Collegians on the US Pro Circuit - Fall Recap

After a prolonged period of tournament cancellations across levels in 2020, we started to see tournaments return to the calendar in 2021, particularly towards the back half of the year. Notable in that resurgence were the 18 pro tournaments hosted on college campuses from September through December 2021. For comparison purposes, 14 of those were ITF tournaments which is only 4 less than there were in 2019 -- not bad during a pandemic and without the financial backing of the Oracle Pro Series. The 2021 revival of pro events resulted in an uptick of current college players competing on the pro circuit. Because of that, I started to track the success of current college players competing in the US pro events this fall. 

This data includes all men’s and women’s main draw singles matches at an ITF or ATP Challenger tournament hosted in the US from September through December 2021. Players had to be on a current college roster or be a known January admit to be eligible. I collected all of this data manually so I apologize for any oversights. It would also be great, though, if in the future this data didn't have to be so manual! Companies like Universal Tennis have all of this information (rosters, results across levels) and could much more easily create a read-out like this or a live tracker.

As always, please reach out on Twitter @JTweetsTennis if you have questions or comments!

The Headlines

Standout Players

Titles

Rinky Hijikata (UNC) and Emma Navarro (Virginia) were the only 2 players to win titles, both at the $25K level; 9 other players made finals.

Most Match Wins

Cannon Kingsley (OSU) and Adrian Boitan (Baylor) each made 2 finals and led all players in overall match wins at 15 and 12 respectively, followed by Emma Navarro (10).

Highest Level

Men: Ben Shelton (Florida) was the only player to make an ATP Challenger quarterfinal

Women: Emma Navarro (Virginia) and Alana Smith (North Carolina State) made the R16 of a $80k

Most Events

Liam Draxl (Kentucky) played the most events at 7 (9 wins). Three players played 6 events: Ohio State's Cannon Kingsley (15 wins), Florida's Duarte Vale (9 wins), and Oklahoma State's Tyler Zink (3 wins).

Successful Programs

Most Combined Match Wins

Ohio State captured the most match wins of any school (both genders) at 25 even though they didn't have any women compete. Ohio State edged Baylor and Florida by one match (24 each).

Most Men's Wins

Ohio State had the most men’s wins at 25. Baylor (21) came in second and Florida (19) was third. Outside of Kingsley's 15 wins, 8 of Ohio State's additional wins came at the Columbus $25K.

Most Women's Wins

Virginia and Oklahoma tied for most women's match wins at 10. All of Virginia's wins came from Emma Navarro and 8 of Oklahoma's 10 wins came on their home courts at the $15K in Norman, OK.

Non-Power 5 Success

13 schools had both men’s and women’s players win matches and Stetson University was the only non-Power 5 school in that list. Overall, 21 non-Power 5 schools competed and they were represented by 26 players (9 wins).

Most Players

Baylor had the most number of overall players (both genders) compete at 11 (7 men, 4 women). Ohio State (10) and Texas Tech (9) followed. When you only look at players who won matches, Baylor still leads the way with 6 (5 men, 1 woman). A handful of schools are tied at second with 5.

Takeaway

Hosting events on a college campus matters

Collegians competed in 35 events this fall; 18 of those were on college campuses. When adjusting for level and only looking at the $15K and $25K level, it's clear collegians had more success at events on college campuses. 56% of those level events were on college campuses yet it comprised an outsized 70% of total match wins.

The Breakdowns

Results by Round

How many times a player lost in these respective rounds. If you lost in a final you wouldn't be counted in the SF column, etc.

Results by Round and Level

How many times a player lost in these respective rounds, by level. If you lost in a final you wouldn't be counted in the SF column, etc.

Top Men's Programs

How many matches each men's program won and how many players they had compete in pro tournaments in the fall.

Top Women's Programs

How many matches each women's program won and how many players they had compete in pro tournaments in the fall.

Most Matches Won, Men

How many matches each player won and how many pro events they played. Seven players tied for 4 matches won.

Most Matches Won, Women

How many matches each player won and how many pro events they played. Thirteen players tied for 2 matches won.

Schools with Combined Success

Schools that had both men and women win more 1 or more main draw matches.

Oversights

Results not captured in the data above. My bad!

• Peyton Stearns (Texas) lost first round at the WTA 125 in Columbus as a wild card