CHICAGO – AJ Segneri has been hired as an assistant coach for the Chicago State University men's and women's tennis teams. He has over 12 years experience as a tennis professional.
Segneri was the head coach of the women's tennis team at NCAA Division III Concordia University (Wis.) in 2010 and 2011. He guided the Lady Falcons to Northern Athletics Conference title in 2010 and 2011.
“I'm happy to be at Chicago State,” Segneri said. “I'm looking forward to the upcoming season and elevating the tennis programs to the next level in both conferences.”
Segneri played collegiately at NJCCAA Division I Sauk Valley Community College, where he helped set the program record for overall wins (10) and conference wins (8) in 2000. He then joined the satellite circuit, playing in tournaments around the Midwest. He also began instructing. As a coach, he has developed juniors that have been successful on the United States Tennis Association junior tournament circuit as well as on their high school teams. Segneri's tennis instruction has led him to work at Penn State and Northwestern University tennis camps. He also worked at Couples Resort in Negril, Jamaica. Segneri runs his tennis company APEX TENNIS where he trains satellite tour players and high performance juniors for their respective tournament circuits.
In the summer of 2011, Segneri was chosen to be a junior tour coach, where he instructed a co-ed junior team made of USTA sectional ranked players from around the country to play across Europe. The highlight on the tour was at the Dutch national tournament, TV Strokel Open, where Ethan Nadler of New Mexico became the first American finalist in the tournament. Along with Nadler was his doubles partner, Elliot Thaker of Maryland, became the first American doubles semi-finalists in the tournament.
Segneri spent 2003 and 2005 back at Sauk Valley as the assistant women's coach. Sauk Valley qualified for the NJCAA national tournament in both years.
In 2010 he took over the head coach position at his high school alma mater, Sterling High School, where he led the Golden Warriors to a 13-2 overall mark, and a school-record 9-0 conference finish.
Segneri earned his tennis certification through the Professional Tennis Registry with an emphasis in high performance. Segneri has been involved in the tennis community by forming several USTA Community Tennis Associations, serving on committees in the Midwest section in the USTA; such as the Midwest Coaches Commission. Segneri has a degree in organizational management from Ashford University, in Clinton, Iowa. He is currently working on his Masters degree in Political Science.
