Tucker Tennis Academy Gains National Success With Junior Tennis Stars

A Tulsa tennis academy is achieving national success with its junior tennis stars Morgan Coppoc and William Genesen. For the pair, workouts are a typical part of their day. The routine is familiar, but the results they're producing are anything but ordinary.

Coppoc and Genesen each started 2015 with a national championship, Morgan seized victory in the girls 16s, and William won the boys 18s at the USTA winter nationals in Scottsdale.

They are just two of a handful of young players training at the Tucker Tennis Academy (TTA) at The Grand in South Tulsa. "I don't have to go to Florida or California. I get to stay where I want to stay," said Coppoc.

Several years ago, Tucker's academy became one of 24 USTA regional training centers. Now, it is one of only five in the nation, but with the results it's producing, (13 top three national tournament finishes), the word is getting out.

"We're getting a lot of calls, [and] a lot of e-mails,” said tennis instructor Trent Tucker. “We're getting tremendous interest from the surrounding states. We're getting kids contacting us from Los Angeles now. It's really exciting. People are realizing that the system is working, and what we're doing is working. These kids were made here."

The players face great competition during their training. Tennis player Zeke Clark finished third in Scottsdale, and his daily battles with Genesen have helped raise each of their games.

"Call it the boiling water theory. You get everybody in the same pot, and you stir it up, and eventually you're going to get some people to come out of it as champions. That's basically what happened with these boys,” stated Tucker. “We had five or six of them competing, and William and Zeke really went after each other the last few years. When they stopped to look around, they were at the top of the U.S."

Tucker says the main goal of his academy is to help kids play Division I college tennis.

Coppoc, Genesen, and Clark's success allow them to matchup against international competition. Junior grand slams could all be in play, and all coming from basically one zip code, so therefore; around Tulsa you could say being number one means being a part of the 74137.