Gabor Zoltan Pelva Hometown: Novi Sad, Serbia Position: Assistant Coach Alma Mater: Auburn University

Gabor Zoltan Pelva enters his third season as an assistant coach with the Auburn men's tennis team.

Pelva is in his sixth year overall with the Tigers, including his three stellar seasons as a player. In his five previous years as part of the men's tennis team, Pelva has helped the Tigers to a 69-53 record and five NCAA Tournament appearances. While part of the coaching staff, Auburn has a 29-21 record.

Pelva, a Novi Sad, Serbia, native, finished his career at Auburn as an All-American and a two-time first team All-SEC selection with a 61-28 career singles and 41-36 career doubles record. In 2004 he was ranked as high as number four in doubles by ITA and finished the season as a NCAA singles semi-finalist - the highest finish ever for an Auburn men's tennis player.

At one point, Pelva also attained a ranking as high as No. 6 in singles, also the highest ever for an Auburn men's tennis player.

He also won the Arizona State Thunderbird Invitational twice during his time at Auburn. The first was in 2003, in the singles draw, and the second coming the following year in doubles along with teammate and current volunteer assistant coach Robbert Lathouwers.

Although one of Auburn's most outstanding players, Pelva is no stranger to the leadership role.

For head coach Eric Shore he represented the team in both 2004 and 2005 as captain. He also served his coach in Serbia as both a player and assistant.

Now as a coach for Auburn, Pelva is living a dream that began when he was a teenager.

"At 16, I was plagued with injuries that kept me out for the crucial years that I needed to cross over into professional tennis," said Pelva. "So at that time I started focusing on my academics, but I knew my heart was in tennis and I wanted to stay with that, so I started also focusing on someday coaching."

As an assistant for the Tigers, Pelva is in charge of conditioning along with strength trainer Jeff Andrews. He also assists Shore with practice plans and general match decisions.

"He has made a good transition from being a great player to being a coach," said Shore. "He has been working well with the guys technically and he brings a lot to the team. I am looking forward to working with him for a while."

Pelva graduated from Auburn in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in exercise science and is currently pursuing a master's degree in exercise science. He also speaks four languages: Serbian, Hungarian, German and English, and has won four Yugoslavian national titles.