University Tennis Players: Grand Slam Performances and Achievements

At the moment, no tennis player has won a Grand Slam title in singles after having gone through the University

The singles title of a Grand Slam tournament continues to be elusive for university tennis, although they have appeared in the doubles modality with the brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, Rajeev Ram, Robert Farah, among others, they still have that matter pending, which could be approved by Ben Shelton, current semifinalist of the US Open 2023. It is for this reason that at Match Tennis we made the decision to search the historical records of the Grand Slams to prepare an article with the great performances of university tennis players in competitions. of these characteristics.

Lori McNeil. The American attended the University of Oklahoma for two years, before becoming a professional tennis player in 1983. Her great performances in Grand Slam tournaments came in doubles, consecrating herself in 1988 in the mixed doubles tournament at Roland Garros with the Mexican Jorge Lozano; However, a year earlier she reached the semifinals of the US Open and seven seasons later she reached this same round at Wimbledon. She won 10 WTA singles titles and was No. 9 in the world in July 1988.

Gigi Fernandez. Puerto Rican by birth, but American by adoption. Her great feats came in the doubles modality, as she won 17 Grand Slam titles, in addition to two Olympic gold medals in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996; she was No. 1 in the world in this specialty. In singles she reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1994, and the US Open quarterfinals in 1991 and 1994. She played tennis for one season at Clemson University, in 1982-83, where she was All- American in singles and doubles; Following her retirement from tennis in 1997, she returned to her alma mater, where she graduated with a 2003 psychology degree from the University of South Florida.

James Blake. The American studied at Harvard University before becoming a professional tennis player. In Grand Slam tournaments he reached the quarterfinals of the United States Open in 2005 and 2006, and the Australian Open in 2008. He was a finalist in the 2006 Masters Cup in Beijing, which he lost to the Swiss Roger Federer, after this result achieved the best ranking of his career, placing himself in fourth position, being the university student who has reached the highest in the world ranking so far.

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Kevin Anderson. The South African tennis player is the only university student in the men’s branch to have reached finals in Grand Slam tournaments, he did so at the 2017 US Open and 2018 Wimbledon. The Johannesburg-born, who graduated from International Business at the University of Illinois in 2007, He reached the 5th box in the ATP ranking in 2018, after fighting for the title of the most important grass court tournament on the planet.

John Isner. The American giant achieved his best result in a Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon 2018, where he was surpassed by the South African Kevin Anderson in a duel of purely university tennis players, and it is that both athletes starred in great duels in their academic training, such as that of the team final in 2007, where the University of Georgia, from which Isner graduated as a social communicator and journalist. Isner, was also a quarterfinalist at the US Open in 2011 and 2018; precisely, his retirement from professional tennis occurred in this edition of the New York tournament.

Tennys Sangren. The player, who has tennis engraved in his name and who has stated that he hates him, was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open in 2018 and 2020. In the latter, he had seven match points to advance to the best four phase.

Danielle Collins. The American, who played tennis on public courts as a child because she did not have sufficient financial resources, surprised the world in 2019, after reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, where she fell against the Czech Petra Kvitova. She played and studied at the University of Virginia, winning NCAA singles titles in 2014 and 2016.

Jennifer Brady. She is the most recent university tennis player to give something to talk about in a Grand Slam, thanks to the final of the 2021 Australian Open, which she lost to Naomi Osaka, and it is that the Japanese has become her ‘coconut’, because in the semifinals of the 2020 US Open, he also surpassed her. She played from 2013-2015 at the University of California, winning All America twice.

Ben Shelton, from university to the semifinals of the US Open 2023

About the author

Francisco Vargas: Twitter @VargasPacho. Journalist specialized in tennis with 8 years of experience in the different circuits of the ATP and WTA. Voice Over at international events.