Junior Players Get the Opportunity to Showcase Talents to Top College Coaches
John McEnroe Tennis Academy raises its college placement game
From his years on the ATP Tour winning 17 Grand Slam titles, spending 170 weeks as world number one and challenging the status quo, to his current roles as commentator, elder statesman and founder and leader of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy (JMTA), John McEnroe’s impact on the sport of tennis has been profound and ongoing, more than 30 years after his retirement from the sport.
His trademark mantra, “You cannot be serious?” that was once aimed at chair umpires has become a battle cry about the state of American tennis.
McEnroe is serious, very serious, about seeing the game of tennis return to its glory days, when American players, both men and women, were hoisting Grand Slam trophies with regularity and the “tennis boom” was in full swing. To this end, he spends countless hours on the court at JMTA, with its flagship location at Sportime Randall’s Island in his hometown of New York City. McEnroe created JMTA in partnership with Sportime in 2010, and he can be found at the facility daily, coaching, teaching, mentoring and sharing personal insights about his journey from junior tennis, to college at Stanford, to his life at the top of the pro tour, to his life as a fellow New Yorker.
“I am very happy to have been able to establish my Academy in NYC, my home and the greatest city in the world, and to have a hand, I hope, in creating the next generation of great American players,” said McEnroe. “My view, and what I share with my JMTA students, is that in today’s game, players tend to peak later, after gaining strength, maturity and experience, both as individuals and as athletes, and that one of the best places to develop those qualities, and to prepare for the rigors and challenges of pro tennis, is in a great college program. Not to mention the value of getting an education.”
The John McEnroe Tennis Academy’s success in producing a consistent stream of top collegiate talent has become one of its hallmarks. Since 2010, many JMTA players have earned scholarships to top colleges and universities across the nation in various conferences and in all three NCAA Divisions, from Wake Forest, to LSU, to Harvard, to Boston University, to Princeton, to the University of North Carolina … and the list goes on. This includes more than 10 members of the JMTA Class of 2015, and members of the JMTA Class of 2016 who have already been recruited.
Current JMTA pro tour players, including ATP number 215 and 2014 Junior Wimbledon Champion Noah Rubin, and WTA top 300 and 2015 NCAA singles champion Jamie Loeb, attended Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina, respectively, on full scholarships, before turning pro. Their coveted scholarships allow them to return to school at any time to complete their education.
To build upon its college placement success, and to support JMTA students and other talented players in the greater New York area and beyond, JMTA is launching the inaugural John McEnroe Tennis Academy College Recruiting Combine, which will be held the weekend of June 18-19 at Sportime Randall's Island.
Jay Harris, former Men’s Varsity Tennis Coach at Brown University, and current general manager of Sportime Roslyn and director of the Sportime/JMTA College Recruiting Combine, sees this as the perfect fit for JMTA brand.
“The college recruiting scene is more intense than ever before, which means that coaches want to sign recruits earlier in the process,” said Harris. “To ‘win’ in this process, junior tennis players need professional advising and effective exposure opportunities to as many college coaches as possible. Our goal at Sportime and JMTA is to make the JMTA College Combine the very best college recruiting weekend experience of the year, for our players, for other talented players from the New York area and beyond, and for college coaches.”
Rising sophomores, juniors and seniors will have the opportunity to showcase their technical and tactical tennis talents, their fitness capabilities and their mental toughness in front of coaches from Baylor, Harvard, Wake Forest, Penn State, Amherst and many other top programs.
Players will compete in singles and doubles match play throughout both days. Match results will be tracked and will count toward players’ Universal Tennis Ratings. Players will also receive athletic performance assessments, mental toughness assessments, and will have a half-hour of their match play recorded and analyzed by Tennis Analytics. An integrated recruiting package for each Combine participant will be compiled and made available, digitally, to both the participants and the coaches, at the touch of a button.
The announcement of the inaugural John McEnroe Tennis Academy College Recruiting Combine has coaches weighing in enthusiastically.
"I cannot wait to attend this new, innovative and exciting showcase,” said Colgate University Coach Bobby Pennington. “In my 10 years at Colgate, I have been to many camps and showcases. However, the focus on fitness and mental toughness are two critical components of college tennis.”
To apply to participate or for more information about The John McEnroe Tennis Academy College Recruiting Combine, visit SportimeNY.com/JMTACombine.
Current world number 181 Noah Rubin trains at John McEnroe Tennis Academy (photo credit: Calvin Rhoden)
