Pro Spotlight: Mary Rebecca Jeffries
Local area tennis professional (and high school coach) and familiar name in tennis circles in the Northside area, Mary Rebecca Barry Jeffries grew up playing in the Jackson area, and while her junior career seems like it was just yesterday, time flies as she is now in her 21 st year as a tennis teaching professional in the area.
Mary Rebecca had a storied junior playing career, molded by local pros such as Ray and Walker Sahag (among others) in the 90’s. “I’m very lucky to have worked with Ray and Walker Sahag, they influenced me on more than just my game,” said Jeffries. “They’ve left such an impact on me that it influences how I teach my juniors today.”
As a junior, Mary Rebecca won six individual state high school championships and was a mainstay at the very top of the state and sectional junior rankings throughout her junior career. That success led her to play four years of Division I tennis at the University of Missouri, a rare achievement for a Mississippi junior player. After her playing career at Mizzou, she entertained the thought of law school, but a call from Robert Russell asking her to be an assistant tennis pro and work with him brought her back to Jackson. Now 21 years later, she’s still teaching tennis in the Jackson area. “I’m grateful to have worked with Robert Russell for so long, he taught me so much about the industry and how to learn the profession the right way,” said Jeffries.
Mary Rebecca’s teaching path has taken her to many stops in the Jackson area, from teaching at the Country Club of Jackson for 5 years, the Club at Township for 7 years, starting the “Stay and Play” tennis company with Emillia Viljoen, and now currently at Parham Bridges and Ridgeland Tennis Center where she teaches with the Overkil Tennis group at both facilities.
She’s also the Jackson Academy high school tennis coach, which has yielded two girls state championships and one boys state championship since her arrival at JA in 2021. “It’s fun coaching a team, especially high school players that are advanced since you can get into strategy and do so much more with them,” Jeffries said. “But it’s also important to win as a team and lose as a team, and emphasize that every single kid on the team and their role matters, not just the top 7.”
Being around the game her entire life has left Jeffries with a great perspective on the sport and what it teaches. Her favorite part of teaching is often just seeing a new player going from the beginning stages to being able to rally and play, and the excitement and satisfaction that brings to them.
“Tennis teaches more life lessons than you realize, and you get out of it what you put in,” Jeffries said. “You can lose 49% of the points you play and still win, so that teaches you mental toughness and that you can make mistakes and still move on.”
If Jeffries had to give one piece of advice on the game or pass one thing down to those learning to play the sport it would be this: “In order to hit well, you have to move well… that, and always wear mascara.”
