US College Signings

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

US College Signings

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great list, The Optimist.

I'm sure you're adding him but I don't think Max Andrews is on your original list - he's at Rice.

Saw that he just lost the WFU Fall invite B2 final 4-6 in the third . . .

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Going to try and do the boys list this week - I'll make sure to include Max

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

OK, now the up to date mens lists

Max Andrew - Rice

Jordan Angus - San Diego (tsf from Mississippi State)

Tommy Bennett - Rice

Matt Bennion - South Carolina Upstate FR

Steve Billington - Campbell SR

Kester Black - Northern Arizona SR

William Bourne - Fairleigh Dickinson FR

Stefan Burnett - Florida Atlantic

Sam Butler - Southern Methodist

Julian Cash - Mississippi State FR

Adam Chan - Fairleigh Dickinson FR

Shamael Chaudhry - Davidson FR

Christopher Clayton - Sacramento State FR

Joseph Cohen - Virginia Commonwealth

Tom Colautti - Princeton

Christopher Cole - Illinois-Chicago

Paul Cook - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Stefan Cooper - Weber State FR

Jonathon Cornish - University of Virginia

Adam Coyle - Alabama State

Alex Croker - North Carolina-Asheville

Kieran Cronin - Nicholls State

Ben Davis - Middle State Tennessee SR

Josef Dodridge - Wisconsin-Madison FR

Christopher Egan-Morris - Alabama-Birmingham FR

William East - North Carolina Central

Daniel Elston - Longwood SR

Jack Findell-Hawkins - North Florida

Sam Fleck - Cornell - SR

David Fox - Denver (tsf from Middle Tennessee State)

