​COACHES, STAFF & PLAYERS

​​​ONE TEAM ONE GOAL!

MEET THE TEAM

*All staff are personally trained by Director Kim Grant and are held to her personal standard of excellence.*

Kim Grant, Director
Kim is a former professional tennis player with 18 years of experience on the WTA tour. While on the tour, she gained a reputation as an excellent match strategist, and she coached other professional players while still competing herself. Kim has coached all over the world, starting with coaching fellow WTA professionals during her playing career. She is a certified instructor (including WTA, and USTA certifications)  in 6 different countries. Read more...
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Professional Players

Viewing Sessions By Request: 
As a professional athlete training at our facilities,  training sessions with coaches and hitting partners are available to be viewed/ observed live on court with the player and coach. 
- Private (Pro Player and coach practicing and a student may be on court listening, taking notes and absorbing the knowledge). 
- Clinic (group of student are on court watching a Pro Player and a coach train, but a second coach is there to explain the training sessions and explaining to the students what to learn from and apply to their own tennis).
- Hitting/ Match Play (Pro Player and a hitting partner play practice matches or live ball drills and player can be on court to get an up close experience).  
* Viewing Sessions are priced differently based on the category so please contact the office for booking requests. .
Players are allowed to ask Pro Players questions after practices and they  may give “coach”  tips and pointers if asked. 

Ema Turudija (Player)
Ema is a professional tennis player from Serbia and came to the United States on a full tennis scholarship. She played division 1 collegiate tennis for all four years as an undergraduate student. Ema spent her freshman and sophomore year at the University of Louisiana at Monroe where she played both singles and doubles. By the end of her sophomore year, the team was ranked 75 in the ITA National Team Rankings. Upon finishing her sophomore year, Ema transferred to Missouri State University where she served as a number 1 player for both singles and doubles. In 2016 she was named an All-MVC First Team selection as well as MVC Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week on two occasions.  Ema was also on Athletic Director's honor roll on three occasions, and on the Dean's list her senior year.​

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Coaches

Coach Sean
While working on his degree, Sean founded the Gonzaga Club Tennis Team and went on to coach at the recreational, club, high school, and college level. He enjoys helping players of all abilities increase their consistency, confidence, and composure out on the court. Sean is also a member of the United States Racquet Stringers Association and actively maintains his knowledge of racquets and strings in order to help players find the best combination of equipment to play their     best.

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Coach Sean in action.

Coach Emma
Emma has been with Kim Grant and her academy since the beginning. Emma started with Kim Grant Tennis Academy as a player and earned top junior rankings in Northern California. Emma represented Kim Grant Tennis Academy at the 2008 Orange Bowl and has a 2008 Junior Sectionals Doubles title to her name. Currently, even though Emma is a coach at KGTA, she is embarking on a professional career - playing many International Tennis Federation Tournaments.

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Coach Enrique
Born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, Enrique has been involved in tennis his whole life. From playing at a university level at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico to teaching tennis at the Odyssey Club in Cancun, Mexico to being the Tennis Director at the Puerto Adventuras Golf and Tennis Club and the Hotel Robinson Club, Enrique has done it all.

Enrique coaches using drills, games, and live-ball situation and improves the strategy and tennis ability of the players along the way. He encourages students to develop their mind and body and develop the consistency that is required to compete at any level of the sport.

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Coach Fernando
Fernando has played competitive tennis since childhood and competed at the NAIA collegiate level, playing for Bethany College during his freshman and sophomore year and University of Mobile his last two years. A few of his many accolades include: Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, 2012 & 13 Southern State Athletic Conference's All-Academic Team, and 2013 3rd-Team Capital One Academic All-American College Division At-Large Team.

Fernando also has a remarkable amount of coaching experience. He was a tennis director at Camp Lakota in Wurtsboro, NY, Men's Tennis Graduate Assistant Coach at Delta State University, tennis director at Camps Kenwood & Evergreen, and tennis instructor at the Tennis Academy at Harvard!

