Coaches

Mike Ratcliff has been instructing at the Waterloo Tennis Club since 1994. Mike began playing tennis at the age of twelve and in his later teens began playing amateur grass and clay court tournaments in Europe. As a top junior in England in 1964, Mike won the 1963 British Junior Indoor Double’s Titles and the British Junior Singles Title in 1964.
A fan of all racquet sports, Mike won the Squash Championships in the 1980 Atlantic Open and has won tournaments outside of Canada.

In 1975, Mike became a part of helping tennis legend Billie Jean King make a comeback to professional tennis, creating the World Tennis Association Training Camp for women. During this time, Mike worked with future tennis star Martina Navratilova.
Loaded with tons of tennis strategy and technique experience, Mike’s knowledge of the game helps those looking to improve their game or those who have picked up a racquet for the first time.

Mike is a fan of soccer and squash and looks forward to many more years of coaching at the Waterloo Tennis Club.

Mike plays with the Dunlop 2 Hundred AeroGel.

Robert was born in Romania on August 21, 1987. His family moved to Canada in 1995 when he was 8 years old. Robert’s father loved the sport of tennis and took him to the Waterloo Tennis Club for some lessons when he was 10 years old. Mike Ratcliff was his first coach and ignited his passion for the sport. After two years of determination and hard work Robert started playing tournaments. Robert made Team Ontario for the U14. His entire junior tennis career involved many hours of training on and off the court. He was rewarded by finishing his Junior Career ranked in the top 5 in Canada. In 2005, Robert attended the University of Louisville (a Division 1 school) on a tennis scholarship. When he started, his team was ranked top 30 in the country. With his help the team managed to reach the top 12 in the country. Robert has achieved a doubles ranking of 33 in the USA. After university in 2009, Robert started playing tennis professionally and since 2011 has been ranked in the 1500’s on the ATP Tour. He is currently ranked in the Top 10 in Ontario along with Milos Raonic, Frank Dancevic and Peter Polansky.

Ned was born in Montenegro and competed in Junior tennis tournaments in former Yugoslavia. He resided in Vienna, Austria for four years where he continued to play competitively.

Ned moved to Canada in 1995, where he began coaching his kids at an early age which inspired him to pursue coaching programs. Ned is passionate about tennis and his mission is to grow the sport of tennis. He is a Tennis Canada Coach 2 pro. Ned plays with Head Prestige racquet.

After last coaching at WTC in 2008, Dave has been teaching in Ft. Myers Florida as well as  currently being the head professional at the Fergus Tennis Club during the summer months.

Dave has coached all level of players from beginners to professional players with rankings as high as #55 on the WTA tour.

As a player he has been fortunate enough to represent Canada in the Men’s 35 division at the World Championships in 2016 in South Africa.

He is looking forward to running group clinics and is also available for private and semi-private lessons.

Dave is a Tennis Canada Coach 2 pro as well as a USPTA Professional. He plays with a Babolat AeroPro Drive.

Martin has moved back home to K-W after living and coaching in Prague, Czech Republic for 7 years.

He started playing tennis at the age of 5 and has been coaching for over 14 years. In that time he has coached in Texas at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch, working with junior players who were either heading to university on scholarships or playing ITF Futures tournaments and later on the ATP Tour. From there he traveled with a player in Germany playing DTB and ITF Futures events before settling for a few years at the 5 star Inn at Manitou just north of Toronto.

He’s flown to Spain to get a certification from RPT Europe at the Academia Sanchez Casal in Barcelona.

Martin has been ranked in the Top 40 nationally and Top 10 in Ontario in men’s singles. He plays with the HEAD Prestige MP.