The Ball is in His Court
Rising Tennis Star Robby Ginepri Makes His Home State Proud

By Lissa Poirot

    Flushing Meadows, Queens, N.Y. September 2005. Two American tennis players were battling on the famed hard courts known for its rowdy fans and legendary champions such as Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. The latter was here now in this semifinal match, making a run for what he hoped would become his third U.S. Open trophy. His opponent was more than 10 years younger and ranked outside the top 100 just a month prior. But now this rising talent recently surprised the tennis world with a win over two-time defending champion and top-seeded Andy Roddick before nabbing his second career title at Indianapolis. Here he was again, challenging the great Agassi in his first Grand Slam semifinal. Did his knees buckle when he entered the hallowed National Tennis Center to take on Agassi? No. Instead, this bold challenger fought a good fight only succumbing to Agassi in another grueling five-set match.
     Even Agassi’s coach Gil Reyes didn’t think Agassi would have a simple win over the unseeded player, noting that he was “not here by accident or invitation. He knocked the door down to get here and you have to acknowledge that,” he said.
     While this player seemed to come out of nowhere to become a top-ranked American behind Roddick and Agassi, Robby Ginepri has been wowing crowds with his aggressive baseline play since he was a teen in Marietta. Now living in Acworth, this local-boy-turned-ATP-Tour-Top-20 tennis player hopes to match and even surpass last season’s run with a successful summer on grass and hard courts starting this month and ending in Flushing Meadows once again.

All-Around Athlete
     Ginepri has always been Robby. Not Rob. Not Robert. Just your friendly neighborhood Robby. He’s the first to tell you he wasn’t a child prodigy, just a boy who loved sports.
     “Growing up, I played a lot of different sports,” he said, listing all of them quickly — baseball, basketball, soccer, track and swim team. He’s even an avid fisherman to this day. At 5, he picked up a racket and began hitting balls off the walls of courts his parents dragged him to in the ’80s.
     “My wife and I played club tennis, and because it was cheaper than a babysitter, we would bring Robby with us,” said Rene Ginepri, who currently co-owns and operates Olde Town Athletic Club in Marietta with his son. “He would spend his time hitting balls against the wall.”
Ginepri didn’t show signs of becoming a pro at age 5. He was just your average kid biding his time, but he enjoyed it enough that he started taking lessons as he continued to play other sports. Ironically, the 6-foot, muscular, yet lean figure before us today was a rather small little boy. His stature was the reason his parents wouldn’t let him play football, and eventually all the boys around him grew taller and he had to leave basketball behind. At 14, Ginepri’s parents wanted him to concentrate on one sport so that he wouldn’t spread himself too thin in school and could use one to earn a college scholarship. Although he was a star baseball player who was even receiving notice from college scouts, Ginepri chose to focus on tennis.
     “That was a great disappointment to me, when he chose tennis over baseball,” Rene laughed. “He was a pitcher with a heck of an arm. I had played baseball, and I was more partial to it. But it was his dream to play tennis and I supported it.”
Ginepri’s reason for choosing tennis was actually based around his competitive nature: He simply wanted to be in control. “I like tennis
because it is a one-on-one sport. In baseball, if someone else doesn’t do well, it could cost you the game. In tennis, I’m on my own and it’s up to me whether I win or lose,” he said.
     With schooling so important to the Ginepri household — Ginepri’s mom is a teacher — Rene sought local coaching star Jerry Baskin, who had watched more than 250 of his students accept tennis scholarships and coached pros like England-born, Georgia-bred Brian
Vahaly. Baskin was named U.S. Olympic Coach of the Year and inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame. It took months to get Baskin to see Ginepri, said Rene, who persistently pursued him until Baskin relented.
     “I thought he had good footing and timing, but Robby was pretty much a beginner, just starting from scratch. To me, he was just another kid in the group, and he was small for his age,” said Baskin of those early years. “When he was 16, he started growing. The kids who at one time were overpowering him, he started beating. And when he won the Boys’ 16 Nationals Title [in Kalamazoo, Mich.], that’s when I started to think he may be able to do something with tennis.”
     That 16th year was a spectacular one for Ginepri, who went 23-0 and finished the year as the No. 1 junior in the United States. The following year, he was ranked 14th in the world, third in the U.S., and was runner up to Roddick in the U.S. Open Junior’s at Flushing Meadows.
He could have gone off to train at year-round tennis schools with private tutors, such as the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida where names like Roddick and Anna Kournikova first appeared. Instead, he chose to stay home to remain close to his friends and family.
     “I wanted to have a normal childhood,” he said. “Plus, those kids who go to schools like Bollettieri burn out on the game.”
     A normal life meant squeezing in tennis around his public school life at Marietta’s Wheeler High School, where his classmates voted Ginepri “Most Likely to Succeed.” Just days after taking home nearly $5,000 in prize money from the 2001 Ericsson Open in Miami, Ginepri came home and attended his senior prom.
     But when he graduated from high school, Ginepri knew The University of Georgia would have to wait — he wanted to turn pro. “Roddick just turned pro and I had just faced him in the finals of the Boys’ U.S. Open, so it just seemed to be the right decision, and it has been,” he said.
Even Baskin, who pushed his students to college and reminded them of the hundreds of tennis players who never make it into the top tier, agreed with Ginepri. “It was a struggle to convince his parents that he should go pro,” he said. “It was clear he had a unique talent, and I felt college would’ve distracted him.”
     “We had wanted him to go to college, at least for one to two years just to experience college life and get out on his own,” Rene said. “But I tell you, that first year of his professional career he grew up more than he would’ve in college. He traveled the world — Hong Kong, Australia — all alone. The hard part was watching him on television knowing we couldn’t be there with him.”

