Welcome Back to Big Ten Tennis

Big Ten Tennis is back for the new season with a few changes.  I am no longer working with Examiner so I can spend time cultivating the kind of posts I want, in one place.  Just like me, the season is just getting started again.

Let’s take a look at week one because in week two I’ll be spending most of my time reporting on some past tennis players hitting the courts from my seat at the Australian Open!

Pre-season national  rankings are out by the ITA and the Big Ten has quite a presence.  Nine women’s teams and nine men’s teams have earned a place in the rankings with the Michigan and Northwestern women taking the highest honors at eight and nine respectively.  The Illinois women are the next in line, just squeaking into the top 25 with that number, while their male counterparts have the highest Big Ten Ranking for a men’s team at No. 16, followed by Michigan at 25 and Wisconsin at 29. 

In individual rankings, the Big Ten women aren’t standing out quite as clearly Denise Muresan (above) of Michigan is the only top 50 player in women’s singles, coming in at No. 11.  Fellow Wolverines Mimi Nguyen and Brooke Bolender are at No. 12 in doubles, and Illini Rachael White and Allison Falkin aren’t far behind at No. 15.  In men’s singles, Illinois’ Dennis Nevolo is up to No. 11 and Michigan’s Jason Jung is at No. 35. Nevolo and Abe Souza are at No. 20 in men’s doubles, with Ohio State’s Matt Allare and Peter Kobelt just above them at 19. All of the rankings are available at the ITA website.

The Big Ten women’s teams will be very busy this weekend.  Illinois and Purdue will be down in Florida for the Hilton Garden Inn Eagle Classic, while Iowa’s at the Florida State Seminole Invitational.  Indiana heads to the Georgia Invitational. Michigan, Ohio State and Northwestern (left) are both hosting their own invitational events.  The rest of the teams will begin their dual-match season: Michigan State vs. IPFW and Detroit; Minnesota vs. Marshall; Penn State vs. Akron; and Wisconsin vs. Old Dominion.

The Michigan men have already taken the court, at the Key Biscayne Invitational with Texas, Denver and LSU.  The Wolverines picked up nine singles and five doubles wins for the event.  This weekend they will be off from team play, along with most of the other teams.  The Illini Open will take place in Sarasota with players from FSU and Texas Tech.

I will be doing a report on the Big Ten’s weekend’s play before boarding my flight on Monday night to head to Melbourne, arriving Weds morning at the Australian Open.  I know the Illini have two former players – Kevin Anderson and Rajeev Ram playing.  Kevin Anderson made it to the semis of the ATP in Brisbane before losing to Andy Roddick in three sets last week, so I’m excited to see how he does.  Please let me know if there are any other past or future Big Ten players I should keep an eye on.