Girls Tennis Coach of the Year: Foti keeps Walton on top

After leading Walton’s girls tennis team to a second straight state title, Anthony Foti was named Cobb County Girls Coach of the Year by his peers.

The Lady Raiders defeated Alpharetta to earn the Class AAAAAA title last month.

Foti said he is proud to win the award, but he calls it a team accomplishment, acknowledging a lot of the credit goes to his players for their efforts.

“The reason I am so proud of it is the fact that it reflects all the work the kids put in,” Foti said. “It’s really easy with tennis. You do as good a job as possible, but it’s really up to the girls once they get on the court.”

Walton has won 18 of the last 20 state championships in the state’s highest classification, and 22 overall. Foti said that the high standard set by the teams of the past is motivation for the players of today.

“It’s about making them understand that this is how it’s been done in the past and this is what the expectation is, and if you’re going to be part of the program, you’re going to meet that,” Foti said. “With the team this year, they met it and exceeded it in most cases. It’s about living up to those past teams and, hopefully, creating something all new and even more special.”

Foti said one of the biggest hurdles the team faced was the added pressure that comes with being a defending champion.

“At the beginning of the year, I think they kind of expected to go out and beat everybody,” Foti said. “Really, the biggest challenge was letting them know, ‘Hey, you guys are reigning state champions. You’re going to get everybody’s best shot no matter what. They’re going to come at you as hard as they possibly can.’”

Foti said a moment that stood out for Walton this spring was the state quarterfinals against West Forsyth.

“They could play with us, which, to be honest — some weeks, we played teams where there was a talent disparity between us and them, but this was not the case,” Foti said. “We went out there and West Forsyth could’ve gone either way, and we dominated it, almost every line.

“They knew we can’t screw around with this, We have to come at them, and it was pretty one-sided because we played to our absolute maximum potential.”

Foti said the goal for 2023 is simply to win another state championship.

“We want to keep our tradition going,” he said. “We set the standard of excellence and the girls know that, at this point, they have a chance to go past just being state champions and create a legacy for themselves, winning multiple years in a row.”