Men's Tennis
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- rweiss@ia.ua.edu
Robbie Weiss will be entering his third season as assistant coach of the Alabama men’s tennis program in 2018-19.
In 2019, Weiss helped coach the Crimson Tide to its second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. He also assisted the doubles duo of senior Mazen Osama and sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta to the program’s first-ever national championship appearance, which includes the singles, doubles and team tournaments. The pairing won four-straight matches in the NCAA Doubles Championships before falling in the national championship and finishing as national runner-up.
In 2018, Weiss was named the ITA Southern Assistant Coach of the Year after assisting in Alabama’s historic year. Weiss’ instruction was instrumental to the Tide’s successful year, with the Tide winning 20 matches for the 10th time in team history and making only its fourth appearance in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Team Championships.
Weiss has a tremendous amount of quality playing experience to offer, as he had a successful eight year (1988-95) professional career achieving singles ranks as high as No. 85 in the world. He claimed one title in his professional career winning the 1990 ATP World Tour 250 Series event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, defeating Jamie Yzaga in the finals. Weiss won three ATP Challenger singles events in Granby, Palm Springs, and Itu. He finished runner-up in four ATP Challenger singles events in Seattle, Aptos, Martinique and Cincinnati. The talented pro made it to the semifinals of the ATP World Tour 250 Series event in Oahu, Hawaii, and he reached the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 events in Jakarta, Rosmalen, Newport, Durban and Brisbane. Throughout his career Weiss defeated four players that were ranked No. 1 in the world at the time; Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl and Patrick Rafter.
He played all four years at Pepperdine (1985-88), where he was a college standout. On May 21, 2008, Weiss was inducted into the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame, and later that same year he was elected into the Pepperdine University Hall of Fame. Weiss’s senior year he won the NCAA singles championship. He earned All-America honors in 1986 and 1988, and he was named the ITA National Player of the Year for his outstanding performance in the 1988 season. The Hall of Famer compiled an astounding 55-2 singles mark his senior year, while maintaining a No. 1 ranking in singles play all season long.
Weiss was a member of the USTA Junior Davis Cup Team from 1984-86, and he won 13 national junior championships and finished runner-up in 12 national junior events. In 1984 he captured the 1984 Wimbledon Juniors doubles title with partner Ricky Brown.
Weiss has coached at three different universities, and he served as an assistant at two of them and head coach at the other. He was the men’s tennis assistant coach at Pepperdine University for the 1997 season, before he went on to be the men’s tennis assistant coach at Georgia Tech for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. From 2002-04 Weiss functioned as the Director of Tennis at Olde Towne Athletic Club in Marietta, Ga., and from 2004-06 he acted as the Director of Tennis at Laurel Springs Tennis Club in Suwanee, Ga. After six years, Weiss returned to the collegiate level as the women’s tennis head coach at Cornell University from 2007-08.
Robbie is married to Linda Lombard Weiss. He has two stepdaughters in Jennifer Regan and Hannah Regan.
