How to Find a Good Tennis Coach? Ask the Coach about His/Her Tennis Players

There are a lot of aggressive advertisement on the Internet from tennis businesses: “…we are not like others; we offer unique training; we produce champions; train with us…” But if you really want to figure out about their quality of coaching, just ask them to name their tennis players.

Today, I continue to talk with Chris Lewis, a tennis coach of America’s strongest young tennis players. He is talking about his most successful players.

Chris, tell me about your most prominent students. Do you think some of them have a chance to play at the pro level?

My two most prominent students in terms of accomplishments are Gage Brymer and Mayo Hibi. I would like to stress that both Gage and Mayo are also coached by their fathers, Chuck Brymer and Soichi Hibi, both of whom do an outstanding job of not just coaching but also managing their son’s and daughter’s careers. Gage also receives help from Erik Nyman,
who is the Head Pro at Woodbridge, and Mayo is also coached by former pro, Debbie Graham. I have had a coaching involvement with both Gage and Mayo for the last eight years, during which time I have seen them develop from promising 10 year olds into the best players for their ages in the country.

This year Gage achieved the Number One ranking in the US in the Boys 18’s, won the 18’s Easter Bowl, has had the winningest record in US high school tennis history, will be playing on the UCLA team next year, and will be representing the US at the US Junior Open in September.

Recently, Mayo has won a $25,000 women’s event, immediately backed that up by winning a $50,000 women’s event, and then two weeks later beat Lauren Davis, the number 86th ranked player in the world.

Gage is an aggressive baseliner with a lethal forehand, superb fitness and and is mentally extremely tough. Mayo is a relentlessly aggressive player with a solid, versatile game off the ground and the best volleys in US junior girls tennis. Like Gage, she has a phenomenal work ethic and is also mentally tough.

Do these two have a chance to play at the pro level? Of course they do. Gage is right on track and Mayo is already there.

Some of my other students with tremendous futures ahead of them are:
Alexa Anton-Ohlmeyer, whose ranking over the last 12 months rocketed from the 60’s to blue chip status on TennisRecruiting.net,  and who will be joining the starting line-up at Georgia Tech this year. Alexa has beautiful technique off the ground, is superbly fit, and just needs to add a little weight to her shots to take things to the next level.

Jake DeVries, an aggressive, clever player, is a nationally competitive junior good enough to play the boys 18’s at Kalamazoo. Jake is attending Boston University this year where he will add considerable strength to the team. On the doubles court, Jake can hold his own with anybody his age in the country.

Stefan Dostanic, an 11 year old who won the Southern Cal Boys 12 Sectionals this year. Stefan has an extremely high tennis IQ, sound technique, a fighting spirit, and a wonderful tennis future ahead of him. Keep an eye on him.

Caroline Doyle is a left hander with a game that took her to the third round of the US Open juniors last year, and who will be starting at Stanford ( a year early) in September. Caroline has a game that can really hurt opponents. With her big serve and even bigger forehand,
Caroline is now developing her game around the net. Unfortunately, an irritating wrist injury since the beginning of the year has interfered with her progress, but once it has healed, Caroline’s game is going to really take off.  And I mean really.

The talented Arash Hafezi, recent winner of the CIF doubles title (with Eric Tseng), is an all court player who uses variety and unpredictability to confuse opponents. Once he develops some real power, and we’re working on it, it’s going to take a very, very good player to beat him.

Stephanie Hazell, a nationally competitive 16 year old, who, until recently, averaged two hours tennis per week with most of that time spent with me. If Steph decides to really get serious, her opponents will know about it.

Garrett Kurtz, who is also coached by fellow Woodbridge coach, Jim Strong, is another all court player with a wide array of shots. Although small for his age, Garrett has recently started to develop a much more powerful game. When he grows, opponents are going to find him more than a handful.

Eric Nguyen, a lefty with a game that is going to be good enough to get into any college team in the US.

Alyssa Smith, Orange County OC Register Girls Player of the Year and Duke recruit, has an enormous capacity for hard work, is mentally tough, and has a very solid, multi-dimensional game that, due to its complexity, will take some time to mature.  She is going to have a highly successful college tennis career (in both singles and doubles), and, with one of those games that could just catch on fire, I’ll be looking for even bigger success after that.

Carolyn Xie is a big serving, extremely talented player with a versatile, all court game, a quick mind and a deep understanding of what the game is about. If it hadn’t been for an injury setback this year, Carolyn would now be right at the forefront of US junior tennis; however, once her injury heals, her time is going to come.

The tennis players that I’ve listed are all exceptional individuals. Their collective talents are astonishing. Not only are they united by the fact that they are highly gifted tennis players, what they also have in common is a shining intelligence that I would bet is the equal of — or better than — anything you would find at any tennis program in the world.

Elsewhere on this tennis blog, Valery has kindly mentioned the success we’ve had at our tennis academy. When you combine a coaching staff like the one we have at Woodbridge with a list of tennis players like the one above, what you get is exactly what we have got; namely, a place where mediocrity is banned and progress is guaranteed. It’s a place that I can’t wait to get to each day.

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