Gators Men’s Tennis Begins SEC Play

The Florida Gators men’s tennis team is set to face Auburn Saturday to kick off SEC play in the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

The Gators ended non-conference play with a 6-1 win over UNF last Saturday. Florida is excited to move into this next challenge in its season.

“That part of the season is done, clean slate. No matter what we did in the non-conference, good or bad, now we start new again,” head coach Adam Steinberg said. “Every match we play in the conference is a battle and there is nowhere to hide, so I think the guys are really excited to get this part of the season started.”

Although the Gators are 5-4 overall, coach Steinberg said the team is turning the page to conference play.

“I put the season with the guys into three parts. Part one is our non-conference, part two is our SEC’s and part three is the post season.”

Gators Vs. Tigers

The Gators have an advantage of starting SEC play at home as they are currently undefeated at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

These teams have faced off a total of 26 times with Gators winning 20 of those matches. However, Florida fell 4-1 to the Tigers in March 2024.

“Auburn beat us last year there,” Steinberg said. “They have an excellent team and are very well coached with Bobby Reynolds as their head coach, so I’m just happy we are playing at home and starting the SEC at home.”

ITA Rankings

The Gators are going into their conference matches holding steady in the ITA Rankings. Florida’s doubles partners Tanapatt Nirundorn and Henry Jefferson are N0. 11, and duo Kevin Edengren and Jeremy Jin hold the No. 81 ranking. Jin holds the No.54 ITA singles ranking.

Auburn has one doubles pair ranked at No. 7 in the ITA Rankings — Billy Blaydes and Will Nolan. The Tigers also have Will Nolan ranked at No. 120 in the ITA singles rankings.

Young Players

Florida has many talented young players that have not experienced conference play yet. The team has four freshmen on the roster: Francesco Cordova, Rafael Segado, Niels Villard and Ben Weintraub.

“The guys that were here can really talk about their experiences playing in the conference. The new guys will live it here in a few days,” Steinberg said.