Men's Tennis Recruiting

Jonah Braswell almost picked Texas before deciding on Florida during his senior year in high school. The reason he choose Florida was because of the Sheltons and Associate Head Coach Tanner Stump. As you all know the Sheltons left for the pro circuit and Coach Stump stepped down from his post at UF a year ago. The connection between Jonah's older brother Micah has always been very strong. Micah was instrumental in Jonah decision to leave Florida. Since Micah will be a senior this coming year, the brothers will only play together for one year. Don't be surprised if Jonah turns pro after the 2023-24 season. As far as this year is concerned, Texas has a solid chance at winning the team title next May. It was a blow to the Gator squad but luring Coach Steinberg to Florida and keeping Associate Head Coach Mat Cloer as well as making Coach Scott Perelman as the second assistant coach on the squad will pay big dividends in the coming seasons. It's time to move on! We will be much better than some people think this coming season when second semester comes and our current seven man squad is completed by players who will join us next January.

 

As of right now the fall roster consists of Aidan Kim, Jeremy Jin, Mangus Johnson, Olek Orlikowski, Borys Zgola, Tanapatt Nirundorn, and Nate Bonetto. Kevin Edengren from Sweden committed but not signed yet for second semester in January. All three coaches on the road now with multiple players in as possible additions for second semester.

 

Will Grant graduated with a degree in Sports Management in May. He felt he wanted to try his hand on the ATP circuit. He did have a potential year of eligibility left but decided not to use it. His decision to go pro was made long before Coach Shelton stepped down. Will was part of senior day in the spring so everyone in the program knew he would not return next fall.

 

Actually we will have eight players on the men's roster in January. Borys Zgola is no longer a part of the team. Currently we have Jeremy Jin, Nate Bonetto, Tanapatt Nirundorn, Olek Orlikowski, JanMagnus Johnson and Aidan Kim practicing with the team. We will add two players during the signing period that commences on Nov. 8th, who will join the team in January.

 

Our two commitments for 2025 so far are from Florida and Texas.

 

"Does in matter" is a good question. Yes it does matter for a variety of reasons. First and foremost IF the player in question being recruited is a Floridian he most likely will be eligible for some level of Bright Futures. This state of Florida scholarship can pay for half or more of a native Floridian's student college cost. As you probably know, men's tennis only has 4 1/2 scholarships available, due to title nine. That means scholarships have to be broken up so that as many players as possible can get help to attend UF. Foreign and out of state students pay about double the tuition rate to attend UF. Tennis is not a popular sport in America. In Europe and South America it is the third or fourth most popular sport. Therefore many outstanding foreign athletes specialize in tennis which makes these countries more fertile ground for American institutions to recruit. At the same time, I personally don't want to see an American team made up of only foreign players. I good example would be Mississippi State. To each his own as to how they feel about recruiting foreign players, but I like to see a mixture of American and foreign players on division one teams. That is exactly what the University of Florida attempts to accomplish. There are no quotas involved but it is financially sound to first recruit Florida junior players, then American players and finally foreign tennis prodigies.

 

Just about completed the men's signing class. First day of signing was November 8th. We will get help in January with a couple of solid players and possibly a third. In addition one or two signees for the Fall of 2024. Program is going to be in good shape

 

Adhithya Ganesan, ranked number one in the boy's 18 in Maryland and 19th nationally has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Florida. He will join the team in January of 2024.