As the athletic world begins its transition from the winter season to the spring season, one sport budding from the snow and making its return to the spotlight is tennis. The Wisconsin men’s and women’s programs have trained all through the winter following last season’s Big Ten and NCAA Championship tournaments to prepare for this season’s matchups.
Both programs are littered with new talent from around the world, and combined with the experienced leadership from the juniors and seniors, the Badgers are prepared to make waves in the collegiate tennis scene nationwide.
Women’s tennis
The Badgers were thrown in the deep end to start the season off, playing their first two matchups against ranked opponents – No. 20 Arizona State and No. 9 UNC. The Badgers knocked off Arizona State 4-2, but fell to UNC 4-0, proving why the Tar Heels are touted so highly in the ITA Rankings.
The Badgers are led this season by the senior duo of Taylor Cataldi and Ariel Johnson. Cataldi has won all of her matchups in singles and doubles, excluding a two-set loss against UNC’s Thea Rabman, the No. 9 ranked player in the country last season. Cataldi has played at both the No. 2 and No. 1 spot this season, further solidifying her deserving selection to the Big Ten players to watch list this season.
.sno-67ae09ebd9205 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);width: calc(100% – 40px); margin: 30px auto !important; float: none;}
.sno-67ae09ebd9205 h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Johnson has played perfectly on the singles court, winning all three of her completed matches this season, but struggled against Arizona State and UNC in doubles, losing both matchups. Johnson, in her four years at the University of Wisconsin, has increased her role on the team each season from just one singles match during her freshman year, which she won, to four singles matches her sophomore season, to becoming a full-time starter last season and this season.
Another star talent for the Badgers, junior Maria Sholokhova, also returns to the court this season after her No. 3 national ranking at the end of last season. So far this season, Sholokhova has started 3-1, dropping slightly to No. 5 in the country after losing to No. 24 Reese Brantmeier from UNC.
Overall, the Badgers have used these tough early-season matchups to prepare themselves for a challenging Big Ten season, when they’ll play away at No. 6 UCLA and No. 17 Ohio State — while also defending home court against rivals Indiana, Purdue, Illinois and Rutgers, among others
While it may prove difficult considering the new-look Big Ten this season, the Badgers will aim to improve upon their fourth-place finish from last season, ending up with only three conference losses and going 10-1 at home.
Men’s tennis
The Wisconsin men’s tennis program went through a near-complete overhaul in terms of senior leadership, as the only senior and two graduate students from last season departed the program, leaving now-junior Michael Minasyan as the most experienced player on the roster. Now in his third year with the Badgers, Minasyan will hope to use that experience to improve on his 8-21 singles record from last season.
During his freshman season, Minasyan played at the No. 5 or No. 6 slot, finishing 10-6. As he developed as a player, he moved up to the No. 2 or No. 1 slot.
Behind Minasyan, in terms of collegiate experience, are four sophomores returning from last year — Collin Beduhn, Matthew Fullerton, Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek. All four players played different roles last season, and Zlatohlavek and Olsson have teamed up in doubles in every match so far this season.
But, the biggest talking points this season have been the freshman on the young Badger squad. Head coach Danny Westerman brought in four freshmen both from the U.S. and overseas.
.sno-67ae09ebdac6e {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);width: calc(100% – 40px); margin: 30px auto !important; float: none;}
.sno-67ae09ebdac6e h5 {
color: #000000;
}
Hungarian star Patrik Meszaros joined the Badgers from Budapest and has won all of his singles matches this season, including a three-set win against Princeton, the Badgers’ only loss.
Sachiv Kumar, a Novi, Michigan native has come to Madison and started his career strong — winning three of his first four matchups at the No. 6 spot. Ferdinand Kloesters has yet to make his debut for the Badgers, but the Grünwald, Germany native ranked as high as 111th in German men’s rankings.
The final freshman added to the squad this season is Edouard Aubert, who was named the first-ever Big Ten Freshman of the Week, which was established at the end of last season, last month. The Geneva, Switzerland native went 3-0 at the FAU Invite to open up the season, as has won all four of his completed matches for the Badgers at the No. 5 spot.
There is lots of room for improvement within the men’s program, which finished at the bottom of the Big Ten last season after going 0-9 in conference play and 1-22 overall. The Big Ten is also projected to be even tougher this season with the addition of four new programs (UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon) with four schools making the preseason top 25 rankings.
No. 3 Ohio State, No. 20 UCLA, No. 23 Michigan State and No. 25 Michigan are all on the Badgers’ schedule this season, which should make for some tough matchups at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
With the new talent that Wisconsin has brought in, the only way for them to go is up.