Damiens Joins Women’s Tennis Staff

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s tennis head coach Kevin Epley announced the hiring of Axel Damiens on Tuesday as the program’s new assistant coach.

“After a fairly exhaustive search, we are very excited to hire Axel as the next women’s assistant tennis coach,” Epley said. “He is passionate and energetic and his commitment to team culture is a perfect fit for the Gamecocks. He is fired up to be here and help take the program to the next level.”

Most recently, Damiens spent a semester as the assistant coach of the Penn women’s tennis team in 2022. He helped the team to a 15-9 performance this season including a 5-2 record in the Ivy League where at one point the Quakers completed a four-match winning streak in the middle of conference play.

He has also served as a graduate assistant at Florida State. While there, he helped coach the highest UTR-ranked player in college tennis and brought in a top-ranked recruiting class. Multiple student-athletes he worked with also played in the Davis Cup.

Prior to his stint at Florida State, Damiens worked as a volunteer assistant at Princeton in 2019-20 on the men’s side. He assisted the Tigers in their 14-4 record with notable wins against Auburn, Arizona and Penn before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Damiens was a member of the Cal Poly Mustangs squad from 2014-18 and served as a student assistant coach during the 2018-19 season. He amassed 50 singles wins in his career to become one of five players in program history to reach the mark. The Feucherolles, France, native helped the team reach as high as 33rd in the ITA Rankings and is top-eight in the record books with combined singles and doubles wins. He also made the All-Big West Doubles First Team in his senior season.

Professionally, Damiens has played in several ITF pro tournaments and in a pro league in France.

For more information on South Carolina women’s tennis, check out the team on GamecocksOnline< and on social media @GamecockWTennis.