Who

Premier Racquet Clubs
Owner/Operator Karl Hale in Partnership with The City of Markham

KARL HALE
President

Karl Hale has an accomplished tennis history. He has played competitive tennis internationally, participated as a player and coach in Davis Cup for Jamaica, and is a former Fed Cup coach for Canada. He was named tournament director of National Bank Open presented by National Bank in Toronto on December 11, 2006.

Hale was born in Falmouth, Jamaica and played Davis Cup tennis from 1988 to 1999 and again in 2004. He held the Davis Cup record for longest three-set match, winning 23-21 in the final set. In 2003, Hale was coach of the Canadian Fed Cup team that advanced to a World Group play-off tie against Austria. He later returned to his native Jamaica to coach the Davis Cup team in 2005.

Hale’s relationships with the players, and sports and entertainment celebrities have helped raise the profile of this world-class tennis event.  Karl was also vice-president of the PTR (the largest tennis coaching organization in the world with over 20,000 members) in 2017/18.  

Most importantly, Hale is a passionate supporter of children’s charities.  Hale is well-known and respected for his tremendous philanthropic work. He founded the Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation, which has raised over $2,000,000 for education in his native Jamaica and built 18 kindergarten schools (including one with Serena Williams). He also developed the Daniel Nestor Celebrity Charity event, which raised more than $1,000,000 in support of the Go for Gold Olympic program and North York General Hospital. He has spent tennis time overseas, coaching in Tokyo for five years, teaching adults and juniors at the prestigious Kashiwa Lawn Tennis Club. He worked with several top players and his juniors have received over $1,000,000 in tennis scholarships.

ANDY SUTTON
Racquets Director

Andy has been a Tennis Professional for over 30 years.  He is a certified Club Pro 3 which is the highest level of certification offered for Tennis Club Management. Andy also holds a Coach 3 Level Certification from Tennis Canada.

Highly regarded as a leader in his field, Andy is the Head Coach Developer for the Ontario Tennis Association .  With this position, Andy teaches tennis professionals, “how to be” professionals.  His philosophy and ultimate goal on and off the court as a coach, is to help people develop a love of the game and help make them play better.  As he noted recently in an interview with Tennis Canada, “the satisfaction from improving, for both the player and the coach, is intoxicating!”  This enthusiasm and positive coaching style creates an environment for coaching excellence and also an exceptional member experience, which is the ultimate goal of Premier Racquet Clubs.

NIMA NADERI
Operations Manager

Another very experienced member of the PRC team is Nima Naderi.  Nima has over 25 years in the tennis industry in various roles, and is currently the tour manager for two major events; The Caribbean Cup Tennis Series a series of 9 events throughout the Caribbean and The Canadian Pickleball Series, the largest Pickleball tour in Canada spanning 9 major cities.

As a tennis coach himself for the past 23 years, Nima has coached nationally ranked players, has won international awards for his coaching and has held major roles at various clubs in the GTA including Bayview Golf & Country Club, Newtonbrook Tennis Club and The Donalda Club.

In addition to his on court career, his love of tennis has also found expression off the court in his writing and pod casting.  Nima is the founder and creative director of Tennisconnected.com and has had his articles published with Tennis Canada, Tennis View Magazine, Tennis Pro Magazine, and the ATP tour.   You may also have seen or heard Nima as a featured tennis analyst on CTV News, CBC Radio or TalkSport radio.

JOEY TADROS
ASSISTANT TENNIS PRO

Joey has graduated from Seneca College with a diploma in recreation and leisure. His certifications include- NCCP level 2, Learn to train, advanced to train, high five, high five sport, first aid and CPR. For the past 15 years he has been managing, supervising, instructing and coaching a variety of sports at overnight camps, day camps and sports specialty schools. Joey also has international coaching experience in a variety of sports.

ALEX LOPEZ
CUSTOMER RELATIONS SPECIALIST / EVENT MANAGER

Our other tour manager, Alex, played college tennis in Florida before returning to Canada to work in finance and technology for most of his professional career. His strength on the tour is in IT, and is one of the most likeable people you will ever meet.