Zaki Abdelrahman was elevated by NJIT coordinator of tennis Ira Miller to the role of NJIT women’s tennis head coach in 2017-18 after spending the 2016-17 season as an assistant coach for both Highlander men’s and women’s tennis teams.
In 2018-19, Abdelrahman led the Highlander women to its best season since joining the ASUN Conference in 2015-16. NJIT won 13 games – its first year with double-digit victories since 2013-14 – and collected its most ASUN postseason accolades since entering the league. Freshman Joleta Budiman was named ASUN Freshman of the Year, part of the Doubles Pair of the Year with sophomore Holly Matson, First Team All-ASUN, and First Team ASUN All-Freshman. In addition, freshman Mouna Bouzgarrou earned a spot on the All-Freshman team and the All-ASUN Second Team.
The Highlanders’ spring success was preceded by quality performances during the fall season. NJIT picked up three titles at the Army West Point Invitational (Budiman – A Consolation; Mikaya Hamilton – D Consolation; Budiman/Advaita Saravanan – B Main Draw), posted double-digit total wins at the Lehigh Invitational, and had multiple players compete at the ITA Championships.
In 2017-18, NJIT finished with an 8-12 record, after their third appearance in as many years in the ASUN postseason tournament. Amanda Helminsky and Mayar Eltony were both named to the 2018 ASUN Women's Tennis Second-Team All-Conference team.
The NJIT women finished the 2016-17 season with a 3-3 mark in the ASUN Conference, reaching seven overall wins. NJIT, the third seed in the 2017 ASUN Tennis Tournament, won the school’s first-ever postseason victory in the ASUN, edging the sixth seeded Kennesaw State, 4-3, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament.
Freshman Mayar Eltony earned 2017 ASUN first-team and all-Freshmen team honors while senior Nathalie Habegger, earned a spot on the 2017 ASUN Women's Tennis All-Tournament team for her performances in both matches vs. Kennesaw State and North Florida. She went 1-1 at the fifth spot and 2-0 at second doubles with teammate Alba Rosas Garcia.
On the men’s side, freshman Aleksa Petrovic became the first NJIT tennis player named to the ASUN Conference All-Freshmen team. Markus Schultz (Class of 2016) earned ASUN Conference first team honors in 2015-16.
Abdelrahman got involved with coaching when he was an undergraduate at University of New Orleans and is a member of the Egyptian National team coaching staff since 2015, working for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Intercollegiate Tennis Federation (ITF) national teams.
At New Orleans, Zaki worked as a student assistant and graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s in Business Administration. He was also an assistant coach at Future Tennis Inc. in Baton Rouge in 2012.
As a player at UNO, Zaki was selected one of the top six best players in the state of Louisiana in 2010-11 and named team captain in his junior and senior campaigns.
Abdelrahman, a business administration major with a minor in management, was a three-time ITA All-Academic Scholar Athlete (2010, 2011, 2013) and named to the 2013 Southland Conference all-Academic team.
He represented the Egyptian National Team (u12, u14, u16, u18) and ranked in the top 300 by the ITF (u18).
Zaki advanced to the finals of the 2008 Arab Championships in doubles and semifinals in singles (u18), reached the quarterfinals of ITF tournaments in Kenya, Uganda, Algeria, Qatar and Egypt, and won the Egypt National Club tournament in doubles three times (u14, u16 and u18).
Abdelrahman holds a certification for Global Professional Tennis Coach Association and Women's Tennis Coaches Association.
Updated August 2019
