2021 NEW YORK TENNIS MAGAZINE’S
Coaches Roundtable Discussion T
he local tennis community boasts some of the top coaches in the world, and with this wealth of talent available, New York Tennis Magazine took the opportunity to pick the brains of some of these coaches. These coaches share their thoughts on a wide variety of tennis topics and issues, ranging from junior tennis to the professional game.
Meet the participants … Gabriel Balestero is a tennis professional at Generation Next Tennis in Great Neck. He is a former number one singles player at Adelphi University, where he was an all-American student-athlete. A former Top 20 player nationally in Brazil, Balestero has experience competing in international and professional tournaments, and has now transitioned into coaching. Alex Bessarabov is a Tennis Professional for the NTC Tennis Programs at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Bessarabov played high school tennis at Lindenhurst High School before playing collegiately at Farmingdale State University, where he was named first-team All-Skyline Conference during his senior year. Earlier this year, he was honored with USTA Eastern's Junior Team Tennis Award.
Bloom has been running his own tennis program since 2000 and also was director of tennis at John McEnroe Tennis Academy for two years. Jay Harris is the CoGeneral Manger/Director of Tennis at SPORTIME Roslyn and the Director of John McEnroe Tennis Academy’s College Recruiting Combine. He was the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Brown University for eight years, before joining the SPORTIME team in 2010.He was named USTA Eastern's Tennis Professional of the Year in 2019.
Ed Krass coached the Harvard Women’s Tennis Team to four consecutive Ivy League titles from 1986-1990. Ed is the founder and director of the Annual College Tennis Exposure Camps, which are taught exclusively by all head college coaches for high school-aged players (15-18). Ed is also the founder of Gilad Bloom, former Israeli Davis Cup player One-On-One Doubles tournaments, and two-time Olympian, which have been played at USTA, played on the ATP Tour ATP, ITA and USPTA national events. 1983-1995, reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open in 1990, reached a highest ranking of 61 in singles, was Israel Singles Champion three times. 32
New York Tennis Magazine • November/December 2021 • NYTennisMag.com
Lawrence Kleger is co-director of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy. He is recognized as one of the top developmental coaches in the United States. He has trained more ranked juniors than anyone in the history of the USTA Eastern Section. His students have won numerous National and Regional Championships, and 20 USTA Eastern Year-End Sportsmanship Awards. Chris Lewit is a former number one for Cornell and pro circuit player. He is a highperformance coach, educator, and the author of two best-selling books: The Secrets of Spanish Tennis and The Tennis Technique Bible. He has coached numerous top 10 nationally-ranked players and is known for his expertise in building the foundations of young prodigies. Chris coaches in NYC and yearround at his high performance tennis academy in Manchester, VT, where players can live and train the Spanish Way full-time or shortterm.
