Rudy Abitago Jr. began as Menlo's Assistant Coach in 2022 and was promoted to Associate Head Tennis Coach in 2024 while assisting Head Coach and Director of Tennis Ben Cabell in helping establish Menlo’s tennis programs as a force.
Highlights from the 2024-25 season included a combined 17 victories including a 6-1 home record for Men's Tennis and five sweeps for Women's Tennis. Additionally, six members of Menlo Tennis were Collegiate Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team, 15 Oaks earned ITA All-Academic Team, and both squads garnered ITA All-Academic Team honors.
The Oaks' 2023-24 campaign featured GSAC Championship Tournament runner-up finishes for both squads as the Oaks combined for a 22-5 record while Coach Cabell and Coach Abitago Jr. were named ITA Men's Head and Assistant Coaches of the Year for the West Region. On the women's courts, Valentina Urelli Rinaldi earned numerous distinctions including NAIA All-American, ITA West Region Senior of the Year, GSAC Conference Player of the Year, and GSAC All-Conference Team while Livia Harper was named the Freshman of the Year and Franziska Niederle added GSAC All-Conference honors. On the men's side, David Mulas Zelenskaya and Saar Rogovski were both All-Conference award winners and Robin McAlpine was selected as ITA West Region Rookie of the Year and GSAC Freshman of the Year. A total of seven tennis student-athletes were also honored as GSAC Scholar Athletes.
In his first year on the Oaks' staff in 2022-23, both the men’s and women’s teams combined to post a 19-10 record and qualify for the GSAC Playoffs. The women’s team would reach the conference championship match as well as spend the entire season ranked within the NAIA Top 25.
Coach Abitago Jr. oversaw the development and training of multiple ITA Ranked singles and doubles players as well. As individuals Luis Hochenauer, Saar Rogovski, Valentina Urelli Rinaldi & Franziska Niederle. He also helped produced multiple ranked doubles pairings with Rinaldi & Milana Hrudka representing the women and Hochenauer & David Mulas Zelenskaya representing the men.
To cap off his successful first season, Coach Abitago Jr. helped guide two All-Conference players on both the men’s and women’s teams. He also coached the reigning Men’s Player of the Year in the GSAC, Luis Hocheanur.
Rudy Abitago Jr. is a USPTA Certified Professional/High Performance coach from San Jose, CA and his passion is to provide players of all levels, a positive pathway in life using tennis as a platform for success. He’s competed in the juniors, high school, and collegiate level playing #1 & #2 singles/doubles for Mission College in Santa Clara, CA.
After a competition ending injury, Rudy still had a passion for the game and decided to shift his focus to coaching and has been for over 12 years, focusing on 10 and under tennis & high performance junior development. He has coached players from the developmental stages all the way up to the collegiate level and has had players compete at the most prestigious junior tournaments in the world such as Kalamazoo, Easter Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. Rudy has taught at world class academies within Northern California as well as the Intermountain Section and is also a U30 representative for the USTA.
He was previously a Team Bryan coach for the NJTL Excellence Team which provides opportunities for underserved youth and is currently the Assistant Coach for Menlo College in Atherton, CA. When not on the tennis court, Rudy loves music, hiking and other outdoor adventures with his dogs. Rudy is excited to bring the passion and knowledge of the game to the next generation of players for Menlo College.
