Tennessee's Monday, Texas A&M's Stoiana No. 1 as NCAA D-I Singles and Doubles Fields and Seeds Announced; Roland Garros Junior Championships Acceptances Include 13 Americans

The NCAA Division I fields were announced today for the singles and doubles championships next month in Stillwater Oklahoma, with the seeds also revealed. Every player listed below has now earned All-American status by virtue of receiving a seed. Those not seeded can earn All-American status by reaching the third round in the tournament or by finishing in the Top 20 of the ITA's final rankings.

In the men's singles rankings, Johannus Monday of Tennessee has overtaken Eliot Spizzirri of Texas for the No. 1 seed, and Spizzirri, who reached the doubles final last year with Cleeve Harper, is currently an alternate with Harper, the 2022 NCAA doubles champion, in doubles.

No. 1 Ohio State has no seeds in the men's singles, and 2023 singles quarterfinalist Alex Bernard did not qualify. The North Carolina women have five participants in singles, with Fiona Crawley the only seed. As was the case last year, the No. 1 seed in the women's singles will be playing No. 2 on her team. That was Crawley last year and will be Mary Stoiana this year, with Reese Brantmeier and Carson Branstine playing at the No. 1 positions in the team tournaments.

I checked the Newcomer rankings from last fall to see how many of those 10 players made the 64-player draw. Four men are in the field: Dylan Dietrich(Virginia), Edward Winter(Pepperdine), Cooper Williams(Harvard) and Jeremy Jin(Florida). Just two women on the Newcomer list are currently in the field: Luciana Perry(Ohio State) and Alexandra Vecic(Georgia). Williams is the only one seeded. 2023 Kalamazoo finalist Trevor Svajda, who started at SMU in January, is in the field as a freshman, as is 2023 Orange Bowl champion Danil Panarin of Vanderbilt, who also started in January. Esha Velaga of Penn is a freshman who made the women's field. If there are other freshmen I've overlooked, please let me know.

Reese Brantmeier of North Carolina, who is out for the season, is still listed as No. 1 in the women's doubles seedings; maybe this is due to the automatic nature of her selection, as she and Scotty remained the highest-ranked team in the ACC.

Defending NCAA women's singles champion Fangran Tian of UCLA is not seeded.

The complete list of women's selections is here. The complete list of men's selections is here.

2024 NCAA Division I Seeds:

WOMEN:

Singles:

1. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

2. Amelia Rajecki, NC State

3. Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State

4. Kari Miller, Michigan

5. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

6. Connie Ma, Stanford

7. Rachel Gailis, Florida

8. Alexa Noel, Miami

9-16 seeds, alphabetical

Ayana Akli, South Carolina

Carolyn Ansari, Auburn

Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

Sofia Cabezas, Tennessee

Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

Irina Cantos Siemers, Ohio State

Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

Lisa Zaar, Pepperdine

Doubles:

1. Reese Brantmeier & Elizabeth Scotty, North Carolina

2. Savannah Broadus & Janice Tjen, Pepperdine

3. Ange Oby Kajuru & Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

4. Dana Guzman & Alina Shcherbinina, Oklahoma

5-8 seeds, alphabetical by institution:

Jaedan Brown & Kari Miller, Michigan

Fiona Crawley & Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

Mia Kupres & Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

Metka Komac & Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech

MEN:

Singles:

1. Johannus Monday, Tennessee

2. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

3. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

4. Chris Rodesch, Virginia

5. Toby Samuel, South Carolina

6. Micah Braswell, Texas

7. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

8. Jake Fearnley, TCU

9-16 seeds alphabetical:

Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Nishesh Basavareddy, Stanford

Murphy Cassone, Arizona State

Andres Martin, Georgia Tech

Alex Martinez, Oklahoma

Radu Papoe, Cornell

Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

Cooper Williams, Harvard

Doubles:

1. Garrett Johns, Pedro Rodenas - Duke

2. Holden Koons, Dhakshineswar Suresh - Wake Forest

3. Joshua Lapadat, JJ Mercer - Kentucky

4. Robert Cash, JJ Tracy - Ohio State

5-8 seeds alphabetical by institution:

Etienne Donnet, Natan Rodrigues - Louisville

Sebastian Dominko, Jean Marc Malkowski - Notre Dame

Angel Diaz, Johannus Monday - Tennessee

James Hopper, Inaki Montes de la Torre - Virginia

The times for this weekend's first two rounds have been posted, with the women's here and the men's here. I've spotted at least one error, so make sure you double check the school's website if you are following a particular team. All men's first round matches are Friday and second round Saturday; some women play Friday and Saturday, while other women's regionals have Saturday-Sunday dates. Cracked Racquets will be providing CrossCourt coverage this weekend on their YouTube Channel.

The acceptances for the Roland Garros Junior Championships were posted today, with eight US boys and five US girls in the main draw.

As is always the case for Roland Garros, the fields are strong, with nine of the top 10 boys and eight of the top 10 girls entering. The boy missing is No. 4 Joao Fonseca of Brazil, now up to 225 in the ATP live rankings; the two Top 19 girls missing are, like Fonseca, junior slam champions: 2023 Australian and Roland Garros girls champion Alina Korneeva of Russia, who has just had surgery, and 2023 Wimbledon champion Clervie Ngounoue. 

Both of this year's Australian Open champions have entered: No. 1 Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia and No. 2 Rei Sakamoto of Japan.

The US boys in the main draw: Kaylan Bigun, Cooper Woestendick, Jack Kennedy, Ian Mayew, Maxwell Exsted, Jagger Leach, Alexander Razeghi and Roy Horovitz.  The US girls in the main draw: Tyra Grant, Kaitlyn Rolls, Iva Jovic, Kristina Penickova and Thea Frodin. 

US players in qualifying are Matthew Forbes, Kase Schinnerer, Nikita Filin, Noah Johnston, Shannon Lam, Kate Fakih, Christasha McNeil, Monika Ekstrand and Mia Slama.

The boys cutoff for the main draw was 47; for the girls main draw it was 50. For qualifying, the boys cutoff was 73 and the girls 78.

There are two boys main draw entries that are showing not their ATP ranking but the World Tennis Number as the basis for their acceptance. Lorenzo Carboni of Italy(ATP 707) and Mae Malige(ATP 737) have high enough ATP rankings (top 750) to make the main draw under the previous rules in place; I don't see anything in the Rules and Regulations that changes that to World Tennis Number.

The same goes for Victoria Mboko of Canada, who is 338 in the WTA rankings; any girls with a ranking of 400 or better is accepted into the main draw. Mboko played her first competitive match this year at the end of March in qualifying at a W75 in France, but has not played since.

There is one girls main draw acceptance, Anna Maria Fedotova of the Dominican Republic, via this ITF regulation:

In addition, if any region – South America; North America; Central America and Caribbean; Europe; Asia; Africa; and Oceania - does not have any players accepted under a) or b) above, the highest ranked entrant from that region shall be accepted for main draw if their ranking is 80 or higher or qualifying if their ranking is 150 or higher.

Fedotova is currently 71 in the ITF junior rankings. Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua is 86 in the ITF junior rankings, so he received entry into the qualifying. 

Ohio State Men, Oklahoma State Women Head into This Weekend's NCAA Team Championships as Top Seeds; Moreno De Alboran Wins USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card; Gardality Reaches Final at IMG's Future Stars U12 Event

The NCAA Division I tennis committee released the brackets for the 2024 Team Championships tonight on ncaa.com, with the Ohio State men and Oklahoma State women the top seeds going into this weekend's first two rounds at 16 regional sites.

The complicated process by which the committee selects those top 16 (and top eight, who will have an opportunity to host a SuperRegional) means that the rankings that come out Thursday will not match the seeds below. The No. 17 Texas A&M men won the tiebreaker the committee uses, and will host over No. 16 South Carolina, who just reached the SEC conference tournament final.  That was the most significant departure from the rankings, but there were two changes to the women's positions as well, with Virginia moving from 6 to 5, switching with Pepperdine, and No. 15 Florida switching with No. 14 North Carolina State.

As always, thanks are in order to Chris Halioris at CollegeTennisRanks.com for providing the projections prior to the selection show. Once again, he had the 16 men's and women's hosts and the last teams to make the tournament exactly right, which reduces the anxiety for everyone as they watch the selecton show.

NCAA D-I Men's Seeds

1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Virginia
4. TCU
5. Kentucky
6. Wake Forest
7. Tennessee
8. Columbia
9. Arizona
10. Florida State
11. Oklahoma
12. Harvard
13. Duke
14. NC State
15. Texas A&M
16. Mississippi State

NCAA D-I Women's Seeds

1. Oklahoma State

2. Stanford

3. Michigan

4. North Carolina

5. Virginia

6. Pepperdine

7. Georgia

8. UCLA

9. Texas

10. Cal

11. Southern Cal

12. Ohio State

13. Texas A&M

14. Florida

15. NC State

16. Tennessee

The details of the regionals will be forthcoming; if you have an opportunity, try to attend one in your area.  

