, being able to play again felt like a blessing.

Woodall had never left the sport on his own terms, so with the pain subsiding, he wanted to give himself another chance.

Returning to tennis meant rebuilding his racket setup too, which was where reString came in.

He tested full string beds and hybrid combinations at different tensions before settling on reString Zero.

A Masters 1000 in His Second Tournament Back

Woodall unexpectedly received a wild card for Cincinnati on his comeback, which left him scrambling to get some competition in before playing a Masters 1000.

He flew to Spain for an ITF M15 tournament with a former teammate, reached the doubles final, and then headed straight to Cincinnati.

At Cincinnati, he partnered with Brandon Nakashima, a former Virginia teammate and one of his closest friends. Their opponents were Henry Patten and Harri Heliövaara, who had won Wimbledon a month earlier.

Once he was on court, the pressure began to ease. After everything his hand had been through, simply being able to compete again felt extraordinary.

A Challenger Final at Home

Later that year, Woodall reached a Challenger doubles final on home turf with another former Virginia teammate. They lost after leading by a set and 4–1 in the second.

He calls it a choke and makes no attempt to soften the description.

Still, he remembers the week as something special. He was only a handful of tournaments into his comeback, and the Virginia crowd was there to support him.

Playing alongside people he loved was a large part of what had brought him back. Sharing those early results with former teammates made them mean more.

When Winning Stopped Feeling the Same

When Woodall was playing elsewhere, despite picking up wins, he realised that playing might no longer be right for him.

As a junior, everything revolved around his training, his schedule, and his results. At Virginia that changed. He felt part of a team and really enjoyed that.

Returning to the professional tour meant putting himself first again, where he no longer found the same satisfaction.

For example, his family called after his first title expecting him to feel fantastic. But he didn’t.

Still, he does not regret the comeback. It gave him the chance to finish on his own terms and stop wondering what might have happened if his body had held up.

He could finally leave his playing career behind.

A Coaching Offer He Had Never Expected

Coaching had not been Woodall’s planned next step.

After a first-round loss at a Challenger in Cary, he was considering playing another tournament or two. He had not decided what would come after that.

At Cincinnati, Hailey Baptiste told him she wanted to speak to him about something. She knew he had been thinking about stepping away from playing and asked whether he would join her team.

He had not considered it, but he was open to trying something new. So their coaching partnership began in October 2025.

An early trip to Japan gave them two enjoyable weeks together despite a first-round loss for Baptiste. Woodall remembers it as the beginning of something great.

JTCC and a Friendship That Came First

Before Virginia, there was the Junior Tennis Champions Center, better known as JTCC.

Woodall sees the same sense of belonging there that he found in college.

He, Baptiste, and Frances Tiafoe all trained at the centre, which has helped build a tennis community across Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

New people are welcomed quickly and soon feel part of the group.

Woodall and Baptiste first met when they were five or six, before either of them joined JTCC. Their time at the centre brought them closer.

That history shapes their working relationship. He sees her as a sister first and a player second.

Baptiste’s Breakthrough in Madrid

Around six months into their coaching partnership, Baptiste reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal in Madrid.

She came through a tense match against Belinda Bencic, then beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, saving six match points.

On camera, he looked calm throughout the match. But he was not.

He could feel every shift in momentum and wanted Baptiste to recognise what was happening while staying composed himself.

When she came off court, he says it felt as though the world had stopped for a moment. He can recall only three times he has felt that way. The other two were Virginia’s national championship wins.

Baptiste reached a career-high ranking of world No. 25 that season, before suffering an injury.

Supporting Baptiste Through Recovery

The weeks after Baptiste’s injury at the French Open were the hardest of their partnership so far.

Her season was over. Alongside the physical setback, it felt as though the work she had put in and the personal progress she had made had been taken away.

As she began moving again and pushing herself in cardio sessions, she started to feel more like herself. Woodall could see that giving her hope.

He notices the change in small ways. One of the clearest signs is that she mentions the injury less each week.

His own experience also helped him support her during this time. He knows what it is like to face surgery, months away from tennis, and an uncertain return.

If his injuries help him support Baptiste now, he says he will take that.

At the time of the interview, Woodall said she was ahead of schedule, regularly surprising the people around her with what she could already do in the gym.

At reString, we look forward to seeing Baptiste back on court, with Woodall supporting her as part of her coaching team.