SJTA Pros Biographies

COACH HEATHER ANN DIEGAN

My love for Tennis began when hitting on a wall while my mom played matches in her local ladies tennis league.  I was 10 years old and joined local group tennis lessons with the City of Lakeland. By age 11 I was playing in Junior Team Tennis teams and started to enter junior tournaments.  Age 12-21 I established a Florida state ranking based on results from both local and state tournaments. I played on my Junior High and High School tennis team in Lakeland, Florida in which I played 1st position.  I received a top award for my senior year in tennis voted by my peers for Most Valuable Player in 1990.  

As a teen and college student I was mentored by Dave Beerman and fellow pro Ray Shick to teach tennis at the Lakeland City Courts in the summer time where I instructed kids and juniors for 3 years and quickly fell in love with teaching others to learn the game of tennis.  

Beginning in May of 2008 I finished my formal certification as a tennis teaching professional with the Professional Tennis Registry and currently hold three certifications as a Professional in Adult Development, 10 & Under tennis and Juniors 11-17 years. I was voted Volunteer of the Month by USTA in November 2011 & 2020. I was voted Coach of The Year by Saint Johns Middle School Athletic Association in 2023 & JV Coach of The Year in 2024. I am a certified Master Tennis Professional in Junior Development with PTR and a USPTA Elite Professional. I aim to write a children's tennis book specifically for ages 10 & Under in the near future!

I am the owner and Tennis Director of Saint Johns Tennis Academy where I teach at the local Saint Johns Park and Recreation facility at Mills Field.  I first opened the Academy in 2008 with 64 students and 3 ladies league teams. Now 16 years later,  2024 we have 120 students (juniors) and 4 ladies league teams!  My heart has always been to give back to my community with the gift and passion I was given in the game of tennis.  I love my community and love to give back within the arena where I started myself.  Within the Academy we are all geared to creating a close “tennis family” environment with the program and the best standard of teaching to all our students young and old.  

In 2017 I married my best friend and fellow tennis professional Patrick Diegan and we now run Saint Johns Tennis Academy together.  We teach with some of the most passionate and best pros in Jacksonville and we have mentored 12 of our highest performing tennis players to become PTR professionals themselves.

Being a tennis coach has been the best job I’ve ever had (other than being a mother of 2)  and it is my passion to pass along what I’ve learned over the years to make more tennis players in the world for a sport which can be fun for life!

COACH PATRICK TERENCE DIEGAN

Patrick is a British L.T.A., P.T.R. Professional and USPTA Elite Professional with over 34 years teaching and playing experience. He is former Director of Tennis at Orange Park Country Club. He is a best selling author in Tennis with his “Coaching and Learning Tennis Basics” book series with 4 books published between 2007 and 2015. He has worked as head tennis professional with his wife Heather at the Saint Johns Tennis Academy since 2010. Patrick has coached in the U.K, Spain, Kuwait, U.A.E, and now the U.S. His extensive playing experience include both professional and amateur events in the U.K, France, Crotia, U.A.E, Oman and the U.S.

Patrick has played and won events on all surfaces from outdoor hard, grass, indoor hard and carpet, indoor and outdoor red clay to ‘‘Hartru'“ green clay here in the South East. When in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E he played No. 1 doubles for the Emirate and was selected to play in the National day Challenge cup against Dubai 3 years in succession and also the prestigious “Gulf Invitational” in Muscat, Oman. Patrick reached 2 top 10 Florida rankings between 1997 and 99 with No.7 in the men’s 35s and No. 9 in the men’s 30s. He recently won the men’s 55s singles tile at the 2017 P.T.R International Tennis Symposium.

Patrick coached his son Sean from toddler to becoming one of Jacksonville’s top junior players and a Division 2 scholarship at Florida Tech, 2014. His coaching philosophy is geared to get good fundamentals down as quickly as possible, then allowing his students to express themselves with their own interpretation of stroke production and style of play.

COACH JAVIER ARIAS

Tennis has been my life. I have been playing for more than 35 years. I have witnessed the big evolution of the sport and studied its change over the years. I am a certified ITF level 1, USPTA and PTR Pro, teaching for over 18 years in the island of Puerto Rico. As a coach my biggest satisfaction is guiding students through the process of developing into tennis players and above of all into well rounded human beings. As a player, I maintained a top 20 ranking in the Caribbean sections and represented Puerto Rico in international events during my junior years. As a college player I played the number one position on the tennis team for Pontificia Catholic University. I was awarded a full tennis scholarship while studying my bachelor’s degree in business administration. As an adult league player I was a 4.5 rated player and member of the sectional championship team! 

At the end of the day I feel blessed to work developing athletes in the game that I am so passionate about.

COACH ESTELLA DE PAULA

Estella started playing at the age of 9 and became a top ranked junior player in Brazil. She spent 4 months at Sergi Brugera Academy in Barcelona, Spain for intensive training when just 15 years old. A few years later she relocated to Alabama with a full tennis scholarship to play at Auburn University at Montgomery, AL AUM, and played all four years from 1994-1997. Estella reached a top 5 national ranking in the NAIA division and received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. She also had the opportunity to compete at “Universiadas” which are games played in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in 1999.

Estella currently plays on several local teams in which she has made it to the USTA 5.0 National Championship level 3 times with the last competition played on October 2018. As a tennis professional Estella started teaching while in college. She spent two summers in New York to teach at Future Stars Camp and Point O’Pines Camp; located in Purchase and Brant Lake, NY in 1996 and 1997. She lived in Aurora, IL for 2 years getting her Masters Degree in Recreation Administration at Aurora University and also coached at Rush Copley Healthplex in the year 2000. Estella also coached at the Midtown Athletic Club in Weston, FL from 2005-2008. She currently teaches both children and adults of all levels at different locations in Jacksonville such as Saint Johns Tennis Academy at Mills Field, San Jose Country Club, in private communities and also involved with the Creekside High School tennis team.

Estella is also a certified yoga instructor. She finds that yoga practice is a great tool to keep her body flexible preventing common tennis injuries. Yoga also provides strength and balance helping her raise her teenage son and daughter!