UCLA
Nevada
Men's Tennis Set to Host Two Wednesday
January 14, 2019 | Men's Tennis
UCLA men's tennis will begin the dual-match season Wednesday, when Nevada (10 a.m., PT) and UC Davis (2:30 p.m.) visit Los Angeles Tennis Center for a doubleheader. The Bruins enter the year ranked No. 7 in the Oracle/ITA Preseason National Team Rankings. They have not been ranked outside of the top 10 since March 7, 2017. Live stats for both matches will be available at uclalivestats.com.
UCLA VS. NEVADA, UC DAVIS
The meeting between UCLA and Nevada will mark the first since the Wolfpack began play in the 1971-72 season. UCLA will take on UC Davis for the second time. The Bruins defeated the Aggies, 4-0, as part of ITA Kick-Off Weekend at LATC in 2018. Logan Staggs, Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith notched singles wins after a close finish to doubles play. Smith topped David Goulak to clinch the win.
2017-18 IN REVIEW
The Bruins turned in one of the finest seasons put together by a Billy Martin-coached team, posting 30 wins for the first time in his 25 years at the helm. The Pac-12 regular-season and tournament champions won 19 consecutive matches down the stretch—including an 8-0 record in conference play—before bowing out against Ohio State in the NCAA Championships semifinal round. Martin Redlicki (Singles Player of the Year), Redlicki-Evan Zhu (Doubles Team of the Year), Smith (Freshman of the Year) and Martin (Coach of the Year) swept the Pac-12 year-end awards. The year of tremendous team success ended with standout individual performances, as Redlicki-Zhu won the 13 NCAA doubles title in program history. Austin Rapp and Keegan Smith reached the doubles semifinal round, while Redlicki made the NCAA Singles Championships final four.
WHO'S GONE?
Senior team captains Redlicki, Staggs and Austin Rapp leave big shoes to fill. Evan Zhu has also departed to pursue a professional career. Redlicki, who played exclusively at the No. 1 spots in singles and doubles action, spent a majority of his final season slotted at No. 1 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings. Rapp and Zhu joined Redlicki in earning ITA All-America honors for their doubles play, as Rapp-Keegan Smith nearly made it an all-Bruin national final. Zhu held down the No. 2 singles spot behind Redlicki en route to Second-Team All-Pac-12 recognition, while Staggs racked up 23 singles triumphs, playing predominantly on Court 4.
WHO'S BACK?
Senior Cressy and sophomore Smith return to the Bruins after breakout 2018 showings. A team-high six of Cressy's 33 singles victories came in a clinching fashion and the versatile native of France also contributed 23 doubles wins. He achieved a conference-best three Pac-12 Player of the Week nods along the way. The only Bruin with more singles triumphs than Cressy was Smith, who debuted with a 40-7 mark. The Pac-12 Freshman of the Year achieved All-America status from the ITA after falling just short of the final round at the NCAA Doubles Championships. Cressy and Smith went a combined 32-2 in singles matches played from Feb. 19 through May 20. Connor Hance (18-8 singles) and Bryce Pereira (24-12 doubles) are also back after standout freshman efforts. Lucas Bellamy, Ben Goldberg and Connor Rapp round out the list of returners.
WHO'S NEW?
Seven freshmen—Roscoe Bellamy, Eric Hahn, Blaine Hovenier, Govind Nanda, Mathew Tsolakyan, Max Wild and Patrick Zahraj—join the fold in 2018-19. Bellamy (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Laurel Springs School), brother of teammate Lucas, was the top-ranked player nationally in the Boys' 12 and 14 divisions. Hahn (Fullerton, Calif./Sunny Hills HS) earned a spot in the US Open Junior Tennis Championships after finishing fifth at the 2018 Boys' 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. Hovenier (Los Angeles, Calif./Campbell Hall) was twice named to the Gold Coast League First Team and captained Campbell Hall to an undefeated 2018 season. Nanda (Redlands, Calif./Laurel Springs School) qualified for three of four Grand Slam junior tournaments in 2018 and helped the United States to a runner-up finish at the 2017 Junior Davis Cup. Tsolakyan (Glendale, Calif./Laurel Springs School) was a repeat Boys' 16 singles winner at The Ojai Tennis Tournament in 2015 and 2016. Wild (Murrieta, Calif./Laurel Springs School) was a Boys' 16 doubles champion at the 2016 USTA National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. Zahraj (Frankfurt am Main, Germany/Kurpfalz-Gymnasium und Realschule Mannheim) reached the Boys' 16 singles final at the 2015 Eddie Herr International as an unseeded participant.
DE VILLIERS PROMOTED
Rikus de Villiers was elevated to the position of assistant coach with UCLA men's tennis on June 18, 2018. A familiar face to the program, de Villiers served in the role of volunteer assistant coach for five of the past six seasons. He replaced Grant Chen, who was named head coach at Southern Methodist University. De Villiers joined the UCLA staff in the fall of 2012 and immediately aided the Bruins in their run to the final round of the NCAA Championships the following spring. Over the course of his five seasons on staff, UCLA registered an overall record of 124-28 (.816) and dropped just two regular-season Pac-12 matches (32-2). The Bruins also secured three Pac-12 Tournament titles during de Villiers' time as a volunteer. He coached American Ryan Harrison on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour during his time away from the program in 2015-16. Wil Martin assumed the role of Volunteer Assistant Coach.
