Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend! Other than not being able to wear white anymore, Labor Day also signals that we’re just a few days away from college tennis action. A few weeks ago, I shared my list of 5 women’s players to watch this upcoming season. Now, with action fast-approaching, let’s turn our attention to the men. As a reminder, I’m picking 5 players based on season-ending ITA rankings from the following categories:
Top 10
#11 - 50
#51+
Incoming Freshman
Wild card
In this edition, I’m also including an Honorable Mention for each category. There’s so much talent in college tennis right now, so making this list was frustrating (who do I choose?!), but it also made me ridiculously excited for the season to start. Let’s get to the list!
1. Top 10: #9 Johannus Monday, Tennessee
The 6’5 lefty from England took the college tennis world by surprise last season. Monday entered college tennis as an unknown quantity; he only played 1(!) ITF junior event in his career, and he was 1-5 in $25K qualifying draws when he started playing pro events in 2019 and 2020. The majority of his tournament play was in British U18 events or on the LTA’s British Tour. Not much indicated that Monday would go on to help Tennessee make an NCAA SF run and finish the season as the 2021 ITA Rookie of the Year and the highest-ranked true freshman in the country. Thankfully for Vol fans, Monday went to the same high school as Associate Head Coach, James McKie, and, without this connection, we can’t be certain that Tennessee would’ve recruited him given his limited results on the international junior/pro stage.
Monday went 24-6 in singles play during his freshman debut primarily at the #2 position behind senior, Adam Walton. Notably, he beat eventual NCAA singles Champion, Sam Riffice, twice in the dual season. Monday has an extremely high upside given his size and easy power. He plays an aggressive, powerful game and is already an impressive volleyer. He didn’t play any summer events, but, given the stellar results he had as an unseasoned freshman, I’m expecting Monday to return to Rocky Top with another year of development, more muscle mass, and improved movement, which should lead to strong results in his sophomore season where he’ll attempt to help deliver Tennessee their first NCAA team championship.
Honorable Mention - #3 Daniel Rodrigues, South Carolina
Rodrigues reached new heights in his 3rd season at South Carolina; he was the #1 player in the country in March and finished the season at #3 after a run to the NCAA singles final. In that run, he had straight-set wins over Cukierman, Kovacevic, and Boitan. He also tallied a 6-3, 6-2 win over Blumberg (UNC) in South Carolina’s close 4-3 loss to the #1 team in the country. Rodrigues cemented himself as one of the best players in college tennis and carried that momentum through the summer with a SF run to a $25K in Portugal this July. Rodrigues will lead the South Carolina team this year that returns their entire roster, which fell in a nail-biter to #4 Texas 4-3 in the NCAA R16.
2. #11 - 50: #15 Eliot Spizzirri, Texas
Spizzirri, still only 19, enters his third season at Texas coming off of a red-hot summer in the professional ranks, which solidified his place on this list. This summer’s results mark another step-change in Spizzirri’s level, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that translates to the upcoming season.After winning the doubles title in 2019 with Tyler Zink (Oklahoma State) at the US Open Junior Championships, Spizzirri graduated high school early and enrolled at Texas for the spring of 2020. Spizzirri acquitted himself well in that COVID-shortened season. He went 11-1 in dual matches, playing in the middle of the lineup behind 2019 NCAA team champions Ito and Sigsgaard. When Ito and Sigsgaard decided to not use their extra year of eligibility the following season, Spizzirri stepped in as Texas’s primary #1 in both singles and doubles. He went a solid, but not earth-shattering, 11-7 as their #1 singles player, with his best tennis coming towards the end of the season when he beat #2 Rodrigues (South Carolina) 6-4 in the third to help Texas avoid the upset in the R16. He had a brutal draw in the NCAA singles championship where he beat Monday in the first round before falling to Kovacevic. He ended the season ranked #15 in singles and #7 in doubles. He carried the momentum from his team’s SF run into the summer.
Spizzirri went 11-2 in singles this summer in ITF events (including qualifying). He won the $25K doubles title in Champaign with Florida’s Ben Shelton and followed that up with a $25K singles title in Decatur the next week. These ITF results caught the attention of the USTA, which gave Spizzirri a qualifying wild card -- he made great use of this WC, beating #162 and Lexington Challenger finalist, Alejandro Tabilo, in the first round. Spizzirri was the last match on that day and didn’t quite have enough left in the tank the following day when taking on #130 Henri Laaksonen. Laaksonen beat Spizzirri 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 and then went on to reach the third round.
Spizzirri’s level this summer really impressed me after having seen him at NCAAs in Orlando. He doesn’t have the noticeable weapons or the physicality of some guys on this list, but he does everything extremely well and is one of the most well-rounded players you’ll find in college tennis. He’s a fantastic mover, absorbs and redirects pace well, and has an elite net game. It was clear this summer that he’s added more MPH on his first serve, which helped him shorten points. Spizzirri, becoming a more dominant #1, could be the difference maker for Texas going one or two matches deeper in this year’s NCAA team championships.
