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Coro: Daily Dad's Day for tennis
6/15/2018 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis, Paul Coro
Prudhomme's program includes daughters coaching, playing
On Father's Day, every dad would like a chance to spend quality time with their children via a favorite activity or shared passion.
Greg Prudhomme gets that every day on the job at Grand Canyon.
The Lopes tennis head coach spent the past year in paternal heaven with his daughter Tatum joining the staff as a first-year graduate assistant and his daughter Autum playing her freshman season.
Tennis always threaded through the Prudhomme family like the strings on a racquet. Greg's father, Allen, picked up the sport as a Kansas junior college football player to earn more scholarship money. Just as he built a backyard tennis court when Greg was a Phoenix kid, Tatum, Autum and their younger brother, Liam, grew up with a tennis court in their backyard.
They banged a ping-pong paddle against a tennis ball hanging from the ceiling before they could walk. They exist because their mother, Mandy, took a job at the Paseo Racquet Center, which the Prudhomme family has operated for 25 years. Upon arrival, she decided she would meet and marry the club's touring pro coach, Greg, whom she had seen only in photos on the walls.
They later married alongside a court there.
"It's our way of life," Greg said.
Mandy even played for Greg at GCU because she still had college eligibility when he was beginning to turn around a women's team that had gone 1-14 before his arrival in 2007. He also has run the men's and women's programs for the past nine years, four of which Tatum played for him after enrolling at GCU at age 16.
Tatum was a young tennis star but Autum, like Greg, turned a hobby into a devotion later in her youth. The key for each Prudhomme has been that love is more than a tennis score. Tennis is always family fun first.
"Off the court, he's coaching me through life," Autum said. "On the court, he's coaching me through tennis. I feel like he's worked it out to where he has the best of both worlds but definitely knows when he needs to look at it from a dad perspective or a coach perspective. I wouldn't want any other coach."
Greg is steadfast about remaining professional over paternal, agonizing about making Tatum a graduate assistant even though GCU staffers reminded him that a three-time All-Western Athletic Conference First Team pick for singles and doubles with goals to be a college coach was quite ideal for the job.
Tatum grew up with the nickname "Baby Lope," from being immersed in purple and the program from a young age. Autum, who is 2½ years younger, was her biggest fan.
"My favorite part of this year was I finally got to repay the favor of being her biggest fan since she spent many years doing that for me," Tatum said.
Those are the moments when it is hard for Greg to not get choked up, swapping his coaching visor for a dad hat.
When he was driving the team bus to its season-opening tournament at San Diego State in September, it all hit him. He was a Division I coach over two tennis programs with one daughter on his staff and one daughter playing for him.
"It doesn't surprise me but it is amazing," said Greg, who won Southwest Coach of the Year from the U.S. Tennis Professionals Association for the second time in three years. "We share this strong bond through this great sport and we have the opportunity to be at Grand Canyon, which is phenomenal right here in our backyard."
The Prudhomme backyard has been transported to GCU Tennis Facility, where Greg carries out the relationship his father had with him, Tatum carries out her father's coaching methods and Autum adapts to even more family attention.
"I had to learn how to separate the house and family from on the court and taking the coaching as my sister not being bossy but being helpful," Autum said. "Now that I'm my dad's player, it's more than just getting better as his daughter but being a good athlete for his team."
Autum and Tatum did not have to be startled by a different on-the-court personality from their father. Dad jokes are not spared according to venue. He creates a family atmosphere with his teams. The dad asks for a family selfie photo at every road venue.
Tatum would not want it any other way. She had opportunities to play elsewhere for college, and Greg repeatedly asked her about making other campus visits.
"She was getting irritated," Greg said. "She said, 'Dad, don't you want me to play for you?' "
They both wanted it and benefited from it for more than tennis reasons.
"I am the biggest daddy's girl ever," Tatum said. "Nothing was more important to me than my relationship with him."
The Prudhommes volley between home and GCU together. Perhaps Liam, a high school freshman, will join the family business in the future, when Tatum plans to supplant Greg. He embraces her bold plan, knowing how genuine she already has been in coaching Autum.
Earlier this month, Tatum and Autum played doubles together for the first time and won the Desert Highlands Southwest Grass Court Classic.
"There aren't many days when I take for granted what's going on," Greg said. "I'm indebted to Grand Canyon for everything they've done.