Matt Frost - Drake

Alex Gasson - Denver

Dylan Gee - Jacksonville State

Dan Gilbert - Wright State

Lloyd Glasspool - Texas-Austin

Connor Glennon - Memphis SR

Adam Glynn - Fresno State FR

Farris Gosea - Illinois SR

Youssef Hassan - Fresno State FR

Jack Haworth - Brown FR

Sid Hazarika - Binghampton

Thomas Hulme - Indianna-Purdue-Indiannapolis FR

Jonny Higham - South Dakota State

Tom Hill - Pepperdine

Will Huyton - Louisiana-Lafayette

Rowan Isaaks - Wisconsin-Green Bay

Luke Johnson - Clemson

Nick Jones - Virginia Commonwealth

Will Juggins - College of William and Mary SR

Chris Kerrigan - Georgia Southern

Matthew Kirby - Tulsa

Ben Lott - Drake

Jamie Malik - Rice FR

Shakeel Manji - Memphis FR

Brad Marriott - Southern Mississippi SR

Ronald Mataba - Alabama State

Sebastien Mathieu - Santa Clara FR

Calum McInlay - Troy - FR

Euan McIntosh - Fresno State

Nick Mercer - Morehead State

Paul Midgley - Dartmouth FR

Tom Miller - Sacramento State SR

Rob Mitchell - Lipscomb FR

Toby Mitchell - Boise State

Aleks Mitric - Murray State SR

Takura Mlambo - Alabama State FR

Peter Molloy - Southern Illinois FR

Henry Moore - Samford

Ben Mullis - Drake SR

Jac Newis - Indianna-Purdue-Indiannapolis FR

Cameron Norrie - Texas Christian FR

Peter O'Donovan - Nevada FR

Ravi Patel - Drake

Ryan Peniston - Memphis FR

Thomas Persico - North Carolina Central

Sam Philp - Mercer FR

Oliver Plaskett - Auburn

Simon Pritchard - Kennsaw State

Sebastian Rey - Tulane

Stefan Rhodes - Furman FR

Jonny Rigby - Southern Illinois

Joe Rogers - Mississippi

Lewis Roskilly - Boise State FR

Francis Sargeant - Brighm Young SR

Howard Scott - Wisconsin-Green Bay

Chris Simpson - Louisiana State SR

Joseph Smithyman - Niagara

Ben Stride - Drake FR

Samuel Taylor - Radford

Andrew Watson - Memphis FR

Rohan Wattley - Chicago State FR

Jacob Whalley - Fairleigh Dickinson

Chris Wood - Eastern Kentucky

Sam Williams - North Carolina-Wilmington SR

Jorge Wilton - Kennesaw State

The seniors who have left are

Alastair Barnes, Elliot Barnwell, Anthony Bettles, Jonathon Brooklyn, Zak Evenden, Chris Hellior, Matt Kealy, Sam McNeil, Joe Mills, Mike Nott, David O'Leary, Joe Salisbury, Nicholas Sayer, Matt Thomson, Marc Westgate

and it's good to see some of them giving tennis a try.

As far as I can tell, the following have left without completing their 4 years:

Matt Boyle, Jack Busby, Scott Crawford, James Fudge, Daniel Kinnen, Nicholas Mitric, Daniel Tiboldi (tennis program discontinued)

-- Edited by The Optimist on Wednesday 15th of October 2014 11:54:05 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

I assume you mean Andrew Bettles - that would make Andy, Chris, Mike Nott(played doubles with George M) and Joe who have had a go on tour - 4/15

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Yes, I did mean Andrew. Not sure whether or not 4/15 is good numbers. I wonder how many had the slightest intention of going pro when they started college. I'm sure for quite a few it was a opportunity for a good lifestyle, a free education and the chance of a different experience to their peers. It will be interesting to see how long they try the tour and what progress they make. Would they be further on by now if they had not gone to college? I suspect a bit further but probably not by that much and of course their finances are probably in a better place.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I believe that Sarah Bothwell said that her 'mission' is to get 10 players a year (men and women mixed, I think) to launch themselves onto the pro tour and give it a go.

This isn't instant but for the future (near-ish future?) when the surge in numbers going will really feed through.

So I guess 4 men isn't bad (even if they weren't all Sarah's clients).

PS Really great list, The Optimist smile

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 13th of October 2014 04:39:44 PM

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

One last bit of info re Brits in US college tennis - the pre-season rankings. These are voted on by a committee based on last year's positions, what freshmen have done before arrival, summer pro tennis etc etc. They are updated weekly by computer from January onwards

Men

10 - Farris Gosea

31 - Lloyd Glasspool

38 - Conner Glennon

49 - Chris Simpson

96 - Sam Fleck

104 - Francis Sargeant

116 Ravi Patel

Women:

44 - Georgina Sellyn

53 - Sophie Watts

93 - Natalie Beazant

114 - Brigit Folland

123 - Alicia Barnett

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

A nice article about 'freshman' (who is female), Athena Chrysanthou, from London

dailyegyptian.com/freshman-tennis-player-shows-potential/

Completely agree with her about the benefits of learning to play as a team - as I've harped on about before, you can really see the lack of it in some of our singles players.

Some of the lads doing well in their first month or two there too:

http://www.gobulldogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/101714aab.html

http://www.gotigersgo.com/sports/m-tennis/recaps/101714aaa.html

NB The Optimist - for someone who doesn't really understand the system, do the rankings you've quoted really mean that Glasspool, for instance, is considered to be the 31st best player in the whole of US college tennis ? And Sellyn the 44th best female player of all ?

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 19th of October 2014 05:18:16 PM

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 19th of October 2014 05:21:29 PM

DWH · Club Coach

Thanks for the lists The Optimist! smile

Edit: Further to CD's post (thanks for the links) Andrew Watson won his regional final (Ohio Valley)! Very well done him! The first player in the schools history to win it. biggrin

http://www.gotigersgo.com/sports/m-tennis/recaps/101914aaa.html

-- Edited by DWH on Sunday 19th of October 2014 09:55:11 PM

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

DWH wrote:

Edit: Further to CD's post (thanks for the links) Andrew Watson won his regional final (Ohio Valley)! Very well done him! The first player in the schools history to win it.
http://www.gotigersgo.com/sports/m-tennis/recaps/101914aaa.html

