Rick Macci (born December 7, 1954) is an American tennis coach and former player. He is a United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Master Professional, and seven-time USPTA national coach of the year who has trained five number one ranked players:

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...

Jennifer Capriati Jennifer Maria Capriati (born March 29, 1976) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. A member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she won three singles Grand Slam titles and was the gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. C ...

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...

Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...

, and

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...

. In 2010, he was inducted into the USPTA Florida Hall of Fame. He serves as a consultant on the USTA Player Development Program in Boca Raton,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. In 2017, he was youngest ever to be inducted into the USPTA Hall of Fame.

Education

Born in

Greenville, Ohio Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Darke County, Ohio, United States, located near the western edge of Ohio about 33 miles northwest of Dayton. The population was 13,227 at the 2010 census. History Historic Native American tribes in ...

, to parents Norma Macci and Santi Macci, Macci attended Greenville Senior High School and graduated in 1973. After two years at

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

, Rick was ranked as the top under-18 tennis player in Ohio. Macci has received Hall of Fame induction honors for his accomplishments in basketball and tennis in his hometown.

Career

In the early 1970s Macci started his career as the tennis pro at Bob Schul's Sports Complex in Troy, Ohio. In the late 1970s he became the tennis professional at the Sinnet Indoor Tennis Club in Vineland, New Jersey when in 1979 he achieved the #1 Ranked Adult player in New Jersey. He started the Rick Macci International Tennis Academy in 1985, in

Haines City Haines City is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Its population was 13,174 at the 2000 census and 20,535 at the 2010 census. It is the third most populous city in Polk County. It is part of the Lakeland– Winter Haven Metropolitan S ...

, at the Grenelefe Golf & Tennis Resort, where two of his students were

Tommy Ho Thomas Ho (born June 17, 1973 in Winter Haven, Florida) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. His parents are immigrants from Taiwan. Tennis career Juniors Ho first came to the tennis world's attention as an exception ...

and

In the summer of 1992, the Macci Academy moved to Delray Beach. Over the course of his career, he coached many tennis players such as

Anastasia Myskina Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina ( rus, Анастасия Андреевна Мыскина ; born 8 July 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Myskina won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian woman to wi ...

Mary Pierce Mary Caroline Pierce (born 15 January 1975) is a retired tennis professional who represented France internationally in team competitions and the Olympics. She was born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, and holds citizenship of ...

, Vince Spadea, Tornado Black,

Sofia Kenin Sofia Anna "Sonya" Kenin (born November 14, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of No. 4 in the world, which she achieved on March 9, 2020. She was the 2020 WTA ...

, Hurricane Black,

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former wo ...

, Vicky Duval, Karim Alami, and Gabrielle Price. Macci has appeared on several TV shows, such as Sixty Minutes, Today Show, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Day One, and many major networks, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, USA, ESPN, Tennis Channel, BBC and sports talk radio shows around the world. He is the featured teaching pro on the award-winning instructional tennis videos (produced by the USPTA) that airs on the Tennis Channel. He has worked as tennis consultant for Donald Trump and T. Management. Macci the recipient of the 2005 Alex Gordon Award for USPTA Professional of the Year.

Honors

In 2010, Macci was inducted into the USPTA Florida Hall of Fame. On 13 October 2017 Macci was inducted into the USPTA Hall of Fame USPTA Professionals to become the 19th professional honored, and youngest ever to be inducted.

Family

Macci has three daughters.

Popular culture

In the movie '' King Richard'', about Venus and Serena Williams's father, his character was played by

Jon Bernthal Jonathan Edward Bernthal (; born September 20, 1976) is an American actor. Beginning his career in the early 2000s, he came to prominence for portraying Shane Walsh (The Walking Dead), Shane Walsh on the AMC (TV channel), AMC horror series ' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macci, Rick 1954 births Living people American tennis coaches American sportspeople of Italian descent People from Greenville, Ohio Tennis people from Florida Tennis people from Ohio American tennis people