SAN FRANCISCO – Women's tennis head coach Peter Bartlett first came to the Hilltop in 1995 to serve as the assistant coach under former men's tennis head coach George Yuen.  Now the longest-tenured member of the Athletics Department, Bartlett discusses how tennis has always been a huge part of his life.
 
In this week's edition of Tuesday Testimonials, USF Senior Associate Athletics Director, Frank Allocco, talks with Bartlett to discuss his time at USF.

The two begin the episode by talking about Bartlett's introduction to the sport.  He begins by stating that both his mother and grandfather played tennis, so he grew up in a tennis environment.  His grandfather won a doubles championship at the 1917 US Open. Bartlett and his siblings would all go on to play tennis in college.
 
After his collegiate career, he lost touch with tennis until a job offer came about.  While earning his masters in Sports Management at USF he was offered a position as the assistant pro at the Olympic club, which eventually led him to the Hilltop as an assistant coach in 1995.
 
Bartlett has overseen the men's and women's tennis program in several capacities since then – he was named the head coach in 1997-98, has also served as the Tennis Director at USF, and currently serves as the women's head coach. Under his watch, the Dons received their highest national ranking in 2011 (No. 58), they have garnered ITA regional rankings 12 times, and he was named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2003 after leading the Dons to a third place finish.

The episode concludes with Bartlett discussing the challenges his program has faced this summer in dealing with COVID-19 and the hiring of a new head men's tennis coach in JT Sundling.

You can watch the episode here, and you can catch past episodes on the Dons YouTube page or by clicking here.