The Singles and Doubles Championships run Monday-Saturday, May 22-27. Consisting of 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams, they will be hosted by the University of Central Florida and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission. The singles tournament is slated to begin Monday, with doubles competition commencing Tuesday.
Junior Johannus Monday and graduate student Emile Hudd will represent the Big Orange in singles competition, while Monday and graduate student Pat Harper will take the court in doubles.
2023 marks the fifth consecutive year in which Tennessee has been represented in both the singles and doubles postseason fields. The Vols have had at least one singles player and at least one doubles pair make the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in 14 of the past 16 seasons.
The week’s live stats hub can be found here, with live streaming provided by Cracked Racquets being available here.
PREVIEWING SINGLES
SEC Player of the Year Monday was one of 12 automatic qualifiers for the event, earning the No. 5 overall seed in the singles draw. Monday was a combined 39-7 (.848) in dual singles and doubles matches this spring. At 19-3 in singles and 20-4 on the doubles courts, 33 of those 39 total dual match victories came at the No. 1 lineup spot (16-3 at No. 1 singles and 17-4 at No. 1 doubles) this season. Monday was ranked as high as No. 2 in the ITA’s national singles rankings this spring, a career high for the junior.
Hudd, a first-team All-SEC selection this year, garnered an at-large bid for the singles tournament in his final collegiate season. Hudd logged an 18-9 dual singles record this year and was 12-4 at the No. 2 singles lineup position. Hudd logged seven ranked singles victories on the year, and rose to a career-best ITA national singles ranking of No. 27 on April 11.
PREVIEWING DOUBLES
Monday and Harper logged a 17-4 doubles record as a pairing this dual season. Monday was 20-4 overall in doubles this year, upping his career record at the No. 1 doubles lineup position to 21-4. Harper was 19-5 in doubles action this spring, surpassing the 50-win mark at the No. 1 slot. Harper, with 96 career overall doubles wins at Tennessee, owns sole possession of 10th place on Tennessee’s career doubles wins list. Should he reach 100 career doubles wins by season’s end, he would become just the ninth Vol to ever do so in a career.
FIRST-ROUND SCHEDULE
Monday, May 22 – Singles Round of 64
1 p.m. ET – Johannus Monday (5) vs. Ryan Fishback, Virginia Tech
1:30 p.m. ET – Emile Hudd vs. Arthur Fery (3), Stanford
Tuesday, May 23
Time TBA – Johannus Monday/Pat Harper (5-8) vs. Natan Rodrigues/Fabien Salle, Louisville
MATCH FORMAT
All singles and doubles matches will be best two-out-of-three sets. In doubles play, a 10-point super tiebreak will be used in lieu of a third set.
TENNESSEE AT THE INDIVIDUAL SINGLES AND DOUBLES TOURNAMENTS
Current head coach Chris Woodruff stands as the lone Vol to capture the individual singles crown, doing so in 1993. Last season, two-time ITA Doubles All-American Adam Walton became the fifth Vol in program history to advance to the semifinals in the singles draw, capping his illustrious career with 124 total singles wins, the fifth-most in Tennessee program history.
In 2021, Harper won the NCAA Doubles Championship alongside Walton, as the Aussies brought just the third such title in program history back to Knoxville.
Overall, the Vols have accrued four individual champions (three doubles, one singles) and five total finalists (two singles, three doubles) since 1966.