The men's bracket is here; the women's bracket is here.

I will be making my annual contribution to the Tennis Recruiting Network NCAA Roundtable later this week, and will link to that when it is published.

The selections for the singles and doubles tournament, the last one that will be combined with the team event for at least two years, will be announced Tuesday.

The USTA officially confirmed today that former UC-Santa Barbara All-American Nicolas Moreno de Alboran has won its annual Roland Garros wild card Challenge and will be competing in the main draw in Paris for the first time next month.  The women's race, in its last week, is still up for grabs, with two WTA 125s in Europe that have US women entered, as well as the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Bonita Springs, likely to produce more points for the top contenders.

Men's Standings -- Final (current ranking in parentheses)
1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (138) -- 75
2. Mitchell Krueger (239) -- 63
3. Michael Mmoh (114) -- 50

Women's Standings -- One Week Remaining
1. Sachia Vickery (129) -- 110
2. Robin Montgomery (183) -- 83
3. Louisa Chirico (283) -- 76
4. Shelby Rogers (352) -- 67
5. Hailey Baptiste (110) -- 60
6. Katrina Scott (407) -- 58
7. Katie Volynets (105) -- 57

The IMG Future Stars event in Athens Greece, now in its third year, was earlier on the calendar than the previous two years, with the competition for 12-and-under players concluding on Sunday.

The United States had four boys and one girl competing in the tournament: Camelot Carnello, Liam Dent, Rex Kulman, Daniel Gardality and Christina Li. Gardality, 11, reached the final, where he lost to Yanru Li of China 6-1, 6-4.

Another 11-year-old from China, Ketong Guo, won the girls title, beating Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the final. 

More detalis on the tournament, including the many seminars and activities included, and the visit from top ATP pros Holger Rune and Francisco Cerundolo, can be found in this Tennis Europe article.

Penickovas, Leach Earn ITF J300 Titles in Malaysia, Rolls Wins Doubles at J500 Offenbach; Johns, Chirico Claim USTA Pro Circuit Titles; Arizona Men Win Pac-12; Michigan Women and Ohio State Men Defend Big Ten Titles; NCAA Selection Shows Monday

While I was focused on the J500 in Offenbach Germany and the J100 in Delray Beach this past week, I completely missed the title runs by American juniors at the J300 in Malaysia.

Fourteen-year-old Kristina Penickova swept the singles and doubles titles in Kuching, with the top seed earning her first J300 title in singles after making two finals earlier this year at that level in Costa Rica and San Diego. She defeated 15-year-old Kanon Sawashiro of Japan, the No. 13 seed, 6-2, 6-0 in the final, and didn't lose more than three games in any of the 10 sets she won. Kristina and twin sister Annika won the doubles title, their sixth on the ITF Junior Circuit and the biggest, with the top seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Reina Goto of Japan and Junhan Zhang of China 6-0, 6-1 in the final.

Sixteen-year-old Jagger Leach, seeded No. 4 and playing in his first J300 final, defeated No. 6 seed Ivan Iutkin of Russia 6-4, 7-6(2) after taking out top seed Hayden Jones of Australia 7-6(7), 5-7, 7-5 in the semifinals. Jones had beaten Leach 6-4, 6-0 in the second round of the Australian Open Junior Championships in January.

The titles should guarantee both Leach and Kristina Penickova a spot in the main draw of the Roland Garros Junior Championships, with the entry deadline this coming Tuesday.

Katie Rolls and her partner Jeline Vandromme of Belgium won the doubles title at the J500 in Offenbach Germany today. The No. 5 seedsd defeated top seeds Hannah Klugman and Mingge Xu of Great Britain 3-6, 6-0, 10-7 in the final.

The singles titles in Offenbach went to No. 6 seed Wakana Sonobe of Japan and No. 5 seed Max Mrva of the Czech Republic. The 16-year-old Sonobe won a rematch of last December's Eddie Herr J300, beating No. 9 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia again, this time by a score of 6-3, 3-1, retired. Mrva, also 16, defeated top seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals and won the title today in another retirement, with No. 2 seed Luca Preda of Romania retiring down 3-0 in the first set.

The boys doubles champions are Brazil's Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida and Vojtech Vales of the Czech Republic. They defeated Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Alexander Vasilev of Bulgaria 2-6, 7-5 10-8 in a battle between two unseeded teams.

There were two other ITF Junior Circuit singles titles last week for Americans, with Simon Caldwell, a 16-year-old from Grand Rapids, sweeping the singles and doubles at the J60 in Costa Rica this week. No. 5 seed Caldwell, a quarterfinals in Kalamazoo in the 16s, defeated top seed Zavier Augustin, also from the United States, 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Caldwell and Arnarv Bhadari won the doubles title, with the unseeded pair beating No. 3 seeds Augustin and Mason Taube 6-2, 6-0 in the final.

Americans swept the singles titles at the J30 in Jamaica, with 17-year-old James Weber and 14-year-old Ana Avramovic claiming their first singles titles on the ITF Junior Circuit. Weber, the No. 5 seed, defeated top seed Jose Argenal of Guatamela 6-1, 6-1 in the final, while top seed Avramovic beat No. 3 seed Brooke Wallman 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 for the title. Avramovic and Ciara Harding won the girls doubles title, with Joseph Hernandez and Arin Menon taking the boys doubles championship.

Duke senior Garrett Johns warmed up for the NCAA championships this weekend with his fifth Pro Circuit singles title at the $15,000 tournament in Vero Beach Florida. The 23-year-old, seeded No. 2, defeated No. 3 seed Victor Lilov 7-6(1), 6-2 in today's final. Johns, currently 22 in the ITA singles rankings and No. 1 in the doubles rankings with Pedro Rodenas, will return to Durham for next weekend's first two rounds of the NCAA team championships, which the 13th-ranked Blue Devils will host.

Unseeded Louisa Chirico last won a Pro Circuit title two years ago in Charlottesville Virginia and she demonstrated today how comfortable she is at the Boars Head Club, beating top seed Kayla Day 6-1, 7-5 in today's final at the W75 tournament. Chirico now has 75 points in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card race with one week remaining for the women, and she is scheduled to compete next week in the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida. 

Former University of Virginia standout Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland won his second ATP Challenger title today in Savannah Georgia, defeating former University of Florida Gator Andres Andrade of Ecuador, a qualifier, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Challenger 75 tournament. The 30-year-old is now at 169 in the ATP live rankings, just below his career-high of 160, and with his first Challenger title on clay, can now begin preparing for the Roland Garros qualifying.

The final conference tournaments concluded today, and the top seeds took both Big Ten titles. The Ohio State men defeated No. 2 seeds Michigan 4-1 at Northwestern, with the Buckeyes claiming the tournament title for second straight year and the Michigan women taking their third straight conference tournament title with a 4-2 win over Ohio State in Ann Arbor. In each case, it was the team they defeated today who had last denied them a conference title. 

Last night in Ojai, the final Pac-12 championship went to the Arizona men, who beat Stanford 4-0 to avenge a regular season loss to the Cardinal. It's the first Pac-12 title for the Wildcats, who will moving to the Big-12 next season. 

The Division I NCAA selection show, which will announce the particpants, seedings and hosting sites, begin tomorrow with the men at 6 p.m. Eastern time at ncaa.com. The women's selection show will follow at 6:30 p.m.

CollegeTennisRanks.com has provided a travel matrix for both men and women, with projections on who will host and who will go where based on the NCAA rules governing those choices.

Baierl, Lyutova Claim ITF J100 Titles in Delray Beach; Woestendick and Razeghi Win First Pro Circuit Title in Vero Beach; Stanford Capture Women's Pac-12 Title; Ohio State and Michigan Meet Sunday for Both Men's and Women's Big Ten Titles

Top seed Calvin Baierl and No. 3 seed Christina Lyutova won the singles titles today at the first of three ITF J100s in Florida, this one in Delray Beach.

Baierl, the 2022 Kalamazoo 16s and Eddie Herr 16s finalist defeated No. 7 seed Jack Satterfield 6-4, 6-4 to claim his third J100 title, but his first ITF Junior Circuit title of the year. Baierl, who will turn 17 next month, did not drop a set in his six victories this week.

It's the fourth title of the year for the 14-year-old Lyutova, who lives in the United States but currently represents Russia, the country where she was born. After winning three J30s already in 2024 and three J60s last year, this J100 is her biggest title on the ITF Junior Circuit and she had two tough matches to close it out. She defeated No. 16 seed Gabriella Vannessa Lindgren of Canada 7-5, 7-6(8) in the semifinals, and lost the first set to 13-year-old wild card Hannah Ayrault in today's final before claiming a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Ayrault had beaten top seed Nancy Lee 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1) in the semifinals.

Satterfield and Jon Gamble, seeded No. 3, won the doubles title, beating the seventh-seeded Brazilian team of Lucca Acioly and Ettore Romeo Baggio Danesi 7-5, 6-3 in the final. 

