I'm writing a paper on UT men's tennis. Does anyone know of a UT player that has cracked the top 200 in the last 10 years? Pardon my ignorance; I'm a pretty big tennis fan but have never kept up with college tennis. Thanks
Don't know of any in the last ten years, but Steve Denton would probably be a great resource for you. You probably know that he is on the staff at atm now. He'll probably still help you out.
I don't know for sure but maybe Jean Simon? I think he coaches at St. Ed's and may still be accessible unless he moved back to France. But he is a fantastic person and player. Don't know how high he was ever ranked in the world but know he was in the top while in college in those rankings.
Horn Tennis has a pretty storied past including being the winningest program in NCAA men's history. I know some players had success in recent years...not sure if I have the name right but I think Jack Brasington was top 125 or top 100 in the world three or four years back. I recall him beating 3 higher ranked opponents in US Open qualifying and then winning his first round match before facing Andy Roddick in rd 2. I think Roddick was ranked top 3 at the time and Jack took him to 4 sets before losing in a tiebreaker. In the past Kevin Curren made the singles final at Wimbledon (I think) and was a top 10 player who took some Grand Slam doubles titles during his career. Hopefully someone can add or clarify if I got anything wrong.
overseas is right. From what I can recall as of late, Jack Brasington use to be ranked in the top 200 for a while. He did make that run through the qualies of the U.S. Open and won his 1st round match before losing to Roddick in the 2nd. That was about 4-5 years ago. Otherwise the only other solid UT player I know of who for sure cracked the top 100 was Kevin Curren. But that was beyond 10 years ago. I don't believe Jean Simon ever cracked the top 200...he hardly played anything but Futures tourneys I believe and didn't do that well if I recall correctly. However like someone mentioned he was a great collegiate player, ranked in the top 10 his last couple years.
Wow, thanks for the quick and detailed replies. I've been to untold amounts of football/basketball/baseball games since I stepped on campus in 2001 (graduated in 2004 and now work on campus), but made it to my first UT tennis match last Sunday to complete an assignment for a class. I will make it back out more regularly for the rest of their home matches. It's a pretty cool place to watch some tennis and these guys don't get any support. I checked on Brasington on atptennis.com. They're showing that he reached as high as 125 in July 2002. His career singles record was 2-8 with $173,770 won. Link This is exactly what I need for my paper. This is why Hornfans rules. According to Wikipedia, Kevin Curren lost in two grand slam finals (84 Aussie to Wilander and 85 Wimbledon Becker, both in 4 sets). He won 4 grand slam doubles (one men's, three mixed).
Yeah, I did not think that Jean actually made the world rankings that high but he could have given it a shot had he not had so many injuries. I know he played hurt much of his career here at Texas. He dug deep, sucked it up and gutted out so many matches. Again, and I know this personally, great guy and ambassador for the University of Texas. I hope he is doing well as I am sure he is happy. He's that kind of guy that finds a way.
Chazatut and I went to several UT tennis matches. It's a lot of fun and free. Going to the NCAA tournament is a blast. I recommend going next time it's at A&M.
i always wondered what happened to brasington...beating those ranked players in qualifying and then making rd before falling to roddick in 4 close sets....and having his ranking rise as high as 125....all that happened in pretty close succession and then he was gone. seems like it should have been motivation to keep it going and push harder. i think he was already 24 or 25 at the time, but obviously had quite a lot of good years left had he continued. just wonder why he made it to such a good point and then disappeared or stopped playing. perhaps he was injured?
tennis at a&m is like going into a war zone...its crazy and not fun (unless we are kicking their butts!)..i can hardly stand it when the tennis aggies invade austin !!!!!