The Future Is Here
     Since turning pro five years ago, Ginepri silently climbed the rankings, while also garnering notice as actress Minnie Driver’s love interest. He won his first tournament in 2003 on Newport, R.I.’s grass courts, dropping only one set the entire tournament and entering the ATP’s Top 30 ranking for the first time. In 2004, he started receiving recognition in Grand Slams, reaching the round of 16 at Australia and Wimbledon, and unfortunately meeting Agassi in the first round of the U.S. Open.
    “Meeting Agassi on the courts for the first time was my most memorable moment. The match was a night game and televised. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Well, except a win,” Ginepri said.
     Then there was last year’s showing on U.S. hard courts and a collection of more than $800,000 in prize money, all at the tender, young age of 22, the very same age that Agassi and Sampras were collecting their first Wimbledon titles. Ginepri is poised to become another tennis legend. But the expectations to follow in the footsteps of legends coupled with last year’s entry into the world’s top 20 players has led to a mound of pressure that even he admits is a little difficult to overcome.
    “I don’t feel I’ve handled the pressure as well as I should have,” Ginepri admitted. “My weakness is my game. Ninety percent of the game is mental and it’s tough to get focused.”
     Added Rene, “Robby has played well all year but hasn’t closed matches. He loses focus, relaxes when he’s ahead. It’s when he relaxes that the other guy comes back and then the pressure hits.”
     This pressure isn’t Ginepri’s alone. Any player who seemingly comes out of nowhere to win a big tournament or performs well in a Grand Slam faces this hurdle. What makes a tennis player great is the ability to push through the pressure. Ginepri’s current coach, Francisco Montana of Miami, has employed a sports psychologist (who once helped Ivan Lendl, a former Word No. 1 pro) overcome his hurdles to give Ginepri a better mental edge. Baskin, who is the tennis director at Old Towne and works with Ginepri when he’s home, feels he will conquer his game this summer. Never mind that in the first quarter of the year, he hadn’t advanced beyond the quarterfinals. It was in the summer last season that he advanced from 103 to 17.
    “Last summer was a phenomenally good year, and he’ll definitely have another good hard court season this year,” Baskin said. “Robby’s also very good on grass. I’d be willing to bet he wins a grass tournament this year. He won’t win Wimbledon because a certain player by the name of Federer will be there [Swiss player Roger Federer who won seven Grand Slam titles by January 2006 and who stopped Ginepri’s run for a title in the semifinals of Cincinnati last year], but he’ll do well at Queens and Newport, which he has won before.”
     Ginepri’s father also knows his son will prevail. “I know he feels a lot of pressure. Every time he steps onto the court, they expect him to do the same or better. But Robby is a top player, to be included in the fabulous five All-Americans is fantastic.”
    “The press calls us — Roddick, James Blake, Mardy Fish and Taylor Dent — the Next Generation and the New Americans,” Ginepri said. “We all hope to be the next Sampras. We’re all moving up in the ranks. We’re all working hard.”
     Whether or not he can capture his first Grand Slam this year, it remains his goal, along with spending a few years at the top of the rankings. Ginepri promises he’ll be working hard to get there this summer, and Atlanta will be cheering its hometown hero along the way.

A Hometown Investment

    While Ginepri concentrates on the intense summer schedule, on his few down days, he will return to Georgia, the place he forever calls home. You can often find him dining at his favorite restaurant Twist or fast-food spot Willy’s, as well as the nightclub 1150 when he isn’t spending lazy days working in his yard and fixing up his house. Ginepri made a commitment to stay by purchasing a home in Acworth and an athletic club in Marietta.
     When the Olde Town Athletic Club was put up for sale, Ginepri, his father and Jerry Baskin jumped at the opportunity to purchase it together for $2.5 million.
    “We all wanted to get involved in something together so when the opportunity arose, we took it. It’s a great way to give back to the game,” Ginepri said.
     Renovating the club and adding more indoor courts, Ginepri lends his name and plays benefit tournaments while Rene serves as the general manager and Baskin acts as the club’s tennis director, providing lessons to nearly 100 kids who each hope to follow in Ginepri’s footsteps. Keeping the family in the business, his sister Jenni also works in public relations for the club.
     Olde Town Athletic Club features hard courts (indoor and outdoor) and clay courts, and provides lessons for all ages.

For More Information

Olde Town Athletic Club
4950 Olde Towne Pkwy.
Marietta, GA 30068
770-578-9901
www.otac.net