PJ Tennis Academy

A school-integrated, boutique approach in Bangkok

PJ Tennis Academy was built for families who want serious tennis without disrupting school or home life. It is a compact, travel-ready program that meets players where they are, then scales their training toward national events, the ITF circuit, and eventual college or professional goals. The academy’s footprint spans partner venues in Thailand, anchored by Bangkok with satellite activity in Pattaya and Hua Hin. Rather than selling a single gated campus, PJ Tennis curates the right courts, gyms, and schedules for each athlete and keeps the top coaches close to the daily work.

Co-founded by Thai icon Paradorn Srichaphan, who climbed to world No. 9 on the ATP, and Australian former national No. 1 junior Jed Gould, the academy pairs star-level insight with school-integrated structure. The initials in the name capture the partnership, but the philosophy runs deeper: keep marketing noise low, keep standards high, and build an ecosystem that consistently develops Southeast Asian competitors.

Founding story and philosophy

Srichaphan and Gould first crossed paths as teenagers on the junior circuit, and their later reunion turned into a shared project. They wanted a program that felt as attentive as a private coach but could deliver the outcomes of a well-run academy. The result is a leadership model where the founders remain hands-on with selection and progression. Coaches are mentored each week, not just briefed, and are expected to hold recognized certifications alongside current safeguarding checks. That attention to staff development is a meaningful signal for parents who value teaching quality as much as ball speed.

The coaching philosophy is pragmatic. Training is tailored to the athlete’s stage and goals. Movement and court position come first, stroke structure supports repeatable contact, and tactical clarity under pressure is the end product. Physical work is periodized around school calendars and tournament windows so students peak when it counts. Mental skills are not abstract slogans but practical routines applied in match-play blocks with planned constraints. Above all, the academy favors deliberate practice over volume for its own sake.

Location, climate, and why it matters

Bangkok is the academy’s primary base for term-time training, with Pattaya and Hua Hin offering coastal environments for holiday blocks and tournament weekends. The Thai climate is a real performance lever. Year-round outdoor sessions build heat tolerance, footwork efficiency, and hydration discipline. Athletes learn how to manage energy in humid conditions, then feel the payoff when traveling to cooler events.

Bangkok’s international transport links also matter. With direct flights across Asia, it is easy to assemble varied match play, whether that means a quick weekend of UTR-style competition or stepping onto ITF junior events without multi-day travel budgets. The multi-site setup lets PJ Tennis schedule elite weekday sessions in the capital and shift to beach-town blocks that double as lower-stress match environments during school breaks.

Facilities and daily training environment

Because PJ Tennis delivers training through partner venues rather than a single campus, the environment is intentionally flexible:

• Outdoor hard courts at school and club sites for daily drilling and live ball.
• Access to well-equipped strength and conditioning spaces with platforms, racks, and functional zones.
• Indoor halls for cross-training, agility circuits, and poor-weather contingencies.
• Aquatics and mobility areas for active recovery, plus yoga and spin rooms where available.
• On-site study spaces at school-integrated programs to keep academics on track.

The high performance stream includes a structured return-to-play pathway. Training loads are adjusted, progressions are staged, and coaches coordinate with medical professionals when needed. Families should expect the specifics to vary by venue, which is exactly the point of the model: the academy adapts the environment to the player, not the other way around.

Coaching staff and player-first philosophy

The staff roster combines Thai and international coaches with recognized qualifications. Hiring standards emphasize:

• Certification from the ITF or equivalent national bodies.
• Current safeguarding and background checks.
• Weekly mentoring that focuses on coaching craft, not just hitting repetitions.
• A shared curriculum for technical language and tactical frameworks so players hear consistent messages.

Srichaphan oversees the top pathway, bringing the pragmatic eye of someone who has actually navigated the ATP top 10. Gould adds depth from years inside school and national systems. The extended team draws on specialists for serve mechanics, movement, and tour preparation. The net effect is an environment where players receive individualized feedback while still benefiting from a coherent academy philosophy.

Programs and pathways

PJ Tennis organizes its offer in three clear lanes that can connect into one another over time.

1. School-integrated elite programs

   For student-athletes enrolled at partner international schools, tennis and academics live on one timetable. Daily training is coordinated with class schedules, supervised study windows, and strength sessions. Selection standards apply, and progression is mapped from school squads to national competition and, for many, university recruitment.

2. High performance squads

   Designed for athletes 13 and older who are nationally ranked, already active on the ITF junior circuit, or targeting college tennis, this stream emphasizes quality sparring, tournament scheduling, and pre-tour preparation. Entry decisions are handled by the founders, which keeps the top group small and the standards sharp. Scholarships are reserved for the most accomplished juniors who commit to full-time training and schooling.

3. Development and adult programming

   Younger juniors start in age-appropriate groups that emphasize fundamentals, athletic coordination, and a love of play. Adults can access group clinics, cardio sessions, or private lessons. For families with unique schedules, private coaching can be arranged at convenient courts across Bangkok and surrounding areas.

Seasonal camps complement all three lanes. Expect Bangkok-based intensives during international school holidays and destination weeks in coastal towns that combine training volume with match play in a lower-pressure setting.

How PJ Tennis develops players

Technical foundations

Every pathway starts with movement. Players learn how to set the base, recover efficiently, and manage spacing to the ball. Grip work and contact-point discipline are layered in so that mechanics support tactical intentions. As athletes progress, training emphasizes pattern reliability under pressure, especially serve plus one combinations that travel across court speeds.