-- Edited by DWH on Sunday 19th of October 2014 09:55:11 PM

All of the US colleges are very good at publishing news articles relating to their various athletic activities. If anyone wants to see how any particular player in the list is getting on, search on the university name followed by men's tennis or women's tennis as appropriate. News articles usually come up first on the screen, but if not there will be a news tab. There's also usually a statistics tab which will give you wins/losses etc for each player on the team.

paulisi · Tennis legend

The Optimist wrote:
One last bit of info re Brits in US college tennis - the pre-season rankings. These are voted on by a committee based on last year's positions, what freshmen have done before arrival, summer pro tennis etc etc. They are updated weekly by computer from January onwards
Men
10 - Farris Gosea
31 - Lloyd Glasspool
38 - Conner Glennon
49 - Chris Simpson
96 - Sam Fleck
104 - Francis Sargeant
116 Ravi Patel
Women:
44 - Georgina Sellyn
53 - Sophie Watts
93 - Natalie Beazant
114 - Brigit Folland
123 - Alicia Barnett

Very surprised to see Sophie Watts that high up.

I'm hoping Cameron Norrie and Andrew Watson will be high up in the ranking when they are next published.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I find it abit surreal reading this, a few of the female players I partnered in club matches a few years back - and now they're on an 'official' tennis website. I've long since given up tennis, but it's nice to know they're doing well

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Coup Droit wrote:

NB The Optimist - for someone who doesn't really understand the system, do the rankings you've quoted really mean that Glasspool, for instance, is considered to be the 31st best player in the whole of US college tennis ? And Sellyn the 44th best female player of all ?

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 19th of October 2014 05:18:16 PM

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 19th of October 2014 05:21:29 PM

Certainly can't claim to be an expert on the college ranking system. Clearly, looked at in one light, it does mean Georgina is 44th best and Lloyd is 31st best. After all, that is what a ranking system is designed to show. However, as with all ranking systems they tend to be more of a generalisation rather than an absolute position. The college rankings are also designed to move a lot during the season so that current form is reflected.

There are only 125 players ranked in singles, so the ranked players definitely are the better players in the system. The top 5-10 players really are the strongest, the next 10-20 not so far behind and so on, just like any other ranking system. And just like any other ranking system there are variables which can make a player a bit over or under ranked.

(just realised the above para isn't very clear, what I meant was there's not much between the top 10, then not much between those 10-30 and then probably not much between those ranked 30-60)

The rankings are based on a formula giving points for wins and deductions for losses. However, this is weighted by the strength of the opponent. So a win against a top ranked player would have a big positive effect on ranking and a loss against that player would have a very small downward effect on ranking, and vice versa against a low or unranked opponent. Clearly some players have more opportunity than others to play ranked opponents - the conference a team is in and the position of a player on the team can have a big effect on this. It is true though that the teams in the strongest conferences (leagues) attract the strongest recruits so maybe the rankings aren't actually that far out.

To put it in perspective, the top 5 women are

Jamie Loeb WTA 606, CH 353

Robin Anderson WTA 461

Hayley Carter WTA 1034 CH 737

Beatrice Capra WTA UNR CH 201

Julia Elbaba WTA 686

The Top 5 men

Julian Lenz ATP 731

Yannick Hanfmann ATP 861 CH 856

Axel Alvarez Llamas ATP 1051

Mitchell Frank ATP 524 CH 508

Soren Hess-Olesen ATP 1394

-- Edited by The Optimist on Tuesday 21st of October 2014 04:01:22 PM

Spectator · All-time great

I went to look at this and discovered that there is a ranking for those who are just starting (which presumably gets folded into the general rankings as the year goes on). Mr Norrie had made it (3) as had Mr Cash (10). It only goes to ten. Noah Rubin was 1 and Mr Norrie's colleague Gullermo Nunez was 2.