With a year of coaching under his belt, ASU women’s tennis assistant coach Clint Letcher has found the balance between being a friend and an enemy on the court.

An ASU graduate and former member of the ASU men’s tennis team from 2001 to 2005, Letcher returned to the Sun Devil courts last season as an assistant coach to Sheila McInerney.

“I actually enjoyed it a lot,” he said of his first season. “It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was a good thing.”

Letcher comes from a family surrounded by tennis. His father was ranked as high as 63rd in the ATP singles rankings.

Chris Letcher, Clint’s brother, played with Clint at ASU, and their 16-year-old sister Sophie is playing professionally.

“Tennis is always going to be a part of my life, it always has been,” he said.

On the court, he uses his experience to help motivate the players and improve their game.

“It helps me in being able to see both sides,” Letcher said. “When you have played at a high level, you can sort of see both sides of the fence.

“It helps you relate to what they are going through and especially how you can help them in those situations.”

During his final year at ASU, where he mostly played in the No. 1 to No. 3 spots on the team, Letcher earned All-Pac-10 honors and had 13 overall victories.

He also played in two Grand Slam Juniors at the Australian Open and Wimbledon before his time at ASU.

Letcher has little trouble making the transformation from player to coach but learned several things along the way.

“You have to adapt to all the girls and all their needs,” he said. “You have to be friendly one day and their enemy the next.”

He said that the amount of individual performance in tennis brings out many different personalities.

“Everybody likes to have a different role with the coach,” he said. “Some people like to be a little bit more friendly with the coach and some people like it being strict and by the rules.”

ASU senior Nadia Abdala had built a strong relationship with Letcher after battling through mono and a shoulder injury.

She said Letcher devoted a lot of his time to help her get through sickness and injury and used his patience to get her back into shape.

“He is a great coach,” she said. “I have the confidence to talk to him about anything I’m feeling on the court.”

Abdala said trash talking is present on the court, especially with Letcher jokingly claiming to be the best player on the team.

“It’s good because it motivates us to beat him, and that makes us better,” Abdala said.

That relationship builds confidence between the player and coach.

The combination of Letcher’s skill and intensity on the court adds to his dedication to improving the girls on the court.

“If I’m out there, I’m always trying to push them,” he said.

Being a coach is a profession that Letcher said is “the route I want to take.”

“You get to travel, you get to compete and get to work with great people,” he said.

Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu.