Tucson ITF J300 Acceptances; ITA Announces Host Sites for 2027 and 2028 Team Indoor Championships; Pro Connections at Men's Team Indoor; Confirmation of Tiley's Move to USTA CEO Position Expected Next Week

Acceptances for the ITF J300 in Tucson were posted today, with Janae Preston and Michael Antonius leading the fields. Tucson is the new site of this tournament, which had been during the second week of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells the past three years.

Preston, now up to 21 in the ITF junior rankings after her three straight J300 titles in Central and South America, is one of four Top 50 American girls on the acceptance list, with No. 39 Welles Newman, No. 49 Melije Clarke and No. 50 Jordyn Hazelitt entering.

No. 25 Mariella Thamm of Germany and Kristina Liutova are the other ITF Top 50 players in the draw. No. 34 Liutova, currently 601 in the WTA rankings, has, by far, the best World Tennis Number in the field.

Antonius, who won back-to-back J300 titles in South American recently, is joined by Junior Davis Cup teammate Andy Johnson, who won the M15 in Sunrise Florida last week. The third member of that JDC championship team, Jordan Lee, is not entered.

The Top 50 US boys, in addition to No. 11 Antonius and No. 16 Johnson, are No. 28 Tanishk Konduri, No. 39 Ryan Cozad and No. 49 Vihaan Reddy.

The initial main draw cutoff ranking was 195 for the boys and 187 for the girls.

I will be covering the event, which is March 9-14, to kick off my three-week trip, the San Diego J300 North American Closed and the Easter Bowl in weeks two and three respectively.

There's still some digesting to do on Texas's first ITA Men's Team Indoor Championships title, but planning for the next two years is already underway, with the ITA announcing today that the men's 2027 and 2028 events will be co-hosted by Clemson and South Carolina, with Clemson the final site in 2027, and the women's events in 2027 and 2028 co-hosted by Michigan and Ohio State, with Michigan the final site in 2027. 

Although I'm disappointed not be returning to SMU, where head coach Grant Chen does an outstanding job hosting, I am pleased to be able to focus on the women's event next year, with Michigan just a couple of hours east on I-94 from me. Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates, because this is the first time two states will be involved as host sites, and Ann Arbor is a three-hour drive from Columbus in good weather.

For more from the four coaches who will be hosting, see this article from the ITA.

Mary Joe Fernandez and Lindsay Davenport at Men's Team Indoor

Greg Sharko, the former ATP stats guru, was in Dallas helping with the media at the men's Team Indoor and he wrote this article for tennis.com about the seven different familial relationships between ITA Men's Team Indoor competitors and current and former ATP and WTA pros. Mary Joe Fernandez and Lindsay Davenport and their sons, who are Stanford teammates and competing together in doubles, are the most well-known of the seven, but Sharko tracked down five other connections as well.

I also heard Sharko arrange a call with Texas head coach Bruce Berque and the Tennis Channel T2 hosts Brad Gilbert and Nick Monroe for Thursday afternoon, so check that out if you can.

There was plenty of chatter at the Men's Team Indoor about the likelihood of Tennis Australia's Craig Tiley joining the USTA as its new CEO, and that announcement is now expected next week according to this Australian source. I heard speculation that his start date may not be immediate given a non-compete clause in his TA contract, but I will be sure to pass along the official USTA announcement, in its entirety, when I received it.