Only a year into her experience as a tennis player, Doris Manahan began captaining. Her players are lucky she did.

Manahan, from Plainsboro, N.J., is captaining three teams in New Jersey this year. She began playing tennis in 2009 and captaining in 2010, and hasn’t looked back. She was named the Middle States Captain of the Month for July.

What is your favorite part of playing and captaining tennis matches?
My favorite part of captaining is the analysis involved and figuring out which players might play well together, which players should play which courts, etc.

How did you get into captaining in the first place?
The owner of Princeton Racquet Club (Colleen Cosgrove) asked me to give it a try, and here I am 10 years later.

Hardest aspect of captaining a USTA League team?
The hardest part is looking for last-minute players when the assigned players can’t play due to an emergency.

Something special/unique about your team/s?
My teams are called LoveSetters. The goal is to love-set the opponent, which we’ve been successful only a handful of times.