Jaan Kononov - Assistant Coach - Staff Directory - University of Michigan Athletics

Staff Directory

Jaan Kononov

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Assistant Coach
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Jaan Kononov enters his second season as an assistant coach for the Michigan women's tennis program in 2025-26. He comes to Ann Arbor after spending last season as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, helping the Waves to a semifinal appearance in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

After losing three four-year stalwarts in the lineup, Michigan did not miss a beat in 2025 en route to the first semifinal appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history. U-M leaned on player development to reach new heights, with Julia Fliegner moving from No. 3 to No. 1, Piper Charney from No. 6 to No. 2 and Lily Jones from No. 5 to No. 3. U-M went 13-0 in the expanded Big Ten, winning its third straight and 13th overall Big Ten championship. Fliegner was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, with Charney joining her on the first team. Emily Sartz-Lunde took home Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, along with ITA Midwest Region Rookie of the Year laurels. Fliegner, who reached the semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship, and Charney were each named ITA All-Americans in singles for the first times in their respective careers. Fliegner also earned CSC Academic All-America first-team recognition and was Michigan’s female recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor.

U-M hosted the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament, shutting out Youngstown State and Arizona State in the first two rounds before outlasting Texas, 4-3, in the Round of 16 at the VTC. The Wolverines shut out No. 20-ranked Oklahoma State in their third straight quarterfinal appearance, advancing to the Final Four for the first time ever. U-M’s season came to an end at the hands of the defending national champions, falling to Texas A&M. Michigan finished the season ranked No. 3 as a team, the highest season-ending ranking in program history.

The Waves went 21-7 in 2024, finishing the season ranked No. 6 with five ranked singles players and a trio earning All-America honors. Pepperdine swept the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, the latter marking its 10th straight tournament crown.

He returned to Malibu after a season as an assistant coach at Minnesota (2022-23). He was a volunteer coach at Pepperdine from 2019-22.

In his first stint at Pepperdine, Kononov helped the Waves win three West Coast Conference championship titles and was instrumental in helping Janice Tjen, Savannah Broadus and Lisa Zaar make deep runs in the 2022 NCAA singles and doubles championship.

Before joining the Waves, Kononov was a graduate assistant at Grand Canyon for two seasons (2017-18, 2018-19), where the Antelopes won the Western Athletic Conference championship and tournament with a 19-7 record. At GCU, Kononov coached a top 60-ranked doubles team.

In his own professional tennis career, Kononov participated in the Estonian Davis Cup team and was an Estonian National Championship Finalist in doubles and singles.

He graduated from San Diego in 2016, where he helped the men's tennis team reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament and win a WCC title. He also played collegiately at Armstrong State (2012-14) and UMBC (2014-15) during his college tennis career.