United Tennis Academy

United Tennis Academy is the result of the shared vision of its founders. As coaches, their vision is to create an environment to nurture and develop the complete athlete.

The Academy is sited on the BPA campus and works closely with the school to ensure students get both the best tennis coaching and the storngest academic start.

The current coaches employed by UTA are:

  

Jeff Russell was born October 28, 1969 in Lynn, Massachusetts and moved to Florida after completing college in 1993. Jeff has traveled and worked with many elite juniors and professionals including Tommy Haas (ATP #2), Xavier Malisse (ATP #19), Robert Kendrick (ATP #77), Brian Vahaly (ATP #64), Jill Craybas (WTA #39), Mirjana Lucic (WTA #32), Alexandra Stevenson (WTA #18) and countless others. In his 16 year coaching career he has traveled to over 40 different countries on 6 continents with top players to various ITF, ATP and WTA events including all 4 Grand Slams. Jeff has also conducted tennis clinics and symposiums around the world and written articles for various tennis periodicals. He was married in 2004 to his wife Jennifer, who was a doubles player on the WTA Tour with a high ranking of #41 in the world in June of 2005. She retired to give birth to their first child, Isabella Mae, who was born September 28, 2006 and recently gave birth to their second child, Chloe Nicole on February 17, 2009.

  

Gabriel Trifu was born April 14, 1975 in Bucharest, Romania. Gabriel is a former top 100 ATP tennis professional turned coach. He has competed against, traveled and trained with the best players in the world. His professional playing career has given him a unique insight into what it takes to succeed in a competitive environment. Gabriel turned pro at 17 years of age and quickly climbed in the ATP rankings to a high of #148 in singles and #97 in doubles. During his career he had wins over Goran Ivanisevic, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Andrei Olhovsky, Ivan lubicic and Dominik Hrbaty. While earning one ATP title and several titles on the challenger circuit, Gabriel was a member of the Romanian Davis Cup team from 1995 to 2005 and competed in the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia. Gabriel began his coaching career in 2003. While he was injured and out of competitive play for 6 months he coached countryman Andre Pavel to a career high rank of #13 in the world. Gabriel was married in October of 2006 to Romanian television personality Catrinel Sandu.

Gabriel is now the coach for the Romanian davis cup team after contributing as a player for 10 years. He is also a tournament director for atp Mamaia Challanger Tournament in Romania.

 

 

Sandra Cacic was born September 10, 1974 in Joliet, Illinois. She turned pro in 1990 at the age of 16 and had her first top ten win over WTA #3 Jana Novotna at age 17. She earned 1 WTA singles title, 1 WTA doubles title and 12 challenger titles in her 13 year career. Sandra competed in all four Grand Slams since 1993 with her best finish being a third round effort in Australia. In 1998 she teamed with Monica Seles, Mary Joe Fernandez, Lisa Raymond and Corina Morariu for Team USA to defeat Team Japan in Hiroshima, Japan. Sandra maintained a ranking in the top #100 in the world for 11 years before injury at the 2001 Canadian Open, where she tore a ligament in her knee. She was away from competition for 1 year before returning in 2003. Sandra decided to step away from the game after 2003 Indian Wells and a wonderful 13 years on tour. She began coaching in 2004 and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to United Tennis Academy. Sandra is extremely hard working and goes the extra mile to see her students improve.