Will no-ad scoring be the future of collegiate tennis? There is a clear move in that direction, and this week's Friday Scholarship Guide will take a look at what coaches and players think about the scoring format, which had in fact been college tennis standard decades ago. Does no-ad scoring really offer the potential to shorten dual matches and make it more attractive to watch...?
Two interesting headlines have appeared in the college tennis world recently, which we'd love to share with our readership! Firstly, there are excellent opportunities to watch first-class NCAA D-1 tennis either on national TV or online right now, from April 16 - April 26, 2015. And secondly, the Big 12 conference, featuring some of the strongest of all college athletes, changed its rules about fan behavior quite a bit. You should read on, as they create an atmosphere on the court, which you simply do not know from pro tennis matches.
This week's Scholarship Guide will give you some insights into the daily routine of a student athlete. To be more specific - of a college tennis player. Having been a college tennis player myself at one of the United States' top universities for four years, I will show you what it's like, being a student athlete.
As part of the BNP Paribas Open, 8 men's teams (NCAA D-I) convene on the final weekend of the event to play the 'Collegiate Challenge'. Ticket holders will be able to see some of the nation's best ranked tennis players including top 10 players #4 Julian Lenz, #7 Axel Alvarez Llamas, and #8 Yannick Hanfmann. The Collegiate Challenge offers an excellent platform for college tennis to gain wider popularity and is reason enough to dedicate this week's Friday Scholarship Guide to the action in Indian Wells.
The Davis Cup ties last weekend were as usual characterized by excitement and drama, with epic wins and painful losses. Kazakhastan's 3-2 win over Italy is one of the most remarkable ones. Even more so as the third point was pulled off by a former college player who was ITA National Player of the Year and #1 in the nation during his time at Oklahoma State University: Aleksandr Nedovyesov. In this edition of Friday Scholarship Guide, we will take a look at some of the 36 (!) tennis players with a background in college tennis, who represented their countries past weekend.
We're extremely happy to have one of the currently best college tennis players give us his personal Top 5 reasons why he loves college tennis in today's Friday Scholarship Guide. You'll see that the team spirit and the mere fact of being part of a team in an individual sport like tennis have played a major role for Sebastian.
With the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in its final rounds, let's have another look at the players in the draw. This time we'll provide exciting information about the former college players in the men's doubles event. With 22 out of 128 players having had some sort of college experience, 17% of the total doubles draw are made up of former collegiate players. We will also relate their doubles strength to an interesting ranking phenomenon, some great players have displayed on their way up.
Following up on the Friday Scholarship Guide article last week, it's time for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year: The Australian Open. The qualifying events are in its final rounds and 14 college tennis players had a high enough ATP ranking for a spot in the draw. See below who's been playing, what college they play(ed) for and who still has a chance of making it to the main draw.
College tennis has long been an attractive option for American tennis players. Yet, not all choose college, but instead try to turn pro right away. That's even more the case for international tennis players, who bet all on their sport after high school graduation or sometimes even before that, neglecting their education. In this week's Friday's Scholarship Guide we will take a closer look at why and how college tennis is probably the best choice you can make!
This edition of Friday's Scholarship Guide will introduce you to a tool, which will revolutionize college tennis recruiting. A new ranking system created by Universal Tennis Rating lets you compare the level of tennis in college to yours. That way you'll see within a minute whether you are good enough for a certain team or not.