The third-seeded girls team also emerged as the doubles champions, with Vessa Turley and Riley Crowder beating the unseeded team of Zaire Clarke and Canada's Clemence Mercier 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

The ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah will feature two former collegians, but no Americans in Sunday's singles championship, with former University of Virginia Cavalier Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland facing former University of Florida Gator Andres Andrade of Ecuador. Ritschard, the No. 5 seed, defeated Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6(4); Andrade, a qualifier, beat unseeded Maxime Janvier of France 7-5, 6-0. The 30-year-old Ritschard is looking for his second Challenger title; the 25-year-old Andrade had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal prior to this week.

No. 3 seeds Christian Harrison and Marcus Willis of Great Britain ended the winning streak of Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark and Simon Freund(LSU/UC Santa Barbara) in today's doubles final, posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Ingildsen and Freund had beaten Harrison and Willis in the semifinals last week at the Tallahassee Challenger, en route to the title.

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi dropped their first set of the week at the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach, but the 17-year-olds recovered to capture their first pro title, beating brothers Miles and Alex Jones 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 in today's final. 

In the singles semifinals, No. 3 seed Victor Lilov, the 2021 Wimbledon boys finalist, will face Duke senior Garrett Johns, the No. 2 seed, after Lilov defeated Miles 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 and Johns beat No. 5 seed Will Grant(Florida) 6-3, 7-5. 

The W75 in Charlottesville will also feature two Americans, with unseeded Louisa Chirico facing top seed Kayla Day. Chirico defeated 18-year-old Maya Joint of Australia 7-6(6), 6-1 and Day beat No. 3 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland 7-5, 6-2. Chirico will move into the picture in the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card race with a title, with one more week to go for the women. Day is already into the Roland Garros main draw.

Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame) and Great Britain's Emily Appleton, the top seeds, won the doubles title, beating unseeded Maria Kononova(North Texas) and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia 7-6(5), 6-2 in today's final. 

The last two Power 5 conference tournaments conclude this weekend, with the No. 2 seed Stanford women blanking No. 4 seed Cal with the doubles point and straight-sets wins at the top 3 singles spots. Cal had upset top seed UCLA in the semifinals. 

The top-seeded Stanford men play No. 2 seed Arizona later tonight in Ojai.

The Big Ten's women's final Sunday will be, as expected, No. 1 seed Michigan versus No. 2 Ohio State, in Ann Arbor. Michigan defeated No. 4 Wisconsin 4-0 in Saturday's semifinals, with Ohio State beating No. 3 Northwestern 4-1. 

The top-seeded Ohio State men defeated surprise semifinalist Nebraska 4-1 to advance to the final, where they'll play No. 2 seed Michigan. Michigan came from 3-1 down to defeat Michigan State this evening at Northwestern, winning at singles lines 2, 4, 5 and 6.

My Conversation with USTA National Coach Jose Caballero; ITF J500 Milan Acceptances Include 13 Americans; Joint Reaches W75 Charlottesville Semifinal; Woestendick and Razeghi Play for Vero Beach $15K Doubles Title Saturday

When I travel to major junior tournaments I see many of the same players, families, officials and coaches. In that latter category are the USTA National Coaches, many of whom have been in those positions for many years. One of those is Jose Caballero, a National Coach for men's tennis, and with all the talk last month about the Jose Higueras email criticizing the USTA management and board for their lack of support for Player Development, I thought it might be a good idea to talk to someone on the PD side. Although I'm aware of most of the duties of a USTA National Coach, just from observing them over the years, many people in the junior tennis world aren't quite sure what the job entails. 

So, while at the ITF J300 in San Diego, I sat down with Caballero to discuss how he came to be a coach and a USTA coach, and what his responsibilities are, whether he is traveling or back at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona. We also discussed the impact of the recent budget cuts and why he's unlikely to follow many of his former colleagues now coaching college tennis. The interview appears today on the Tennis Recruiting Network. 

The acceptances for next month's ITF J500 Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy were released this week, with eight US boys and five US girls getting into the main draw.

The US boys entered are Kaylan Bigun, Cooper Woestendick, Jack Kennedy, Ian Mayew, Alexander Razeghi, Maxwell Exsted, Roy Horovitz and Matthew Forbes. Jagger Leach is next in.

The US girls entered are Tyra Grant, Kaitlyn Rolls, Iva Jovic, Thea Frodin and Shannon Lam. A trio of US girls are first, third and fourth out of the main draw: Kate Fakih, Kristina Penickova and Christasha McNeil. 

As of now, both 2024 Australian Open junior champions, Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia and Rei Sakamoto of Japan, are entered. The tournament, finishing just one week before the Roland Garros Junior Championships, often has fields nearly as strong as those in Paris. The RG acceptance list should be out next week.

Eighteen-year-old Maya Joint of Australia continues to post wins at the top level of the ITF women's World Tennis Tour, advancing to Saturday's semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 7 seed Hanna Chang at the W75 in Charlottesville Virginia. Joint, a University of Texas signee, will face unseeded Luisa Chrico in the semifinals; Chirico defeated No. 4 seed Valentini Grammatikopoulou of Greece 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In the top half, No. 1 seed Kayla Day will face No. 3 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland. Day defeated No. 8 seed Varvara Lepchenko 7-6(6), 7-5, while Sun got past No. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

The only American still alive at the Savannah Challenger, No. 6 seed Tristan Boyer, lost in the quarterfinals today to unseeded Maxime Janvier of France 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Janvier will face qualifier Andres Andrade of Ecuador. The former University of Florida star, a member of the 2021 NCAA championship team, had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal until this week in Savannah.  Former University of Virginia standout Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland, also an NCAA team champion, is the only seed left, at No. 5. He will play Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan in the top half semifinal.

With Boyer's loss, Nicolas Moreno de Alboran will clinch the USTA Roland Garros wild card, according to Challenger expert Damian Kust, who has been tracking it the past month.

2021 US Open girls champion Robin Montgomery has inserted herself in the conversation for the women's Roland Garros wild card, by using her wild card to reach the third round of the Madrid WTA 1000 this week. Today she beat WTA No. 28 Katie Boulter of Great Britain 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. 2021 USTA National 18s champion Ashlyn Krueger has also advanced to the third round, beating WTA No. 16 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 6-3, 6-3.

Four Americans have advanced to the semifinals of the $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach Florida: No. 2 seed Garrett Johns, Will Grant, Victor Lilov and Miles Jones.

Duke senior Johns, the No. 2 seed, defeated wild card Rudy Quan 6-4, 6-4 and will face former Florida Gator Grant, who came back to beat wild card Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Jones ended the run of qualifier Dian Nedev of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-1 and Lilov, the No. 3 seed, defeated Louisville fifth-year Etienne Donnet of France, the No. 8 seed, 6-1, 6-3. 

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi hadn't partnered in doubles before this week, but the two 17-year-olds are rolling through the draw, advancing to the final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Miguel Angel Cabrera of Chile and Ivan Marrero Curbelo of Spain. Razeghi and Woestendick, the latter with nine ITF Junior doubles titles, including the Australian Open boys championships this year, beat top seeds Sekou Bangoura(Florida) and Noah Schachter(Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-4 yesterday. They will play the unseeded Jones brothers, Miles and Alex, who defeated another all-junior team of Meecah Bigun and Mitchell Lee 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

Exsted Reaches Quarterfinals at ITF J500 Offenbach; Joint, Quan Advance to USTA Pro Circuit Quarterfinals; FSU Seeking Masters Student for Tennis Research; SEC, Big Ten, ACC Announce Men's Conference Awards

The quarterfinals are set for the ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany, with 17-year-old Max Exsted advancing to the quarterfinals of a J500 for the first time in his career. Exsted, the No. 11 seed, defeated unseeded Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(1) today and will face top seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway on Friday. Budkov Kjaer defeated unseeded Samuele Seghetti of Italy 6-0, 6-0 in today's third round. 

Katie Rolls is through to the quarterfinals in the girls doubles, with partner Jeline Vandromme of Belgium, who are the No. 5 seeds.

The majority of the teenagers in action today at the USTA Pro Circuit events in Charlottesville Virginia and Vero Beach Florida lost, but two 18-year-olds have advanced to Friday's quarterfinals.

At the W75 in Virginia, University of Texas signee Maya Joint of Australia defeated No. 2 seed Ann Li 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals against No. 7 seed Hanna Chang. Joint, who started the year by reaching the final round of women's qualifying at the Australian Open, has played nine ITF women's events this year (including a W125) and has made at least the quarterfinals in all of them.  Now inside the WTA Top 250 in the live rankings, Joint can start thinking about Roland Garros and Wimbledon women's qualifying.

Qualifier Akasha Urhobo and Liv Hovde both had to finish their first round matches held over from Tuesday, with Urhobo losing to Kathinka Von Deichmann of Lichtenstein and Hovde falling to No. 8 seed Varvara Lepchenko, both 7-5 in the third.