"Talk about being able to recruit 100 percent with your heart. I sit in front of a parent and tell them that Grand Canyon is good enough for my own children. When I say that, I'm being 100 percent honest. There's not many coaches who can say that."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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Greg Prudhomme gets that every day on the job at Grand Canyon.
The Lopes tennis head coach spent the past year in paternal heaven with his daughter Tatum joining the staff as a first-year graduate assistant and his daughter Autum playing her freshman season.
Tennis always threaded through the Prudhomme family like the strings on a racquet. Greg's father, Allen, picked up the sport as a Kansas junior college football player to earn more scholarship money. Just as he built a backyard tennis court when Greg was a Phoenix kid, Tatum, Autum and their younger brother, Liam, grew up with a tennis court in their backyard.
They banged a ping-pong paddle against a tennis ball hanging from the ceiling before they could walk. They exist because their mother, Mandy, took a job at the Paseo Racquet Center, which the Prudhomme family has operated for 25 years. Upon arrival, she decided she would meet and marry the club's touring pro coach, Greg, whom she had seen only in photos on the walls.
They later married alongside a court there.
"It's our way of life," Greg said.
Mandy even played for Greg at GCU because she still had college eligibility when he was beginning to turn around a women's team that had gone 1-14 before his arrival in 2007. He also has run the men's and women's programs for the past nine years, four of which Tatum played for him after enrolling at GCU at age 16.
Tatum was a young tennis star but Autum, like Greg, turned a hobby into a devotion later in her youth. The key for each Prudhomme has been that love is more than a tennis score. Tennis is always family fun first.
"Off the court, he's coaching me through life," Autum said. "On the court, he's coaching me through tennis. I feel like he's worked it out to where he has the best of both worlds but definitely knows when he needs to look at it from a dad perspective or a coach perspective. I wouldn't want any other coach."
Greg is steadfast about remaining professional over paternal, agonizing about making Tatum a graduate assistant even though GCU staffers reminded him that a three-time All-Western Athletic Conference First Team pick for singles and doubles with goals to be a college coach was quite ideal for the job.
Tatum grew up with the nickname "Baby Lope," from being immersed in purple and the program from a young age. Autum, who is 2½ years younger, was her biggest fan.
"My favorite part of this year was I finally got to repay the favor of being her biggest fan since she spent many years doing that for me," Tatum said.
Those are the moments when it is hard for Greg to not get choked up, swapping his coaching visor for a dad hat.
When he was driving the team bus to its season-opening tournament at San Diego State in September, it all hit him. He was a Division I coach over two tennis programs with one daughter on his staff and one daughter playing for him.
"It doesn't surprise me but it is amazing," said Greg, who won Southwest Coach of the Year from the U.S. Tennis Professionals Association for the second time in three years. "We share this strong bond through this great sport and we have the opportunity to be at Grand Canyon, which is phenomenal right here in our backyard."
The Prudhomme backyard has been transported to GCU Tennis Facility, where Greg carries out the relationship his father had with him, Tatum carries out her father's coaching methods and Autum adapts to even more family attention.
"I had to learn how to separate the house and family from on the court and taking the coaching as my sister not being bossy but being helpful," Autum said. "Now that I'm my dad's player, it's more than just getting better as his daughter but being a good athlete for his team."
Autum and Tatum did not have to be startled by a different on-the-court personality from their father. Dad jokes are not spared according to venue. He creates a family atmosphere with his teams. The dad asks for a family selfie photo at every road venue.
Tatum would not want it any other way. She had opportunities to play elsewhere for college, and Greg repeatedly asked her about making other campus visits.
"She was getting irritated," Greg said. "She said, 'Dad, don't you want me to play for you?' "
They both wanted it and benefited from it for more than tennis reasons.
"I am the biggest daddy's girl ever," Tatum said. "Nothing was more important to me than my relationship with him."
The Prudhommes volley between home and GCU together. Perhaps Liam, a high school freshman, will join the family business in the future, when Tatum plans to supplant Greg. He embraces her bold plan, knowing how genuine she already has been in coaching Autum.
Earlier this month, Tatum and Autum played doubles together for the first time and won the Desert Highlands Southwest Grass Court Classic.
"There aren't many days when I take for granted what's going on," Greg said. "I'm indebted to Grand Canyon for everything they've done.
"Talk about being able to recruit 100 percent with your heart. I sit in front of a parent and tell them that Grand Canyon is good enough for my own children. When I say that, I'm being 100 percent honest. There's not many coaches who can say that."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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