Adult Player of the Year Brian Santos blends teaching, tennis and leadership

Brian Santos probably has a lot of hats in his closet, but two of the hats he wears most often fit the same.

Santos, the USTA St. Louis 2025 Male Adult Player of the Year (3.5 & Below), is the captain of multiple league teams and a frequent tournament competitor. He’s also been a high school Spanish teacher for the past 20 years. Interestingly, those roles share many of the same traits for Santos. Patience and discipline are part of both, but that’s not all.

“I try to emulate positivity to my players,” he said of his role as a USTA League captain. “I’m very good about communication. I plan things out two weeks at a time, and I’m very respectful.

“If my players have conflicts, I try to support them. On their birthdays, we go out for happy hour occasionally. So, I try to make it more of a social thing. I tell myself if the guys like me, then they’ll play for me. And I think that’s a good thing.”

That’s a similar approach he takes with his students.

“I also try to get to know my students really well,” he said. “I ask about their interests. I try to get to know what they struggle with. I try to deal with it with humor. I try to be really positive and funny, and that usually gets good results.

“I genuinely care about my students, and I genuinely care about my players as well. I’m very personable. If someone’s having a rough day on the court, after the match I’ll let them cool off a little bit. Then I’ll say, ‘I know that you tried really hard out there. You had good effort. Is there anything that I can do to help you?’ I try to be like a mentor in that capacity.”

His positive approach to life sounds very much like that of the tennis star he grew up watching.

OK, maybe not.

“I am the son of Filipino immigrants who were fans of John McEnroe,” Santos said. “My parents loved watching McEnroe and Martina Navratilova.”

McEnroe was never known as a happy-go-lucky guy, but he did have similarities to Navratilova’s game. Watching the two International Tennis Hall of Fame athletes regularly on television, Santos formed his own game in a style that reflected his idols.

“They both had strong serve-and-volley games,” Santos said. “If you tried to avoid making mistakes, McEnroe would make you make one. They both had a high tennis IQ. They both knew which volleys to hit, whether to hit a short cross-court shot or a deep shot. They both had a big variety in their game. And that’s the way I play as well.”