Of the five US juniors competing in the second round of the men's $15,000 tournament in Florida, only one advanced to the quarterfinals, and he got through by beating another junior.

UCLA signee Rudy Quan avenged his 2023 ITF J300 Indian Wells loss to 17-year-old Cooper Woestendick with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in the second round today, advancing to the quarterfinals of a USTA Pro Circuit tournament for the first time. Quan, a wild card, will face No. 2 seed Garrett Johns, a senior at Duke, who beat Alex Razeghi 6-3, 6-4. 

At the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid today, 16-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch lost to Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-0 in a first round match.

I received an email this week notifying me of an opportunity for tennis-related research for a Masters student at Florida State University. If you are, or will soon be, a college graduate with a tennis background, please contact Dr. Rodenberg about this position.

"Starting Fall 2024, Florida State University will offer a fully-funded Masters student position (tuition waiver, stipend, and health insurance) for one individual looking to do tennis-specific research and teaching.

The position will have both on-court and off-court elements, including co-authorship publication potential.

College and professional tennis players are encouraged to apply. All applicants must possess an undergraduate degree before Fall 2024, but a GRE score is not required.

The deadline to apply is June 1, 2024. For further details, please contact Dr. Ryan Rodenberg:

Ryan M. Rodenberg, JD/PhD
Professor
Florida State University       
850-645-9535

Three more conference award announcements came out today, for the Big Ten men, ACC men and SEC men. That leaves the ACC women, the Big 12 men and women and the Pac-12 men and women to be announced. Click on the headings to see the all-conference teams.

Big Ten Men's Awards

Player of the Year: Ozan Baris, Michigan State

Freshman of the Year: Aristotelis Thanos, Michigan State

Coach of the Year: Ty Tucker, Ohio State

SEC Men's Awards

Player of the Year: Johannus Monday, Tennessee

Freshman of the Year: Danil Panarin, Vanderbilt

Coach of the Year: Cedric Kauffmann, Kentucky

ACC Men's Awards

Player of the Year: Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

Freshman of the Year: Dylan Dietrich, Virginia

Coach of the Year: Dwayne Hultquist, Florida State

Previously announced awards:

SEC Women's Awards

Player of the Year: Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

Freshman of the Year: Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M

Coach of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia

Big Ten Women's Awards

Player of the Year: Kari Miller, Michigan 

Freshman of the Year: Luciana Perry, Ohio State

  

Coach of the Year: Ronni Bernstein, Michigan 

Top Three Girls Seeds Out at ITF J500 Offenbach; First ATP Points for Lee, Woestendick at Vero Beach $15K; 122nd Edition of The Ojai Underway; SEC and Big Ten Women's Conference Awards Announced

The round of 16 is set at the ITF J500 in Offenbach Germany, with just one American and neither of the top two girls seeds still in contention. No. 11 seed Max Exsted advanced to the third round with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Sergio Planella Hernandez of Spain today; on Thursday he will face unseeded Joaquin Guilleme of Nicaragua for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The top two seeds in the boys draw, Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and Luca Preda of Romania, have moved into the third round with two routine straight-sets wins, but the top three girls seeds are out, exiting in the first round. Top seed Emerson Jones of Australia lost to Nellie Taraba Wallberg of Sweden 6-0, 6-3, No. 2 seed Hannah Klugman of Great Britain was beaten by Vittoria Paganetti of Italy 6-4, 7-6(1) and Mingge Xu of Great Britain fell to Neus Torner Sensano of Spain 7-6(6), 6-1. It may be some consolation to that trio of seeds that all of the girls who beat them won their matches today and are through to the round of 16. 

No. 8 seed Katie Rolls, who won the last J500 this year, at the Banana Bowl in Brazil, lost in the second round to Eliska Tichackova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2.

In my post Tuesday, I mentioned all the top juniors competing at this week's $15,000 men's USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach Florida, and five advanced to Thursday's second round.  Seventeen-year-old Cooper Woestendick and 18-year-old Mitchell Lee earned their first ATP points, with Woestendick beating Jake Van Emburgh(Oklahoma/Ohio State) 7-5, 6-4 and Lee getting a 6-4 retired win over No. 4 seed Jaimee Floyd Angele of France. 

Kaylan Bigun, wild card Rudy Quan and Alexander Razeghi already have ATP rankings but added another point to their totals today. Bigun defeated Sekou Bangoura(Florida), who was playing in his first event in almost a year, 6-0, 6-1 in 57 minutes; Quan took out No. 6 seed Nathan Ponwith(Georgia/Arizona State) 6-0, 7-6(5) and Razeghi beat fellow 17-year-old Nikita Filin, a qualifier, 6-4, 6-4.

Razeghi gets No. 2 seed Garrett Johns(Duke) next, while Bigun faces qualifier Dian Nedev of Bulgaria, who beat top seed Christian Langmo(Miami)6-4, 6-7(2), 6-4.  Quan and Woestendick will play for a spot in the quarterfinals; in their only previous meeting, in the quarterfinals of last year's ITF J300 in Indian Wells, Woestendick won 6-3, 6-1. Lee will face fellow wild card Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) in the second round, after Kissell defeated qualifier Cody Benton 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

For more on today's action in Vero Beach, including quotes from Kaylan Bigun and Rudy Quan, see this article from Harvey Fialkov. 

One of the oldest and most revered tennis tournaments in the United States began this week in Ojai California. The 122nd edition of the tournament will feature the final Pac-12 conference tournaments, with the upcoming realignments leading to the demise of undoubtedly the most significant conference in college tennis. Past Ojai competitors Bob and Mike Bryan are being honored this year for their contributions to the sport and will perform with their band after a fundraising dinner. A junior clinic with the twins is also on the schedule.

The tournament also features community college, Division III, juniors, boys high school and men's and women's opens in a festival of tennis on courts throughout the region. Draws for all events can be found under the tournament information tab on the Ojai home page.

Each year I try to post the Power Five (plus Ivy) conference awards, which are released in no particular order and no discernible schedule. The first two came out today, with the SEC announcing its women's all-conference first and second teams and all-freshmen team, as well as these top awards:

Player of the Year: Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

Freshman of the Year: Lucciana Perez, Texas A&M

Coach of the Year: Drake Bernstein, Georgia

It was a good day to be a Luciana and a Bernstein, as the Big Ten's freshman and coach of the year mirroring those of the SEC. The Big Ten also revealed its team sportsmanship awards as well as all-conference teams.

Player of the Year: Kari Miller, Michigan 

Freshman of the Year: Luciana Perry, Ohio State

  

Coach of the Year: Ronni Bernstein, Michigan 

Juniors Flood Vero Beach $15K; Urhobo Qualifies at Charlottesville $75K; Schwaerzler Beats Top Seed Wolf at Savannah Challenger; USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Race Update; No Change Atop ITF D-I Rankings

The USTA Pro Circuit features three tournaments this week: a $15K in Vero Beach Florida for men, the ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah Georgia and a W75 for women in Charlottesville Virginia.

With the ITF's Junior Reserve program, the $15,000 tournaments always feature top juniors, but given the paucity of events at this level this year, the Vero Beach is particularly popular with younger players, especially those preparing for a trip to Europe next month for the Milan ITF J500 and the Roland Garros Junior Championships. 

The boys who received main draw entry based on their junior rankings are Alexander Razeghi, Cooper Woestendick and Kaylan Bigun. ITF J300 Indian Wells champion Rudy Quan received a wild card, and Mitchell Lee won a wild card tournament for his spot in the main draw. Nikita Filin qualified for the main draw today, as did 19-year-old Cody Benton, a North Carolina State signee. Filin will play Razeghi in the first round; Razeghi is 4-0 in their previous meetings, but the most recent was back in the semifinals of Kalamazoo in 2021, where Razeghi claimed the 16s title.

The other two wild cards were given to Chad Kissell(Valparaiso) and Matthew Segura.

Christian Langmo(Miami) is the top seed; Garrett Johns, in his fifth year at Duke, is the No. 2 seed.

The field for the women's tournament in Charlottesville obviously has attracted a significant number of top players, including top seed Kayla Day, currently 84 in the WTA rankings. 

Qualifying concluded today, with 17-year-old Akasha Urhobo reaching the main draw with a three-hour 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over former Baylor standout Melany Solange Krywoj of Argentina. Other Americans qualifying include Sophie Chang, Jaeda Daniel(Auburn/NC State), Victoria Flores(Georgia Tech/Pepperdine), Gabriella Price and Rasheeda McAdoo(Georgia Tech). 

Wild cards were awarded to University of Virginia senior Hibah Shaikh, Texas signee Ashton Bowers, Katrina Scott and Alana Smith(NC State). Bowers lost  6-3, 6-4 to Louisa Chirico, whom she had beaten two weeks ago in Boca Raton. The other three wild cards play qualifiers in the first round Wednesday.

