College and Pro Tennis.
Gonna start a tennis thread for any of you tennis fans. I love tennis and will start posting interesting news on the college and pro game. Cheers.
Note, USA men’s and women's Pro tennis are at a very good state, having many top ranked players and several promising young next generation top players. The USTA developmental program has played a Big role with the USA success in the last 25 yrs, producing mucho top talent from the Jr’s to HS, College and the Pro’s.
2025
Pro. Australian Open, 1-5-25 to 1-09-25 qualifiers. 1-10-25 to 1-25-25 main draw/bracket
Prize money distribution: https://www.atptour.com/en/news/australian-open-2025-prize-money
Men. 1-19-25. We have 4 players make the Sweet 16 or Rd of 16. Tommy Paul # 9, 27 yrs, Florida, Ben Shelton, # 18, 22 yrs, Florida, Alex Michelsen, was # 45 now # 35, 20 yrs, Costa Mesa, Calif, Learner Tien, qualifier was # 114 now # 80, 19 yrs, San Diego, Calif. Learner played for USC for only 6 matches last year, big hold up with the NCAA.
# 4 Taylor Fritz, 27 yrs, Calif was upset in the 3rd round or Rd 32.
Learner Tien came up from the qualifiers. So he has earn $156 K from the Q and $420 K = Rd 16 totaling $576 K so far. Xlent pay day so far. Note pro tennis players have mucho expenses: travel, taxes, coaches, trainer, manager, agent and other support team. Players will net only 17% to 20% of their tournament earnings to pay for their personal expenses back home (rent, etc). But, the big & real money is to land multiple endorsements and sponsorships deals. That's where an A+ agent comes into play. Plus, only the agent and manager gets a cut from endorsements monies.
Other top 100 ranked players: Frances Tiafoe, # 17, 26 yrs, Maryland, Sebastian Korda, # 22, 24 yrs, Florida, Branden Nakashima, # 40, 23 yrs, San Diego, Calif, Nishesh Basavareddy, # 109, 19 yrs, Newport Beach, Calif.
Women. 1-19-25. We have 3 players make the Sweet 16 or Rd of 16. CoCo Gaulf, # 3, 20 yrs, Florida, Emma Navarro, # 8, 23 yrs, South Carolina, Madison Keys, # 13, 29 yrs, Florida.
Jesse Pegula # 6, 30 yrs, New York & Florida & Danielle Collins, # 10, 31 yrs, Florida loss in the Rd of 32 to Keys. Note: The Pegula family are Billionaires (around 9 Bil), owners for the Buffalo Bills and other Pro sports (ice hockey) and other businesses. Jesse is set for life and does not need tennis for a living. Emma Navarro family too are Billionaires (est 3 Bil?) Emma too is set for life after tennis. Around July, Collins said will retire after 2024 season (to start a family), but had great wins the 2nd half of 2024 season. In December, she decided to postpone her retirement.
Other top ranked players: Amanda Anisimova, # 40, 23 yrs, Florida, Ashily Krueger, # 50, 20 yrs, Texas, Iva Jovic, # 172, 17 yrs, Los Angeles, Calif. Krueger should end up in top 30 and Jovic hit the top 100's and even top 80 by the end of 2025. Krueger is a very powerful player but needs to get in better fitness and play more consistent and turn into an All Court player. If she can accomplish these things, she will become a Top 10 player (lots of potential).
2-15-25
Men. USC (W) vs # 25 Pepperdine, 4-3 at Pepperdine, Malibu. Always tough to go on the road. The boys upset a top team at Pepperdine’s home courts, very good win. Pepperdine took the Dbl’s pt, which meant USC had to win 4/6 single’s and did that. It was 3/3 with the deciding match left, # 1 single’s. # 24 P. Makk, Sr (W) a tight 3 setter. But, the key win was by Fr, Toruve beating # 32 Homberg, big win by the talented freshmen playing at # 2 single’s.
https://usctrojans.com/documents/2025/2/15/USC_4__Pepperdine_3.pdf
Women. # 15 UCSC (W) vs U. San Diego, 7-0. San Diego did not enter a player for the # 6 single’s, thus USC wins that point by default. Good win by the girls.
https://usctrojans.com/documents/2025/2/14/Results_USC_vs._USD.pdf
PPro tennis rankings, 2-18-25
Men, ATP. # 4 T. Fritz, # 9 T. Paul, # 13 B. Shelton, # 18 F. Tiafoe, # 22 S. Korda, # 33 A. Michelsen, 20 yrs, # 40 B. Nakashima, 23 yrs, # 50 M. Giron
Women, WTA. Shaka, the women are ripping the top 50 world rankings. # 3 Co Co Gaulf, # 4 J. Pegula, # 5 M. Keys, # 10 E. Navarro, # 18 A. Anisimova, # 41 A. Krueger, 20 ys, # 46 P. Sterns, 23 yrs, # 51 S. Kenin.
2-03-25
USC Men. The men’s team hosted 3 dual team matches this past weekend at Mark’s Tennis Complex. The boys went 1-2. Their record after this weekend, 4-3. Bright spot, the team won all 3 Dbl’s pts and 7-0 in Dbl’s pts so far. They just need to play better in singles. C. Masi must find the strongest 6 single’s lineup, tough job.
