ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award
Natasha Subhash from the University of Virginia has been named the 2023 ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship Award winner.
From a tennis point of view, Subhash's accomplishments are numerous. She is a three-time ITA Singles All-American, earning the honor in each of her first three seasons. She was also a doubles All-American in 2021. In 2020, she was named the ITA National Rookie of the Year, managing to make that big of an impact in her COVID-shortened freshman season. She is a two-time ITA Atlantic Region singles champion and has consistently earned places in the field of the ITA All-American and ITA Fall National Championships. In 2023, she was a Semifinalist in the doubles draw at both tournaments.
But the best place to get a true picture of what makes Subhash special is by looking at a list of her honors where a combination of academics and tennis are involved. She was the first player in Virginia history to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in the at-large category. The honor was given to just 11 female athletes selected from District 3, which covers NCAA I institutions in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. After she earned All-District honors for a second straight year last year, she then became the first player in program history to be voted a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
She has twice been voted UVA’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, winning it the first time as a sophomore. She also was named the recipient of the Ralph Sampson Scholarship Award, an honor given annually to UVA’s top third-year student-athlete who best demonstrates excellence in academics, leadership and athletics.
Subhash is a commerce major studying in the McIntire School of Commerce which is consistently ranked as one of the top five undergraduate business schools in the nation. Her concentrations are accounting and management, but also has a track in global commerce. She plans on pursuing her master’s degree in accounting next year.
In addition to training and fine-tuning her tennis skills and studying for the rigors of her academia, she still finds time to volunteer. She has been working with Madison House’s Athletes Committed to Education (ACE) program since 2019, volunteering as a tutor working with elementary school students. After the pandemic halted in-person tutoring, she looked for virtual opportunities that were similar, finding a program that helped area children who were underprivileged or for whom English was not their first language, and has been working with them since.
Subhash has been a team captain for two seasons, but has been a leader on and off the court for all four years she has been at Virginia. She leads by example, but she is also empathetic enough to know what others need from her, and she is willing to give it. She has been the ultimate teammate.
A Letter From Head Coach Sara O'leary
Congratulations to Natasha for being named this year’s ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership Award recipient! As a representative of the UVA tennis family and our university, Natasha has demonstrated excellence in so many parts of her life since she arrived in Charlottesville in 2019. Whether on the court, as a four-time (and counting) All-American, or in the classroom where her achievements are many, I’m sure I speak for myself, her teammates, her family and the entire UVA community when I say we could not be more proud of Natasha.
From day one as a Virginia Cavalier, Natasha has chosen to dedicate her time not only to her education and her tennis but to helping and leading others. Natasha’s choice to be “other-focused” while excelling both at the top of our tennis lineup and within one of the most demanding undergraduate business programs in the country is a testament to the kind of person her incredible parents, Subhash and Sulekha, raised her to be.
In addition to her numerous tennis accomplishments, including her two years serving as team captain, Natasha has excelled as a student with a 3.93 GPA in the prestigious McIntire School of Commerce. And despite the demands of her tennis and education, Natasha finds the time to dedicate herself to programs such as KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now), ACE where she mentored local elementary students, Madison House Volunteers tutoring elementary school students and was a fourth-year mentor in the Student Athletes in McIntire Organization mentoring two third-year students. Natasha has also been an active member of our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as well as the UVA Student-Athlete Leadership Academy.
Natasha leads through her compassion, reliability and determination to make a difference. The impact she’s had and will continue to have in Charlottesville will be her legacy as a Cavalier. I’m so proud of Natasha and can’t wait to see what her future holds because I know it will be great.
Congratulations, Tash.