ORLANDO, Fla. – If you don’t recognize the name Jermaine Jenkins, you will certainly know some of the big names he has helped rise to the top in professional tennis.
Jenkins is currently the national coach for women’s tennis at USTA Player Development’s Lake Nona campus. His role includes spotting new talent, helping young players ages 15 to 21 build pro habits and getting them ready for their first professional match.
Jerkins has been the national women’s coach since 2019. He has also worked with some of the biggest names in women’s tennis, serving as Venus Williams’ hitting partner and later, Naomi Osaka’s coach.
So, Florida’s Fourth Estate asked what it’s like to work with these athletes who are at the top of their game?
“You’re going through somewhat of what they are going through as well. Just being a sparring partner, you have to kind of emulate their next opponent,” Jenkins explained.
That’s no small feat when you’re doing this with some of the best players in the world.
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Jenkins is hoping to get more kids of color into tennis. He credits his dad for getting him and his younger brother, Jamere Jenkins, into the sport.
Jenkins grew up in south Atlanta as one of nine kids. Tennis was a way of keeping them busy and out of trouble.
“My parents are like angels. My mom and dad adopted six kids growing up. So, I have six adopted siblings and I have two biological brothers. My mom just loves on people. She loves to take care of people,” Jenkins said.
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He describes his dad as very supportive and the one responsible for getting them interested in tennis. Even though he didn’t pick up a racquet until he was 27 years old, he immediately saw value in teaching his kids the sport.
Jenkins says he picked up a racquet himself very young, but didn’t start to take it seriously until he was 14 years old. He went on to be a standout player at Clemson University, where he was a team MVP and earned doubles All-America honors.
His brother, Jamere, is a former ATP top 200 pro and has been Serena Williams’ hitting partner since 2017.
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Now, Jermaine is working to get more kids of color into the sport.
He says it’s not easy because there are barriers. One big barrier is money.
“We lose a lot of our Black males to other sports because of the entry to play tennis,” Jenkins explained. “First of all, you need a racquet. That’s about 200 bucks. You need balls, you need lessons. It’s not like you can just go out and teach yourself how to play. It’s a very technical sport.”
Even as an All American at Clemson, Jenkins said he didn’t have the financial resources to make his professional dreams come true.
“On the front end of tennis you need at least 100 to 200 grand to start. It’s a front-end investment,” said. “I didn’t have that at the time coming out of school. I was just happy to get a full scholarship, happy that I didn’t have student loans and I wasn’t a burden to my parents.”
He wants to find a way to make tennis more assessable to kids who don’t have the opportunity because their families don’t have the money. He admits there is no one easy answer.
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Jenkins knows how important it is for young kids who look like him to see the possibilities that exist in the world of tennis. Seeing him and his brother in such high-profile positions is a good start.
It was high-profile superstar Venus Williams who gave Jenkins his big break.
Jenkins met Williams on a trip with a friend to Jupiter, Florida. He was there to play golf, but learned Venus was looking for a sparring partner.
He said they immediately hit it off.
Fast forward to the US Open in New York, where his brother Jamere was in the qualifying round but didn’t advance.
Jenkins said that’s when he reached out to Williams by sending her a text message.
He let Williams know he was in New York, available and willing to help if needed.
“She answered the text message, and the rest was history,” Jenkins said.
He went on to say, ”She allowed me to be her hitting partner that week for the US Open, which led her to inviting me to Taiwan, which led her to inviting me to the next gig.”
That gig has taken him around the world.
Now he has the opportunity to discover the next big star.
When asked who we should keep an eye on, he was quick to say Clervie Ngounoue (pronounced n’GOO-nuhway).
Ngounoue just turned 17 in July and Jenkins says she is one to watch.
She is from Washington, DC. Her parents are immigrants from Cameroon.
Jenkins said the teen is a pleasure to work with and she strives to get better every day.
While Ngounoue is just 17 years old, Jenkins says she has the work ethic of someone much older. For now, we will be keeping an eye on Jermaine Jenkins.
“God has put me in a place to make an impact through tennis,” he said. “That’s my main goal for now. However I can make a positive impact on someone’s life by using tennis to do that.”