Meet the Tennis Staff

Topnotch Tennis Academy

Our international professional staff is experienced in teaching all aspects of “Play to Win” and can guarantee improvement with the Technique to Win, Train to Win, Think to Win and Equip to Win instructional approaches. All Topnotch Tennis Professionals are USPTA/PTR certified.

Simba Happy

Tennis Director, USPTA

Simba’s tennis career began as one of the top junior tennis players in his native Zimbabwe, representing his country in international tennis tournaments. He began teaching when he joined the Florida A&M University tennis team on an athletics scholarship and later, from 2010 to 2012, he served as the graduate assistant coach of the FAMU Men’s tennis team. He joined the Topnotch team during the summer of 2012 and has served as our Junior Tennis Coordinator and Pro Shop manager before becoming the Director of Tennis in 2021.

Jamie Watson

Elite Pro

Born and raised in the state of Connecticut, Jamie Watson played his junior tennis in the New England USTA section before becoming a high school standout and eventually playing his college tennis career for Bucknell University while receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

As a coach Jamie first worked with high performance juniors and USTA teams at the Weeburn Country Club in Darien, Connecticut before making his way north to the green mountains. Prior to joining the Topnotch coaching staff Jamie spent six years with Grand Slam Tennis Tours traveling the world and taking the world's biggest tennis fans to the yearly Majors and Master's 1000 tournaments. Here he had the opportunity to coach side by side with greats such as Tracy Austin, Gigi Fernandez and Owen Davidson in addition to many current players on the ATP and WTA tours.

Jamie has served as head coach of the Stowe Boys Tennis Team since 2014 and has coached the team to Two State runner up finishes and 1 State Championship in 2019.

Baker Newman

Elite Pro

Baker Newman, a former top-ten junior player began his tennis journey at the age of five which led him to a college career at Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, he competed in the SEC while earning his degree in Psychology of Business & Financial Economics. After graduation, Baker traveled the ITF Transition Tour, achieving a world ranking of #750 representing his family’s country of The Bahamas. He has competed in 8 Davis Cup ties, the Pan American Games, and the CAC Games around the world. In 2019, Baker spent a full season on the WTA tour with Danielle Collins, a top-ranked American player. Traveling the tennis tour as a player and a coach, Baker settled down in Stowe at the end of last year and is excited to share his passion for racquet sports with the community.

Jana Tanevska

Junior Tennis Coordinator

Jana Tanevska, a native of Macedonia, began her career at the early age of 6. As a junior, she was ranked the No.1 player in her country at the under-14, 16, and 18 levels. She represented Macedonia at the European Championship for under 18 and made two appearances in the Fed Cup. In the Spring of 2023, Jana completed her Bachelor Degree in Finance at the University of Portland, where she was part of the Women's Tennis Team. Jana joined the Topnotch Tennis Team in the Summer of 2023. She brings with her lots of high level playing and teaching experience, having coached at the Dunes Club in Rhode Island and at University of Portland.

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Ethan Hutchinson

Tennis Desk Supervisor and Head Stringer

Ethan played college tennis for Northern Vermont University. He started working at Topnotch Tennis in 2017 and is the tennis desk supervisor and head stringer.