UTA Partner

Patti O’Reilly

Patti O’Reilly has competed internationally on the women’s professional tennis circuit, competing in all four Grand Slam Championships. Patti graduated Cum Laude from Duke University with a degree in Economics. Patti and her identical triplet sisters brought the Duke women’s tennis program to national prominence.

Patti and her sisters have been inducted into the Duke University Hall of Fame and even have a court named after them at the Duke tennis facility. She was a four-time All-ACC player, a two-time ITA All-American and the 1990 ACC Player of the Year. Patti and her sisters have also been inducted into the Eastern Tennis Association Hall of Fame. As a junior player, Patti captured the Rolex International Junior Championship.

Patti and her husband, James, have two dogs, Duke and Duchess. In their spare time, they enjoy playing golf, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.

Work in the Community:
– Organizes Saturday monthly clinic for Dreammakers at Blackburn Tennis Center
– Volunteer at Serve and Connect at Washington Park
– Volunteer at teach-a-thons to raise funds for AYTEF
– Volunteer at Montgomery Elementary School in spring to teach tennis to young children
– Assist in coordinating wheelchair tennis at Blackburn Tennis Center

Director

Noel Wadawu

Noel is well known and respected in the Atlanta tennis scene. He has coached several top-ranked national junior and professional players, including current touring professional Melanie Oudin.

Before joining the Universal Tennis Academy team, Noel taught tennis at The Riverside Club in Atlanta for 11 years and was the Director at The Riverside Club for five years. Collegiately, he played at Florida A&M where he was 3-time Academic All-American as well as the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award.

A native of Zimbabwe, Noel was the African Junior Doubles Champion. He is married with two lovely daughters.

Tennis Professional

Clement Darko

Clement was born in Accra, Ghana where he learned to play tennis. In 1998, he was named to Ghana’s Davis Cup team and he competed professionally on the men’s tennis circuit. He was consistently ranked Nationally in the top 5 and achieved a top 80 ranking on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit. He won two junior doubles tournaments with partner Lleyton Hewitt. As a junior, he was brought to the United States on a tennis scholarship to the world-famous John Newcomb Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. He has coached several highly ranked junior players. Clement has coached tennis for over ten years and is USPTA and GPTA Certified. In his spare time, Clement enjoys playing soccer and working out in the gym.

Tennis Professional

Levan Clark

Levan Clark is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin but moved to Florida when he was 10 years old. He attended Florida A&M University majoring in Business Administration. At Florida A&M, he competed on the men’s nationally ranked tennis team. He was First Team All-Conference as well as Florida A&M Player of the Year. He also placed first in the University of Florida Invitational Tournament. Levan was a highly ranked national junior and competed in all the prominent junior championships from the Orange Bowl, Easter Bowl, National Hard Court Championships at Kalamazoo.

He has two older brothers and likes to play football and basketball. He enjoys working with kids and adults of all ages.

Tennis Professional

Nicholas Adzema

Nick Adzema is originally from Akron, Ohio.  He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Math Education at Kent State University.   During his four years at Kent State, Nick became founder and competitor of the Kent State Tennis Club, where the team qualified for Nationals in 2017.  He has worked with youth tennis players of all ages since 2015 in his hometown.  Nick taught mathematics and coached tennis at Eastside High School in 2019, where the girls tennis team made history as top 8 in the state of Georgia.

In his free time, he enjoys playing doubles with his twin brother, watching college basketball, rooting on his Cleveland sports teams, and playing cards with family and friends.

Tennis Professional

Annette Rios Gil

Annette is originally from El Salvador where she was Ranked #1 in her country at age 16 and 18. She attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, majoring in International Global Studies and Spanish. Annette played NCAA Division I at UNC-G where she earned the Southern Conference First Team-All-Conference Honors in singles, and SoCon Honor Roll. She also attended Georgia Southern University receiving a Masters in Sociology. While at GSU, Annette worked as the women’s assistant coach for the tennis team. She previously worked at John McEnroe Tennis Academy in Long Island for various years. She also worked with the ITF, traveling with high performance players of Central American and Caribbean. In 2019, Annette was Captain of the El Salvador Fed Cup Junior team in Canada. She is ITF level 2 certified.

Tennis Professional

Pete Nguyen

Originally from Long Beach, California, Pete moved to the Peach State at the age of 13. He is certified by the USPTA as an Elite Professional Coach. He was on a tennis scholarship to Young Harris College, but it was cut short due to a shoulder injury. He was undefeated (1-0)! After transferring, he attended Clayton State University and graduated with a degree in Sociology.

Pete was Head Professional at Eagles Landing Country Club, then Metairie Country Club in Louisiana. While in New Orleans, he was also the Head Coach for both boys and girls at Isidore Newman where boys were Metro Champs in 2014 & ‘15 and girls in 2015.

In his free time, he enjoys playing poker, bowling, crocheting and a little golf.

Tennis Professional

Chelsea Utting Vea

Chelsea is from Peachtree City, GA and started working at Universal Tennis Academy in the fall of 2014 after graduating from Penn State. She played positions 1 and 2 in singles and doubles and was ranked #21 in the NCAA for doubles. She earned a history degree from Penn State.

