Eric M.

I played on the pro tour for five years and coached on the pro tour for 19 years. I have taught tennis full-time for last 22 years, including 14 years in Los Angeles as junior director for Warner Center Tennis Club, head pro for Burbank Tennis Center and competitive junior director for Braemar Country Club. I spent the last eight years in San Diego as Junior Director at StoneRidge Country Club, adult programs director at the Barnes Center, and coach of the men's tennis team at San Diego City College and San Diego Competition Training Center team (the top-ranked San Diego juniors 10-13 years old). I am currently teaching private and group lessons to adults and juniors at Peninsula Tennis Club in Ocean Beach. I coached the USTA Junior Davis Cup team for three years, many USTA junior teams in international competition and every Southern California sectional junior team 12-18 years old in national competition. I am a USTA High Performance Coach, USPTA Certification Tester for Tennis Pros, and serve on the USTA Coaches Commission and SCTA Junior Competition Committee. I was awarded the USPTA California Division Pro of the Year (2001), USPTA San Diego Division Pro of the Year (2013), USPTA Tester of the Year (2008) and SCTA Competitive Junior Tennis Service Award (2009).

I am a Jack Kramer disciple (my mentor on the pro tour), so I emphasize finishing points at net. I divide the court into three zones (set up, transition, and putaway zones) and lessons into three parts of points: beginning (serve and return), middle (how to use ground strokes to set up points), and finish (approach shots, volleys and overheads). Each segment of the lesson has instruction, drill and point play. I teach tactics first, then fundamentals to execute tactics. My specialties are tactics for all-court attacking game style and fundamentals for serves, returns, mid-court approaches, volleys and overheads as well as different types of ground strokes. I teach serve and volley tactics and techniques in doubles.