Will be played from 21st May at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This is supposed to be the biggest thing in college tennis so I thought that we should have a topic. Last year's men's final saw Somdev Dev Varman beat John Isner and since then Isner has done so much!
I think the standard of tennis is extremely high (the top players are better than Futures level for sure and probably good enough to win a round or three at many Challengers) and anyone who impresses here could make it big later on. Easily recognisable names who have won the singles title in the last few years include top 100 players Benjamin Becker (2004), Amer Delic (2003), Jeff Morrison (1999), Cecil Mamiit (1996) and Sargis Sargsian (1995) plus world doubles number 1 Bob Bryan (1998). If you go back, you'll find that former winners include Jimmy Connors (1971) and Arthur Ashe (1965) but let's not go that far behind!
Brits who are going to participate in singles -
('ITA' refers to current collegiate singles ranking and 'ATP' refers to ATP singles career high.)
Jack Baker of The University Of South Alabama [ITA - 34; ATP - 1468] Ed Corrie of The University of Texas, Austin [ITA - 47; ATP - 989] Dominic Inglot of The University Of Virginia [ITA - 17; ATP - 1244]
Brits who are going to participate in doubles -
('ITA' refers to current collegiate doubles ranking and 'ATP' refers to ATP doubles career high]
Simon Childs (w/ Austen Childs) of The University Of Louisville [ITA - 47; ATP - 894] Ed Corrie (w/ Kellen D'Amico) of The University of Texas, Austin [ITA - 9; ATP - 563] Nick Cavaday (w/ Jay Weinacker) of The North Carolina State University [ITA - 26; ATP - 1697]
Full entry lists can be found here. Apologies in case I've missed a Brit - tell me and I'll fix it.
Jack lost by 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-4. Great effort, though.
And all three doubles teams lost, too, meaning that we close shop for a year. Hopefully we'll have a great show next time with Dyce, Corrie and Childs all involved.
I was checking last year's results and Skupski did very well, it seems. He won two rounds and then lost 7-6(8) 7-5 to Isner.
The strength of the fields is fascinating - there are four players from last year's draw whom I recognise having played ATP main draw matches by right (Isner, Levine, Anderson and Dev Varman) and numerous people who have won rounds at Challengers and Futures.
Top seeded Somdev Dev Varman won the singles final 63 62 today, creating history by becoming only the third person to win consecutive titles and the first to reach three finals in a row ever since the current format was introduced in 1977. A title with a 36 match winning streak was a fitting tribute to the greatest player college tennis has seen for a while. Now he goes pro and will start his quest for the top 100 very soon and I see him making the cut for next year's Australian Open.
The losing finalist was more impressive, really. J.P Smith of Australia is only 1989 born but he got there, becoming the first freshman to do it since 2002. He beat Fleishman at a Challenger last year, so watch out for this guy, too!