The latest USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge standings have changed dramatically with two weeks remaining for women and just one, this week, for men. Tallahassee Challenger finalist Mitchell Krueger has tied Nicolas Moreno de Alboran atop the men's race,and Sachia Vickery has moved into women's top spot. Standings below, with the current ATP/WTA rankings in parentheses.

Men's Standings:
T1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (138) -- 63
T1. Mitchell Krueger (239) -- 63
3. Michael Mmoh (114) -- 50
4. Stefan Kozlov (451) -- 38
5. Tennys Sandgren (260) -- 28

Women's Standings:
1. Sachia Vickery (129) -- 110
2. Katie Volynets (105) -- 57
3. Katrina Scott (407) -- 49
4. Varvara Lepchenko (244) -- 48
5. Akasha Urhobo (564) -- 37

Krueger is through to the second round of the Savannah Challenger after beating No. 8 seed Clement Tabur of France 6-3, 6-2 this afternoon. His quarter has opened up with No. 2 seed Michael Mmoh retiring in his match with alternate Aidan Mayo at 4-6, 6-4, 2-0. The other two players in Krueger's quarter are qualifiers.

JJ Wolf's struggles continue, with the former Ohio State All-American losing in the first round for the third straight week.  As was the case last week, Wolf lost to a top ITF junior using the ATP Accelerator program to secure entry, with No. 1 junior Joel Schwaerzler beating Wolf 6-2, 6-1 tonight in Savannah. Schwaerzler, who lost to Krueger in the quarterfinals last week at the Tallahassee Challenger, is up to 740 in the ATP live rankings.

The latest Division I team and individual rankings came out today, and these are the last ones before the NCAA selection show, which is Monday April 29 for the men's and women's team events. The individual selections will be announced via a press release Tuesday April 30.

The biggest change is the move of the Big 12 conference champions Texas men, who are now No. 2, behind Ohio State. I'm including the Top 17 in the women's singles and doubles, due to the injury to North Carolina's Reese Brantmeier, who will not be participating despite her rankings.

ITA Women's D-I Team Top 16, April 23, 2024

1. Oklahoma State

2. Michigan

3. Stanford

4. North Carolina

5. Virginia

6. Pepperdine

7. Georgia

8. UCLA

9. Texas

10. Cal

11. Southern Cal

12. Ohio State

13. Texas A&M

14. NC State

15. Florida

16. Tennessee

Singles:

1. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

2. Amelia Rajecki, NC State

3. Kari Miller, Michigan

4. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

5. Ange Oby Kajuru, Oklahoma State

6. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina

7. Rachel Gailis, Florida

8. Carolyn Ansari, Auburn

9. Connia Ma, Stanford

10. Ayana Akli, South Carolina

11. Alexa Noel, Miami

12. Lisa Zaar, Pepperdine

13. Sofia Cabezas, Tennessee

14. Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

15. Celia-Belle Mohr, Vanderbilt

16. Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

17. Sarah Hamner, South Carolina

Doubles:

1. Elizabeth Scotty and Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina

2. Janice Tjen and Savannah Broadus, Pepperdine

3. Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar, Oklahoma State

4. Alina Shcherbinina and Dana Guzman, Oklahoma

5. Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig, North Carolina

6. Metka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova, Texas Tech

7. Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres, Texas A&M

8. Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller, Michigan

9. Sofia Cabezas and Elza Tomase, Tennessee

Men's D-I Team Top 16:

1. Ohio State

2. Texas

3. Virginia

4. TCU

5. Kentucky

6. Tennessee

7. Columbia

8. Wake Forest

9. Florida State

10. Oklahoma

11. Arizona

12. Harvard

13. Duke

14. NC State

15. South Carolina

16. Mississippi State

Singles:

1. Eliot Spizzirri, Texas

2. Johannus Monday, Tennessee

3. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State

4. Chris Rodesch, Virginia

5. Micah Braswell, Texas

6. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

7. Jake Fearnley, TCU

8. Toby Samuel, South Carolina

9. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

10. Alex Martinez, Oklahoma

11. Jack Pinnington Jones, TCU

12. Murphy Cassone, Arizona State

13. Andres Martin, Georgia Tech

14. Radu Papoe, Cornell

15. Cooper Williams, Harvard

16. JJ Tracy, Ohio State

Doubles:

1. Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas, Duke

2. Robert Cash and JJ Tracy, Ohio State

3. DK Suresh and Holden Koons, Wake Forest

4. Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer, Kentucky

5. Sebasian Gorzny and Pedro Vives, TCU

6. Johannus Monday and Angel Diaz, Tennessee

7. Etienne Donnet and Natan Rodrigues, Louisville

8. Tyler Zink and Isaac Becroft, Oklahoma State

Eight Americans Begin Play Tuesday at ITF J500 in Germany; First of Three J100s in Florida Underway; Kovackova Sweeps Another Tennis Europe U14 Super Category Event; Blanch Draws Nadal in Madrid Masters

The third ITF J500 of the year is this week in Germany, with eight Americans competing in the 64-player singles draws, which begin Tuesday in Offenbach. No. 8 Katie Rolls and No. 11 Max Exsted are the seeded Americans, with the others Noah Johnston, Stiles Brockett, Trinetra Vijayakumar, Maya Iyengar, Leena Friedman and qualifier Gabriella Mikaul. Mikaul, the number 1 seed in qualifying, had to play only one match, with neither the boys nor the girls qualifying draws filling up their 32 spots.

The fields are strong however, with the winners of February's Cairo 500, Luca Preda of Romania[2] and March's Banana Bowl 500 Oliver Bonding of Great Britain[3] both in the boys draw; Rolls won the girls title at the Banana Bowl; Cairo girls champion Rositsa Dencheva of Bulgaria is not in Germany this week, but December's Orange Bowl J500 champion, Hannah Klugman of Great Britain, is the No. 2 seed.

Emerson Jones of Australia is the girls top seed, with last week's champion at the J300 in France, Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, the No. 1 seed in the boys draw.

This tournament will have a major impact on the acceptances for the Roland Garros Junior Championships, with entries closing April 30.

Those who are not traveling to Europe this spring still have ample tournaments on clay here in the United States, with three J100s on the Har-Tru in Florida, beginning this week in Delray Beach.

These are extremely popular events, with both the boys and girls 64-player qualifying draws full this week, with eight girls and eight boys making the 64-player main draws.

Singles action began today, with both top seeds, Calvin Baierl and Nancy Lee, advancing in straight sets. Fourteen-year-old Christina Lyutova, playing for the first time since reaching the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells ITF last month, is the No. 3 seed.

In addition to Tyra Grant's title at the J300 in France last week, one other American claimed a title on the ITF Junior Circuit, with 18-year-old Yontha Tadoum sweeping singles and doubles at the J30 in Cameroon. It was Tadoum's first singles title on the ITF Junior Circuit, and her sixth doubles title.

There were seven more doubles titles, in addition to Noah Johnston's in France and Tadoum's in Cameroon, with the biggest of those won by Mark Krupkin and Dylan Long at the J100 in Canada. The No. 2 seeds defeated unseeded Zackary Kimelman and Aedan Malik of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the final. 

American teams swept the doubles at the J60 in Panama, with Ava Rodriguez and Ella Olofson taking the girls title and Bardo Bucknell and Jacob Maravillas earning the boys title.

As in Panama, at the J30 in Barbados, both doubles champions were from the United States, with John Gentek and Taylor Yarnell winning the boys title and sisters Aleksandra and Natasha Jerkunica taking the girls title.

Three Americans won doubles titles at the J30 in Mexico City. Dillon Beckles, a singles finalist, and Chase Kelley won the boys doubles, with Londyn McCord, also a singles finalist, and Mexico's Azul Lopez Vazuquez taking the girls doubles championship. 

Thirteen-year-old Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic has added another pair of Tennis Europe Super Category 14-and-under titles to her resumé, sweeping singles and doubles last week in Maia Portugal. The 2023 Junior Orange Bowl 14s champion, seeded No. 1, beating No. 2 seed Viktorija Cesonyte of Lithuania 6-2, 6-2 in the singles final. The doubles final was much closer, with Kovackova and Czech partner Katerina Zajickova, seeded No. 2, saving three match points in their 6-3, 4-6, 12-10 win over No. 3 seeds Ayse Bal of Turkey and Laura Chlumska of the Czech Republic. 

No. 4 seed Eric Lorimer of Great Britain won the boys singles, via a walkover, when No. 8 seed Plamen Kolev of Bulgaria suffered an injury late in his semifinal match and was unable to compete in the final. 

For more on the tournament, see this article from Tennis Europe.

The ATP draw was announced today at the Madrid Masters 1000, and 16-year-old wild card Darwin Blanch was drawn to face Rafael Nadal. His reaction to that news via snapchat went viral. 

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant started well in her match with WTA No. 83 Laura Siegemund, but the 36-year-old from Germany came back to post a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win in the first round of the Madrid qualifying.

