About
About
Tom Hill's Journey: Child to Coach
Child
Growing up, Tom’s real passion was football but it was difficult to play football and tennis, at a competitive level, as both had matches on weekends.
It was a fallout with his coach, who wanted him to change position from center forward to center back, that pushed Tom to focus more on tennis.
Without realizing it, his journey to competitive tennis had just begun at seven years of age.
IMG Student
At 9 years of age Tom went on a trip with his local tennis club, Solihull Arden, to the Nick Bollettieri IMG Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Inspired by all the elite players, one year later, Tom moved there full time.
At the academy, he met legendary Hall of Fame coach, Nick Bollettieri, who inspired him to work hard and become the best player he could be.
Junior
Tom spent four years at IMG and in a bid to become a better clay-court player then spent time living and training in Buenos Aires, Argentina and then Barcelona, Spain. During this period, he earned a COSAT South American ranking and later on progressed in the ITF Junior and ATP rankings. It was these rankings that enabled him to play Division 1 tennis at Pepperdine University.
2010Student Athlete
Tom played on the Pepperdine Division 1 tennis team for four years and graduated with a cum laude degree in marketing.
After his final match for Pepperdine and with a plan to attend Law School to pursue a career in entertainment law, Tom’s rackets were retired to the bottom of his wardrobe. However, an unplanned conversation with Max Eisenbud changed everything.
Hitting Partner
An opportunity back at IMG Academy, to practice with Maria Sharapova and some of Max’s IMG clients, was more than enough of a reason to bring his rackets out of retirement. The next few weeks saw Tom spend countless hours per day hitting with top WTA & ATP players as they prepared for the US Open. Tom’s IMG tennis life had come round in a full circle.
2018Coach
One of the players Tom trained with at the academy was Danielle Collins. On his return to the UK, completely out of nowhere, Danielle approached Tom with an opportunity to travel to Japan on a trial to become her coach. The partnership clicked, Danielle's ranking rose from 164 to 39 in the world and Tom’s coaching career had officially begun.
2018-PresentThe Journey
Becoming a professional tennis player is no easy journey.
For many, it starts as a child, with dreams of becoming the next Roger Federer or Serena Williams.
As they progress through their childhood, they develop and sharpen their skills, perfecting their technique and learning to play with finesse and control.
They compete through the junior ranks to gain experience and understanding, learning from both winning and losing matches in a competitive environment.
Some continue to climb the junior international circuit before the pro rankings.
Others go to College on the back of their excellent tennis skills, which opens doors for many into amazing careers.
For some, this is in coaching. To reach the higher echelons of elite tennis coaching is exceptionally difficult but like becoming a top 10 pro tennis player, dreams can turn into reality. Dream big.
