Jonatan Berhane's "Max Effort" Mentality Shaping Alabama Women's Tennis Future

In March, Alabama Women's Tennis head coach Jenny Mainz stepped down after 26 years at the helm of the program.

For the first time in nearly three decades, the future of the team was set to change hands, but a sense of certainty and confidence was still in the air.

After five seasons operating as the head coach of Western Kentucky, Mainz added young up-and-comer Jonatan Berhane to the Crimson Tide staff in 2018.

In his five years serving under Mainz, Berhane and Alabama qualified for three NCAA tournaments, which included helping the program make its first appearance in four years at the 2019 NCAA Championships.

Though many would refuse to take a step down to an assistant role while serving as an active head coach, Berhane knew that with patience, an opportunity to lead a program with prestige such as Alabama's would arise.

"I was ready to take that next step at being a head coach at maybe a power-five school, or at a better mid-major school, and the opportunity just did not present itself," Berhane said. "So, Jenny asked me to be her assistant and I accepted."

Hand-picked by Mainz and athletic director Greg Byrne, Berhane feels as if his predecessor taught him the ins-and-outs of building upon a previously established foundation of excellence — with a community-oriented approach being the backbone.

"That's the biggest chunk that I've learned from Jenny," Berhane said. "Making sure that it's not just about the team, it's about the Tuscaloosa community and trying to get them involved, which is as equally important as winning. I think that was the biggest learning point as an assistant."

While Berhane has had the benefit of learning under Mainz, the first-year head coach is already separating himself with a new style of leadership.

"They have to have the mindset to win an SEC championship," Berhane said. "Are they willing to train a certain way? Because this year something that we do different is we have a team word: Max effort. I hold the girls accountable to it and so does Alba [Cortina Pau] and Keith [Swindoll] [...] That's the kind of mentality I want to be looking for recruiting wise."

A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Berhane's international background won't affect how and where he recruits — pursuing the best-of-the-best regionally, nationally and globally.

"I'm very flexible with the recruiting," Berhane said. "I'm going to go for the best players, whether that's a player from Alabama or somewhere else in the U.S., or internationally, I'm not necessarily looking to closely at where they're from, it's more of do they have the right talent, and do they fit into our mentality. [...] we just go after every single place that you can imagine. The goal is, it doesn't matter even if they're in Africa, or South America, we'll go after the best players."

While the shadow of Mainz looms large, the ability and qualities of Berhane appear capable of escaping it with a twist of his own — but only time can tell.

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