MIDDLESEX TWP — When tennis calls, Katie Dellich answers.

Still unsure of her life’s goals, the 2000 Butler graduate and former four-year Golden Tornado No. 1 singles player knows tennis will be a part of it.

It always has.

“I’ve got a few things I’m mulling over,” Dellich said. “Right now, I need to be flexible.”

Dellich was hired by Peter Burwash International in 2006 to represent its professional tennis services at top-tier resorts around the world. She worked at resorts in the Maldives, Dubai, the British West Indies, Maui and Palm Beach, Calif.

She resigned in 2009.

“I felt like I needed more permanent roots,” Dellich said. “I came back home, got a house, enrolled in graduate school at Slippery Rock University to study to be a teacher.

“After a few months, when I was doing in-classroom field work at a school, I realized I’d have to be on the job from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the same place every day. It just didn’t appeal to me.

“I love to teach. I guess I love to be on the move, too,” she added.

Dellich gave up on grad school and now teaches tennis at Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford and Treesdale Community Center.

She’s also been working with the Butler Junior Tennis program, an organization she played for as a youngster.

“She’s really lively and a lot of fun,” said Butler Junior Tennis director Anna Marie Prichard. “The kids love her.

“Her passion for the sport really comes out. The kids gain her knowledge as she talks to them.”

Prichard helped coach Dellich when the latter was a member of the organization. They were neighbors as well, and Prichard’s son, Bill, played tennis with Dellich on occasion.

“They’d go up to the courts and hit together,” Prichard said.

Bill Prichard is an elementary school teacher in Florida now. Dellich is home again — at times.

“I couldn‘t totally close the door on PBI. That was such a wonderful experience,” she said. “During their busy season, when they need another instructor, they call me.”

And she goes.

Dellich has just begun a 10-week stay at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, Calif., where she will run high-level drill sessions, daily clinics and give private lessons during the PNB Pariba Tournament.

That pro event is minutes from the resort.

“Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova —all of the big names are playing in that event,” Dellich said. “This hotel is 100 percent occupied by tennis players right now. It’s no wonder PBI needed the extra help.”

And it’s no wonder she’s keeping the PBI door open.

“They’ve been great to me,” Dellich said. “There was a little culture shock, going to some of these places the past few years, but I adjust.

“I might have been the only American at the Maldives resort. But the support system in that company is amazing. ... It’s tennis and I’m comfortable teaching the sport to anyone,” she added.

Dellich has volleyed with royalty and instructed pro athletes in other sports — mainly soccer — during her travels.

“Tennis will always play a role in my life, no matter what direction I go,” she said.