Teaching tennis: NFL football star Leigh Torrence and coach Dr. Mark Kovacs

Talking Tennis Southern Style

Leigh Torrence says tennis was his first love and dreamed of being another Arthur Ashe. He was a top-level junior out of Atlanta. Still, he’s most famous for his NFL career, playing for six teams including the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, and coaching for the Saints and New York Jets. “I think tennis is demanding of you mentally … and great preparation for football.” He recently took the USTA Coach Level 1 Workshop to begin teaching tennis. World-renowned sports performance researcher Dr. Mark Kovacs, from Marietta, Georgia, was an All-American and NCAA doubles champion at Auburn University and earned his doctoral degree from the University of Alabama. He focuses on improving tennis service motions, along with working with NBA basketball players. Kovacs was the youngest recipient of the International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award. Highlighted are junior Caiden Karetas, of Gulfport Mississippi, and North Carolina Tennis Hall of Famers Rebel Good, Jeff Joyce, Sam Paul and Clifford Skakle.