Georgia women’s tennis heads to nationals with Drake Bernstein on tap to be new head coach

ATHENS -- Drake Bernstein knows how to win at Georgia like few others, and now the Bulldogs’ tennis program is set to take full advantage of his expertise.

Bernstein, part of UGA’s 2008 national championship team, has been promoted to take over as the UGA women’s tennis coach at the end of this season with Jeff Wallace retiring.

Josh Brooks’ choice is popular among the team, as Bernstein made a difference in his associate head coach role this season.

“I’m just so grateful for all that he’s done for me,” SEC tournament winner Meg Kowalski said. “He’s helped me become obviously a better tennis player and given me confidence since I showed up on my first day on campus, but he’s also just helped me so much in life by being a mentor too.”

Bernstein is one of only 14 players in UGA history to win more than 100 singles matches, going 112-44 leading up to his graduation in May of 2011.

Bernstein coached at a tennis academy in Las Vegas after completing his UGA playing career, and then he became the youngest coach in the SEC by taking an assistant job at Alabama at 22 years old.

This is Bernstein’s 11th year back with Georgia, with the Bulldogs ranking in the Top 10 each of those years.

With brand-new facilities that rank among the most elite in the nation to recruit to, Bernstein sounds confident the wins will take care of themselves.

“We’ve never been the program that’s touted ourselves as the most talented,” Bernstein said. “We just want to be a team that overachieves because of how we treat each other.”

Georgia will play in the NCAA Championships beginning Wednesday in Orlando with great expectations and more success expected beyond this season.

“He’s the man and is so deserving of this promotion,” Kowalski said, “and he’s gonna do incredible, incredible things.”

The Georgia men’s team is also doing incredible things, beating No. 11-seed Harvard in an NCAA Tournament Super Regional last Saturday in Athens to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Bulldogs (23-6, 12-0 SEC) will play No. 3-ranked Ohio State on Thursday in Lake Nona, Fla., at the USTA National Complex.

Coach Manny Diaz has made the most of Georgia’s commitment to tennis, guiding the program to 27 Elite Eights in his 35 years at the helm of the program.