Chris Melsom
Director of Tennis
Welcome Chris Melsom, our new Tennis and Pickleball Director!
We are excited to announce the arrival of Chris Melsom as the new Director of Tennis and Pickleball at Sierra. Chris has been the Assistant Director of Tennis at our sister club, Chamisal, for the last three years. We are confident that he will serve you with the same professionalism and enthusiasm that he has demonstrated at Chamisal.
Chris is a native of South Carolina and has also spent nearly five years in Shanghai, China living with his family at the Shanghai Racquet Club. Chris played tennis for Spartanburg Methodist College, has been teaching tennis for 12 years, and is a PTR certified professional. Chris has been living in Monterey with his wife Astra since 2016.
As Assistant Director of Tennis at Chamisal, Chris was involved in organizing many successful tennis and pickleball events. Our goal in promoting Chris to Director of Tennis at Sierra is to implement the same suit of tennis and pickleball programming that our members enjoy at Chamisal, in our ongoing effort to bring both clubs under the same umbrella of activities.
Teresa Samstag-Haug
Tennis Professional
Teresa was born in Barcelona, Spain. She grew up at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899, home of the Masters 500 where a lot of the Spanish players grew up trained and train. She was a national ranked player representing Spain in different European competitions and also later became the coach of some of those teams.
Francisco Gonzalez
Tennis Professional
Francisco Gonzalez played on the ATP Tour from 1977 to 1990, consistently ranked in the top 100 in singles and doubles with the highest ranking of #36 in singles and # 24 in doubles. Highest ranking in doubles ATP Race of #3 with Victor Pecci (1983). USPTA certified since 1992 and USPTR certified since 1994. Played Davis Cup for Paraguay 1982 where the team qualified for the 1993 World Group and stayed there until 1990. Puerto Rico’s Davis Cup member 1992. Outstanding career wins over Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis, Yannick Noah, Henri Leconte, Andres Gomes, Johan Kriek, Elliot Teltscher and Brian Teacher. Played #1 singles and doubles for The Ohio State University (1973-1976). Bachelors Degree in Business Administration (Management with a Minor in Human Resources) from the Inter American University, Puerto Rico. The reigning (2017 US Open Ladies Champion) Sloane Stephens started her first private tennis lessons and trained at our Academy from age 6 until she left at age 10.