Tactical clarity

Sessions often build constraints into live ball to force smarter decisions. Examples include limiting patterns by side, defining serve targets by score, or setting rally-length goals that shift mid-drill. Players learn basic scouting, identify opponent patterns, and write simple match plans that can be adjusted between sets.

Physical preparation

Strength and conditioning are periodized around school calendars and competition windows. Typical blocks include:

• Accumulation for general strength and movement quality.
• Intensification for power and speed aligned with tournament peaks.
• Maintenance phases that protect freshness when match volume rises.

Conditioning blends on-court movement with off-court work. Recovery is not an afterthought: coaches track load, adjust when signs of fatigue appear, and apply return-to-play progressions for athletes coming back from injury.

Mental skills that stick

The mental side is trained inside daily sessions rather than outsourced to theory. Coaches script adversity through score-based games, serve targets under fatigue, or limited pattern choices that trigger stress. Players adopt between-point routines, review matches with clear checklists, and practice debriefs that translate into the next week’s plans.

Education and recruiting

For teenagers targeting the United States college pathway, the academy offers guidance on video, outreach timelines, and balancing exams with tournaments. Because the elite program sits inside a strong academic environment, athletes can increase training volume during priority windows without sacrificing grades.

Alumni and early outcomes

PJ Tennis is a young brand by academy standards and is still building a long alumni list. What families can evaluate today are the entry standards for the top squad, the presence of touring coaches for on-the-road support, and the scholarship criteria aimed at nationally elite juniors. Those elements, combined with school-integrated structure, point toward a program whose intent is to convert serious juniors into university-bound or tour-level athletes.

Culture and community life

Without a single boarding campus, culture forms around training groups, not dormitories. For many families that is a feature, not a bug. Student-athletes keep home routines and academic stability while still accessing high-level coaching. In school-integrated settings, tennis sits inside a broader co-curricular community that includes multiple sports, performance facilities, and supervised study. The coaching team is intentionally international and bilingual, which helps communication across families who call Thailand home for a few years or for a lifetime.

Day to day, expect purposeful sessions, clear attendance expectations for elite groups, and a tone that balances ambition with perspective. The academy strives for a professional feel without becoming impersonal, and it protects small group sizes so feedback stays specific.

Costs, accessibility, and scholarships

Pricing varies with training volume and academic timetable, so elite school-integrated programs and high performance squads are typically quoted on request. Private coaching is offered with transparent hourly rates, and families can choose between international staff or bilingual Thai coaches depending on preference and location. The scholarship pool targets the very top juniors in the country who commit to full-time training and schooling.

For accessibility, the distributed model reduces relocation friction. Families already living in Bangkok or relocating for work can fold tennis into existing school and home routines. Seasonal camps and short blocks make it feasible for regional players to sample the program before committing to longer stays.

How PJ Tennis compares

Many well-known academies concentrate everything on one destination campus. That approach has real strengths and is the right fit for some athletes. Families weighing options often look at benchmarks like the Rafa Nadal Academy profile, the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy guide, or the IMG Academy tennis program. PJ Tennis takes a different angle for Southeast Asia. It is designed to integrate high-level coaching with excellent day schools, keeping academics and training on a single predictable timetable in Bangkok while maintaining the freedom to travel for competition.

Two differentiators stand out:

• Leadership at the top. Having a former world No. 9 directly oversee selection and progression for the top squad is rare. It reduces the risk of misplacement in groups that do not match an athlete’s pace or school load.
• A coach-development engine. Weekly mentoring and credentialing expectations ensure the methodology evolves and that players hear consistent, high-quality instruction.

Add the climate advantages and the travel connectivity across Asia, and you have a setup that prepares juniors for both the physical demands of the sport and the realities of a competition calendar.

Future outlook and vision

The founders’ stated aim is straightforward: develop more world-class Southeast Asian players. The academy’s expansion plan favors partnerships with strong international schools and seasonal camps in destinations families already visit. The template is modular and repeatable: a core high performance stream with scholarship incentives for the very best, a school-integrated elite program wherever facilities allow, and flexible private coaching that covers everyone else.

On the performance side, expect continued emphasis on:

• Smarter scheduling that maximizes ranking opportunities without academic disruption.
• Data-informed progress checks that evaluate patterns, not just results.
• Touring support for key events so athletes are not navigating the road alone.

As the program matures, a growing record of alumni outcomes should follow, from national titles and ITF breakthroughs to college placements and early professional steps.

Final take

PJ Tennis Academy offers a clear proposition for families in Thailand and across the region. If your priority is to combine high-level tennis with rigorous academics on a single coordinated timetable, the school-integrated model in Bangkok is compelling. If you need flexibility, the distributed structure lets you build a program around your life rather than uprooting it. And if you want leadership that has been where your child is trying to go, the presence of Paradorn Srichaphan and Jed Gould is a strong assurance that standards will stay high.

It is not a resort solution, and it is not trying to be. Instead, PJ Tennis is a focused pathway that uses Thailand’s climate, travel connectivity, and school infrastructure to produce durable competitors. For ambitious juniors, motivated families, and adults who value quality coaching, it is a thoughtful, scalable option with the right blend of personalization and performance.