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Sunday, June 21, 2020

Dimitrov Tests Positive for Corona Virus; Fathers Recruiting Sons; College Signings, Fifth Year Seniors, Transfers

Just three days after the first professional golfer tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, tennis had its first star player diagnosed, with Grigor Dimitrov announcing he had contracted the illness today. Dimitrov, who played last weekend's Adria Tour exhibition series in Belgrade Serbia, which had no noticeable concessions to the pandemic in terms of distancing, fans, etc., played this weekend's Adria Tour stop in Croatia, where he apparently fell ill after competing yesterday. The Croatia final, which was to feature organizer Novak Djokovic against Andrey Rublev, was canceled. Next weekend's event had already been canceled by the country of Montenegro earlier this week; whether the fourth and final tournament in Bosnia will be played remains to be seen.  This obviously isn't a good sign for resuming the tour in August, or the US Open, but the PGA has continued with its tournament this week in Hilton Head without Nick Watney, who tested positive on Thursday.  For more on Dimitrov's announcement and reactions from the Adria Tour, see this article.

Rhiannon Potkey at the Tennis Recruiting Network has the perfect article for this Father's Day, a look at four top junior players who have committed to playing for their fathers in college: Ben Shelton(Florida), Frank Thompson(Virginia Tech), Gavin Young(Minnesota) and Ashe Ray(Wofford). Shelton and Thompson are in the Class of 2021; Young and Ray are 2020 graduates.

Below are the Division I signings, graduate transfers and fifth year senior updates I mentioned I would be providing in yesterday's post:

MEN:
Louisville senior Clement Filho will return for a fifth year.

LSU has signed Tom Pisane of Belgium.

South Florida has signed Manuel Goncalves of Portugal.

San Diego graduate Joel Gamerov will join Tennessee as a graduate transfer.

Senior Yuya Ito, one of the top players in college tennis the past two years, has announced he will not be returning to Texas for a fifth year.

Senior Parker Wynn is returning to Texas Tech for a fifth year.

Seniors Ewan Moore and Luis Erlenbusch will return to Tulane for their fifth seasons.

After one season at Tennessee, Jordan Chrysostom is transferring to Virginia Tech.

WOMEN:
Notre Dame graduate Zoe Spence will join Northwestern as a graduate transfer.

Indiana seniors Caitlin Bernard, Annabelle Andrinopoulos and Michelle McKamey are returning for their fifth years.

Lisa Hofbauer, a graduate of East Carolina, which just discontinued its program, is transferring to Ohio State for her fifth year.

After one season at Alabama, Ares Teixido Garcia is transferring to Oregon.

After one season at Tennessee, Hadley Doyle is transferring to SMU.

After two seasons at Pepperdine, Daria Kuczer is transferring to Tennessee.

William and Mary is adding three transfers, graduate transfer Jill van den Dungen (Southwest Baptist), Lisa Fukutoku, who spent two years at Missouri, and Alisia Manolescu, who played one year at New Mexico.

3 comments:

Jon King said...

Interesting to hear about Dimitrov. Djokovic has announced he is not a fan of science or vaccines. He was quite confident there was no risk when reporters discussed the lack of precautions at his tournament. Once again we learn to believe tennis players about tennis, leave politicians to stay within their narrow areas of expertise.....and leave the medical things concerning an infectious virus to health care experts.

Rick V said...

Jon King, in lieu of a like button -- "like"

ESS said...

Being a top tennis player, your words carry a lot of weight. Unfortunately for a global tennis community, Djokovic appears to be exactly the wrong person to represent them at this time. Pandemic is nothing to joke about even if for most the symptoms don't amount to much. It would be wise and prudent to at least not put on center stage your ignorance and luck of diplomacy.