‘Riverdale’s tennis guy’ celebrates a milestone

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For a long time, the name Jeff Nerenberg has been synonymous with the game of tennis around here. Whether helping young players develop the fine point of their games as a coach at one of the neighborhood’s schools, or improving the serve and volley of dozens of local players at his private academy, to many folks, Nerenberg has become known as ‘Riverdale’s tennis guy.’

Earlier this month, after years of watching his players achieve victories and accolades, coach Nerenberg reached a milestone of his own. Currently the head tennis coach at Riverdale Country School, his girls’ team blanked the Hackley School 5-0, marking the 300th win of Nerenberg’s coaching career.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “All these years I have been able to do something I love.”

Riverdale’s tennis guru actually grew up a Queens boy with more of an initial interest in coaching basketball and track than tennis.

He got a Master’s degree in physical education from New York University and moved to Riverdale in 1976.

He taught tennis and basketball at Collegiate High School in Manhattan in the late 70s.

“We had no home courts so we had to play all our games on the road,” he said. The same was true of the three years he spent in the early 80s at the school that was then JHS 141, starting the first-ever tennis program.

“We would mainly play high schools, because no other public junior high school had a tennis team,” said Nerenberg.

He then spent 17 years coaching the men’s team at Manhattan College, before coming to Riverdale Country School.

Nerenberg said that he never gave a moment of thought to his personal record until last season, when his RCS boys were 17-0 and just missed having what would have been his first undefeated season as a coach. It was also about the same time that a former player, an All-American at Manhattan College, asked him about his career record.

The coach dug out some old records and finally calculated that his teams at Collegiate went 29-9, at JHS 141, 39-2, at Manhattan College, 167-106 and at RCS, 70-25. The total puts the coach over the 300-win mark, without even adding in championship or tournament play, he said.

Nerenberg’s private tennis school is celebrating its 35th year of operation, making it the oldest independently run school in the city, he said. The school teaches about 120 students a year, from youngsters to enthusiasts in their 80s and 90s, according to Nerenberg.

“I am still curious how to do it better,” said Nerenberg, who just turned 60. “I figure that I got at least 15 years of coaching left in me.”

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