DAVIS, Calif. - Doubles specialist Raquel Atawo, currently ranked No. 21 in the world, has agreed to join UC Davis women's tennis as its volunteer assistant coach as announced by head coach Bill Maze on Monday.

"We are incredibly lucky to have Raquel join us here at UC Davis," said Maze. "She's still planning on playing the pro circuit this year, but she offered to help us during her breaks and we jumped at the chance. Our team members will be watching the Australian Open with renewed interest as their volunteer assistant coach shoots for a grand slam doubles title!"

Atawo has won 16 Women's Tennis Association titles throughout her career, with all but two of those championships collected alongside Abigail Spears.

Their most recent tournament championship took place at the Bank of the West Classic, which was played at Stanford University this past July. With that victory, Atawo, a Fresno native, improved her career doubles finals record to 18-9 overall.

In doubles competition, Atawo holds a 402-266 overall record (.602 pct.).

The last 18 months have been successful ones for Atawo and Spears; in addition to winning tournament titles at the Qatar Total Open, Aegon Nottingham Open, Generali Ladies Linz and the Bank of the West Classic, the American duo advanced to the semifinal round at Wimbledon in 2015 and 2016. On March 2, 2015 Atawo achieved her highest world doubles ranking of #10.

Before Atawo-Spears' recent Wimbledon runs, their strongest showing in a Grand Slam event took place at the 2014 Australian Open with a berth in the semifinals. When the two returned to Melbourne the following year, they advanced to the quarterfinals.

Atawo played her college tennis (then as Raquel Kops-Jones) just down the road at UC Berkeley. She had a brilliant collegiate career in both singles and doubles and graduated in 2004 with a degree in American Studies. Interestingly she won the 2003 NCAA doubles title for Cal with past UC Davis assistant coach (2011-12) Christina Fusano.