Rossides, who is of Greek descent, grew up in
Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of
Eugene T. Rossides, a college football player at Columbia who was
drafted by the
New York Giants. Her father instead studied for a law degree, serving as Assistant to the Undersecretary of the Treasury in the Eisenhower administration and later Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Nixon. While still in high school, Rossides made her WTA Tour main draw debut at the
1985 Virginia Slims of Washington and came up against
Martina Navratilova. The match-up had only come about when Navratilova's original opponent,
Andrea Leand, had to withdraw with an allergic reaction from a bee sting. She competed in the main draw of the
1985 US Open as a qualifier and took up a scholarship that year to attend
Stanford University. At Stanford she was the number one player on a team which won four straight championships during her time there (ultimately six in succession). After graduating from Stanford she joined the professional tour, competing until 1999. ==References==