Ave Atque Vale Ivan Ronaldson
1974 – 2025
The world court tennis community was shocked at the unexpected death in mid-August of Ivan Ronaldson, 51, Head Court Tennis Professional at Westwood Country Club.
He leaves a wife, Christy, two young children, Liliana (11) and Bruce (8), his parents, Lesley and Chris, and two brothers, Ben and Luke. A Go Fund Me has been established to support his immediate family in a variety of ways including 529 college savings plans.
Ivan was born in Melbourne in 1974 and grew up immersed in court tennis. He was educated at Papplewick and Canford, before attending Reading University for a year.
Ivan was an outstanding junior player, winning the British Under 12s three times, the Under 14s twice and the Under 16s twice.
After leaving Reading, he turned professional, working at Holyport, Fontainebleau, the Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace, Prested Hall, Prince’s Court and Westwood Country Club.
All the clubs where he was the senior pro experienced the most successful years in their respective histories. He was particularly adept at encouraging and mentoring the younger players and gave the current World Ladies Champion, Claire Fahey, her start in court tennis. More recent successful players nurtured by Ivan include # 2 US amateur, Noah Motz, US # 5 US amateur, Erik Barker and # 1 US lady, Annie Clark.
During his tenure as head professional at Prince’s Court in McLean and then Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Ivan touched the lives of hundreds of people, from juniors to women and men amateurs to the very best players in the country. He had an incredible ability to analyze and develop strategies and tactics for players of all levels.
For years he was the leader of the Player Development Program in the U.S., directing the development of the top juniors in the country and traveling with the national junior team to the bi-annual Van Alen & Clothier Cup matches. A highlight of his career was coaching the team to victory in the 2019 Van Alen Cup in London, the first win for the U.S. in more than twenty-five years.
He ran dozens of tournaments and clinics and loved nothing more than hosting visitors who had never seen a court tennis court before. Ivan was the USCTA Professional of the Year in 2006 and 2019. He marked the 2023 World Championship and most recently hosted the 2025 U.S. Open.
Washington teams began playing in the Whitney Cup in the early 2000’s. When Ivan arrived at Prince’s Court in 2005, the team had rarely won a set let alone a match or beaten another team. Thanks to considerable perseverance, he coached the team to greater success each year, finally winning the event in both 2022 and 2024.
According to the leadership of Westwood Country Club, “It would be impossible to overstate the positive impact that Ivan has had on our Westwood community. More importantly, Ivan was an exceptional human being whose welcoming smile, funny anecdotes, and astounding knowledge of the game intrigued and excited everyone he met.”
Most who saw Ivan on or near the court tennis court would not necessarily have been exposed other aspects of his personality. Take the following TRUE / FALSE test to see how you would rank.
- Ivan thought there was nothing unusual about growing up in a palace, though he falsely denied telling his pre-school classmates where he lived.
- Ivan played on the “Magic the Gathering” (video game) pro tour.
- Ivan played competitive online poker.
- Ivan created a “Clash of Clans” (video game) league of court tennis players throughout the world.
- Ivan played “Left 4 Dead” (another video game) online.
- Ivan hosted weekly board game evenings that often went past midnight.
- Ivan played in a rock band.
- Ivan did Elvis impersonations.
- Ivan preferred Hawaiian shirts to jackets and ties.
- Ivan fell out of an unusually large number of windows.
- Ivan threatened his now-11-year-old daughter that if she ever got a tattoo, he would get the exact same one in the exact same place.
- Ivan sang in the car.
- After repeated mishaps that cost him new pairs of white shorts after coffee spills in the car, Ivan solved the problem by no longer drinking coffee in the car.
- Ivan rated his happiness as head pro at Westwood as “11 out of 10.”
- Ivan studied accounting.
- Ivan loved making speeches.
And the answers are, numbers one through 15 are true, with the study of accounting taking place during his year at Reading University.
Sadly number 16 is false. As his 20th anniversary as head pro in Washington approached, we suggested a celebration of the event. He pondered that for some days before saying he would prefer not. “Why,” he was asked. “Because I’d spend all the time between now and then worrying about what to say in a speech.”
And thus, did he miss hearing all the wonderful things said about him at the Celebration of his Life that took place on the Westwood court tennis court yesterday.
Farewell to a unique individual who brought joy wherever he went.
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Written by Haven Pell, with substantial contributions from Chris Ronaldson, Vern Cassin, The Tennis & Rackets Association and The United States Court Tennis Association.
