Tom Downs has coached on the WTA Tour and has worked with Rennae Stubbs, Elena Dementieva, Vera Dushevina, Sam Stosur and Laura Granville. He has also worked with many highly-ranked ITF and USTA junior players. He was the Head Pro and Director of Coaching at the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tennis View Magazine recently sat down with him to discuss the sport, coaching, and his career.

What is your background in the sport? How did you decide to get into coaching?

I got into Tennis at the age of 8. Growing up in the small city of Launceston, in the state of Tasmania, Australia, I was introduced to Aussie rules football and cricket from the time I could walk, and eventually wanted to try something else, and decided to give Tennis a go. I was nationally ranked in the 14’s and 16’s age groups and was the number one player in the U18 boys in the state of Queensland at age 17 and a top 20 nationally ranked junior in the same age group. I represented Australia in an under 18 teams event against Japan in Australia in 2001. I also represented the state of Queensland at the national schoolboy championships in 2000. I went to college on scholarship to South Carolina State University in 2002 and during the summers of 2003 and 2004, I did internships at the Harry Hopman Tennis Academy at the Saddlebrook resort in Tampa FL. It was there that I fell in love with coaching.

Who and where are you coaching now?

Currently i am coaching three professional American players. Ellie Halbauer, who has a WTA ranking of 270. I coached Ellie from December 2016 until she injured her left wrist in June 2017. She made the final of a professional event in Daytona Beach in 2017 and had wins over top 100 player Taylor Townsend and top 120 player Kristie Ahn prior to getting injured. I just started coaching Ellie again as she’s overcome her wrist injury. I also coach Ronit Yurovsky who’s been as high as 350 and was a standout player for the Michigan Wolverines and Chanelle Van Nguyen who won two national championships at UCLA. I am on the road a lot traveling with these players. I also spend time with top 50 ranked ITF junior Nicole Mossmer. She recently won an ITF Grade One junior doubles title in Tulsa, OK. In 2017, I also coached ITF junior player Peyton Stearns who won an ITF doubles title in Tulsa Ok with Nicole Mossmer, and Peyton also won two ITF doubles titles in Mexico, one of which was a Grade A event. The other was a Grade 1 event. I was the official USA national coach for the Grade A event in Mexico City.

How did you get your first lucky break?

When I was finishing up some college courses at the University of South Florida, I would regularly hit at the varsity courts on campus with some of the players on the men’s team and ladies team. Rennae Stubbs happened to be an assistant coach on the women’s team and Gigi Fernandez was the head coach of the women’s team. Rennae asked me to hit with her one day and I couldn’t believe it. I watched Rennae win her first of six grand slams 5 years earlier on my TV at my home in Brisbane, Australia and here I was now hitting with her. The first time we hit was just before the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and Rennae asked me to join her at that tournament as a hitting partner for her and her partner, Cara Black. I ended up working with Rennae at many big tournaments over a 5-year period. During this time, she made a Wimbledon final in 2009, and a US Open semifinal in 2007. She also regained the number one world doubles ranking. About 5 months after I started hitting with Rennae, Gigi Fernandez started coaching Sam Stosur. Gigi asked me to hit with Sam. I would end up hitting with Sam many times over a two-year period, during a time where she won two grand slams in ladies’ doubles.

Tell us about your best coaching experience and why it was successful?

My best coaching experience was at the 2009 US Open. I was coaching 3 professional players - Rennae Stubbs, Laura Granville, and Carly Gullickson. I was working at the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute at the time and Laura and Carly were a part of the Institute. I was the head pro and would travel regularly with Carly during 2008 and 2009 to professional events. Carly won the US Open mixed doubles in 2009, and at the same tournament, made the third round of ladies doubles and qualified for the singles event. She was ranked outside 200 at the time in singles and would achieve her career-best singles ranking of 120 WTA after this tournament.

What is your niche and what areas of coaching are you most respected for in the coaching industry?

My niche is high-performance coaching in player development. I’ve played a large part in the development of many juniors who have gone on to play high-level division one and players like Allie Kiick, who went from being a very good junior to achieving a career-high ranking of 138 on the WTA tour. Sure, I’ve worked with top 40 WTA players such as Vera Dushevina and Shahar Peer, as well as being a member of Elena Dementieva’s coaching team in 2008 during the time she won a gold medal in Beijing at the Olympics, but I believe my best work has been done in helping players transition from the challenger circuit on to the main WTA tour and going from good junior to pro or high-level college player.

In part-two, Tom will share his thoughts on coaching philosophies, advice for young players, and where he sees the sport heading in the future.