After 36 Years Leading Georgia Men's Tennis, Manny Diaz Announces Retirement; Jim Martz Memorial Service Set for March 8; Woestendick, Nidunjianzan Features; Michigan Beats NC State in Top 5 Battle

University of Georgia tennis will have an unfamiliar look next season, with men's head coach Manny Diaz announcing his retirement after 36 years leading one of the legendary programs in college tennis. Less than ten months after women's head coach Jeff Wallace retired after 38 years at the helm, Diaz has followed suit, leaving Georgia tennis fans with the prospect of adjusting to life without either of the all-time coaching greats on the sideline.

Diaz played under Dan Magill, the only other coach men's tennis has ever had, and after concluding his playing days, Diaz returned as Magill's assistant. He was named to replace Magill in 1988, and has continued the legacy that Magill began, with four NCAA team titles(1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008) and two ITA team indoor titles(2006, 2007).

I was fortunate to cover three of those titles in person, the 2007 Indoor in Chicago, the 2007 NCAA title in my first trip to Athens, and the 2008 NCAA title in Tulsa, the only one of the six Georgia NCAA team titles the Bulldogs claimed outside Athens.

Those accomplishments add to his stature of course, but his impact on the hundreds of young men he coached extends far beyond that. His retirement has been anticipated for several years now, but I was hoping he might stay until after the 2026 NCAA tournament in Athens, where so much of collegiate tennis history resides. As with Wallace, it appears the program's reigns will be turned over to his former player Jamie Hunt, who was on those three championship teams I covered and has been the assistant/associate head coach since 2017.

Diaz will be missed, by not only the college tennis community, but by everyone in the University's athletic community, with his support of all things Georgia sports never wavering. I hope he'll continue to stay connected to both in his upcoming well-earned retirement.

The memorial service for Florida Tennis magazine founder and editor Jim Martz has been announced, with the Frank Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation Florida the site of the celebration of Martz's life on March 8. Martz, who died December 30th, lived nearby in Pembroke Pines and could often be spotted at the Veltri Tennis Center, copies of the Florida Tennis in hand, during the Orange Bowl, which has been held at that facility since 2011. Below are the details from the Florida Tennis facebook page. 

Two feature articles focusing on young tennis players were published recently, with the Topeka Capitol-Journal talking with Cooper Woestendick, the 17-year-old from Kansas, after his doubles title at the Australian Open Junior Championships (but before his recent TCU commitment), and The Athletic tracing Fnu Nidunjianzan's remarkable journey from Tibet to IMG to the Princeton men's team.

After a surprising loss to USC at home on Sunday, the second-ranked University of Michigan women got back in the win column, beating No. 5 NC State 4-1 in Ann Arbor this evening.  That's the same score as the Wolverines semifinal win over the Wolfpack at the Team Indoors earlier this month, but this time Michigan had to rebound from the loss of the doubles point.  After quick wins from Lily Jones and Piper Charney at lines 5 and 6 to give Michigan a 2-1 lead, the score didn't budge for quite some time. Eventually the four remaining matches went to third sets, but Gala Mesochoritou earned a three-set win at line 3 to make it 3-1, and Jaedan Brown, who did not play in the USC loss, clinched with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Sophie Abrams at line 4. Lines 1 and 2 were early in third sets when Brown ended the match.