Four Top Seeds Win Conference Titles, but Florida State Ends ACC Run of Virginia Men; Madrid Masters 1000 Wild Cards for Grant and Blanch; Stephens Claims WTA 250 Title

Five Power 5 conference tournament titles were decided today (the Oklahoma State women won the Big 12 title last night over Texas) and four of them went, with varying degrees of difficulity, to the No. 1 seeds: the North Carolina women, Texas men, Kentucky men and Georgia women. The shocking result came early in the day, with the Florida State men, seeded No. 6, coming back to defeat three-time defending champion Virginia 4-3 after trailing 3-1.

The match, which began at 10 a.m. and finished at 1:30 p.m., was played indoors at the Cary Tennis Center in North Carolina. Top seed Virginia, who hadn't lost an ACC match in four regular seasons and had claimed the conference tournament title the past three years, looked on their way to a fourth after taking the doubles point with a 6-0 shutout at line 1 and a routine 6-3 win at line 2, although Florida State had taken line 3.

The teams split first sets, so Virginia was in position for a win by just holding on in those three matches, and senior Alex Kiefer did his part at line 5, taking out Joshua Dous-Karpenschif 6-2, 6-3, and giving FSU the daunting task of having to win four of the five remaining singles matches to get the win.

Jamie Connel, the hero of the Seminoles 4-3 win over Wake Forest in Saturday's semifinals, got that uphill climb started when, in the only other match that finished in straight sets, he defeated Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg 6-4, 7-6(0) at line 3. With the remaining four matches all going to three sets, Florida State was obviously still in it, but when Virginia's Dylan Dietrich closed out Youcef Rihane 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to make it 3-1, the Cavaliers just needed one of the three matches still out.

Even when Loris Pourroy made it 3-2 with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 win over Inaki Montes at line 2, and Alex Bulte beat Mans Dahlberg 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-2 at line 6 to tie it at 3, prospects for Virginia's escape looked good, with Chris Rodesch up 5-2 over Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc in the third set. Cornut-Chauvinc had recovered mentally from his third overrule (and point penalty) and the subsequent Rodesch let cord ace that had allowed the Virginia senior to hold for 4-2, and had managed to extend the match by saving two match points with Rodesch serving at 5-3 40-30. But Rodesch earned two more match points with Cornut-Chauvinc serving at 4-5, 30-40 only to fail to convert those, and the FSU senior, who had beaten Rodesch in their previous meeting in Tallahassee in March, took control. He broke Rodesch and served out the match, to deliver the first ACC title in program history.

For more on the historic win for Florida State, see this article from seminoles.com.

The ACC women's championship, played after the men's match, also indoors, went to the University of North Carolina, who defeated No. 2 seeds Virginia 4-1. The Tar Heels took the doubles point, but Virginia came out strong in singles, taking four first sets. 

But UNC began to work their way back, led by Elizabeth Scotty, who had dropped the first set 6-0 in her match with Hibah Shaikh at line 2. Scotty took the second set, Reilly Tran closed out her first set and Fiona Crawley was up a set on Annabelle Xu at line 1, so a path began to emerge for the defending NCAA champions. Scotty and Tran closed out those matches to give North Carolina a 3-0 lead, and although Natasha Subhash earned a point for the Cavaliers with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over Carson Tanguilig at line 3, and Crawley and Anika Yarlagadda were early in third sets, freshman Tatum Evans closed out the victory, beating Melodie Collard 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 at line 6.  See goheels.com for the full box score.

At the Big 12 conference tournament in Stillwater, Texas easily won the rubber match against rival TCU, with the Longhorns earning a 4-0 victory. After taking the doubles point, Texas got straight-sets singles wins from Siem Woldeab at line 5, Pierre-Yves Bailly at line 4 and Gilles-Arnaud Bailly at line 3 to earn Texas's first Big 12 tournament title since 2018.

Like Texas, Kentucky went undefeated in both the regular season and the conference tournament, with the Wildcats beating No. 11 seed South Carolina 4-2 in Baton Rouge.  After the doubles point was decided in a tiebreaker on Court 1, in favor of Kentucky, South Carolina came out strong in singles and took a 2-1 lead with Toby Samuel beating Taha Baadi at line 1 and freshman Sean Daryabeigi defeating Jaden Weekes at line 3. 

But once Kentucky freshman Eli Stephenson came from 5-2 down in the first set to take it 7-6(4) at line 6, the tide turned in Kentucky's favor. The Wildcats got straight-set wins from Charlelie Cosnet at line 4 and Joshua Lapadat at line 2 to take a 3-2 lead and Stephenson closed out Carter Morgan 6-3 in the second set for the clinch. The only three-set match of the day was at line 5, with Jack Loutit and Jelani Sarr at 4-3 in the third.

The SEC women's final closed out the day, with Georgia defeating No. 2 seed Texas A&M 4-1 at the new indoor tennis facility in Athens. The Aggies, who had struggled a bit in their 4-2 semifinal win over Florida on Saturday, couldn't get going against a Georgia team that appears to be firing on all cylinders now. After taking the doubles point, Georgia got wins from Dasha Vidmanova at line 1, Mell Reasco at line 3 and Anastasiia Lopata at line 4, while Texas A&M picked up their point at line 5, with freshman Lucciana Perez beating Guillermina Grant. Carson Branstine, playing in just her third match since returning to A&M, finished her match with Vidmanova in tears after what appeared to be a hip injury suffered early in the second set. 

The last two conferences to play their tournaments are the Pac-12 and Big Ten, who finished their regular seasons today and will begin tournament play next week.

The WTA and ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid begins with qualifying Monday, and 16-year-old Tyra Grant, who won the ITF J300 in France yesterday has received a qualifying wild card. She will play No. 9 seed Laura Siegemund of Germany in the first round. 

The women's main draw is here.

Sixteen-year-old Darwin Blanch, who reached the semifinals of a men's ITF WTT $15K last week, has been awarded a main draw wild card, as have 2022 US Open boys champion Martin Landaluce of Spain and 2023 US Open boys champion Joao Fonseca of Brazil. The men's main draw will be held Monday.

Mitchell Krueger fell short in his quest for a second Challenger title in 2024, with Zizou Bergs of Belgium winning his second title in as many weeks at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee. The No. 2 seed defeated Krueger 6-4, 7-6(9) in a match delayed several hours at the start due to rain.

Sloane Stephens won her eighth WTA title today on indoor clay at the 250 event in Rouen France. The 31-year-old, seeded No. 6, defeated unseeded Magda Linette of Poland 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in the final. 

Taylor Fritz lost in the final of the ATP 250 in Munich, his first career final on clay, with Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany earning his first ATP title at age 33 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Grant Claims Second ITF J300 ITF in France; Krueger Reaches Tallahassee Challenger Final; Two Surprise Finalists for Men's SEC and ACC Conference Championships; Oklahoma State Women Win Big 12 Title, Continue Undefeated

Sixteen-year-old Tyra Grant won her second ITF J300 title today in Beaulieu-sur-Mer France, with the No. 2 seed recording a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Lilli Tagger of Austria in the final. 

Grant, who won her first J300 title last May in Italy, also on clay, is not entered in next week's J500 in Germany, but has solidified her position as a favorite at Roland Garros in June.

The boys final, also between a top seed and an unseeded player, was much closer with No. 1 Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway defeating Henry Bernet of Switzerland 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Mitchell Krueger defeated wild card Stefan Kozlov 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Florida today to reach his second Challenger final of the year. The 30-year-old from Texas will face No. 2 seed Zizou Bergs of Belgium in the final, after Bergs advanced to his second straight Challenger final when unseeded Calvin Hemery of France retired trailing 3-6, 6-4, 4-1. Bergs and Krueger played last week in the quarterfinals of the Sarasota Challenger, with Bergs earning a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win.

It was a first ATP Challenger doubles title for Simon Freund(LSU/UC-Santa Barbara) of Sweden and Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark in Tallahassee this evening, with the unseeded pair defeating top seeds Will Blumberg(North Carolina) and Luis Martinez of Venezuela 7-5, 7-6(4).  Ingildsen, 26, and Freund, 27, served for the match at both 5-4 and 6-5, failed to convert two match points at 5-4 and yet still held their nerve in the tiebreaker to earn the victory.

I spent most of a cold and drab April day in Michigan watching SEC, ACC and Big 12 conference championship play on ESPN+, an option I really appreciate having this time of year. The semifinals went acoording to form in the women's ACC and SEC and in the men's Big 12, but there were two surprising results in the men's ACC and SEC.

Top seed and two-time defending NCAA champion Virginia extended its perfect ACC record during the past four years with a 4-1 win over Duke, with the Blue Devils sole point coming in doubles. 

Virginia will not meet No. 2 seed Wake Forest however, with No. 6 seed Florida State upsetting the Demon Deacons 4-3. The Seminoles won the doubles point and took lines No. 1 and No. 6 in straight sets, but the last four singles points were decided in three sets. Wake Forest fought back to tie it up with wins at lines 2, 4 and 5, so it came down to line 3, with Jamie Connel defeating Matthew Thomson 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 to put Florida State in their first conference tournament final since 2005. Virginia beat Florida State 4-1 in Tallahassee in the regular season. 

