Fordham University Men's Tennis

David Slater, the current tennis director for the Tamarack Country Club, was named head men’s tennis coach at Fordham in August of 2022. Last year Slater guided the Rams to a fourth seed at the Atlantic 10 Championship, the highest ever seeding for Fordham. Freshman Filip Horak was named the 2024-2025 Atlantic 10 Men's Tennis Most Outstanding Rookie, the first Fordham men's tennis student-athlete to earn a major Atlantic 10 postseason award. He was joined in receiving Atlantic 10 honors by junior Dhillon Virdee-Oakley who, along with Horak, was named First Team All-Atlantic 10, while freshman Will Lokier was named Second Team All-Conference. Additionally, sophomore Dhananjay Athreya was named to the All-Academic Team. In 2023-24, Slater saw senior Giorgio Soemarno receive Second Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference honors while in 2022-23, Slater's first year, Quinn Fender was named Second Team All-Atlantic 10. That season Slater led the Rams, seeded tenth, to an upset win over seventh-seeded St. Bonaventure, 4-2, in the first round of the 2023 Atlantic 10 Championship.   This is Slater’s second collegiate head coaching position as he served as head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Manhattanville College from 2010-2012 where he was responsible for running all aspects of the men’s and women’s NCAA division III tennis program. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the school, teaching the in-class aspects of the college’s Professional Tennis Management (PTM) Program and overseeing a Senior Evaluation class that involves a tennis internship at a local tennis facility.   Slater, who has established a reputation of being one of the top teaching pros in the area, also currently serves Tennis Director here at Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, a position he has held since 2018. He runs all aspects of the tennis program at Tamarack including all tennis related lessons and activities, including social tennis events, as well as all sales and merchandise associated with a tennis shop.   Aside from his position at Tamarack, Slater is also the Senior Tennis Pro at the Armonk Indoor Tennis Center in Armonk, N.Y., a position he’s held since 2019. He works with the academy director during indoor season with all aspects of the academy, including lesson plans and teaches a number of academy players on an individual basis.   Originally from St. Albans in England, Slater has also served as first assistant to the tennis director at Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., from 2016-2019.   Before entering the country club world, Slater spent three years as the Director of Tennis at the Tennis Club of Hastings. In his first year at TCH David oversaw the re-emergence of the club after Hurricane Sandy, helping grow the adult program and annual membership as well as overseeing the growth of the junior program to over 180 children ranging in ages from 4-17. A little-known fact about David is that he was also a fully qualified British tennis official and officiated at Wimbledon for five years from 1999-2003.   A 2003 graduate of Marist College, Slater led the Red Foxes to a pair of MAAC Conference Championships and back-to-back NCAA Div. I Tournament appearances in his junior and senior years. He captained the squad his senior season and also posted a stellar 23-3 mark at third singles in his first year with the team in 2001-02. His freshman and sophomore years were spent at Division II Texas Wesleyan University, where he helped the team to a pair of NCAA Div. II Tournament appearances as a freshman and sophomore and captained the team in his second season. Slater previously served as an assistant coach with the Southeastern Louisiana University women's tennis team in 2003, where he was entirely responsible for enhancing all aspects of the Division I program. Slater, who earned a master’s degree in sports business management from Manhattanville in 2012, is also a fully qualified British tennis official and has officiated at several ATP Tour and WTA Tour events as well as at Wimbledon for five consecutive seasons from 1999-2003.

A native of Moscow, Russia, Vladimir Makatsaria was one of the top juniors in the country. He moved to the United State to play Division I tennis at the University of Minnesota, wining a Big Ten Conference title with the Golden Gophers in 1994.  He currently competes on the International Tennis Federation World Seniors Tour and serves as captain on the Russian National 45+ team.   In addition to serving as Fordham’s Volunteer Assistant Coach, Makatsaria works as an executive in the healthcare industry. Makatsaria graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in Physiology. He also holds masters degrees in both Business and Healthcare Administration from Minnesota, earning those degrees in 1996.