Honorable Mention - #12 Adrian Boitan, Baylor
3. #51+: #98 Stefan Dostanic, Southern California
Stefan Dostanic has big shoes to fill, and how well he fills them will determine how successful USC will be in 2022. After losing senior leaders Daniel Cukierman and Riley Smith, who were stalwarts at the top of USC’s singles and doubles lineup, attention will turn to Dostanic, who held down the #3 position last season in his first full season as a Trojan.USC had quite the turbulent 2021 season; they entered the season ranked #1 before going a shocking 0-3 at ITA Indoors. They then went on to suffer disappointing dual match losses to Pepperdine, Arizona, and Stanford. USC rounded into form at the end of the season when they won the PAC-12 tournament and upset #5 Virginia in the R16 at the NCAAs before losing a 4-3 heartbreaker to #4 Texas in the quarterfinals. One thing that wasn’t turbulent for USC: Dostanic. Dostanic was a team-best 19-3 in dual singles matches and 20-2 in doubles. 2 of those singles losses came at the ill-fated ITA Indoors.
USC will need Dostanic to make a big jump this season if they want to repeat their 2021 run to the Elite 8. Their current roster is mostly made up of guys you’d prefer to have playing in the bottom of lineup; they lack the top-10 #1 guy that we’ve come to expect from the Trojans. Dostanic hasn’t played much this summer, but keep your eye on him this fall to see if he does have what it takes to fill that #1 role.
Honorable Mention - #70 Arthur Fery, Stanford
4. Incoming Freshman: Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, Florida State
The 21-year-old Frenchman will enter college with the highest UTR of any player (14.54) -- yes, of anyone, including NCAA singles champion Sam Riffice (14.24) and ITA #1 Liam Draxl (13.94). Cornut-Chauvinc started playing professionally essentially full-time in 2017 when he played 38 matches on tour. Since then, he’s played 68 matches in 2018, 67 matches in 2019, and 49 matches in 2020. He reached #408 in the world (June, 2019) and has played against Nakashima, Rinderknech, and Rune in 2021. Two things are clear: - Cornut-Chauvinc is primed to enter college and immediately make an impact
- How is this guy eligible to play collegiate tennis after playing 4 years full-time professionally?!
#2 is an article for a different week; assuming there aren’t any eligibility issues (at the date of this article, FSU hasn’t updated their 2021-2022 roster, but Cornut-Chauvinc is on campus), we can expect to see Cornut-Chauvinc playing #1 for the Seminoles and giving some relief to a team that went 2-10 in conference play last year. Honorable Mention - Murphy Cassone, Arizona State
Tennis Recruiting currently ranks Cassone as the #1 player in the class of 2021; however, given limited playing opportunities due to the pandemic, and the fact that Cassone didn’t play Kalamazoo this summer, Cassone enters college more under the radar than your typical #1 recruit. He’s quietly racked up some really nice wins this summer playing Universal Tennis’s Pro Tennis Tour which prove that he’s playing at a high level -- those wins included Pierce Rollins (TAMU #5), Tristan Boyer (Stanford #3), and Colton Smith (3rd place Kalamazoo, Arizona freshman). ASU lost its top 3 from last season, so Cassone, in addition to the transfers of Salle (Louisville) and Bullard (Texas), will attempt to replace them in the lineup.
5. Wild Card: Ben Shelton, Florida
Few people, whether they play college tennis or not, had as good of a summer as Ben Shelton. After graduating high school early to join his dad’s team at Florida, the 18-year-old: - Garnered a 21-4 dual match record for the gators mostly at #5 singles, capping off the season with his clinching victory in the NCAA team final
- Won a $25K in both singles and doubles
- Reached the finals of Kalamazoo in singles and won the doubles, which earned him a QWC and MDWC to the US Open, respectively
- Won his first round qualifying match at the US Open before losing 6-4 in the third set in the second round to van de Zandschulp (who went on to make the QFs!)
The raw athletic talent for the lefty is undeniable, and he’s the definition of a big match player. I’m curious to see how Shelton translates his first season and summer success into a full college tennis season, including the fall tournaments. Much like Monday from Tennessee, I’m expecting Shelton to continue to develop into his lefty game and make some big leaps in his second season. Florida is absolutely stacked this season, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see Shelton competing for a top 2 spot in the lineup come dual season. Honorable Mention - #67 Inaki Montes de la Torre, Virginia
Inaki was a member of a freshman trio (with Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg) that helped vault UVA men’s tennis back into being a national title contender last season. Montes played anywhere from #2 to #4 throughout the season and finished his freshman debut 18-4 in singles, winning 14 of his last 15 completed matches. Montes, whose energy and passion are everything you’d want in a college tennis player, has really impressed me with his pro results over the summer in Spain. He made the QFs of a $25K event in singles (and won the doubles title at the same event), the final of a $15K, and played a close three-setter (lost 7-5 in the third) against USO main draw wild card recipient Emilio Nava at a Challenger. Montes is still only 18, so, while slight of frame, he’ll only get stronger and faster in the coming year. I like his odds at almost any position UVA puts him in this year.
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