
Emon van Loben Sels
Photo by: Elijah Carr
Emon van Loben Sels Named Big Ten Player of the Week
April 02, 2025 | Men's Tennis
ROSEMONT, Ill. โ UCLA redshirt sophomore Emon van Loben Sels earned the first Big Ten Men's Tennis Player of the Week award of his career Wednesday, the conference announced.
The Sacramento, Calif. native posted a 2-0 singles record and a 3-0 doubles mark as the Bruins went 2-1 against league foes. Personally, van Loben Sels has won seven straight singles decisions and six consecutive doubles matches with partner Gianluca Ballotta.
Facing off with No. 88 Vlad Breazu of Oregon on Court 2, van Loben Sels turned in a 6-2, 6-4 victory that clinched UCLA's 4-0 win (March 29). He went on to beat USC's Volodymyr Iakubenko 7-6(4), 6-4 on Court 3 (April 1). A contest with No. 111 Dzianis Zharyn of Washington was abandoned with van Loben Sels one game away from his third victory of the week (March 29).
With all eyes on Court 3, van Loben Sels and Ballotta delivered the deciding 7-6(6) defeat of Matteo Morazzi and Nathan Trouve of USC. The Bruin pair also clinched the doubles point with its 6-3 result over Washington's Rohan Belday and Brett Pearson and added a 6-4 win opposite Oregon's Breazu and Lachlan Robertson.
The weekly conference honor is UCLA's fifth this season. It is the second Player of the Week award, as Spencer Johnson won during the fall. Rudy Quan has twice been named Freshman of the Week, on Feb. 26 and Jan. 22, while Kaylan Bigun was selected for the same honor March 12.
2025 BIG TEN MEN'S TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
The Sacramento, Calif. native posted a 2-0 singles record and a 3-0 doubles mark as the Bruins went 2-1 against league foes. Personally, van Loben Sels has won seven straight singles decisions and six consecutive doubles matches with partner Gianluca Ballotta.
Facing off with No. 88 Vlad Breazu of Oregon on Court 2, van Loben Sels turned in a 6-2, 6-4 victory that clinched UCLA's 4-0 win (March 29). He went on to beat USC's Volodymyr Iakubenko 7-6(4), 6-4 on Court 3 (April 1). A contest with No. 111 Dzianis Zharyn of Washington was abandoned with van Loben Sels one game away from his third victory of the week (March 29).
With all eyes on Court 3, van Loben Sels and Ballotta delivered the deciding 7-6(6) defeat of Matteo Morazzi and Nathan Trouve of USC. The Bruin pair also clinched the doubles point with its 6-3 result over Washington's Rohan Belday and Brett Pearson and added a 6-4 win opposite Oregon's Breazu and Lachlan Robertson.
The weekly conference honor is UCLA's fifth this season. It is the second Player of the Week award, as Spencer Johnson won during the fall. Rudy Quan has twice been named Freshman of the Week, on Feb. 26 and Jan. 22, while Kaylan Bigun was selected for the same honor March 12.
2025 BIG TEN MEN'S TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
| Week | Freshman |
| Sept. 18 | Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois |
| Sept. 25 | Max Sheldon, Michigan State |
| Oct. 2 | Aidan Kim, Ohio State |
| Oct. 9 | Paris Pouatcha, Oregon |
| Oct. 16 | Gavin Young, Michigan | Ozan Baris, Michigan State |
| Oct. 23 | Spencer Johnson, UCLA |
| Oct. 30 | Danial Rakhmatullayev, Michigan State |
| Nov. 6 | Preston Stearns, Ohio State |
| Nov. 13 | Gavin Young, Ohio State |
| Jan. 15 | Patorn Hanchaikul, Michigan |
| Jan. 22 | Aristotelis Thanos, Michigan State |
| Jan. 29 | Benjamin Kittay, Michigan |
| Feb. 5 | Peter Makk, USC |
| Feb. 12 | Aidan Kim, Ohio State |
| Feb. 19 | Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois |
| Feb. 26 | Henrik Villanger, Purdue |
| March 5 | Dzianis Zharyn, Washington |
| March 12 | Loren Byers, Penn State |
| March 19 | Max Sheldon, Michigan State |
| March 26 | Kenta Miyoshi, Illinois |
| April 2 | Emon van Loben Sels, UCLA |
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