Mitchell Frank Tennis

What a couple of incredible weekends for our players at the Mid-Atlantic Sectional L3s! 🎾

We are proud of every athlete for their commitment, persistence, and dedication to getting better every single day. The hard work is paying off, and we’re excited to celebrate some outstanding performances:

🥇 Helena Seiken — Girls 16s Champion (Baltimore, MD)
🥇 Evan Puente — Boys 16s Champion (Baltimore, MD)
🥇 Adura Akiwumi — Girls 12s Champion (Olney, MD)
🥈 Giselle Snowden — Girls 14s Finalist (Chestertown, MD)
🥈 Matthew Kaindin — Boys 12s Finalist (Olney, MD)

While we’re proud of the results, we’re even more proud of the culture these players continue to build. Over the past two weekends, our athletes competed for something bigger than themselves—supporting one another, pushing each other to improve, and representing our academy with character and class.

That’s what makes this group special.

The journey continues, and we’re excited to watch these players keep growing both on and off the court. 💪🎾

WELCOME TO THE TEAM, ANTHONY “ANTON” KOVRIGIN 🎾

We are excited to officially welcome Anthony “Anton” Kovrigin to our coaching staff!

Anton is a former Division I player at Vanderbilt University, where he competed in the SEC on a full athletic scholarship against some of the top collegiate players in the nation.

Before Vanderbilt, Anton established himself as one of the top junior players in the country:
🏆 2x USTA Gold Ball Champion
🏆 No. 1 ranked player in the Mid-Atlantic in the 12s, 14s, 16s, and 18s
🏆 Top 20 National Ranking in Boys’ 18s

In addition to his playing career, Anton has coached privately, worked with players at Junior Tennis Champions Center and Columbia Country Club, and trained under respected coaches Vesa Ponkka and Coach Chuck Kriese while helping develop high-level junior competitors.

Anton brings tremendous energy, technical knowledge, discipline, and passion for player development. His coaching philosophy emphasizes strong fundamentals, footwork, confidence, mental toughness, and creating a positive, high-performance training environment for players of all ages and levels.

“Anton brings exceptional playing credentials, high-level coaching experience, and a true passion for player development. His background as a top national junior, SEC competitor at Vanderbilt, and coach working with competitive players makes him an incredible addition to our academy. Anthony’s energy, professionalism, and understanding of high-performance tennis will have a major impact on our players both on and off the court.”— Mitchell Frank

Please join us in welcoming Anton to the academy family!

Happy 16th Birthday to ! We are so proud of the values and hard work that she exhibits on a daily basis and we know this will be your best year yet!! Thanks for all your leadership and commitment to being better on and off the court and most importantly, being a role model for all the players in our program!

Summer 2026 is locked in. Are you? 🎾

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Player development isn’t a microwave dinner. It’s a ten-year simmer.
Building a junior who keeps climbing past 18 isn’t an accident. There are three phases, three keys, and the work compounds — quietly, year over year — into a player who doesn’t plateau when the field gets harder.
FOUNDATION (ages 7–10). Movement, technique, fundamentals, and falling in love with the game. This is the layer on which everything else gets built. The work here doesn’t show up on a draw sheet. It shows up six years later when the rallies get longer, and the points get harder.
COMPETE (ages 11–14). Patterns, tournament play, and learning how to compete. The job here is teaching a player how to construct points, handle pressure, and grow — without making rankings the headline.
REFINE (ages 15–18). Tactics, fitness, match, and pressure management. This is where the patient work pays off. Strokes refined. Body conditioned. Mind trained for the moments that actually decide matches.
The hardest part of player development isn’t the coaching. It’s the patience the simmer asks of everyone — coach, player, family. The process says wait. The moment often says now. The art is in trusting the process.
Whatever phase your junior is in — foundation, compete, or refine — focus on the work, not the rewards. The trophies follow the work. They never lead it. Trust the process at every age.
You can’t microwave a champion. Development takes time.
. .

The path to the top isn’t hidden. It’s a path made of a thousand small decisions — and you have to get 90-95% of them right.

Miss that mark, and you’re off the road.
The road itself isn’t complicated. What’s hard is resisting the detours — validation, emotional choices, comfort, fancy facilities, the urge to control every variable, the short-term win that costs years.

Players don’t miss the top because the path is hidden. They miss it because they keep choosing what feels good over what moves them forward.

Three rules hold the line: Logic over emotion. Discomfort over comfort. Trust over control.
The path is simple. Staying on it is the work.
MitchellFrankTennisAcademy

Congrats to our players on their recent successes!

Joshua Sprafkin was a finalist at the Boys 16s L5 in Virginia Beach, VA

Julian Chong was a finalist at the Boys 14s L5 in Ellicott City, MD

Helena Seiken and Kathryn Rincon won the Girls 16s L3 Doubles in Annandale, VA

Helena Seiken and Evan Puente won the 16s Mixed Doubles L3 in Chestertown, MD

Giselle Snowden and Makayla Solomon won the Girls 14s L3 Doubles in Fairfax, VA

Daniel Torrico and Rohan Le won the Boys 14s L3 Doubles in Fairfax, VA

Rohan Le was the finalist at the Boys 14s L5 in Baltimore, MD

Adura Akiwumi won the Girls 12s Singles and Doubles at the L5 in Cary, NC

Evie Yi and Dylan Kivov were the finalists at the 12s L3 Mixed Doubles in Chestertown, MD

Adura Akiwumi was the finalist at the Girls 12s L3 Doubles in Annandale, VA

Congrats to all of our players on their hard work and success! We are excited to keep moving forward!