US College Signings and General College Chat 2023/24

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

US College Signings 2023/24

indiana · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Re Peter Alam- apparently, he was ranked 20 in the world juniors ! Ive never, ever, heard his name before!

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 06:46:42 PM

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 06:47:14 PM

I have heard of him but that junior ranking struck me as surely not. The ITF site suggests a missing digit in his roster profile. Junior CH 203.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Re Peter Alam- apparently, he was ranked 20 in the world juniors ! Ive never, ever, heard his name before!

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 06:46:42 PM

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 06:47:14 PM
I have heard of him but that junior ranking struck me as surely not. The ITF site suggests a missing digit in his roster profile. Junior CH 203.

That would make a lot more sense !

Elegant Point · Satellite level

indiana wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Re Peter Alam- apparently, he was ranked 20 in the world juniors ! Ive never, ever, heard his name before!

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 06:46:42 PM

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Friday 17th of November 2023 06:47:14 PM
I have heard of him but that junior ranking struck me as surely not. The ITF site suggests a missing digit in his roster profile. Junior CH 203.

This - seen Peter play as a junior, he was recruited to Iowa, but due to closure of mens tennis at the end of Peters Freshman year, he transferred to University of the Pacific. With a ranking of 20 in the world juniors would surely have headed off to somewhere like TCU?

https://pacifictigers.com/sports/mens-tennis/roster/peter-alam/4947

Dannythomas · Lower Club Player

British players in womens college fall rankings:

Amelia Rajecki -3
Angelica Blake -48
Destinee Martins -58
Grace Piper-66
Holly Staff-95
Holly Fischer-103
Myah Petchey- 111
Kylie Bilchev -123

Doubles
Rajecki / Zamparo-7
Blake/ Blokhina-27
Piper /Fry -29
Allen / Bissett-43
Staff/ Ray -59

Millie had an outstanding win over no 1 player and All American Champion Mary Stoiana
Angelica played only 2 singles matches because of injury but gets into top 50 because one of those 2 matches was a win at All American Championships over no 5 player and National Fall Champion Reese Brantmeier .

cya · Strong Club Player

Dannythomas wrote:
British players in womens college fall rankings:

Amelia Rajecki -3
Angelica Blake -48
Destinee Martins -58
Grace Piper-66
Holly Staff-95
Holly Fischer-103
Myah Petchey- 111
Kylie Bilchev -123

Doubles
Rajecki / Zamparo-7
Blake/ Blokhina-27
Piper /Fry -29
Allen / Bissett-43
Staff/ Ray -59

Millie had an outstanding win over no 1 player and All American Champion Mary Stoiana
Angelica played only 2 singles matches because of injury but gets into top 50 because one of those 2 matches was a win at All American Championships over no 5 player and National Fall Champion Reese Brantmeier .

Adeshina/ Cabezas - 19

Dannythomas · Lower Club Player

Lambda wrote:
In the women's NCAA Div I rankings

#3 Millie Rajecki (NC State) earns the highest ITA Ranking in NC State Program history. In the College Ranked Fall Spotlight Rajecki won the A1 singles draw with five ranked wins, which included defeating now No. 1 Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M and defeating No. 15 Irina Canto Siemers of Ohio State in the finals. It was the second consecutive year Rajecki took home first place as she won the A2 singles draw in the 2022 ranked spotlight event.

#48 Angelica Blake (Stanford) - 1-1 for the fall season. In the ITA All-American main draw's opening round she upset North Carolina's No. 5 Reese Brantmeier 6-4, 5-7, 7-5

#58 Destinee Martins (TCU) became the first Horned Frog to reach the semifinals of the Texas Regionals since Sasha Zenovka in 2017. Her march to the final four featured a three-set takedown of the tournament's top overall seed, Texas' Tanya Sasnouskaya 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, in the round of 16. Martins went on to better No. 5 seed Daria Smetannikov of Texas A&M, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, in the quarterfinals and put herself within a victory of a berth to the ITA National Fall Championships. She fell to No. 4 seed Malaika Rapolu of Texas 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinal to wrap up her terrific run.

#66 Grace Piper (USC)

#95 Holly Staff (Vanderbilt)

#103 Holly Fischer had a strong fall season to land herself in the top-125, going undefeated through her five matches. Fischer began her fall going 2-0 in the Crimson home tournament, the Harvard Fall Classic. In her opening match of the season, the junior downed Rozalia Gruszynska (Cincinnati) in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. The London, England native picked up the final three wins of her fall season by going 3-0 at the ITA Northeast Regionals.

#105 Annabelle Davis (North Florida)

#123 Kylie Bilchev (Georgia Tech)

Doubles
7 Millie RAJECKI / Maddy ZAMPARDO (NC State)
19 Sofia CABEZAS / Esther ADESHINA (Tennessee, Knoxville)
27 Angelica BLAKE / Alexis BLOKHINA (Stanford)
29 Grace PIPER / Parker FRY (Southern California)
33 Amelia HONER / Kira REUTER (UC Santa Barbara)
43 Victoria ALLEN / Millie BISSETT (Florida State)
59 Holly STAFF / Valeria RAY (Vanderbilt)

My apologies Lambda. Somehow I missed that you already posted these ! Also apologies to Esther and Kira for missing them out of my doubles list !

