Alumni Spotlight | Raj Gill | 2000-04
9/24/2020 8:30:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Weekly feature highlights former players
Marquette men's tennis players are scattered across the world and our new Alumni Spotlight feature will allow us to provide personal and professional updates on the student-athletes who represented the University on the court and continue to be ambassadors today.
Raj Gill | 2000-04 | Slough, England
Location: Live in Glenview, Illinois with my wife (Marquette alum) and two sons.
Career Path: I started coaching immediately after graduation. I was first the women's assistant coach and later the men's assistant coach at Marquette. Since then, I have coached at different levels of the sport. Unfortunately, I had a career-ending injury and can no longer play tennis, so I had to change my career path and founded theexperienceedge.com, which focuses on sports consulting and life coaching for athletes. I'm very motivated to help change the culture of high performance and youth sports and promote the mental and physical well-being of all athletes.
Marquette Memories: As I move further away from my days of competing, the matches and results have become less significant, but the people I met through tennis at Marquette remain some of the most important people in my life. I remember moments with teammates and coaches, as well as the relationships that were developed at Marquette more than anything.
As in life, there were ups and downs at Marquette on and off the court, but regardless of the situation, I will always remember the fantastic support I received from those around me. There were some great people in the athletics department during my time at Marquette and I will always be grateful for people like Kathryn Statz, Tom Ford and Bill Cords, especially during difficult moments in my career at Marquette.
It's good to look back and see how much the tennis program has developed since my freshman year. We are now competing regularly for conference championships and performing well, both on and off the court. Coach Rodecap set high goals and built a solid foundation very early and has successfully established a great program; I feel very fortunate to have played for him my senior year. I think it's important to point out the significance of players from the 2002 and 2003 class because these guys were tasked with helping build, promote and adapt to the culture and work ethic of the program. Ian, Ricky, Tomek, and Eigi played a very important role in pushing the team to where it is today. The same goes for the next group (Brett, Pete, Greg, Shao, Trent, Mark and Niko). I would encourage former and current players to connect with these guys to listen to their Marquette journeys and memories.
I have a lot of memories and stories from strength and conditioning (probably the most popular thing we talk about when teammates get together), like early morning workouts, the blue mile etc. I was not good at all in this area, but we were considered a very well-conditioned team -- mainly due to Creighton Macy. Of course, I'll always remember the road trips with teammates, late night meals together, and watching other Marquette teams compete.
Fun Fact: Unfortunately, I did not keep a record of practice scores and statistics like Greg Sirotek, so I cannot comment on anyone's stats.
Â
I was going to commit to the University of South Florida, but my dad convinced me to take a last-minute recruiting trip to Marquette. Very glad he did (although I had some pretty serious regrets each winter)!
Â
Coach Rodecap on Raj: "Raj was a senior my first year at Marquette and was a tremendous asset to me in my early years. His character and dependability earned my trust right from the beginning. He completely bought into what we were trying to accomplish and was one of the best "lead by example guys" you could ask for. He poured his heart into the program and helped guide me in learning what it meant to be a student-athlete at Marquette. His loyalty to me, and our program, is a critical piece to any accomplishment this program has ever had during my career at Marquette."Â
Raj Gill | 2000-04 | Slough, England
Location: Live in Glenview, Illinois with my wife (Marquette alum) and two sons.
Career Path: I started coaching immediately after graduation. I was first the women's assistant coach and later the men's assistant coach at Marquette. Since then, I have coached at different levels of the sport. Unfortunately, I had a career-ending injury and can no longer play tennis, so I had to change my career path and founded theexperienceedge.com, which focuses on sports consulting and life coaching for athletes. I'm very motivated to help change the culture of high performance and youth sports and promote the mental and physical well-being of all athletes.
Marquette Memories: As I move further away from my days of competing, the matches and results have become less significant, but the people I met through tennis at Marquette remain some of the most important people in my life. I remember moments with teammates and coaches, as well as the relationships that were developed at Marquette more than anything.
As in life, there were ups and downs at Marquette on and off the court, but regardless of the situation, I will always remember the fantastic support I received from those around me. There were some great people in the athletics department during my time at Marquette and I will always be grateful for people like Kathryn Statz, Tom Ford and Bill Cords, especially during difficult moments in my career at Marquette.
It's good to look back and see how much the tennis program has developed since my freshman year. We are now competing regularly for conference championships and performing well, both on and off the court. Coach Rodecap set high goals and built a solid foundation very early and has successfully established a great program; I feel very fortunate to have played for him my senior year. I think it's important to point out the significance of players from the 2002 and 2003 class because these guys were tasked with helping build, promote and adapt to the culture and work ethic of the program. Ian, Ricky, Tomek, and Eigi played a very important role in pushing the team to where it is today. The same goes for the next group (Brett, Pete, Greg, Shao, Trent, Mark and Niko). I would encourage former and current players to connect with these guys to listen to their Marquette journeys and memories.
I have a lot of memories and stories from strength and conditioning (probably the most popular thing we talk about when teammates get together), like early morning workouts, the blue mile etc. I was not good at all in this area, but we were considered a very well-conditioned team -- mainly due to Creighton Macy. Of course, I'll always remember the road trips with teammates, late night meals together, and watching other Marquette teams compete.
Fun Fact: Unfortunately, I did not keep a record of practice scores and statistics like Greg Sirotek, so I cannot comment on anyone's stats.
Â
I was going to commit to the University of South Florida, but my dad convinced me to take a last-minute recruiting trip to Marquette. Very glad he did (although I had some pretty serious regrets each winter)!
Â
Coach Rodecap on Raj: "Raj was a senior my first year at Marquette and was a tremendous asset to me in my early years. His character and dependability earned my trust right from the beginning. He completely bought into what we were trying to accomplish and was one of the best "lead by example guys" you could ask for. He poured his heart into the program and helped guide me in learning what it meant to be a student-athlete at Marquette. His loyalty to me, and our program, is a critical piece to any accomplishment this program has ever had during my career at Marquette."Â
HIGHLIGHTS: MUBB vs. #6 Purdue 12.13.2025
Saturday, December 13
Marquette Thursdays LIVE from Motor Bar at Harley Davidson Museum 12/11/2025
Friday, December 12
Inside Marquette Basketball - Dec. 10, 2025
Thursday, December 11
In the Circle | Episode 1 | "Shopping with the Golden Eagles"
Wednesday, December 10