DELRAY BEACH, FL - The Women's Tennis Coaching Association (WTCA) Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder Sarah Stone has announced that Tom Downs has been awarded The High Performance Coach of the Year award for 2017 by the WTCA. The WTCA was formed in 2015. The Association is the first of its kind; currently being the only professional global organization formed solely in support of coaches working with female players. The High Performance Coach of the year award was established in 2015. Voted on by the board of directors, the WTCA awards this honor to a coach who meets an exceptional standard in coaching.

To be nominated for this award, the WTCA determined that coaches must have achieved at least 3 out of the 5 criteria below:

1. Coached players during 2017 who won ITF Grade 1 titles in singles or doubles. Players must have won these events while under the coach’s tutelage.

2. Coaches who were selected as National Coaches by their respective federations to accompany and coach a player at Grade A and Grade 1 ITF junior events.

3. Coaches who have coached players during the time they achieved career high rankings on the WTA Tour or ITF Junior circuit in 2017

4. Coaches who have coached players that won junior grand slam or professional grand slam events in 2017 whilst under their tutelage.

5. The coach worked at least one week at a WTA event or senior grand slam, officially in a head coach position.

The Award Winning Coach:

⦁ Must be a registered coach with a nationally recognized organization
⦁ Coach may not have been fined by a governing organization being the national body, ITF or WTA Tour.

Tom Downs coached leading American juniors Nicole Mossmer and Peyton Stearns during 2017. Tom achieved criteria 1 on two occasions. Nicole and Peyton won the prestigious Pan American ITF Grade 1 junior doubles event in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Peyton Stearns won the Grade A (highest level of ITF junior) doubles event in Mexico City, Mexico in November of 2017. The following week, Peyton won the Grade 1 ITF doubles event in Yucatan, Merida in Mexico. Tom achieved criteria 2 as he was the USA National coach at the Grade A junior event in Mexico City. At this event, American players Peyton Stearns won the doubles title and Whitney Osuigwe, currently ranked number 1 in the world in the ITF junior rankings, won the singles title. Tom achieved criteria 3, as he helped Elizabeth “Ellie” Halbauer achieve a career-high ranking of 260 on the WTA Tour in 2017. Tom achieved criteria 5, as he has officially been the head coach of Ellie Halbauer from January 2017 until present, and he coached her during the WTA Tournament in Charleston, South Carolina in April 2017. Tom is in excellent standing with all governing organizations including the ITF and WTA. He is a registered coach with nationally and internationally recognized Tennis Coaches Australia and the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA).

Downs will be presented his award during the WTCA Conference in Paris on May 25, 2018, during the French Open at the Lagardere Paris Racing Club, which is the practice venue for the French Open main draw players. Confirmed speakers at the event include 7-time grand slam champion and former world number one Justine Henin and former great champions of the game Magdalena Maleeva and Natalia Medvedeva. In addition, 250 internationally acclaimed coaches will attend this conference. The WTCA currently has 150 members and over 40,000  followers on Facebook.