by Beth Rifkin
A master of tapping into unfulfilled potential, tennis coach Tom Chivington had a way of turning young player’s “so-called tennis life” into “life as a top ATP ranked pro”.
Under Chivington’s guidance – and applied coaching method of “improving a players’ work ethic and strategy so they are able to outwork and outsmart a more talented opponent” – the Foothill Junior College men’s tennis team won 27 conference championships in 34 years, making it the most successful men’s tennis program in the history of California community colleges.
Though Chivington retired in 2000, his legacy is alive on the world’s most prestigious tennis courts and in today’s top ranked players, thanks to three Foothill College former team members; Brad Gilbert, Larry Stefanki and Vitaly Gorin.
Gilbert took Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to the no. 1 ranking and recently helped Andy Murray break into the top 10. Stefanki is currently the coach to world no. 16 Fernando Gonzalez, and has previously coached John McEnroe, Marcelo Ríos and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
And possibly the lesser known of the three alums, Vitaly Gorin, has been coach, father-figure and friend to world no. 32, Russian Dmitry Tursunov for the past 13 years. He explains, “…my father met Dmitry’s father in St. Petersburg when he was young...several years later, when Dmitry was 12, his father asked to bring him here and we ended up keeping him….”
After Foothill College, Gorin had been on his way to his own professional tennis career when he discovered a tumor in his left femur at the age of 21. Any chance in tennis had long been forgotten for Gorin by the time his father suggested Tursunov come to the States. The union gave them both a shot at a pro tennis career.
So far this week, Tursunov, who trained at the Foothill courts when he first arrived from Russia, is living up to his full potential as he fights to defend his title at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.
(Interview with Dmitry Tursunov and Vitaly Gorin, following Wimbledon 2007)
The Gorin Tennis Academy is located in Granite Bay, California; the seven year old academy trains over 30 junior and pro players.
July 18, 2008
