Staff

Vitaly Gorin grew up playing tennis in southern California. As a junior he traveled to Florida to study under the legendary Harry Hoppman. He moved to northern California in 1988 to play for another legendary coach, Tom Chivington.

While assisting with the Russian National Team, Coach Gorin played a vital part in helping the team reach the world championships. Vitaly has worked with dozens of top national and international juniors, and has lead them to countless national and international championship titles.

Vitaly has coached on the ATP Tour for the past 5 years, and has guided four players onto the ATP Tour. His players have enjoyed victories over such players as Andre Agassi, Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten, Vince Spadea, Greg Rusedski, and many other top professional players.

As a coach on the ATP Tour, Vitaly has had the opportunity to work with and exchange ideas with some of the greatest coaches in the world.

 John Kellert
Director of Marketing

 John Kellert was a highly ranked junior in his home country of Australia. In 2002 he came to the US and attended Missouri State University on a tennis scholarship NCAA Division 1 playing #1 & #2 singles and #1 Doubles where he was ranked top 50 in the nation with his partner.
He graduated in 2007 with a degree in Entertainment Management and has since been the Head Tennis Professional at an academy in Florida and more recently was travelling on tour as the coach of Amina Rakhim who was ranked as high as 255 in the world.

Mike Stecker
Teaching Professional

Mike Stecker grew up playing tennis in the Pacific Northwest section. As a junior he earned a top sectional ranking and competed against such players as Jean Michael Gambill. After earning a tennis scholarship, Mike moved to Florida to play Division One collegiate tennis.

After earning his bachelor degree in psychology, Mike played on the Pro Tour for a short stint. After experiencing pro tennis first hand, Mike decided that he held a passion for teaching the game to others. He began working with Vitaly Gorin, arguably one of the best technical coaches in California. Under the tutelage of Coach Gorin, Mike gained the necessary skills to be asked by Dmitry Tursunov to accompany him on the road as an ATP touring coach.

After becoming the traveling coach for Dmitry, who is currently ranked 32 on the ATP tour, Mike returned to Granite Bay to work with dozens of top nationally ranked and sectionally ranked juniors.

Dmitry is currently the highest ranked player training at the Gorin Tennis Academy. As of January 2006 his ranking soared to #15 on the ATP Tour Race, and in December of 2006 he reached a career high of #20 on the ATP entrée system. He is currently ranked #23 in the world.

Dmitry was the runner-up at the 2006 Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, which started off a snowball effect. He ended the year wining the Davis Cup title playing for Russia, beating Argentina in the final. He also defeated Tomas Berdych 6-3,4-6,7-5 in Mumbai, India to win his first title in the same year. Dmitry went on to win Indianapolis and Bangkok the following year. He also picked up his first doubles title in 2007 partnering Marat Safin in Moscow. Later that year he played as a starter for Russia in the 2007 Davis Cup Final. The Russian Team was defeated by the United States who took the title, preventing Russia from repeating their win from the previous year.

Dmitry has enjoyed wins over players like Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten, Tim Henman, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo, Andy Roddick, Wayne Ferreira, Tommy Haas, Fernando Gonzalez, as well as many other top ten players.

We look forward to Dmitry having a great year in 2009.

Nikoloz Basilashvili
Academy Touring Pro

On August 30th, 2009, Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Mikhail Fifugin in a three set battle (2-6; 7-5; 7-5) to claim his first title in the $10,000 ITF men's circiut event in Sochi, Russia. This championship was a culmination of the five tournaments that Nikoloz played in Russia on clay courts. Shamil Tarpischev, President of the Russian Tennis Fedaration, personally congratulated Nikoloz on his win and predicted a bright future ahead for this talented 17-year-old professional tennis player.
 
Nikoloz Basilashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia, has always been regarded as one of the top junior players in the world. In 2007, Nikoloz joined the Gorin Tennis Academy team to fullfill his aspirations of becoming a professional tennis player. Nikoloz competed in a pretty rigorous schedule during the 2008-2009 season, which featured Futures and Challengers in the United States, as well as in Europe. Nikoloz showed immediate success playing on the hard courts, reaching three semi-finals this year in McAllen, TX, Andijan, Uzbekistan, and Chico, CA. Nikoloz's style of play allows him to be successfull on any surface, it just took him a little bit longer to find confidence in his game on the clay courts in Russia.
 
Currently, Nikoloz Basilashvili is ranked #585 in the ATP. He will spend the rest of this year competing in California and Texas. In December, Nikoloz is planning on participating in the Groin Tennis Academy tennis camp in Napa Valley. During this month, Nikoloz will train with some of the best tennis players in the world, such as Dmitry Tursunov, Mikhail Kukushkin, Yuriy Chshukin, and others in preparation for the Australian Open.