Gator Tennis is Back in Gainesville

Tennis is back in Gainesville. The Gator Men’s Tennis team will start its season on Monday afternoon at 5 o’clock against the UCF Knights.

The Gators finished the 2017 season with a 19-10 record while getting to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament, in which they lost against the Baylor Bears (doubles) and the UNC Tar Heels (singles).

Florida will start this new season at a high level. The men’s team enters into this season as the No. 9 ranked team in the country. Florida was able to win several invitational trophies both in singles and in doubles during the fall. The duo of Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen won the ITA All-American Championship. Andy Andrade and Duarte Vale won single titles in the Ivy-Plus Invitational, Dick Vitale Invitational and the Gator Ranked +1.

New Faces, Same Goal

The connection of Perez and Ingildsen are the No. 1 ranked duo in the nation. After last fall, besides winning the ITA All-American double title, both players have a 7-1 record while playing together; the other two best Gator duos are Chase Perez-Blanco/Oliver Crawford (8-2) and McClain Kessler/Vale (6-1).

Florida had three new players who got incorporated this season: Andrade, Crawford and Vale. Among those three, Andrade has been the one who has showed more resilience when it comes to compete in individual matches. Andrade had a 14-3 record, which is tied to Perez-Blanco’s record for team highest during this past fall.

Joshua Wardell and Perez-Blanco are the Gators who are coming back for their senior season. Wardell and Perez-Blanco have a 23-21 record and a 78-46 record respectively in their collegiate careers.