A strong believer in building strong tennis and fitness foundations in athletes, Henderson is in his 15th season with the USF men’s tennis team. In his tenure, Henderson has helped lead the team to four Conference USA Championships, one Metro Conference Championship, one BIG EAST Championship, and eight NCAA appearances. Henderson’s coaching philosophy focuses on building an aggressive style of play, which he believes is what top collegiate players must adopt in order to be successful.
Among his many tennis credits, Henderson has worked as the top conditioning coach at the Nick Bollettieri Academy, where he worked with top pros including Jimmy Arias, Aaron Krickstein and Jim Courier. Henderson also coached at the Palmer Tennis Academy from 1998 to 2001. In 1990, he coached Jessica Memmons while she was on the WTA. He also coached Martin Blackman, who earned a spot in the 1993 French Open main draw.
While working at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, Henderson met Barr and the two teamed up to work as tennis pros at Tampa’s Development Program at Hillsborough Community College, successfully overseeing the top 70 juniors in the city.
Henderson, a native of Ringgold, Ga., graduated from Carson-Newman College in 1979, where he was a Little All-American in basketball. He currently lives in Temple Terrace. Henderson passed away in May 2020.