2-1-25, Loss # 13 Stanford 2-4
2-2-25, Won UNLV, 4-1 and Loss Cal, 3-4, very close match, USC could have won this one.
1-26-25
After 4 matches, I feel this should be USC's singles lineup. So far both teams have been winning the crucial Dbl's pt (4-0) and must keep it up.
Men.
Peter Makk, Sr
V. Iakubenko, Soph
Oscar Weightman, Sr
Karl Lee, Sr
N. Trouve, Fr
M. Moranzzi, Fr
Tristan Bradley, Gr/MS
Connor Church, Fr
Women.
G. Piper, Sr
E. Charney, Jr
I. Haddad, Soph
L. Fairclough, Soph
J. Hossam, Fr
Sloane Morra, Sr
Maia Sung, Gr/MS
Parker Frye, Sr
1-26-25
Both the men’s and women’s team played in their respected regional ITA qualifier tournament for the ITA Indoors Championships in February. In all there were 14 regional’s of 4 teams. The 14 winners make and qualify for the Indoors Championships tournament.
Men’s will be played at SMU and Baylor, 2-14-25 to 2-18-25.
Women’s will be played at Illinois and Northwestern, 2-7-25 to 2-11-25
USC men traveled to host Arizona # 6.
1-25-25 USC (L) to Zona # 6, 4-0. 1-26-25 USC (W) vs Oklahoma St, 4-0. Current record = 3-1, not bad. C. Masi must tinker with the singles linefup. Dam, Zona was upset by unranked UCF, 3-4. Zona will drop big in next rankings, maybe to # 14
USC # 11 women, hosted a regional at home, Mark’s Tennis Complex, 1-25-25 to 1-26-25.
1-25-25, USC # 11 (W) vs Penn, 4-0.
1-26-25 USC # 11 (L) vs Auburn # 13, 2-4. Auburn qualifies as 1/14 teams for the Indoor Championships. Too bad for our girls. C.Swain must tinker with the singles lineup. Current record, 3-1. very good start.. Next rankings, I think USC will drop to # 12 .
B1G rankings: UCLA # 6, Michigan # 8, USC # 11. Old PAC 12: Stanford # 3, UCLA # 6, USC # 11, Cal # 14. The PAC 12 was a top tennis conference for both women and men.
Very good the men and women teams have been taking the important Dbl’s pt (4-0 so far)
See all teams making the ITA Indoor Championships.
https://wearecollegetennis.com/2025/01/26/ita-kickoff-weekend-concludes-as-sights-turn-to-team-indoors/
Note: Women the SEC had 7 out of 14 teams, 7/14 made the Indoor Championships, unreal. Looks like the SEC will be a very strong conference this year.. The top 5 ranked teams for both the men and women made it, so there were no big upsets.
1-25-25
College Tennis, winning scores.
In a team match, there’s a total of 7 points. 6 pts for singles + 1 pt for doubles. A team wins the match once they win 4 pts. Doubles are played 1st. That Dbl’s pt is very important = the swing pt. Once a team wins the Dbl’s pt, all they need is win 3 out of the 6 singles. Lose the Dbl’s pt, team needs to win 4 out of the 6 singles, which is harder.
In the big tournaments or when 2 top rated teams play, the team that wins/take that Dbl’s pt, 90% of the time will win the match. Yeah, that Dbl’s pt is very important.
Examples of scores: 4-3, (4-2, 4-1, 4-0) when a team wins the 4th pt, normally both coaches calls the match off. Kinda weird to me, but the reasoning why play it out when the team won the 4th point. But, when the match is 3-3, the last remaining singles pt must be played out to decide who wins the dual match = 4-3 winning score.
Tee, do not know why you are down on USA tennis? World rankings, make the top 30 is something to behold and hard to do. Top 20 rankings, exceptional. Top 10 Xlent stuff, elite rankings.
Australian Open. In any Major's (Wimbleton, French, US Open or Australian Open or big 1000 pts type tournaments, making the Rd of 16/ Sweet 16 is one hell of a tough thing to do. Make the Qt's & Semi's, one had an incredible tournament. Make the Final's is Superb.
Men's, 2 Americans made the Quarter Final's (elite 8), Tommy Paul # 9 rank and Ben Shelton before AO # 20, currently post AO = # 14. Oh, B. Shelton made the Semi's-Final 4 but loss.
Women, 3 Americans made the Quarter Finals, CoCo Gauf # 3, Emma Navarro # 8, Madison Keys was # 19 now # 7. Most of all Madison Keys won the title and 2025 Austranlian Open.
How's that for our Americans and USA tennis players. Nah, Brah your views and thinking are skewed. The USTA development program has done a tremendous job with our young and promising Jr's, HS, College, Pro players in the last 25 years.
1-20-25
USC Men's tennis, at home, Marks tennis complex. Strong performance by our boys. This team is deep, with strong players. They can forget last season = bad, different season and team.
