Nike Adult Tennis Camp at SMU

Camp Coaches

• 

  Grant Chen

  Director

  Grant Chen became SMU's head men's tennis coach prior to the 2018-19 season and added the designation of Assistant A.D./Coach Representative in January 2023. In 2022-23, Chen led the Mustangs win their second straight AAC championship, defeating Tulane 4-3 in the finals. SMU competed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to Texas A&M 4-1 at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The Mustangs earned a 12-3 home record including three ranked wins. The Mustangs recorded seven total sweeps and won nine ranked wins. The Mustangs ranked as high as No. 46 in the ITA. Chen was named the AAC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. The season included the AAC Player of the Year and three AAC All-Conference Selections as well as a NCAA selection to the Individual Championship, the first time since 2006. Chen remained heavily involved in the planning and production of the ATP's Dallas Open.

  View Grant's Bio
  

  Grant Chen

  Director

  In 2021-22, Chen helped the Mustangs win their first AAC championship, defeating Memphis 4-2 in the final. SMU competed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to LSU 3-4 at the University of Texas. The Mustangs went undefeated at 7-0 in both road and conference play. They recorded eight total sweeps and won 10 ranked matches, the most in a single season for the program since 2000-01. They reached a top ITA ranking of No. 20, their highest since 2002. Chen was named AAC Coach of the Year, marking SMU's third coach to win a conference coach of the year award. The season included three AAC All-Conference selections. The Mustangs head coach was also heavily involved in the planning and production of the ATP's inaugural Dallas Open which took place in February.
  
  In 2020-21 Chen led the Mustangs to the conference semifinal. Chen's squad finished 18-14. Liam Krall was named American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year. As a team, the Mustangs recorded the most wins since 2016 and climbed to their best end of regular season ranking in five seasons. The Mustangs were ranked as high as No. 40 on the season. The team won four matches against ranked teams with victories over Oklahoma, San Diego, Tulsa and Tulane.
  
  Inheriting a young roster in his first season, Chen guided the Mustangs to an improvement in the win column tallying 12 wins. The highlight win of the season came in the first round of the American Conference Championships when they took down ECU in a sweep ... Chen brought in a heralded recruiting class in the limited time on the Hilltop including two additions that were competing for the Mustangs in January ... His 2019 class was ranked No. 22 in the nation and the second-highest outside of the power five. During the campaign, junior transfer Carles Sarrio was named All-Conference and finished the season ranked in the ITA.
  
  Chen arrived on the Hilltop from UCLA, where he served Bruin Head Coach Billy Martin for over 15 years in a multitude of roles, ranging from team manager to associate head coach.
  
  For the final three seasons at UCLA, Chen has served as Associate Head Coach, and, prior to that, he served as Assistant Coach for three years. During Chen's six seasons on Martin's coaching staff, the Bruins registered a 149-28 record (.842) and reached the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships five times. This past season, UCLA posted its third semifinal-round appearance of the stretch and totaled 30 wins for the first time in Martin's tenure. The Bruins also collected four Pac-12 regular-season titles and three tournament trophies during Chen's time on staff.
  
  Chen got his start with the Bruins as a student manager in 2001, as he played a pivotal role in the organization and growth of Martin's annual on-campus summer camp while fulfilling necessary off-court duties. The Bruins captured the NCAA title in 2005, Chen's penultimate year in the role. Chen's jack-of-all-trades skillset resulted in his hiring as Director of Operations upon his graduation from UCLA in 2006. He handled logistics, travel, equipment and management of all home events, including ITA Kick-Off Weekend, NCAA Regionals and the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships.
  
  A fixture in the tennis community both at home and abroad, Chen currently serves on the board of directors for ITA and USTA Southern California. A busy summer 2017 saw Chen guide Team Southern California to the title at the USTA Boys National Team Championships in Champaign, Ill., before leading Team USA and the mixed doubles duo of Bruins Jada Hart and Logan Staggs to a bronze medal at the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei. Chen briefly ventured into a role with Pure Sports Management in 2007, but maintained his ties to UCLA as head coach of its club tennis team.

• 

  Ben Johnson

  Coach

  Johnson became an assistant at SMU in 2017 after spending seven seasons as the head coach at Richmond.In his first year on the Hilltop, Johnson helped develop a group of seven newcomers under legendary head coach Carl Neufeld. Johnson took over the Spiders in 2010 and saw 20 of his student-athletes earn All-Atlantic 10 accolades, including eleven first team honors, during his time at Richmond. In 2015 and 2017, Johnson won the A-10 Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year award.

  View Ben's Bio
  

  Ben Johnson

  Coach

  He helped guide the Spiders to 100 wins in seven years, including a program record 25 in 2017, when Richmond earned the top seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament. Johnson saw the Spiders reach the Atlantic 10 semifinals in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and led the Spiders to their first A-10 championship appearance in over 10 years in 2017.

  In addition to his coaching duties, Johnson was also head of the Atlantic 10 men’s tennis coaches’ committee.

  Prior to his time at Richmond, Johnson spent three seasons as the top assistant at Davidson. During his time with the Wildcats, he was involved with every aspect of the program, including player development, recruiting budget management and scheduling.

  As an assistant, Johnson helped land Davidson’s first and only top-75 ITA recruiting class, which was also ranked in the top-25 by tennisrecruiting.net, two feats that have never been repeated by the Wildcats.

  Before arriving at Davidson, Johnson was the Co-Founder and Director of Birmingham's Elite Tennis Academy (BETA) in Birmingham, Ala. In addition, from 2004-2006 he also was the Co-Founder and Director of Junior Development at Revolution Tennis Academy, also located in Birmingham.

  While at the academies, Johnson led eight players to a top-100 USTA ranking, with many of the talents earning scholarships in the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big South, Big East, Southern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference.

  A native of Louisville, Ky., Johnson was a four-year starter for nationally-ranked Saint Xavier High School. He was a four-year Kentucky High School Athletic Association state champion for the Tigers and was crowned Mr. Kentucky Tennis in 2000. He was also a nationally-ranked junior during his prep career.

  Upon graduation, Johnson attended Birmingham-Southern, where he was a four-year letterwinner for the Panther tennis program. A three-year team captain, Johnson led the team in singles wins in 2001 and 2002 in addition to pacing the squad in doubles wins the following two seasons. He capped off his career with a designation to the Big South All-Academic team his senior season.

  Johnson graduated in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in history and secondary education.