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Honestly, Dannyt, it's great to have posts here and if some are slight duplicates, it's fine by me - I love to read all the news of players I've seen as 16 and 17 year-olds, and sometimes have forgotten or failed to catch it first time

Elegant Point · Satellite level

Summary of the great year for Collegians on Tour

Beginning on the biggest of stages, it was a historic year for collegians at Grand Slam Champions as nine Grand Slam Titles were won by collegians in 2023 and over 400 spots in the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles main draws were filled by players who spent time in college or currently play college tennis.

As the fifth former collegian to win a Grand Slam title in the calendar year, Skupski would win his first mens doubles Grand Slam title at Wimbledon alongside Wesley Koolhof. Having found success at Wimbledon in the past, 2021 and 2021 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Champion, Skupski showcased his skill on the grass courts once again in 2023 as he continues to stay atop the ATP doubles rankings.

wearecollegetennis.com/2023/12/12/college-on-tour-reflecting-back-on-a-dominant-year-for-collegians-on-tour/

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Good to see Holly Fischer is still playing.

I remember when she was supposed to be our next big hope.

Elegant Point · Satellite level

Sadly cheating in college tennis currently making the headlines - article in US Today and reply from ITA

Aside from golf, no sport demands more honesty from its competitors to ensure a fair competition. But in tennis, youre not policing yourself as much as refereeing your opponent.

People send me videos of this stuff, I send them to the NCAA, I send them to the ITA when a coach is sitting there clapping right in front of a player who deliberately hooks, Gilbert said. To me should be an immediate suspension for the coach to send a message this isn't acceptable. Tennis is truly a great sport, it teaches you lots of values, but theres some ridiculous cheating and some of them are serial cheaters from the same programs. It can't happen.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/12/13/college-tennis-cheating/71742495007/

https://wearecollegetennis.com/2023/12/21/the-ita-responds-to-the-december-13th-usa-today-article/

edited to make the hyperlinks live - no idea why did not work before

-- Edited by Elegant Point on Thursday 28th of December 2023 10:42:19 AM

Dannythomas · Lower Club Player

Elegant Point wrote:
Sadly cheating in college tennis currently making the headlines - article in US Today and reply from ITA

Aside from golf, no sport demands more honesty from its competitors to ensure a fair competition. But in tennis, youre not policing yourself as much as refereeing your opponent.

People send me videos of this stuff, I send them to the NCAA, I send them to the ITA when a coach is sitting there clapping right in front of a player who deliberately hooks, Gilbert said. To me should be an immediate suspension for the coach to send a message this isn't acceptable. Tennis is truly a great sport, it teaches you lots of values, but theres some ridiculous cheating and some of them are serial cheaters from the same programs. It can't happen.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/12/13/college-tennis-cheating/71742495007/

https://wearecollegetennis.com/2023/12/21/the-ita-responds-to-the-december-13th-usa-today-article/

Maybe its just me EP but I cant get the links to open ?

I think its about time that restricions are placed on college coaches that they should only be able to coach between games.The interference is definitely bordering on cheating too often.

Sadly the pro game is also going in the wrong direction with some coaches giving point by point instructions. Good examples of overkill are the coaches of Alcaraz and Rybakina.

Strongbow · All-time great

Try these

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/12/13/college-tennis-cheating/71742495007

https://wearecollegetennis.com/2023/12/21/the-ita-responds-to-the-december-13th-usa-today-article

they work for me.

Elegant Point · Satellite level

Dannythomas wrote:
Elegant Point wrote:
Sadly cheating in college tennis currently making the headlines - article in US Today and reply from ITA
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/2023/12/13/college-tennis-cheating/71742495007/
https://wearecollegetennis.com/2023/12/21/the-ita-responds-to-the-december-13th-usa-today-article/
edited to make the hyperlinks live - no idea why did not work before
Maybe its just me EP but I cant get the links to open ?
I think its about time that restricions are placed on college coaches that they should only be able to coach between games.The interference is definitely bordering on cheating too often.
Sadly the pro game is also going in the wrong direction with some coaches giving point by point instructions. Good examples of overkill are the coaches of Alcaraz and Rybakina.

hi Danny - should be live now (thanks also Strongbow), if they aren't hyperlinks then copy and paste should work.

Will be interesting to see the difference automated line calling makes. The reply from the ITA mentions trialling this, but not actual costings. Maybe too expensive for some colleges, also how easy will setting up/ calibrating be? Some colleges use public courts, especially winter indoors.
As you mentioned, not just hooking but also the omnipresent coaches. I have watched college matches where the coach had a chat with his player after almost every single point. The spectators heckling can be pretty loud and disruptive too.

Dannythomas · Lower Club Player

Ok I read the articles !

To be honest I think citing a call from 2019 was a bit ridiculous. There are definitely bad line calls in college tennis but in the matches that matter there is normally a chair umpire and there are repercussions for more than 2 overrules. But there are matches with no umpires and clearly there is the potenial for more bad calls then. But that would be the case in pro tennis if there were no chair umpires and no electronic line calling/ challenge System. In fact it would probably be worse with money at stake.

I think the point about playing lets on serves ha nothing to do with cheating. Its primary purpose was to speed up matches, along with no-ad scoring, shortened doubles matches, not playing out dead matches etc.

The ITAs response was actually way better and more thorough than the original article.

In my opinion it is not line calling that is the big issue with regard to cheating in college tennis. It is the interference of some college coaches deliberately slowing down play / questionning line calls and other issues like their player not being ready, opponent calling out after losing the point etc etc . Not to mention giving their players point by point instruction to the extent that you feel like maybe the players should sit down and hand their Racquets to the coaches. Not all of them by any means. Most of them know the boundaries. But some coaches cross them too often.