USC (W) vs UC Irvine, 6-0
USC (W) vs San Diego St, 7-0
USC Women. Last week our Wahine's had a pre-season rankings of # 17. After beating # 7 Texas I said they should be ranked # 12. 1-22-25 current rankings have USC at # 11. I'll take that. Good job by our girls.
College, Spring season, 2025
Shaka college tennis is here and looking forward to USC kick some O'kole
USC Women-Wahines, currently ranked # 17.
1-17-25, USC # 17 (W) vs Texas # 7, 4-3, at home, Marks tennis complex. Was this an upset, yep, but our girls are top players and will have a very good season. 2024 they ended with a # 13 rankings, my rankings # 11. 2025 = a strong team with 8 deep, top singles players. C. Swain is an Xlent recruiter. Next week they should climb to around # 12.
Results. https://usctrojans.com/documents/2025/1/17/Texas_Results.pdf
1-18-25, USC (W) vs UC Irvine, 4-0.
Results. https://usctrojans.com/documents/2025/1/18/UCI_Results.pdf
Big 10 rankings: UCLA # 5, Michigan # 8, Ohio St. # 15, USC # 17
Others: Stanford # 3, Pepperdine # 10, Cal # 13.
Top 4. UGA # 1, Texas AM # 2, Stanford # 3, Oklahoma St # 4. Agree with these rankings.
USC Men’s no rankings yet, only top 25 at the beginning of season. Last year our boys ended up with the worst rankings ever # 52. It was the worst team that I can remember. USC is always in the top 12 rankings. USC has won 22 NCAA championships, most of any college.
But, this year’s team will be much better, C. Masi got 4 top HS players. I think they should crack the top 25 in one month, by late February. Looking forward seeing them play and redeem last year poor record and play.
Big 10 rankings. Ohio St # 3, UCLA # 20, Michigan St # 23, Michigan # 25
Others. Arizona # 9, Stanford # 17, ASU # 18
Top 5. Texas # 1, TCU # 2, Ohio St # 3, Wakeforest # 4, Virginia # 5. Agree with these top 5.
Any news for us jai alai fans?
Australian Open, 1-19-25
Feel good story.
Women. Eva Lys, 23 yrs, Germany-Ukraine national, Qualifier, before tournament # 128, now current rankings # 105. She loss in the finals of the qualifier draw/section. She was about to fly back to Germany, got a call from an official that she got in the main draw due to a player withdraw. It's called "Lucky Loser." Lucky but it happens a lot for the qualifiers finalist in major tournaments.
Eva kept winning all the way into 4th Rd or Rd 32, amazing stuff. But, she just loss to the # 2, Iga Swiatek, Poland. In all, Eva earned $156 K, Qualifiers + $420 K, 4th Rd main draw payday = Total $576 K which is a lot for her and a big relief. Most times young players who are fighting for rankings in the Futures and Challengers tournaments are struggling financially. They take out personal bank loans, credit cards, loans from parents and relatives, etc. They have so much worry and stress due to their mounting weekly expenses. These 2 paychecks are a big relief for Eva. Good for her... Cheers.
Men’s USA tennis isnt any better now than in the past 20 years. still no superstar. Today, there are 8 USA men ranked in the top 100 in the World. Been like that for past 20 years. The next ten years will be dominated by Sinner, Alcaraz. Fritz is 2nd tier. Womens had Serena, but since her ,, one Slam title , Gauff. And she’s the only US female that’s tier one. And even she is behind Swiatek , big time .
And why do women get paid the same as men in Masters and Slams? All due to wokeness. Fans turnout to watch the men. Hold the girls events before or after the men’s tournament ( take your pick) and the attendance would be one fourth the men’s. It’s like girls basketball. No one gives a sheet. Inferior product. The tennis channel and espn keep pushing women’s tennis. It’s a joke. I just turn the channel. I’d watch Sharapova back in the day. But it werent for her tennis .
The best woman would be ranked around #700 in men’s side.
You also mentioned the USTA development program being responsible for US player improvement. Not really. Only 8 men in top 100. And college tennis is still dominated by foreign athletes. Give those schollies to Americans and more kids will play tennis. Why should my taxes go to public Universities to give scholarships to foreigners. That’s BS.
People watched tennis in the US to watch Novak, Nadal and Fed. And Serena, Sharapova. That’s over. Alcarez or that doper Sinner? (. Busted twice for doping, but no sanctions). Wonder why$$$$$$$.
I still will watch the Slams. semis, finals. At least the men’s side. But it will be Alcarez, Sinner, Zverevez. The new crop battle for titles. It won’t be these improved Americans you’re mistakenly talking about. The womens have one shot only. Gauff. And she’s no Serena or Venus.
Sorry , but men’s American tennis is still dead.
Tommy Paul. He's won his last two matches in straight sets. He looks good and is primed for a longer run I think. I coached Tommy's coach in college, who after Tommy's s easy straight set win yesterday texted me the following, "Yep. Gets real now" in reference to tougher matches ahead in the quarters and beyond. I think it's a wide-open tournament on the men's side.
To me. Tennis like soccer and golf. Is fun to play and just horrible to follow or watch.