Men’s college tennis is facing a serious dilemma this fall. None of its stars are standing out in the individual season. There is no torch bearer.
Compare that to the women’s side where No. 3 Luciana Perry (Ohio State) has taken charge of the sport. With No. 1 Lucciana Perez (Texas A&M) taking the fall off and No. 2 Carmen Herea (Texas) struggling early, Perry is the star of the show. She will be the belle of the ball at NCAAs after dominating her way to the ITA All American Championships title. For the men’s side, no front-runner has appeared.
The top four players on the men’s side effectively opted out of the fall season. Although, credit to No. 2 Paul Inchauspe (Princeton) for entering his name into All Americans and the Northeast Regional before withdrawing. Still, none of the top four names have played singles, and likely will not qualify for NCAAs without receiving a bid to the Conference Masters, where four spots in Athens are up for grabs. Only one player from each conference gets a bid there. But Inchauspe is not participating in the Ivy League Individual Championships so take him off that list. Will No. 1 Dylan Dietrich (Virginia), No. 3 Duncan Chan (TCU) and No. 4 Max Dahlin (Michigan) make it down to Rome, Georgia for the Masters event? Probably not, based on how they have behaved thus far.
All that is to say, the biggest stars are absent. Then you have No. 5 Devin Badenhorst (Baylor), who is 1-3 to start the year after looking non-competitive at ITA All Americans. No. 9 Gabriel Debru (Texas) just announced he is out on college tennis, pursuing the pro tour full time after starting the season 1-2. No. 10 Matthew Forbes (Ohio State) is yet to qualify for NCAAs with a 3-3 start to the year.
No. 13 Mees Rottgering (Wake Forest) has the second-best WTN of college tennis with a 4.2 (Dietrich – 3.4), but has shown no intention of playing the fall either. Will he earn the ACC bid to Conference Masters?
Who are the contenders right now? No. 6 Keegan Rice (Virginia), No. 7 Aidan Kim (Ohio State) and No. 8 Theo Papamalamis (Texas A&M) all qualified for NCAAs at All Americans, getting solid results. Rice went all the way to the final before falling to No. 80 Roger Pascual Ferra (TCU) — another possible torch bearer considering his rise this fall.
But at the end of the day, sports leagues thrive most when the biggest brands and most notable players are around the longest, contending for championships. The numbers next to names matter. Until the men’s game can keep its biggest stars in the mix, it will suffer.
