See What 7 Top Tennis Coaches Really Think About USTA Coaching – Plus Their Best Coaching Tips

How did you get started in tennis?

I wanted to play tennis, but I wasn’t able to afford lessons. So I saved $10 and change, took it to a coach, and he said, ‘Keep your money. I’ll teach you how to play tennis, and in return, you help me run my clinics.’ So it was a built-in internship that taught me the whole business from age 16 on. That helped me get certified and get into the industry quickly. Now I’ve been a tennis director for 26 years, have coached everyone from kids to college players to pros.

What do you love most about coaching?

What really motivates me as a coach is helping people take these amazing journeys – whether it’s a beginner who changes their whole lifestyle through a love of the game or a kid who used to be in our academy and goes on to play on the pro circuit.

How’s your experience with USTA Coaching?

The resources are excellent – they’ve really helped me with lesson planning. The network of coaches is amazing, some of the brightest professionals in the nation.

What are your goals for 2026?

We want to host a workshop in Las Vegas at our club so we can all learn from one another and get better as coaches.  

I would love to give all our beginners a tennis racquet and a can of balls and it doesn’t need to be expensive. You put a racquet in their hand and all of a sudden they feel like they belong to the sport. I’ve experimented with this at our club. We bought 100 racquets at a great price, gave everyone a racquet and can of balls and made it a fun event. And we made labels and put each player’s name on their racquet. They love that – now it’s their racket. Imagine if we did this with 1,000 racquets, 10,000 racquets, going out into the community, and you can see how it could be very powerful.

Adult tennis is growing, but the challenging part with kids is that at a certain point, we start to lose some of them to other sports. So we’re working on winning them over sooner. Is it team events where they feel they belong? Is it getting shirts with their last names on them? We’ve had a great time with that – the kids are just over the moon seeing their team names on the shirts. Once that happened, they never wanted to miss a match because now they’re part of a team.

How did you get started in tennis?

I played in high school and college in New York. After school, I’d go to these pop-up courts where kids needed people to feed balls and teach them. I started doing it for community service hours, and then I just fell in love with it. 

I got a job offer from the man who was managing it and started coaching in 2011 at Roosevelt Island Racquet Club, where I worked for 10 years. Now in LA, I started a program for high schoolers to get service hours through the city parks, so it’s really come full circle because I’m teaching them how to feed balls.

Growing up, I was the only African American player in most of the tournaments and clinics, and it was very hard. I got a lot of boos from parents and other kids because some people didn’t want me to win. I can’t even imagine what Venus and Serena went through. So I’m very happy that tennis is evolving to a place where all races and ethnicities can play and be spotlighted. 

What do you love most about coaching?

I think coaches change the way young athletes do everything, and not just on the court. I started a junior program in Brentwood with a diverse team and we just played our first tournament. The next day, all the parents were texting about how much fun they had, how much this is boosting their kids’ confidence, and it honestly made me cry. They’re going to have that memory forever.

How did you get started in tennis?

I started very young in Argentina, where I’m from, and this is all I’ve done since. I came to the U.S. 25 years ago to study English. I played my first tournament at 7 years old. By age 15, I was helping my dad coach in his academy, and now I’ve been coaching for 40 years. Just over 20 years ago, I created Gonzo Tennis and partnered with the City of Boulder. Today, we coach about 700 people a week.

What do you love most about coaching?

I love that we get to impact so many people’s lives for the better. It’s amazing to see how their progress in tennis improves so many other aspects of their lives.

How’s your experience with USTA Coaching?

I appreciate the job board and the directory because I’m always looking for coaches to grow the programs. I love creating this culture of good coaching. The USTA is a big, powerful family that has surprised me in so many ways.

I’m hiring all the time. I like that my coaches have the option to go with the Rally package, since it works well for part-time coaches. It gives me the peace of mind of them being Safe Play approved.

What advice would you give a young player who wants to get into coaching?

If you’re already a player who fell in love with the sport, tennis coaching is a great idea because you can do it full time or part time and work around your schedule. People play tennis all around the world in every single town, so you’ll always have work.

What are your goals for 2026?

The big goal is always growing the sport. I always say yes to any opportunity to grow my business, and I take every opportunity to bring people into it, whether it’s a busy dad who wants to spend more time with his kids or a bunch of my friends taking a field trip with me to Indian Wells. 

How did you get started in tennis?

I started playing tennis because my kids started taking lessons at a municipal court near us and it was really fun. Once they started playing in tournaments, I was calling the community tennis association all the time. I guess they eventually got tired of all my questions because they said, ‘Just come up here and start running the juniors program because you’re driving us up the wall.’ And that’s how it all started.

What are you doing to help young people get into coaching?

We just hosted an event called Girls Who Coach out at Cimarron Country Club because we have so many high school players in Texas, more than any other section, I think. So many of these young women end up being interns at the Capitol Area Tennis Association or the USTA. They're great with kids. Coaching can be a great career move for them because they can adapt it to their lives, needs, schedule, everything. It’s a great way to meet people. And it’s great for your mental health. You're out on the court moving around in the sunshine. 

What do you love most about coaching?

It’s such a great feeling to go to the grocery store and kids say, ‘Oh, you’re the tennis lady! Remember, you helped me with Red Ball?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, of course!’ You just get to impact so many people’s lives and they don’t forget it. Tennis is such a great vehicle for working in your community and uplifting your neighbors. I love it.

How did you get started in tennis?

I played for the University of Akron. I was in school when I started working here. I just fell in love, I’ve been here for 32 years and now I’m the director of tennis. 

How’s your experience with USTA Coaching?

I’m always looking to try new things, so I’m really enjoying the new resources and inspiration. I attend a lot of the webinars, and I’m very excited about the Online Learning Hub for myself and my team. The badges and certifications are a great way for our club to stand out and be the best we can be. Our facility is a USTA Coaching education hub, so we’ll host some trainings here, which will be great.

My youngest player is 4 and my oldest is 94.

What advice would you give to coaches starting out?

The big thing in tennis coaching is it’s really all about the connection and the relationship. If you can connect with someone right off the bat, you’ve probably got them for a while. I’ve had some students for 32 years! We have a relationship, a friendship – we check in on each other and make sure everyone’s doing OK.

You don’t have to be a great player to be a great coach. It’s a different skill set. Some of our best coaches are 3.5 players that just love the game and are excited to give back and love what they do. You have to have a passion for coaching if you’re going to be on the court all day.