KATZ FAMILY SCOREBOARD
UCLA tennis and the UCLA Athletic Department debuted the Katz Family Scoreboard Wednesday, Jan. 9 in front of donors and special invited guests at LATC. The ceremony culminated in a ribbon cutting by the Katz Family, Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero, women's tennis head coach Stella Sampras Webster and men's tennis head coach Billy Martin. Each, along with Sr. Associate Athletic Director, External Relations Josh Rebholz, made remarks highlighting the meaning of the Katz Family's generous donation and the opportunities the scoreboard will provide the UCLA tennis programs. The Katz Family Scoreboard's Daktronics display, measuring 18 feet high and 31.2 feet wide, is among the largest LED video screens in collegiate tennis. Stationed at the east end of LATC's main stadium courts, the board has a 13HD pixel pitch capable of switching between content playback mode and video mode using Show Control. RGB LED lights, meanwhile, will allow for a multitude of graphics possibilities. Also new to the match-day experience is a custom JBL speaker system set to improve audio on the front courts while introducing sound to the back courts.
HOME COOKING
UCLA won all 16 of its matches at LATC in 2018, outscoring opponents by a 82-8 margin. The Bruins tallied 12 sweeps in those matches and never surrendered more than two points. The perfect record continued a run of recent home success for the Bruins, who have captured 45 consecutive on-campus matches dating back to the 2014-15 season. Including a pair of NCAA Championships triumphs, UCLA went 16-0 at Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts as construction moved them out of LATC in 2017. The Bruins also held an unblemished home mark in 2016, as they won all 11 of their matches at LATC.
FALL BALL
It was a busy fall for a number of Bruins, including three who made their debuts in blue and gold. Smith got things started on one of the fall's biggest stages, winning once before falling in three sets against top-seeded Nuno Borges of Mississippi State. Hahn reached the singles Round of 16 at the ITA Regional Championships, while Pereira-Smith was dealt a quarterfinal-round loss in doubles play. Hahn again impressed with a singles quarterfinal-round berth at the SoCal Intercollegiate Championships, while Pereira and Wild made the quarterfinal round in doubles action. Smith reached the singles and doubles (with partner Hance) semifinals at the Jack Kramer Collegiate Tournament. Rapp advanced to the Flight One singles and doubles (with Lucas Bellamy) championship rounds of the Larry Easley Memorial Classic before coming up short in each, though Pereira and Wild did prove victorious in the doubles final. Rapp led the way with seven fall singles wins, while Hahn (six), Wild (six) and Tsolakyan (one) notched the first victories of their respective careers. Pereira and Wild each posted a 7-2 doubles record, including a 5-1 mark as partners.
PROFESSIONAL BRUINS
Success in the new year has been plentiful for Bruins playing in professional tournaments. One year after reaching the second round of the Australian Open before taking third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov to five sets, Mackenzie McDonald is into the Grand Slam's second round again after defeating Andrey Rublev of Russia, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Marcos Giron also got off on the right foot in 2019, defeating Darian King of Barbados, 6-4, 6-4, in the Orlando Open singles final. It marked the first ATP Challenger Tour singles title of Giron's career. Current UCLA player Maxime Cressy picked up his first Challenger doubles title at Columbus, where he and partner Bernardo Saraiva of Portugal dropped just one set on the way to the championship. Cressy also registered his 10th Futures doubles title at Los Angeles, continuing his recent red-hot run through professional tournaments. For good measure, current Bruin Govind Nanda knocked off the recently-graduated Redlicki, 4-6, 7-6, 6-0, in the Tucson Futures singles final.
HEAD COACH BILLY MARTIN
Head coach Billy Martin is in his 26th season as head coach of the Bruins, and 36th on the staff. During his tenure, Martin's teams have accumulated 14 conference championships and the 2005 NCAA title. Just two of Martin's teams have finished outside of the top five teams at the season-ending NCAA Championships. They have also not finished outside of the top three teams in the Pac- 12 standings. He has earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors five times (1996, 2012-14, 2018) and the ITA National Coach of the Year award once (1996). Martin has also led three players (Benjamin Kohlloeffel in 2006, Marcos Giron in 2014 and Mackenzie McDonald in 2016) to the NCAA singles title and three teams (J. Gimelstob-S. Muskatirovic in 1996, M. McDonald-M. Redlicki in 2016 and M. Redlicki-E. Zhu in 2018) to the NCAA doubles crown. An ITA Tennis Hall of Famer, Martin was named the "Junior Player of the Century" by Inside Tennis Magazine. Before turning pro, he played one season at UCLA (1975), during which the Bruins captured an NCAA team championship. He also won the NCAA Singles Championship. Martin holds an overall record of 576-118 (.830) overall and a 157-27 (.853) mark in Pac-12 play.
Players Mentioned
