Coaches to Lead Effort at USA Tennis High Performance Headquarters in Key Biscayne and new USA Tennis High Performance Training Center in Southern California
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., April 3, 2003 – The USTA has named Richard Ashby, Jay Berger, Jai DiLouie, Debbie Graham, Ola Malmqvist, Wade McGuire, Ray Ruffels and Katie Schlukebir as USA Tennis High Performance Coaches for women’s tennis. The new coaching staff is part of the reorganization of the USA Tennis High Performance program that began earlier this year.
All eight coaches will report to Lynne Rolley, Director, Women’s Tennis, USA Tennis High Performance. Ashby, Berger, DiLouie, Malmqvist and Schlukebir will work out of the USA Tennis High Performance Headquarters in Key Biscayne, Fla. Graham, McGuire and Ruffels will be based out of the new USA Tennis High Performance Training Center at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
A group of young American women working with USA Tennis High Performance are currently establishing themselves in the professional and junior ranks. Sarah Taylor, a member of the USTA Tour Pro Program, defeated two players ranked in the Top 20 at the NASDAQ-100 Open last week. Laura Granville, another member of the USTA Touring Pro Program, is currently ranked a career-high No. 34. Sixteen-year-old Carly Gullickson reached the quarterfinals at her first tour-level event as an amateur in Memphis in February. Teenagers Shenay Perry and Bethanie Mattek have made an impact on the 2003 USTA Pro Circuit. Perry won the singles title at the USTA $50,000 Challenger in Minneapolis last month and Mattek swept the singles and doubles with Perry titles at the USTA $25,000 Challenger in Fullerton, Calif in January. Fourteen-year-olds Julia Cohen and Krysty Marcio are ranked among the Top 15 players in the current ITF World Junior Rankings for players 18-years-old and younger.
Ashby, a resident of Lawrenceville, Ga., has coached at the Tennis Club of Trumbull (Conn.), Palmer Tennis Academy, Harry Hopman/Saddlebrook International Tennis and the Chastain Park Tennis Center in Atlanta. He played on the pro tour from 1986-89 and was a member of the Barbados Davis Cup team for five years. He played varsity tennis at the University of South Carolina from 1982-86.
Berger, a resident of Key Biscayne, Fla., was the Head Men’s and Women’s Tennis Coach at the University of Miami and a former USTA National Coach. He played on the tour from 1985-91 and was ranked as high as No. 7 in the world. Berger won four pro singles titles and a doubles title. He represented the United States in Davis Cup play in 1988 and 1990 and went undefeated in two singles matches. Berger had the best finish of any reigning USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion at the US Open during the Open Era when he reached the fourth round in 1985. He played two years of varsity tennis at Clemson.
DiLouie, a resident of Key Biscayne, Fla., was previously a USA Tennis High Performance National Coach. He coached Chris Evert for six years and was a National Coach for the British Lawn Tennis Association in 1989. In his first year as a head coach at SMU, his alma mater, DiLouie led the women’s team to its first Southwest Conference title in 1988. DiLouie earned all-
American honors in 1977, 1979 and 1980. He won two tour-level doubles titles and was ranked in the Top 100 in doubles during his career.
Graham, a resident of Newport Beach, Calif., has been a coach at the USTA Competition Training Center at the Newport Beach Tennis Club since 1999. She played on the WTA Tour for 10 years and was ranked as high as No. 28 in singles and No. 9 in doubles, winning five doubles titles. She was undefeated in five matches for the U.S. Fed Cup team in 1992-93. She won the 1990 NCAA singles title as a junior at Stanford University and was member of three NCAA championship teams (1989-91). Graham earned all-American honors four consecutive years and was ranked No. 1 in singles and doubles during her collegiate career.
Malmqvist, a resident of Atlanta, was previously a USA Tennis High Performance National Coach working with the Touring Pro Program. Prior to that, he was the varsity women’s tennis coach at UNLV from 1993-98. He has also coached Chanda Rubin, Luke and Murphy Jensen, Katarina Lindquist, Petr Korda, Mikael Pernfors and the Swedish Davis Cup team. He played varsity tennis at the University of Georgia in 1982 and 1983, earning all-American honors both years and winning the 1983 NCAA doubles title.
McGuire, a resident of Athens, Ga., was previously Matias Boeker’s traveling coach and volunteer assistant coach for the University of Georgia men’s varsity tennis team. McGuire played on the pro tour eight years and earned a career-high singles ranking of No. 163 and was a high as No. 221 in doubles. His best finish came at the 1994 ATP clay court event in Atlanta when he reached the semifinals as a qualifier, losing to Todd Martin. He was a practice partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1993 and 1994. McGuire played varsity tennis for the University of Georgia from 1991-93, earning all-American honors each year and finishing as runner-up at the NCAA singles championships in 1992 and 1993.
Ruffels, a resident of Laguna Niguel, Calif., was previously a USA Tennis High Performance National Coach working with the Touring Pro Program. Prior to that, he was the Director of Tennis at Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, Fla., from 1994-2000. A native of Australia, Ruffels played on the tour from 1964-79, winning 12 singles and 20 doubles titles, and was a member of the Australian Davis Cup team in 1968-70 and 1977. He reached the singles semifinals at the Australian Open three times (1968, 1969 and 1976) and won the 1977 Australian Open doubles with Alan Stone.
Schlukebir, a resident of Kalamazoo, Mich., competed on the WTA Tour from 1997-2002. She was ranked as high as No. 47 in doubles and No. 183 in singles. Schlukebir won two singles and 13 doubles titles on the USTA/ITF Pro Circuit. Schlukebir was a singles and doubles all-American at Stanford from 1993-97 and led the Cardinal to the 1997 NCAA team title.
The USA Tennis High Performance program features enhanced coaches education programs, top supplemental coaching and training, national and international junior competition and USTA Pro Circuit and tour events.
The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States and is a non-profit organization with more than 660,000 members. It owns and operates the US Open and selects the teams that compete in Davis Cup, Fed Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It invests all its resources to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass roots to the professional levels.