The Florida Gators men's tennis team represents the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in the sport of

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. The Gators compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). The team hosts its home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

campus.

Bryan Shelton Bryan Shelton (born December 22, 1965) is an American college tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Shelton played collegiately for Georgia Tech from 1985 to 1988, and then played professionally from 1989 to 1997. He subsequently ...

has served as the men's tennis coach since 2013. Florida's men tennis program has consistently been one of the most successful in college tennis for the past several decades. Since the university's men's tennis program was established in 1932, Florida has won three NCAA singles championships, one NCAA doubles championship, eighteen SEC regular season and tournament titles, and one national team championship.

Team history

The Florida Gators men's tennis team was established in 1932 under head coach Dennis K. "Dutch" Stanley. In eight years leading the Gators' tennis program, Stanley compiled a team win–loss record of 54–12 (.818), still the best coaching record in the history of the program as measured by winning percentage. Stanley, who also served as the head coach of Florida's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

teams, left the university in 1940, but later returned as the first dean of its College of Health and Human Performance. Florida's men's tennis program became the second at the school to win a

championship (after men's swimming) upon winning the SEC tournament title in 1950. Overall, the program has earned twelve SEC team tournament championships (1950, 1961, 1968, 1969, 1975, 1994, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2019, 2021, 2022) along with twelve regular season conference crowns. Since there was no tournament held in 2020 due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Gators enter the 2022-2023 season as the three-time defending SEC champions after compiling a 40-1 regular season conference record over that timeframe. Florida's men tennis program has been one of the nation's top college programs for several decades and have been invited to the NCAA men's tennis championship tournament every year save one (1996) since 1991 and are consistently ranked in the top-10. The Gators advanced to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals on numerous occasions and have an all-time record of 64-29 in NCAA tournament dual matches. They won their first team national championship in 2021. In individual match play, Gators Mark Merklein and David Blair claimed the NCAA doubles championships in 1993. Merklein won the NCAA singles championship in 1994, losing just one set while defeating six tournament opponents. Gator

Jeff Morrison Jeffrey Alan Morrison (born February 4, 1979) is a retired American professional tennis player. Morrison was the last American male left in the singles draw at Wimbledon in 2002, going on to defeat future World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero en r ...

claimed the NCAA singles championship in 1999, also losing only a single set on the way to the title.

Sam Riffice Sam Riffice (born 1 March 1999) is an American tennis player. Early life and career His mother, Lori Riffice, is a national coach with USTA Player Development. The family relocated to Central Florida to be a part of the USTA National Campus staf ...

won the NCAA singles championship in 2021, defeating the number one and two seeds in consecutive days. The following year, Ben Shelton kept the NCAA singles championship in the program by winning the title in 2022.

Year-by-year results

The

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

overall record is 1,326–528–6 through the 2019–2020 season.

All-Americans

As of the end of the 2021-2022 season, thirty-one members of the Florida Gators men's tennis teams have earned sixty-one All-American honors. * Ben Shelton - Singles (2021, 2022), 2022 NCAA Champion (singles) * Sam Raffice - Doubles (2020), Singles (2019, 2020, 2021), 2021 NCAA Champion (singles) * Oliver Crawford - Doubles (2020), Singles (2019, 2020) * Duarte Vale - Doubles (2018), Singles (2020, 2021) * McClain Kessler - Doubles (2018) *

Johannes Ingildsen Johannes Ingildsen (born 1 July 1997) is a Danish tennis player. Ingildsen has a career high ATP singles ranking of 638 achieved on 12 September 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 288 achieved on 8 January 2024. Ingildsen r ...

- Doubles (2017, 2018) * Alfredo Perez - Singles (2017, 2018), Doubles (2017, 2018) * Diego Hidalgo – Singles (2016), Doubles (2016) * Gordon Watson – Doubles (2016) * Florent Diep – Singles (2014) * Bob Van Overbeek – Doubles (2013) * Stephane Piro – Doubles (2013) * Sekou Bangoura – Doubles (2011) * Alexndre Lacroix – Singles (2010, 2011), Doubles (2010, 2011) * Antoine Benneteau – Doubles (2010) *

Gregory Ouellette Greg Ouellette (born 19 May 1986) is an American Professional tennis player. Ouellette reached a career high singles ranking of 269 on August 12, 2011 winning 5 professional singles titles and 7 doubles titles.This ranking high came shortly ...

– Singles (2005, 2007, 2008), Doubles (2005, 2007) *

Jesse Levine Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world No. 69 on October 1, 2012. Levine represented the United States through 2012, and he represented Can ...

– Singles (2007), Doubles (2007) * Hamid Mirzadeh – Singles (2003, 2004, 2005), Doubles (2004, 2005) * Chris Brandi – Doubles (2004) * Janne Holmia – Singles (2003) *

Justin O'Neal Justin O'Neal (born October 24, 1977) is an American former professional tennis player. O'Neal, an Ohio native, played collegiate tennis for the Florida Gators and had to wait until the age of 30 to make his ATP Tour main draw debut, having spent ...

– Singles (1997, 1999, 2000) *

– Singles (1999, 2000), Doubles (1999, 2000) *

Nathan Overholser Nathan Overholser (born June 23, 1979) is an American former professional tennis player. A left-hander from Okemos, Michigan, Overholser was Class A state high school singles champion in 1994 and played collegiate tennis for the University of Flo ...

– Singles (1999, 2000), Doubles (2000) * Damon Henkel – Singles (1994, 1995, 1996) * Dyllan Fitzgerald – Doubles (1994) * Mark Merklein – Singles (1993, 1994), Doubles (1993, 1994) * David Blair – Doubles (1993) *

Armistead Neely Armistead Neely (born March 19, 1947) is an American former professional tennis player. He is a member of the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame. Biography Neely grew up in Tampa, Florida, where he moved to as a child from Mobile, Alabama. He played co ...

– Singles (1969), Doubles (1968) * Jamie Pressly – Singles (1969) * Bill Tym – Singles (1963) * Jim Shaffer – Singles (1961)

References

External links

* {{Florida Gators athletic program navbox Sports clubs established in 1932 1932 establishments in Florida

Team history

Year-by-year results

All-Americans

See also

References

External links