Robby was born in 1970 in a Hungarian town, the only son to Marian and Stefan Budacsek. When Robby was three years old, he, his parents, and holocaust surviving grandparents, immigrated to Israel. Robby started playing tennis as an 8-year-old in a small club in Netanya, Israel. It was clear from the beginning that Robby was very talented for the sport. In 1980, he joined the 12 and under national team in the Israel Tennis Center in Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv. For the following 8 years he trained 6 days a week, 4 hours a day. His dream was to turn pro and become a champion.
In 1988 Robby reached #2 singles and #1 doubles under 18 in the Israeli national rankings. Soon thereafter, he reached a career high of #7 men’s singles and #9 men’s doubles in the Israeli national rankings. In the Men’s National Championships Robby reached the Quarterfinals in both 1995 and 1996. He also represented his country in many international championships.
During the years 1988 and 1991 Robby completed three years of mandatory military service in the (IDF) military police division. Due to his success as a junior player he was fortunate to have received a sports exemption, which allowed him to continue to train daily and compete regularly.
In order to earn money for traveling on the tour, Robby signed a contract with the German professional league in the spring of 1992. During the five seasons of the contract duration, Robby won all but one singles matches and won all his doubles matches. Also in 1992, he officially turned pro and ranked #1096 ATP singles and #674 doubles. https://www.atptour.com/en/players/robby-budachek/b490/overview
After retiring from the tour in 1996, Robby became the youngest Head Coach for the Israel Tennis Center. Within a year Robby received the ITC/ITA Israel's Coach of the year award. He worked with the nation’s best juniors, highly ranked ITF, WTA and ATP players, at the Israel Tennis Center in Jerusalem and Ramat Hasharon. Later, he became the Head Professional for the Israel Tennis Associations’ excellence program in the Wingate Institute of Physical Fitness. Rob represented Israel in many international fund-raising events and traveled as a national coach to many international tournaments.
In 1997, Robby met his future wife Katerina, who worked for a sports marketing company at that time. They married in July 1999 in her native Czech Republic.
Early in 1999 Robby and Katerina moved to Florida where Robby joined the Rick Macci Tennis Academy in Pompano Beach. In May of 2000, Robby joined the Herrmann Tennis Academy in Northbrook, Illinois as a Co-Director and a personal coach. In March 2008 Robby became the Director of the High Performance program at the College Park Athletic Club in Deerfield, Illinois. In May 2009 their twin girls Alicia & Sophia were born. Happiness!
In 2013 Robby received the prestigious USPTA Individual Coach of the Year award.
He has developed dozens and dozens of junior players into top D1 college players and professional players on the ATP/WTA
Some of Robby’s protégés include Josh Cohen (USA) #1319 ATP, Julia Cohen (USA) #111 WTA, Brendan Evans (USA) #174 ATP, Dudi Sela (ISR) #37 ATP, Ishay Hadash (ISR) #496 ATP, Amit Inbar (ISR) #561 ATP, Dori Sadovnik (ISR) #893 ATP, Matan Shitrit (ISR) #1456 ATP, Harel Srugo (ISR) #703 ATP, Maor Zirkin (ISR) #1308, Roy Sichel (ISR) #876, Moshe Levi (ISR) #1295 ATP, Tina Pisnik (SLO) #29 WTA, Wendy Fix (USA) #250 WTA, Ryan Preston (USA) #1004 ATP, Chris Klingemann (USA) #517 ATP, and Ryan Heller (USA) #108 NCAA/Illinois State Champion 2002. And many many more successful collegiate players in all divisions across the USA.
Certification – USPTA Professional, Wingate Institute of physical fitness Israel.