Women's Tennis
- Title:
- Head Tennis Coach
- Email:
- mr557@drexel.edu
- Phone:
- 215-895-2032
Mehdi Rhazali enters his 13th season as the Director of Tennis and head coach of the men’s tennis program in 2024-25. He enters the season with a 122-99 mark for the men. Until the 2018-19 season, Rhazali served as both the men's and women's tennis coach. Rhazali finished his tenure with the women's program with a 91-47 record .
Under Rhazali’s guidance, Drexel Tennis has reached new heights. Rhazali and the men's team earned a bid to the conference semifinals for the second year in a row and was ranked for the first time in program history by the ITA. In 2023, Rhazali coached his team into the semifinals of the CAA Championships, defeating the conference newcomers, Monmouth in the first round. In the 2020-21 season, the women's team won a total of eight matches in a row. It was the longest since the 2014-15 season. In 2017, the women’s team set a program record with 16 wins, while the men’s team surpassed its program record with 14 wins in 2018. Rhazali’s teams have picked up signature wins over Colonial Athletic Association opponents in the past four years, highlighted by the men’s first ever win over James Madison (2016) and the women’s team’s first ever wins over College of Charleston (2017), Temple (2018) and Georgetown (2018). The men's team also reached the CAA Tournament Semifinals for the first time since 2013 after beating No. 4 James Madison. The fastest to reach 100 combined wins at Drexel, Rhazali’s 181 combined wins places him first all-time at Drexel.
During his tenure, Rhazali has guided three players to ITA rankings. In 2016, Honami Yazawa used a stellar performance at the fall’s ITA Northeast Regional to play her way to a preseason No. 18 ranking in the region. The year prior, Clary Rodriguez Cruz and Ryshena Providence earned ITA national singles rankings of T-106 and 117, respectively, becoming just the second and third Dragons ever to crack that poll.
Drexel has consistently found itself bringing home CAA hardware over the last six years. In total, Rhazali has coached 16 All-CAA performers. Badr Ouabdelmoumen earned All-CAA Men’s Tennis honors in 2012 (Third Team Singles), 2013 (First Team Singles), and 2014 (Second Team Singles). Following his success, Hamza Laleej earned Second Team All-CAA Singles honors in 2017 and 2018 while Sinan Orhon and Bernard Tefel teamed up in 2018 to receive Second Team All-CAA Doubles accolades. Orhan concluded his record-breaking career with Second Team All-CAA singles honors in 2019 and holds program records in singles victories (71) and doubles wins (81).
The women’s team’s All-CAA awards under Rhazali feature three multi-time winners – Nicole Pivonka, Zeynep Mafa and Honami Yazawa. Pivonka won Third Team Singles in 2012, Second Team Doubles with Emma Brook in 2013 and Second Team Singles in 2015. Mafa was named Third Team Doubles in 2011 with Sonja Stosic while Rhazali was still an assistant before earning First Team Singles status in 2012 and Third Team Doubles honors with Marcela Rosales in 2013. Yazawa was named second team singles in 2016 and 2017. In 2018 Kendra Bunch received Second Team All-CAA Singles honors while becoming the programs all-time winningest player with 65 career-singles wins and 68 career-doubles wins. Most recently, Salma Ziouti became the youngest Dragon, and the first since 2013, to earn First Team All-CAA singles honors…The Dragons have also won CAA Performer of the Week honors 30 times since 2014.
In 2018, Rhazali received the Edwin J. Faulkner College Coach Award from the USTA Middle States for enthusiasm, team camaraderie and community service.
Drexel has improved its play, consistently winning matches at the annual ITA Northeast Regional. In 2015, Honami Yazawa advanced to the Round of 16 in the singles main draw for the Dragons’ best finish ever at ITAs. Ghita Benhadi followed that up in 2016 by advancing to the third round of the singles main draw. Ryshena Providence and Clary Rodriguez Cruz teamed up to advance to the third round of the doubles main draw that same year. In 2017, Kendra Bunch and Ghita Benhadi defeated two pairs of players to advance to the third round of doubles main draw.
The Dragons have had tremendous success in the classroom under Rhazali. The women have earned the NCAA’s APR public recognition in each of the last 10 years, while the men earned it for the first time in 2017. Individually, Rhazali has coached five Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area selections, most recently Salma Ziouti in 2019. The CAA has consistently recognized the Dragons in the classroom, with Balaji Lakshmanan and Jenny White earning CAA All-Academic team selections in 2017. The men’s and women’s programs have had 21 Dragons earn ITA Scholar Athlete recognition in the last two years.
A 2011 graduate of Drexel, Mehdi Rhazali became the head coach of the Dragons in the summer of 2012. He was elevated to the position after serving as the team's assistant coach for a year, and after completing a successful playing career for the team. Rhazali was a steady presence in the lineup for Drexel for three years, playing in the team's top six each season and being named a team captain.
In 2011 as an assistant coach, Rhazali helped the men’s tennis team to a 9-8 overall record. He was also instrumental in the recruitment of players such as Badr Ouabdelmoumen, the first freshman in Drexel Tennis history to earn All-CAA recognition when he was named a Third Team All-CAA performer. He also oversaw the program as it earned the NCAA's Academic Performance Program public recognition award.
Rhazali has also gained coaching experience as a tennis professional at Legacy Youth Tennis and Education, one of twelve certified regional training centers in the United States. There, where he continues to have a role, he is coaching all levels. His emphasis is on the Maximum Performance athletes, including Legacy's more-than 50 players with sectional and national USTA rankings. Rhazali is a Professional Tennis Registry certified coach who has received his USTA high performance certification as well as science level I certification. He is also ITPA certified as a tennis performance trainer. In addition to his high performance coaching, Rhazali was one of the most sought-after staff members at ATP and WTA tournaments where he served as a hitting partner and worked closely with some of the top juniors in the country.
As a junior himself, Rhazali was ranked in the top 10 Under-18 in Morocco. He won the USA National Public Park Championship in Stamford, Conn. as well as Under-16 singles, Under-18 and Men’s Open Doubles titles while playing with his brother, Faycal, who went on to play Division I tennis at Radford University.
Rhazali, who is currently pursuing his MBA with a concentration in finance, graduated from Drexel with a degree in business administration/marketing, and finished his master's degree in sport management at Drexel in the spring of 2014. In addition to his duties at Drexel, he is the co-director of tennis at the Germantown Cricket Club, one of the first and largest clubs in the United States. He began there in 2014 and was in charge of the adult program. In 2020, his role was elevated to co-director of tennis where he oversees all tennis operations. Rhazali is also PTR performance, USTA high performance, and GPTCA ATP certified. In 2015, he was named to the ITA Regionals selection committee. In January 2017, he was selected to serve on the USTA Middle States Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Before coming to Drexel, Rhazali was a three-time East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week and earned the second best team of all conference at Mercy College, a top-25 Division II program in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. He ranked sixth in ECC singles play as a freshman.
Rhazali lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Rachel, and his son Zayn.