Off the courts, she enjoys playing golf and running around with her dog, Loretta Lynn. She is married to Bitsy Pro, Mikaiah Vea. Chelsea enjoys teaching adult and juniors from beginners to elite level.

Tennis Professional

Frank Thompson

Frank is from Tallahassee, Florida and walked on to the FSU tennis team between 1989 and 1990. He earned a BA in marketing while at FSU. Frank has been teaching for 25 years and has worked with top-ranked juniors and has also led ALTA teams to city championships.

He comes to us from Cherokee Town and Country Club where he worked for eight years. While there, he was instrumental in building the platform tennis program and is now the Director of Platform Tennis at Bitsy Grant.

Tennis Professional

Sydney Grant

Sydney grew up in Marietta, Georgia and went to high school at The Walker School where she was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame. As a junior, Sydney was consistently in the top junior rankings in the South and in Georgia. She was a 5-star recruit and was ranked top 50 in the nation. She earned a tennis scholarship to the University of Richmond and competed at top of the line up for singles and doubles. The team won 2 Atlantic Ten Conference Championships and Sydney was honored as All-Conference Second Team. She also played tennis at Georgia Southern University and graduated with an Anthropology degree.

Sydney was a Volunteer Assistant Coach for Emory University Women’s Tennis Team & participated in a team trip to Thailand. She has been coaching in the metro Atlanta area for 4 years, working primarily with young children and juniors, but enjoys teaching all ages. She is passionate about working with animal shelters, hiking, painting, and traveling.

Tennis Professional

Evgeny Silitski

Tennis Professional

Chris Hills

Tennis Professional

Ian Melnik

Ian’s hometown is Lawrenceville, Georgia. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an NCAA-D1 school. Ian was on the men’s tennis team, captain his senior year.

During the summer of 2018, he taught at the Chevy Chase Club in Maryland.

Ian will be teaching drills and private lessons at UTA’s Dunwoody location.

Tennis Professional

Liam Villante

Liam Villante grew up in Marietta, Georgia where he competed in state, sectional, and national tournaments. While completing his BA in Sport Management at Kennesaw State University, he managed three adult programs across two locations for management group Atlantic Recreation, and worked seasonally at five-star resort, The Cloister, alongside French Open doubles champion Luke Jensen. He spent his last two semesters interning with USTA Atlanta where he assisted with the Atlanta Youth Tennis & Education Foundation’s (AYTEF) programs and fundraisers. Liam is a member of PTR’s “Gamechangers” – an international group of pros under 30 who seek to influence the next generation of industry leaders and coaches. At the 2020 PTR International Symposium, Liam presented on pickleball, explaining the future of the sport and the impact it could have on a club. When away from the courts, Liam is an avid reader and enjoys to golf.

Director of Tennis

Ross Beall

Ross, who is from Roswell, GA, started working with UTA while still in high school serving as a junior professional at Chattahoochee Plantation Tennis Club. Upon graduation, Ross received a scholarship to play at Oglethorpe University. While attending Oglethorpe, he was a 4-year starter and served as team captain.

Ross graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Business Administration/Economics and was voted Male Scholar Athlete of the Year in both 2010 and 2011. He also made the SCAC All-Academic Team all four years while at Oglethorpe.

Ross is a conditioning nut and works out with weights, cycles, runs, and participates in fitness competitions. He loves playing in any outdoor sports and enjoys watching college football, college basketball, and any Georgia Tech sports teams!

Tennis Professional

Ornella Di Salvo

Ornella, who is from Cordoba, Argentina, played in numerous ITF junior tournaments throughout South America including Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil. She attended Austin Peay State University where she earned a degree in business administration with concentrations in international management, marketing and a minor in finance. Ornella was 2-time ALL-OVC Conference Player of the Year; 2-time MVP at Austin Peay; 1-time Most Improved Player of the Year; and 1-time OVC Conference Adidas Player of the Week.

Prior to joining the UTA team, Ornella coached at the Summit Chase Country Club. She was also the assistant men’s and women’s coach at TWU in 2016. Her sister who is also a tennis player was 2-time NAIA national champion. Ornella enjoys spending time with my family, shopping, listening to music and traveling.

Tennis Professional

Erica Zabkar

Erica, who is from Roswell, Georgia, is a former student at Universal Tennis Academy. She played collegiately for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she earned First Team All Southern Conference honors. As an assistant Women’s Tennis Coach at UNCG, Erica helped guide the Spartans to a Southern Conference regular-season championship in 2012. She won the 2012 ITA Carolinas Assistant Coach of the Year award. While continuing her master’s degree, Erica worked with juniors at Green Valley Swim & Tennis Club in Greensboro, NC.

Erica earned a Master’s (2011) and Bachelor’s (2008) of Science in Kinesiology from the UNCG. She completed Master’s of Science in Athletic Training from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) in May 2014. She is currently a certified and Licensed Athletic Trainer. Erica enjoys working with players of all ages and abilities.

Tennis Professional

Trey Walston

Trey grew up in Birmingham, AL where he played state, sectional, and national tournaments from the age of 11. He attended the University of Alabama and was a member of the tennis team for four years.  Trey was team captain for his junior an senior years. While in school Trey was a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee as well as on the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Trey graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics. He is PTR certified and works with children and adults of all levels.

When not on the tennis court, Trey is an avid traveler and enjoys playing golf and guitar.