San Diego ITF J300 Videos; No Change at No. 1 in ITA D-I Team and Individual Rankings; Virginia Men's Tennis to Benefit from Program Endowment; Smith and Pareja Lead USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge

The videos from last month's ITF J300 North American Regional Championship finals in San Diego can be found below. Because the finals were played back-to-back on the Barnes Tennis Stadium Court, I was able to do both from above and behind. In previous years, the girls final was always played at the same time as the boys, but not on a court that allowed that viewpoint.

The ITA weekly rankings have not changed much in the past several weeks, with the Georgia women and Wake Forest men continuing to win their matches, and the same for second-ranked Texas A&M women and TCU men. There are two new No. 3s this week however, with the Duke women, who picked up 4-3 wins over Cal and Stanford in California, and the Texas men, who picked up 4-1 road wins over Oklahoma and Texas A&M this past weekend, making a jump. 

NCAA fall singles champions Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia and Michael Zheng of Columbia remain No. 1 in the singles rankings and NCAA fall doubles champions Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted of TCU and Melodie Collard and Elain Chervinsky of Virginia remain No. 1 in the doubles rankings.

ITA Division I Rankings

(click on headings for complete rankings)

MEN

Team:

(previous ranking in parentheses)

1. Wake Forest (1)

2. TCU (2)

3. Texas (5)

4. Ohio State (3)

5. NC State (4)

6. Virginia (6)

7. San Diego (7)

8. Stanford (9)

9. Cal (10)

10. Columbia (8)

Singles:

1. Michael Zheng, Columbia

2. Timo Legout, Texas

3. Oliver Tarvet, San Diego

4. Colton Smith, Arizona

5. Jay Friend, Arizona

6. DK Suresh, Wake Forest

7. Rafael Jodar, Virginia

8. Pedro Vives, TCU

9. Ozan Baris, Michigan State

10. Aidan Kim, Ohio State 

Doubles: 

1. Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted, TCU

2. Petar Jovanovic and Beniot Sanchez Martinez, Mississippi State

3. Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, San Diego

4. Lucas Andrade da Silva and Connor Thomson, South Carolina

5. Stefan Dostanic and DK Suresh, Wake Forest

WOMEN

Team:

1. Georgia (1)

2. Texas A&M (2)

3. Duke (4)

4. Oklahoma (8)

5. Michigan (3)

6. North Carolina (5)

7. Virginia (5)

8. Auburn (9)

9. Tennessee (6)

10. Ohio State (11)

Singles:

1. Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

2. Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M

3. Julia Fliegner, Michigan

4. Reese  Brantmeier, North Carolina

5. DJ Bennett, Auburn

6. Elza Tomase, Tennessee

7. Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin

8. Valerie Glozman, Stanford

9. Luciana Perry, Ohio State

10. Connie Ma, Stanford

Doubles:

1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, Virginia

2. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, UCLA

3. Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot, NC State

4. Cadence Brace and Kayla Cross, LSU

5. Mell Reasco and Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia

A template for the Division I college tennis "haves" to ensure the viability of their programs was introduced recently by the University of Virginia, who recently announced their goal of making the men's program self-funded via an endowment. Although the first step is the Endowed Fund for the men's head coach, contributed by longtime UVA supporters Gene and Terry Lockhart, the school projects that eventually the endowment will cover all coaches salaries, player scholarships and annual operating expenses, with the athletic department not required to contribute to the program. 

There are a number of schools who already have endowments covering their head coach's salary, but Virginia is framing this as their path to continued success for all the Olympic sports they sponsor. The fact that the men's tennis program has been so successful in the past two decades certainly explains why they are at the forefront of this at Virginia, but I would imagine other schools with NCAA titles in other Olympic sports are hoping to establish similar guarantees so the current upheaval in Division I collegiate athletics will not put them at risk.

The USTA provided its first update on its Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge and with it, the news that Jenson Brooksby is not eligible to receive the wild card as he intends to enter Roland Garros with his protected ranking. That means Colton Smith, who reached the quarterfinals at the ATP 250 in Houston, which Brooksby won, leads the men's race, and Julieta Pareja, as expected, leads the women's race with her semifinal run at the WTA 250 in Colombia. Today's USTA release:

Standings Update: Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge

 

ORLANDO, Fla., April 8, 2025 – The first standings update of the 2025 Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge features both a junior and a college star in the lead -- Julieta Pareja and Colton Smith. 

 

The 16-year-old Pareja, a Californian who last year came within one win of becoming the youngest US Open women's qualifier in 20 years, leads the women's side of the Challenge, having reached the semifinals of the WTA 250 in Bogota last week. It was her first career appearance in a main draw of a WTA event, and she became the youngest player since Coco Gauff in 2019 to reach a WTA-level semifinal. 

 

Smith, a 22-year-old Washingtonian who is currently a senior at the University of Arizona, tops the men's standings after qualifying and reaching the Houston quarterfinals. The reigning All-American then returned to Arizona to play in the Senior Day match for the Wildcats over the weekend. 

 

(NOTE -- Jenson Brooksby, now ranked No. 172 after winning the singles title in Houston last week, will enter the main draw of the French Open using a Protected Ranking and thus is not eligible for the Challenge, as stated in the parameters below.)

 

Women's Standings: 

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

 

1. Julieta Pareja (335) -- 116

T2. Louisa Chirico (155) -- 57

T2. Caty McNally (321) -- 57

4. Monika Ekstrand (1176) -- 35

T5. Five Players Tied -- 32

 

Men's Standings:

(Player's current ranking in parentheses)

1. Colton Smith (168) -- 63

2. Chris Eubanks (110) -- 50

T3. Mackenzie McDonald (100) -- 25

T3. Ethan Quinn (123) -- 25

5. Mitchell Krueger (137) -- 13

 

Both the men's and women's wild cards will be awarded to the American players with the most ranking points earned -- including qualifying and main draw points -- at a maximum of three clay-court tournaments during a five-week window: March 31 through May 4. All red-clay and Har-Tru events at the W35 level and above for the women and the M25 level and above for the men, including WTA and ATP Tour events, will be included in the Challenge.

 

Americans who otherwise earn direct entry into the French Open, including those who enter with a protected ranking, are not eligible. Should the player with the highest number of challenge points earn direct entry into the French Open, the wild card will go to the next eligible American in the Challenge points standings. In the event of a tie, the player with the best ATP or best WTA singles ranking on Monday, May 5, will earn the wild card.

 

The USTA and FFT have a reciprocal agreement in which main draw wild cards for the 2025 French Open and US Open will be exchanged. The USTA utilizes this Challenge format to award wild cards into the Australian, French and US Opens.

 

Previous Americans to earn wild cards into the French Open via the Challenge and how far they advanced at Roland Garros are below, including Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro, who won the women's Challenge in 2023 to make her Grand Slam debut outside of the U.S.