In the SEC, top seed Kentucky was impressive, defeating surprise semifinalist LSU 4-0 in Baton Rouge. LSU, the No. 13 seed, had  beaten No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 4 Auburn to reach the semifinals, but Kentucky, who has yet to lose in SEC play this year, was too strong today. Kentucky will face No. 11 seed South Carolina, who upset No. 2 seed Tennessee today 4-2.  The Gamecocks, who had lost 4-0 to the Volunteers three weeks ago in Knoxville, took the doubles point, but lost four first sets in singles and needed tiebreakers to take the two first sets they did claim. But after Tennessee took a 2-1 lead with wins at 1 and 6, South Carolina came back, holding on to the two matches where they had the lead, then getting their fourth point when freshman Jelani Sarr beat Angel Diaz at line 5, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. It's the first time South Carolina had advanced to the conference tournament final. 

Kentucky beat South Carolina earlier this month in the regular season, in Columbia, 4-3.

In the day's most highly anticipated match, the top-seeded North Carolina women avenged their two losses this season to No. 4 seed NC State, and did it without much drama beating the Wolfpack 4-0. After taking the doubles point, the Tar Heels got straight sets wins in singles from Carson Tanguilig at line 3, Anika Yarlagadda at line 5 and Elizabeth Scotty at line 2. North Carolina will have an opportunity to avenge again their only other loss of the season, to Virginia at the National Team Indoor, in their third meeting of the year with the Cavaliers. The No. 2 seeds defeated No. 3 seed Florida State 4-0. UNC defeated Virginia in the regular season 4-1 two weeks ago in Chapel Hill.

The SEC women's final will also feature the top 2 seeds, with No. 1 Georgia, playing at home in Athens, facing Texas A&M. It's the fourth straight year the two teams will meet in the SEC conference tournament final.

The Aggies, who had Carson Branstine in the lineup for the first time in the quarterfinals Friday, beat No. 3 seed Florida 4-2, with Branstine clinching the win at line 1 after not finishing her first match of the season against Vanderbilt's Celia-Belle Mohr on Friday.

Georgia was ruthlessly efficient in their 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee, taking the doubles point and three singles points in straight sets.

TCU and Texas will play their rubber match in the men's Big 12 final Sunday, after top seed Texas beat No. 5 seed Oklahoma State 4-1 and No. 3 seed TCU defeated No. 2 seed Oklahoma 4-1 in Stillwater.  TCU won the first, non-conference, meeting between the two teams in a 4-3 thriller in Fort Worth; Texas beat TCU 5-0 in Austin three weeks later.

The women's Big 12 final was played Saturday night in Stillwater, with the Oklahoma State women keeping their perfect record intact heading into the NCAA tournament. The top-seeded Cowgirls defeated No. 2 seed Texas 4-0 to earn their first conference tournament title since 2016, ending the Longhorns' run as champions the past three years. 

US Teams Sweep Top Spots in All North and Central America ITF Team Competition Qualifying Matches; Blanch Advances to $15K Semifinal in Spain; Grant Reaches ITF J300 Final in France; Kozlov and Krueger Meet in Tallahassee Challenger Semifinals Saturday

The teams from the United States were favored to win all of their matches at this week's North and Central American and Caribbean Qualifying for the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup(16U) and the World Junior Tennis(14U) team competitions that the ITF holds every year. All four teams finished a perfect 3-0 to finish at the top of the four-team round robin competitions, and there's little doubt that the boys 14U team was the most dominant. After winning all six sets 6-0 yesterday against Guatemala, the boys lost only 3 games today against Mexico, in Jordan Lee's 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles.

Michael Antonius, the reigning Eddie Herr and Les Petits As champion, lost one game in his three singles matches and none in his two doubles matches.

I didn't receive the pdfs via email today, but below are the results of the US teams, as well as the final standings. Notable that Mexico will be sending two teams to the finals; Canada, which also had two second place finishes, and the United States are often the two countries that advance to Finals from this qualifying round. 

USA d. Canada 3-0 Junior Davis Cup

No. 2 singles:
Keaton Hance d. Felix Roussel 6-3, 7-6(3)

No. 1 singles:
Jack Secord d. Miko Lapalme 6-3, 6-2

Doubles:
Hance and Secord d. Lapalme and Quincy Yao 6-1, 5-7, 10-4

USA d. Mexico 3-0 Junior Billie Jean King Cup

No. 2 singles:
Shannon Lam d. Marianne Angel Gomez 6-3, 6-4

No. 1 singles:
Thea Frodin d. Hanne Estrada Cortes 5-7, 6-2, 6-4

Doubles:
Lamm and Frodin d. Angel Gomez and Abril Cardenas Olivares 6-4, 6-2

USA d. Mexico 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles
Michael Antonius d. Santiago Garcia Puente 6-0, 6-0

No. 1 singles
Jordan Lee d. Jaime Gomez Lopez 6-1, 6-2

Doubles:
Antonius and Teodor Davidov d. Gomez Lopez and Leonardo Calles Salinas 6-0, 6-0

USA d. Canada 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles:
Maggie Sohns d. Isabella Yan 6-3, 6-0

No. 1 singles:
Welles Newman d. Rachel Wu 6-3, 6-1

Doubles:
Newman and Sohns d. Yan and Wu  4-6, 6-3, 10-6 

(Corrected from Canada winning the doubles 4/22/24)

Final Standings:

Boys WJT
1. USA 3-0
2. Canada 2-1
3. Mexico 1-2
4. Guatemala 0-3

Girls WJT
1. USA 3-0
2. Mexico 2-1
3. Canada 1-2
4. Guatemala 0-3

Junior Davis Cup
1. USA 3-0
2. Mexico 1-2
3. Canada 1-2
4. Bahamas 1-2

Junior Billie Jean King Cup
1. USA 3-0
2. Canada 2-1
3. Mexico 1-2
4. Puerto Rico 0-3

Darwin Blanch has reached his second ITF men's World Tennis Tour semifinal of the year with a win today at the $15,000 tournament in Telde Spain. The unseeded 16-year-old, who trains at the Juan Carlos Ferrero Equelite Academy in Spain, defeated 18-year-old qualifier Albert Pedrico Kravtsov of Spain 6-7(3), 6-1, 7-6(4) in today's quarterfinals. The 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion will play another Spanish player, No. 3 seed Diego Augusto Barreto Sanchez, who he beat 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of at a $15K at the end of February. Blanch, who made the semifinals last year at this tournament, and at another $15K last month, also in Spain, has yet to advance to a men's Pro Circuit final. 

At the ITF J300 in Beaulieu-sur-Mer France, Tyra Grant has advanced to the final, beating No. 8 seed Vittoria Paganetti of Italy 6-4, 6-3 in today's semifinals. Grant will face fellow 16-year-old Lilli Tagger of Austria, a qualifier, who thwarted an all-USA final with a 6-4, 6-0 win over No. 5 seed Katie Rolls. The boys final will feature top seed Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway and unseeded Henry Bernet of Switzerland.

Mitchell Krueger and Stefan Kozlov will meet in the semifinals of ATP Challenger 75 in Tallahassee Saturday after both picked up straight-sets victories today. Wild card Kozlov beat Oliver Crawford(Florida) of Great Britain 6-2, 6-2 to reach his second Challenger semifinal of the year; Krueger defeated ITF World Junior No. 1 Joel Schwaerzler of Austria 7-5, 7-6(4) and will also be playing in his second Challenger semifinal of the year; he won the Indian Wells Challenger 1 in January. 

US Boys Win Six 6-0 Sets in ITF World Junior Tennis Victory, US Teams Continue Undefeated in North and Central American Qualifying; Johnston Earns Doubles Title, Rolls and Grant Reach Semis in ITF J300 in France; Top 10 Collegiate Women by UTR

There are dominating performances and then there is today's 3-0 win by the US boys in the second day of the North and Central America and Caribbean ITF World Junior Tennis qualifying in Lake Nona. With Eddie Herr 14s and Les Petits As champion Michael Antonius slotted for No. 2 singles this week, the US team was an overwhelming favorite to advance to August's finals in the Czech Republic, but opponent Guatemala couldn't win a game today, over three separate matches.  With Jordan Lee, the US No. 1 due to his slightly higher ITF ranking, pulled for today's match, Teodor Davidov moved into the No. 2 singles position and Antonius into the No. 1 spot, but Guatemala was shut out in both matches, as well as the doubles.

The Junior Davis Cup team again dropped a singles match, with Carel Ngounoue retiring at No. 1 singles against the Bahamas, but the deciding doubles went to the United States team of Jack Secord and Keaton Hance.

The girls teams both posted 3-0 victories, and the United States is the only country to be 2-0 in any of the four competitions, so their places in the finals are already guaranteed with one more day of play scheduled for Friday.

The standings after two days can be found here and the results from the four matches not involving the United States can be found here.

