'Big wave:' College tennis has become a legitimate path to the pro level

NEW YORK — John Isner, who is retiring after the US Open, carried the banner for American tennis in the 2010s and became a familiar presence worldwide thanks to his massive serve and leading role in the longest match ever played.

But when he first became a professional, Isner was a bit of an anomaly: A player coming out of college tennis and having success fairly quickly on the ATP Tour.

"There weren't many expectations for me,” Isner said.

That wasn’t just because of how he played but where he came from, spending four years at the University of Georgia.

Though American legends like Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe all spent at least one year in college before turning pro, that tradition kind of died in the 1980s. Once the professional money got big, the top prospects whether American or international wanted to turn pro and get out on tour as quickly as possible.

“It was a long, uphill fight to really gain some recognition,” said Manny Diaz, who recruited Isner to Georgia and won a national championship with him in 2007.

But these days, players taking an Isner-like path aren’t so rare. In fact, when the US Open began on Monday, the men’s singles draw included a fairly remarkable 20 college tennis alums along with seven in the women's singles draw representing a variety of countries and conferences.

One of them, Ben Shelton, left Florida after winning the NCAA singles championship last year and made an immediate impact on tour, reaching the Australian Open quarterfinal in January and reaching as high as No. 35 in the world rankings.

By contrast, it took Chris Eubanks nearly six years after leaving Georgia Tech to make his big breakthrough at Wimbledon this year.

Either way, their success — along with many others currently in the top-50 — has breathed some new life into college tennis as a legitimate route for development into the pros.

“I think it’s thriving right now,” said David Roditi, the head coach at TCU. “There’s a lot of people paying attention closely. In the U.S., we’ve always kind of known. I think the difference now is internationally, they’re starting to notice. The world is paying attention.”

At TCU, Roditi coached Cameron Norrie, a player who showed great ability as a junior but was showing from his early results against pros that he wasn’t ready physically or emotionally to compete with the best in the world.

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For most players in that situation who simply want to go pro, accumulating enough ranking points to make a real go at a tennis career can be a daunting proposition. Either you need to rely on getting wildcards into tournaments, and then take advantage of those opportunities, or grind it out in low-level events all over the world and collect enough points and paychecks to climb the ladder.

“That level of going from not being ranked to 400 or 500 in the world is very expensive,” Roditi said.

So Norrie came to TCU and developed into an All-American, which carried with it some opportunities to play and test himself in Challenger-level pro events while in school. By the time Norrie left school in 2017, he was already in the top-250 and on a path to sustainable success. Last year, Norrie reached the top-10 and made the Wimbledon semifinals.

Coach Cedric Kauffmann, who led Kentucky to an NCAA runner-up finish in 2022, estimated that a player turning pro out of high school would probably need to budget for $70,000 in travel expenses and maybe another $100,000 if they are taking a private coach out on tour with them for a year.

For some high-level juniors that seem like surefire pros that’s doable because of either family backing or sponsorship money or advances from an agent. But when you start putting pen to paper for players that aren’t guaranteed to shoot right up into the top-100, an American college program that takes care of all expenses starts to look pretty appealing.

“Sometimes in comes in waves in our sport, but in the last few years its been a big wave,” Kauffmann said. “I think it has put us at least in a better position on the recruiting trail to recruit some of the best in the world for us to be attractive enough for them to listen. Sometimes we go recruiting and want to tell them about college, but they don’t quite understand it or don’t want to talk about it.”

Kauffmann, who is French, came to Kentucky as a player and made the All-American team three times, eventually reaching a high ranking of No. 170 as a pro. As a coach, Kentucky is one of the country’s most prominent programs with a bevy of All-American players and NCAA Tournament bids.

But when Kauffman goes recruiting in his native country, one of the biggest things that helps him get recognition is a player he didn't even coach: Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who went to Texas A&M before turning pro and is currently No. 73 in the world.

“I think the key to the professional circuit, it doesn’t matter if its college or coming out of high school, the key is the timing,” Kauffman said. “Are you physically ready, mentally ready, tennis-wise ready? All the people that have been successful from college into the pros or high school to the pros have had this push into the top 300 or to 250 pretty fast. If you go up to 600 or 800 and stay there for a year or two, you're usually in trouble.”

That reality is why college tennis got great news in January of this year when a groundbreaking partnership between the ATP and Intercollegiate Tennis Association launched an accelerator program where the top-20 players in the college singles rankings in June get as many as eight spots in some Challenger-level tournaments to give them a head start.

One player who recently took advantage of that was Ethan Quinn, who won an NCAA singles title at Georgia earlier this year, turned pro and has been building a résumé, including the opportunity to play ATP-level events in Newport and Atlanta.

“Everyone’s on their own timeline,” said Quinn, who is now No. 475 and lost Monday in the first round of the US Open. "If put pressure on me to get to the top level as quick as I can, I won’t be doing the things correctly I need to do. I’m 19 playing against grown men. I need a little bit of time to get stronger so as long as i'm recognizing my timeline might be different than someone else’s I’ll be able to perform at my highest level.”

Though plenty of former college players have had success in doubles, including the two-time defending US Open champions Rajeev Ram (Illinois) and Joe Salisbury (Memphis), Shelton is poised to be the new face of college tennis success for the next decade.

The son of former ATP tour player Bryan Shelton, who coached him at Florida, Ben Shelton was undecided last summer whether to turn pro or return for a third year of college. Some good Challenger results, followed by knocking off French and US Open finalist Casper Ruud in Cincinnati, showed he was ready to go up against the best in the world.

It also showed what's possible as coaches try to expand the reach of college tennis.

“Not everybody is going to reach top 45 in one summer like Ben did,” Diaz said. “But it certainly raises the bar and opens the eyes of these kids that he didn’t miss much going to college for a year and a half. We have the resources, we have the opportunities and the exposure to top level tennis that can continue on the path you’re seeking.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College tennis has become a legitimate path to the pro level