James Rohrbacher
General Manager & Teaching Pro, Diversey Tennis Center/Lincoln Park Tennis Association
James Rohrbacher (he/they) is a USPTA-certified teaching professional with 25 years of teaching experience and is returning for year 14 as General Manager of Lincoln Park Tennis Club/Diversey Tennis Center. James’s teaching style focuses on strategy rather than technique, emphasizing ways to “win with what you have.” He played high school and college tennis, and won back-to-back Chicago District Tennis Association (CDTA) 5.0 Doubles titles in 2001 and 2002 with partner Sean Cahill.
James primarily teaches adult private and semi-private lessons. As a co-career, James is also a 30-year veteran of the food service industry. In 1998, James renewed his passion for cooking when he was hired as a private chef for a small financial consulting firm interested in providing healthful, plant-based meals to the company’s employees. James has developed a culinary philosophy around creating exquisite, interesting, whole-plant food cuisine, using high-quality, seasonal ingredients. He is grateful for all the experiences and opportunities that have come his way. Those experiences have included a stage at Grant Achatz’s Michelin 3-star restaurant “Alinea,” a try-out for Gordon Ramsey’s reality TV show, “Hell’s Kitchen,” and continuous consulting work with New York Times best selling author Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of “Eat to Live.” He now has his own nutrition business, Chef James Nutrition. James’s other passions include music (he has a Bachelor of Music-Performance from U.W.-Madison), fitness (he was an ACTION-certified personal trainer), art (he curated a small gallery for artists in recovery), and running (he is currently training for his 7th marathon).
James is proud to be on the LGBTQIA+ task force for the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA), and is available as a liaison or point-of-contact for the Chicagoland area. If you need support, a friendly ear, or if you feel you’ve been discriminated against because of any fixed identity, please feel free to reach out.
Visit his website or contact him by phone/text at 773-477-9217. His current private lesson rate is $78/hour.
Raul Esquerra
Lead Pro, Lincoln Park Tennis Association
Raul was a top ranked junior, competing in national tournaments from age 12 and playing other noteworthy tournaments like the Orange Bowl. He then played collegiate tennis for nationally-ranked Cal State and then DePaul university, where he also lettered in track. He’s played International Tennis Federation events on the Senior Tennis Tour. Raul has taught tennis at various Northshore clubs and was most recently a tennis pro at Chicago’s Saddle & Cycle. Other tennis thrills include being part of José María “Pepe” Arenas’ team during the most recent US Open. Pepe is one of the most versatile and respected coaches on both the ATP and WTA tours. During an earlier Grand Slam tournament, also with Pepe, Raul tried his hardest not to be star struck when realizing that Ivan Lendl was their counterpart, sitting in the opposing player’s box.
Raul holds BS degrees in Finance, Economics as well as an MBA. Raul was a Senior Vice President in the cyber security organization of a major financial institution, building a global team and directing the establishment of operations in Asia, Europe and the Americas. He’s held senior roles in renewable energy companies that both designed and built large scale photovoltaic power plants in the U.S. and Europe.
He lives in Evanston.
Matt Brothers
DePaul University’s Men’s Head Coach Matt Brothers will be joining our LPTA pro staff in 2025. Matt is undoubtedly one of college tennis’s best coaches. He has built an NCAA I nationally ranked program, and his team is the defending Big East conference champion, the third of those championships won over the last four years. Perhaps more impressive is that he has gone about it the right way, recruiting and nurturing student athletes who consistently top the nation’s academic achievement ratings amongst all NCAA athletes. Just this year alone, some of his players have earned ATP tour points, played in Davis Cup ties and beaten nationally ranked college opponents. Look for Matt’s name when the clinic schedule is released, as he will run at least one of them.
Andrew Suarez
Andrew Suarez grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, with a tennis racket practically in hand, following in the footsteps of his father, a former Davis Cup player for Venezuela. After moving to the Chicagoland area at age 16, Andrew continued to excel on the court, becoming an NJCAA All-American in both singles and doubles. With over 30 years of teaching experience, tennis has remained a lifelong passion.
He served as the Tennis Director at Medinah Country Club for 13 years and proudly coaches the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams at Niles West High School for the past 16 seasons. As a three-time USTA League Nationals qualifier with 4.5 men’s teams, Andrew still competes regularly and brings that same competitive spirit to the players he coaches.
Outside the court, Andrew is also a dedicated Spanish teacher at Niles West, blending his love of language and culture with education. He considers himself incredibly fortunate to spend his days doing what he loves most, teaching tennis and sharing his heritage.
Joey Salerno
Pro, Lincoln Park Tennis Association
Joey has been coaching tennis for 30 years and is an experienced competitive player, as well. He grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. In junior competitive play, he maintained a top 3 ranking throughout a junior career in his section and was also highly ranked nationally. During National junior play, Joey beat French Open Champions Michael Chang and Jim Courier. He played tennis at Tyler Junior College and was on the national championship team and an all American. He transferred to University of Nebraska and was All Big Eight his junior year before transferring to University of Alabama for his senior year. Joey played 4 singles and 1 doubles to complete his college playing career at Alabama. Following college, he became the Assistant Coach for University of Alabama and helped lead the team to its only NCAA quarterfinal appearance in school history. Joey has been in Chicago for 20 years working with high performance juniors and adults at various playing levels and has worked locally at Midtown, Lakeshore and McFetridge. Joey enjoys working with all levels of play.
His philosophy is simple: Learn good fundamental technique, strategy, tactics and be mentally ready to deal with all types of adversity while competing. Joey is excited about teaching at Diversey and getting a chance to work with a variety of players.
Contact Joey by phone/text at 312-771.9403.
Robert Owens
Director & Head Coach, Move Your Feet Sports
Robert has been coaching for over twenty years. He’s run tennis programs in schools, clubs, & academies in Ireland, Australia, the UK & the US. He developed The Move Your Feet Sports high energy tennis program utilizing this international coaching experience.
Robert is a technical instructor. He welcomes the opportunity to develop or fine tune your strokes, and will give you an understanding of the game so you can practice and play very well.
For more information on Robert and his programs, visit Move Your Feet Sports.
Laura Kenton
Laura is an accomplished tennis professional with decades of experience as a player and instructor. She is a Canisius University graduate and a former Division I tennis player. Laura’s philosophy is to develop a plan, execute the plan, see the results. She enjoys instructing players of all ages and levels and has a sweet spot for juniors. She instructs for USTA and has a certificate to instruct Cardio Tennis, a high-energy group fitness program using tennis for aerobic workouts. Laura is also a coach of both girls and boys at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory High School.