USA d. Bahamas 2-1 Junior Davis Cup

No. 2 singles:

Keaton Hance d. Jackson MacTaggart 6-2, 6-2

No. 1 singles:

Jerald Carroll d. Carel Ngounoue 6-4  ret.

Doubles: 

Jack Secord and Keaton Hance d. Carroll and MacTaggart 6-4, 6-2

USA d. Puerto Rico 3-0 Junior Billie Jean King Cup

No. 2 singles:

Kristina Penickova d. Aurora Lugo 6-2, 6-2

No. 1 singles: Shannon Lam d. Carolina Castro 6-1, 6-2

Doubles: Thea Frodin and Kristina Penickova d. Lugo and Victoria Cajigas 6-1, 6-0

USA d. Guatemala 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles:

Maggie Sohns d. Carmen Fuentes 6-4, 6-4

No. 1 singles:

Welles Newman d. Sofia Dallamora 6-1, 6-1

Doubles: 

Sohns and Sarah Ye d. Camilla Castillo and Dallamora 6-0, 6-2

USA d. Guatemala 3-0 World Junior Tennis

No. 2 singles:

Teodor Davidov d. Jose Anibal Martinez 6-0, 6-0

No. 1 singles:

Michael Antonius d. Martin Garcia 6-0, 6-0

Doubles:

Davidov and Jordan Lee d. Julian Garcia and Martin Garcia 6-0, 6-0

The ITF J300 in Beaulieu-Sur-Mer France has already produced one champion from the United States, with two US girls advancing to the singles semifinals.

Noah Johnston won the doubles title today, partnering with Gustavo Ribeirode Almeida of Brazil. The unseeded pair defeated Felix Blashaw and Theo Papamalamis of France, also unseeded, 7-6(5), 6-0 in the final. Johnston, a 16-year-old from South Carolina, has now won three J300 doubles titles this year, each with a different partner.

Katie Rolls, who is playing in her first tournament since capturing the J500 Banana Bowl last month, extended her winning streak to nine matches as she advanced to the semifinals. The No. 5 seed defeated unseeded Daphnee Mpetshi Perricard 7-6(2), 6-3 in today's quarterfinals; she will face qualifier Lilli Tagger of Austria in the semifinals.

No. 2 seed Tyra Grant came from behind to defeat unseeded Noemi Basiletti of Italy 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 in today's quarterfinals and will play No. 8 seed Vittoria Paganetti of Italy.

I mentioned in my Tuesday post of the ITA rankings that I hadn't seen the women's version of the collegiate Top 10 by UTR that had been posted for the men. It showed up today on Twitter, as follows, with ITA rankings in parentheses:

1. Alexa Noel, Miami (11)

2. Fiona Crawley, North Carolina (7)

3. Amelia Rajecki, NC State (5)

4. Fangran Tian, UCLA (39)

5. Katherine Hui, Stanford (not ranked)

6. Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina (4)

7. Ayana Akli, South Carolina  (9)

8. Kari Miller, Michigan (3)

9. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M (1)

10. Nicole Khirin, Texas A&M (19)

As John Parsons pointed out, Carson Branstine, who has returned to compete for Texas A&M in the post season, is at 11.53, which would put her at the top of the list, with Noel currently at 11.52.

USA Teams Go 4-0 on Opening Day of ITF Junior Davis Cup, Bille Jean King Cup and World Junior Tennis North and Central American Qualifying; David Filer Memorial Court Established at Lake Nona; JTCC, Minor Family Among USTA Grassroots Award Winners

The favored United States teams won all four of their matches Wednesday in the opening day of the ITF North and Central America and Caribbean qualifying for the U16 and U14 team events that take place later this summer and fall.

The USTA is hosting the three-day event at the National Campus in Lake Nona, with the top two finishers from the four-team events advancing to the international Junior Davis Cup, Junior Billie Jean King Cup and World Junior Tennis finals.

The United States won their first matches in the World Junior Tennis competition for 14-and-under players without any trouble, going 3-0 and losing only 11 games total. 

United States d. Mexico 3-0 WJT girls:

No. 2 singles: Maggie Sohns d. Monserrat Temprana Falco 6-2, 6-2 

No. 1 singles: Welles Newman d. Paula Velaquez Osornio 6-2, 6-1 

Doubles: Newman and Sohns d. Temprana Falo  and Monserrat Montano 6-0, 6-0

United States d. Canada 3-0 WJT boys:

No. 2 singles: Michael Antonius d. Julian Mahdavi 6-0. 6-1

No. 1 singles: Jordan Lee d. Callum Mackinnon 6-3, 6-1

Doubles: Michael Antonius and Teodor Davidov d. Mackinnon and Luca Vicol 6-0, 6-0

Matches were definitely more competitive for the United States in the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup. Keaton Hance, who was a late substitute for Jack Kennedy, partnered with Carel Ngounoue to win the deciding doubles point against Mexico, after Ngounoue had won at No. 2 singles and Jack Secord had lost at No. 1 singles.

United States d. Mexico 2-1 Junior Davis Cup 

No. 2 singles: Carel Ngounoue d. Luis Andres Flores Avila 6-0, 6-1

No. 1 singles: Mauricio Schtulmann Gasca d. Jack Secord 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(5)

Doubles: Ngounoue and Keaton Hance d. Flores Avila and Guillermo Antonio Narcio Vazquez 7-5, 6-4

United States d. Canada 3-0 Junior Billie Jean King Cup

No. 2 singles: Kristina Penickova d. Charlize Celebrini 6-2, 7-5

No. 1 singles: Shannon Lam d. Nadia Lagaev 6-4 ,7-5

Doubles: Penickova and Thea Frodin d. Celebrini and Clemence Mercier 3-6, 6-2, 10-4

The results of the other four matches not featuring teams from the United States can be found here.

Many of the players who are competing in this week's event, and who have been at the USTA National Campus in the past month, will have stopped by a recently dedicated court to pay their respects to the memory of David Filer, a top junior player who died of brain cancer just over a year ago, at the age of 16. A camp was held in Filer's honor and a TEAM USA court was designated to his memory. Below are photographs from that camp and ceremony.

Jacek Dabrowski, Pam Mozdzierz-Filer, David Filer IV, Eric Nunez

The USTA announced its Grassroots Awards today, and while I'm sure all winners are very much deserving of the recognition, I wanted to highlight two I have known personally, the Minor family and Junior Tennis Champions Center.

Family of the Year: The Minor Family - Chicago

 

This award was initiated in 1965 by Martin L. Tressel, president of the USTA in 1965-66, to emphasize the theme that "Tennis is a Family Game."  The award is awarded annually to the family who, in recent years, has done the most to promote amateur tennis, primarily on a volunteer basis. All members of the family should participate in some way, either as players or by offering their services in running programs or tournaments or in junior development activities. 

 

The Minor family from Chicago initially had little knowledge of the world of junior tennis–initially seeing it as a healthy sport with valuable life lessons for their three daughters. Discovering the girls' talent, they embarked on a family journey, traveling in their Chevy Suburban for junior tennis tournaments across the country. The daughters excelled, each earning Division I college tennis scholarships. Kristina became a lawyer; Jasmin, an Emmy-winning reporter; and Brienne, the first Black female to win an NCAA women’s singles individual championship, pursued a career on the pro tour. Inspired by their success, their parents, Kevin and Michelle, became mentors for other parents in Chicago on navigating tournament play. In 2022, Kevin tragically passed away, and at the time of his death, the Minor family rallied to solidify his legacy by creating a scholarship fund in his name. The scholarship fund raised nearly $30,000 within days of Kevin's death. Today, the Kevin Minor Legacy Fund awards $5,000 scholarships to junior female tennis players, supporting their journey from the junior circuit to college tennis.

NJTL of the Year Award – Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) - College Park, Md.

 

The NJTL of the Year Award is given to chapters that positively impact youth through the powerful combination of tennis and education. Founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe, Charlie Pasarell, and Sheridan Snyder, the NJTL network is a nationwide group of more than 250 nonprofit youth development organizations. Supported by the USTA Foundation through financial grants, scholarship opportunities, curricula, technical assistance and training, the NJTL network provides free or low-cost tennis and education programming to more than 150,000 under-resourced youth nationwide.

 

The mission of the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is to transform lives in the communities it serves through sport and education by providing tennis for everybody. For 25 years, JTCC has helped grow the sport of tennis by providing a comprehensive tennis pathway for players of all abilities that emphasizes excellence on the tennis court, in the classroom, and in the community. The pathway starts with ‘Game On!’, which delivers free tennis and education to K-12 youth in Maryland and Washington, D.C., providing students with a unique combination of athletic, academic and social learning. JTCC partners with D.C. Public Schools, Prince George’s County Public Schools, D.C. Parks and Recreation, Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning, and Prince George’s County Police Athletic League to identify schools and recreation centers for programming. The program served more than 800 youth between September 2022 and August 2023.

 

Today's release, with all eight award winners, can be found here.