Atakan Gezer - Men's Tennis Coach - Tulane University Athletics

Atakan Gezer

Title:
Graduate Assistant Coach
Email:
agezer@tulane.edu

Atakan Gezer comes to NOLA from Division III powerhouse Washington and Lee University where he was an assistant coach for the Generals in the 2022-23 season. While in Lexington, he helped the Generals to a conference championship and regain their ITA national ranking, reaching as high as 25^th in the nation. He also helped coach a nationally ranked singles player who finished 26^th in the nation and a doubles pair who finished 19^th in the nation.

Before his tenure at Washington and Lee, Gezer spent time at Optimum Tennis Academy in Istanbul, Turkey where he had been a professional tour coach since October 2021 and spent most of the year on the tour with various players. Gezer also accompanied several of the professional Turkish tennis players on 4 of their Grand Slam appearances.

While at Optimum, Gezer led some of the Turkey’s best ITF junior’s tennis players to the rankings as high as 324 and coached them to qualify for U-18 Turkish National Team. Also, he assisted in the development of several professional performers training at the academy.

Prior to his work at the academy, Gezer served as a volunteer coach at the Enka Sports Tennis Club in Istanbul.

Gezer’s playing career took off in 2011. As a member of the Turkish National Team, Gezer placed third in U-12 European competition, was crowned the U14 Turkish Champion, and achieved a career high ranking of 267 with an ITF Junior designation. He helped lead his high school team to two Istanbul Regional Championships and finished in the top-5 for three seasons.

Collegiately, Gezer played at Division II national powerhouse, Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida. While playing for the Tar, he amassed over 30 wins in singles competition including multiple wins over regionally and nationally ranked opponents. In the classroom, the International Business major was an ITA Scholar Athlete and on the honor roll.