Meet The Staff

Richard Flores

Rich has owned and managed First Serve Tennis since the store opened in 1989. He has been stringing tennis racquets and doing racquet repair & customization for 25 years. He is a USRSA certified Master Racquet Technician which is the highest level of certification available in our industry. In 2006, Rich was invited to join the Tecnifibre International Stringing Team which provides the stringing service at the Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament in Paris, France, where he strung over 350 racquets in 10 days for some of the highest ranked professional players in the world. Rich is also one of 8 American racquet technicians that was named to the exclusive Babolat VS Competition String Team. Rich is also the buyer for First Serve Tennis and personally selects the merchandise carried in the store.

Grayson Throckmorton

Grayson has been employed at First Serve Tennis since April of 2008 and started playing competitive tennis since the age of 14. Grayson has been stringing and doing repairs on racquets for nearly 6 years, and is a USRSA certified Master Racquet Technician which is the highest level of certification available in our industry. He played varsity tennis all four years at Smithson Valley High School, and was a student at The John Newcombe Tennis Academy in New Braunfels, TX. Grayson is currently enrolled at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Grayson’s primary goal is to be working for Wilson Racquet Sports after he receives his marketing degree.

Evan Howard

Evan started working at First Serve Tennis in September of 2009. He has been a customer since he started playing tennis competitively in 2005. He played varsity tennis at Antonian College Preparatory High School, and was the Varsity team captain during his senior year in 2009. In addition to being one of the tennis racquet stringers, he also strings nearly all of the racquetball racquets and is a USRSA certified Master Racquet Technician which is the highest level of certification available in our industry. Evan is currently attending Northwest Vista College, pursuing a degree in Engineering. His hobbies include working on and modifying his car, autocross, and photography (the photographs on this website were taken by Evan).

Trenton Pollok

Trenton is our newest member to the First Serve team. He is from Floresville, Texas where he played 4 years varsity tennis for the team. His hobbies other than tennis include basketball, baseball, and table tennis. He is currently attending UTSA studying business. Trenton is currently studying for the USRSA Master Racquet Technicians certification exam.

Gloria Mallory

Gloria has been a part of the First Serve Tennis staff since 1998. She is a veteran in the tennis retail industry and is the buyer for the ladies apparel collections we carry and handles all of the team orders. Gloria is a competitive tennis player and competes at the 4.0 level. She has captained many USTA league teams and is a big fan of our sport. She brings great enthusiasm to our store and we enjoy having her very much.

James Paradise

James has been an employee at First Serve Tennis since January of 2008. He played high school tennis at Clark High School until his junior year when he moved to Georgia. After graduating from high school, he returned to San Antonio and is a graduate of UTSA with a degree in marketing. James has been stringing racquets for 4 years and is a USRSA certified Master Racquet Technician which is the highest level of certification available in our industry.