www.jansilvatennis.com/bio.html
Jan Kristian Silva was born the son of Finnish National Tennis Champion Mari Maattanen and college basketball standout Scott Silva, on November 17, 2001 in Sacramento, California, USA. Jan actually started playing the game to which has become so devoted, before he was born! Jan’s mother Mari, an extremely popular teaching professional, continued teaching tennis at her home club of Gold River, California well into her ninth month of pregnancy, and had just finished with a tennis lesson when she was rushed to a local hospital to give birth to Jan!
Jan’s fascination with tennis was seemingly triggered while watching World Team Tennis matches as a baby, where his mother Mari substituted as a World Team Tennis Sacramento Capital, along with may other touring pros such as Mark Knowles, Andre Agassi, Anna Kournikova and Elena Lihkotseva, who all had Jan on their knee at one time or another!
Much too young to be a ball boy for the Sacramento Capitals, Jan began hitting foam balls and tennis balls with his parents at the early age of one (1) year.
Jan’s baby sitter and manager of the Gold River, California indoor courts, Chelle Walsch, would feed balls to Jan every day as well as show him a tennis calendar depicting the world’s top ATP professionals. By age two (2) Jan had identified with rising American star James Blake, insisting on repeatedly watching a taped tennis match between James Blake and Paradorn Srichipan during the final of an ATP event in Comack, New York. Jan started to emulate the ground strokes of James Blake, including his one-handed backhand! The tiny sensation began to astound not just casual tennis players, but teaching professionals and touring professionals alike!
Jan’s tennis prowess continued to grow in leaps and bounds, and by age three (3) had developed consistent strokes while hitting with virtually all top teaching professionals at Gold River, California, including head professional Marty Rothfels as well as Doug Atkinson, head professional at Broadstone Tennis facility in Folsom, California. Jan would play imaginary matches against the sliding glass door in his parents living room, even toweling off between points! By watching the taped tennis match showing James Blake, over and over, Jan visualized each and every stoke and continued to hone his big tennis game, housed within his pint-sized body. Local news picked up the story of the “Tiger Woods of Tennis” while covering an October 2004 ATP Challenger event in Sacramento, California. Jan would, incredibly, be seen hitting daily with the likes of former top 30, 40 and 50 touring professionals Harel Levey, Flavio Saretta and Andre Sa!
A video tape of Jan with his hitting coach Amine Khaldi was sent to various sports management firms, in order to give them a “heads up” on the latest sports prodigy. IMG’s staff commented that of the hundreds of video tape that they review throughout the year, they “have never seen anything like this”, referring of course to Jan’s clean shot making at the ripe old age of four (4) years! Jan was invited to hit with Nick Bollietteri at his tennis camp in Bradenton, Florida, as well as be a guest at the Pacific Life ATP event in Indian Wells, California. There in Indian Wells in March of 2006, Jan was seen hitting by Tennis legend Jimmy Connors, who was impressed sufficiently enough to ask Jan’s parents for permission to include Jan in a Jimmy Connors instructional tennis video!
Jan Silva also made a distinct impression on Australian Open Finalist Marcos Baghdatis and his coach Guillaume Peyre, who were hitting adjacent to Jan and his father Scott Silva in between matches. Jan amazed Marcos with his ability to emulate his two handed backhand, then switch to his standby one-handed backhand as matter of factly as shaking hands, truly remarkable for age four(4) or fourteen(14) for that matter! Jan was quickly invited to Paris, France to be a guest with his family at one of the finest junior tennis facilities in the world, the Mouratoglou Academy, where he currently resides and trains, with his entire family! Jan is by far the youngest player enrolled at this elite training facility, which enrolls only a very few of the world’s top junior players, who all train there full time. Marcos Baghdatis is the premier player from this academy, who still trains there and interacts with Jan daily!
Jan has appeared on such shows as the Ellen Degeneres Show and ABC’s Good Morning America, as well as other major media in both France and the United States. Jan’s tennis prowess is a much talked about subject in the tennis pages of French Tennis Magazine as well as VSD Magazine, the French version of People Magazine. Remember, Jan Silva is only Five (5) years old at present, and stay tuned for his tournament results against much older competition!
'
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
