A piece about JTCC Senior Coach and Returning WTA Doubles Player, Megan Moulton-Levy, written by a current JTCC parent:
January 22, 2015 may be just another date to most but to Megan Moulton-Levy, it marked the date of her last professional tennis match. Moulton-Levy and then doubles partner D. Durak lost in 3 sets to C. Scheepers/Z. Diyas in the first round of the Australian Open. She suffered an injury that required surgery and cut short her professional tennis career.
Her lifelong passion for tennis then led her to the Junior Champions Tennis Center at College Park where she has made an immediate impact as a senior tennis coach. Her calm demeanor and experience has been an inspiration for all the students there from the young juniors all the way to the travelling national players.
However, despite Moulton-Levy’s playing career seeming to be finished with that injury, she wanted to end it “on my own terms”. So, in November 2016, Moulton-Levy decided to take advantage of her WTA injury exemption and play in the 2017 Australian Open. A quick phone call to her good friend and former doubles partner Lauren Davis sealed the deal, leaving Moulton-Levy less than 3 months to prepare.
JTCC has been extremely supportive of Megan’s decision and she has enlisted the support of her colleagues (Ben Cappuccitti, Taka Bertrand, Scott Brown, Ali Agnambato to name just a few) as her hitting partners. TC Costello (strength and conditioning coach) has also been working on her speed and agility with emphasis on that all important first step after her serves and returns.
Amazingly, she is able to prepare while simultaneously teaching full time. Moulton-Levy only has about 2 hours a day during her work week to train, not the ideal preparation for a Grand Slam, but she says she has always stayed fit and is not far off from the conditioning level of her playing days.
Moulton-Levy describes her style as “old school”. She serves and volleys, chips and charges, and hits as few groundstrokes as possible. She states that the atmosphere is very lively in Melbourne and that this suits her game style.
Moulton-Levy is quick to point out that she wouldn’t have been able to pursue tennis as a career without the unwavering support of her family. Her mother and sisters have been with her throughout her whole career and will be accompanying her to Melbourne.
Best wishes to Moulton-Levy at the Australian Open!! Her JTCC family will be cheering her on as she pursues her dreams “on my own terms”.
