Serving Success: Coach Howie and Columbia Tennis Bring Top Talent to the Upper West Side

By Tracy Zwick

If you’re an Upper West Sider who loves to watch top-tier tennis, you don’t have to wait till August, schlep to Flushing Meadows, and shell out hundreds of dollars at the U.S. Open.

In fact, you barely even have to leave the neighborhood.

You can hop on the 1 train, ride a few stops uptown, and walk into one of the most impressive collegiate tennis facilities in the country. There, you can watch Columbia University’s nationally-ranked Division 1 men’s tennis team – led by the No. 1 collegiate player in the country, Michael Zheng – as they compete at the state-of-the-art Milstein Family Tennis Center.

And best of all? Admission is free.

This Saturday at 1 p.m., the No. 9-ranked Lions begin their Ivy League title defense against Cornell, under the guidance of two-time Ivy League Coach of the Year Howard Endelman. Or, as just about everyone calls him, Coach Howie.

“We want people to come!” Endelman told me, his enthusiasm unmistakable, as we sat in the team’s sleek new players’ lounge on a recent weeknight after practice. Family members, alumni, and fans have been fast to flock to the modern 12-court facility with sweeping views of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers.

But Coach Howie’s hoping for even broader community engagement, reaching beyond the Columbia community to include the rest of the Upper West Side. He’s been a fixture in the Columbia tennis world and the neighborhood since arriving as a recruited athlete in 1983. Aside from a few years away, he’s been on the UWS ever since.

As a student at Columbia, Endelman captained the team for two years before trying his luck on the pro circuit. He made the main draw in doubles at the U.S. Open in 1988 and a year later played Wimbledon’s qualifying tournament. But by the time he was 24, he was back at Columbia, the youngest Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) head coach in the country. He led the school’s women’s team for three seasons before pivoting to law school and a career in finance.

Then Columbia tennis came calling again.

In 2010, Columbia’s legendary coach Bid Goswami invited him back as an assistant on the men’s team, with the idea that Endelman would take over when Goswami retired. That retirement didn’t come until 2019, meaning the two worked together for nearly a decade. But just months after Endelman officially took over, COVID shut down Ivy League athletics for 18 months.

Instead of coaching matches, Endelman found himself leading the charge to design and build the Milstein Family Tennis Center, the 750-seat competition home of the Lions that opened in early 2023.

“It took a lot to get this done,” Endelman says. “Especially because we built in a flood zone, and a lot of NYC regulations changed after Hurricane Sandy. It’s very tough to build on the water now.”

But the result was worth it. The six pristine indoor courts have a slightly softer hardcourt surface, while the six outdoor rooftop courts have a firmer, more traditional hardcourt feel, with stunning views of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, a shipping channel that joins the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. “Everybody who comes to the matches says, ‘Wow, this is better than the U.S. Open,’” Endelman beamed.

The Lions are among the best college teams in the country, currently ranked No. 9 and coming off a road win against No. 6 University of San Diego, and a road loss against No. 21 Pepperdine University. Their roster is stacked with international talent, including Max Westphal from Paris and Thanaphat (“Putter”) Boosarawongse from Bangkok.

But the team’s biggest star is Zheng, a New Jersey native who won the NCAA singles championship last year and has already played in the U.S. Open twice. His doubles partner is fellow New Jersey native, No. 42-ranked Nicolas Kotzen.

“This is an amazing opportunity for New Yorkers,” Endelman says. “Instead of paying big bucks to watch Michael at the U.S. Open, you can see him for free, right here.” League play begins this Saturday and ends on April 20th.

“We’re playing the best,” Endelman says. “Wake Forest, Michigan, Stanford, Ohio State—these are elite teams. The Ivy League has some really strong programs, too. Harvard is ranked No. 10. Princeton’s right around No. 35.”

For Endelman, tennis is about more than rankings and wins. “I love coaching, working with young people, and using the sport of tennis as a vehicle to try to help them gain confidence, develop and grow,” he says. “It’s about preparing them for the world, putting these guys in a position to be happy and successful after tennis. I’m trying to help these young men improve in everything as much as possible, not just teaching forehands and backhands.”

Endelman is proud of the team’s scholastic standing; his players have had the highest GPA of Columbia’s 31 sports teams in five of the last eight semesters. Many of his former players stay in New York after graduation, going on to careers in medicine, law, business, and engineering. “We have two guys in Columbia Medical School right now,” Endelman says. “A lot of our alumni stick around, and they keep coming back to matches.”

The Upper West Side is home for Endelman, and he doesn’t see that changing. “Since 1983, I’ve spent all but four years on the UWS,” he says. “That’s pretty cool.” Among his favorite UWS spots is Elea on West 85^th Street (whereas his players favor Thai Market and Bánh on Amsterdam near West 107th Street). And while there are no food concessions – yet – at “The Mil” (shorthand for the Milstein Family Tennis Center), Endelman would be glad to see food trucks there. “Tacos, pizza—how easy would that be?” he says.

That might help draw more UWSers to discover Columbia tennis. “Come out and watch!” he urges. With their Ivy League title campaign beginning Saturday, matchups against Brown and Yale at home April 5th and 6th, and Penn coming to town April 11th, Endelman’s optimistic: “Hopefully it’ll be exciting.”

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