Whitney is the goodie-two-shoes eldest daughter of TC and Eve Russell, a tennis coach / gym teacher and a doctor. Her dream since she was a small child was to play tennis, which is encouraged by her father, who had dreams of a pro tennis career when younger. Her best friend is Theresa Lopez Fitzgerald, and she is fiercely loyal to her. She has gone to bat more than once for Theresa, continually pulling her out of trouble, especially where Ethan Winthrop is concerned. If not for Whitney, Theresa would certainly have been arrested for stalking Ethan. She does her best to emulate her mother, not knowing that Eve isn't exactly the poster child for perfection.

Whitney was content to let tennis rule her life, never dating or getting seriously involved, until Frank Lomax came to town. The two engaged in a pretty serious flirtation that could have become something more, but Frank was the detective hired to expose Ethan's stalker. Whitney couldn't turn her friend in, and Frank eventually faded out of the picture. A blind date her mother set her and Theresa up on with two guys from the hospital, Mark and Gary, turned out to be equally disasterous.

Whitney pretty much gave up on dating until Chad Harris showed up in Harmony. There was just something about the angry young man that appealed to her. Unfortunately, the same thing appealed to her younger sister, Simone. Even though Chad told Simone he loved her, he thought it was Whitney. Now that both Eve and T.C. are more approving of Chad, he and Whitney have started dating. But there's a problem...Whitney is still trying to protect her friend Theresa, but Chad has had his blinders removed and is trying to help his friend Ethan -- he thinks that Ethan has a right to know Theresa kept the truth of his paternity from him.