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Coach Ivan
Coach Ivan is from Minsk, Belarus. During his junior career, Ivan was ranked in the top 20 in Belarus. He came to the
United States to play college tennis and attended Chowan University in North Carolina, where he played number 2, 3
and 4 singles and number 1 and 2 in doubles. Ivan was also named all conference every year he competed. He graduated with a degree in Accounting. ​

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Coach Julio
Originally from España (Spain),  Julio moved to the US in 2016, where he now resides. While in Spain, Julio was a Director, Instructor and Coach of several professional organizations and individuals. In addition, Julio competed professionally in several top European competitions internationally. As a young adult he earned his rankings in the top 1000 players in Spain. His tennis practices and skills placed him as a 5.0+ player within his country. During Julio’s young adult tennis education, he studied under Luis Mediero, named best coach in the world 1993-1997 and Founder of  RPT- internationally acclaimed organization that mirrors the USTA in America. Throughout that time, Julio excelled in exceptional playing techniques and talent that created a learning platform which he uses today and is used throughout all of Europe. He is excited to bring his talents in program development, individual and group techniques, to those of all ages, into the United Sates. 

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Administration

Kerilyn, Head of Operations and resident Life Coach
Kerilyn was a top level junior in South Africa and played division I tennis at San Jose State University on a scholarship. Coach Kerilyn has been coaching and developing players of all levels for 15 years and is certified with the ITF- International Tennis Federation.  Along with her well-accomplished tennis career, she is a certified life coach, award winning leader, and public speaker. 

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Laura-Accountant 
Laura joined us in 2016 and is responsible for managing the accounting, financial reporting, payroll, and overseeing compliance with tax returns and other regulations. Laura grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When graduated from high school, she got her accounting degree from Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires. Although Laura did not grow up playing tennis, she always felt attracted to the sport. Later, when she met her husband Jorge (a tennis player since eight), she became an enthusiastic tennis player. Laura and Jorge have one daughter, Helena, who is a tennis student at KGTA, and Zoe, their dog, who loves to pick up tennis balls! Outside of work, Laura enjoys gardening, spending time with her family, traveling and attending tennis tournaments.

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Stacey, Coordinator-Programs-Marketing-Merchandising
As a top ranked junior in South Africa, Stacey spent a total of 6 years as #1 in the nation. Stacey earned a tennis Scholarship to University of Hawaii where she studied BA Media and Communication. Along with being an ITF certified professional tennis coach, Stacey also has a degree in Fashion Management and Communication with a minor in Haute Couture. She is currently working towards her Masters in Fashion Management. Her passion for tennis and player enrichment shines through in all she does at KGTA. 

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Sydney- Office Manager 
​Originally from the Bay Area, Sydney is part of the office staff at KGTA. She is a certified Medical Assistant and currently pursing a degree in Nursing. Sydney attended Sacramento State for her undergraduate classes and is now continuing her studies in the Bay Area. She has been involved in competitive sports for 12 years, primarily basketball, which she has 4 years of experience coaching as well. She has good analytical and problem- solving skills and is very excited to join the KGTA staff.

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  Coach Peter
  As a Bay Area native, Coach Peter started playing tennis
  at the age of 4. He continued training consistently and  
  that led to him being a highly ranked junior in NorCal as
  a teenager as well as playing #1 varsity freshman year at  
  Mountain View High. After playing singles for Foothill College, his tennis coaching career began. Starting as a volunteer at Cuesta park, he spent the next 10 years training and developing his abilities to be an excellent and fully committed tennis coach.  
With a passion for mental toughness training, helping students of all ages with composure and confidence along with technique development, he looks forward to every opportunity to use tennis teachings as a tool for positively impacting the lives of our players. 

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Summer Coaches 2019

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Coach Stefan
Born in Belgrade, Serbia and he spent his whole life there before coming to play college tennis at University of Minnesota. The first tennis ball he hit was when he was 4 years old and has since been revolving his life around tennis. At the age of 16, he won both national championships in Serbia and was also ranked #1338 on the ATP list and have also been ranked #190 on the ITF Junior tour. At the Division 1 college level, he has already won a couple of tournaments and has been ranked within the top 25 players throughout his sophomore year. With a passion for coaching as well, Stefan has worked with Summer Campers and helped them develop their skills, confidence and passion for competitive tennis. He is currently pursuing a degree in Supply Chain & Operations. 

Coach Aleksa
Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, Aleksa has been playing tennis for 12 years now. He was top 300 ITF under 18 and ranked #1 in Serbia under 18. He is currently studying Computer Science and Math at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where is represents his school as a Division 1 athlete. He enjoys working with junior players and campers as a coach that give his best towards their development and guides them in their junior tennis goals. 

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