Dear Duke Tennis Family,
I hope you had a wonderful summer! The first two weeks of classes are under our belt and we are gearing up for the 2023-2024 season. I couldn’t be more excited to have these guys back on campus. With the experience and leadership of our returning players, including our three seniors from last season, I am anticipating a memorable season ahead.
As we look to build on and improve from last year, we will look to our very motivated group who collectively put in hard work over the summer. We have so much trust & confidence in this group because of the way they have established a strong player-led culture. This team values excellence and they pursue it with rigor.
We are extremely proud of Pedro and Garrett for their accomplishments this summer. The duo competed in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) world tennis tour, collecting a combined two singles and three doubles titles.
Four Blue Devils are in the ITA National Pre-season Rankings, highlighted by Pedro Rodenas at #18 in the singles rankings, and Michael Heller & Andrew Zhang at #10 in the doubles rankings.
We welcomed our sole newcomer this fall, Alexander Visser. He was listed as the No. 1 prospect from New England and is a top-10 National Blue-Chip recruit. I am looking forward to watching Alexander integrate and contribute to the program in his first year.
I especially want to welcome Jay Lapidus as he rejoins the coaching staff in a unique hybrid capacity. Jay will serve as a player development advisor and a mentor to our student-athletes, in addition to continuing his work with development & networking for Men’s and Women’s Tennis. This is a huge WIN for the program! Many of you reading this have a close relationship with Jay and can attest to the impact he will have on our players.
Our Juniors and Seniors are resuming the reigns on leadership positions this year. Andrew Zhang, Garrett Johns, and Michael Heller will be our team captains for the year, bringing another year of experience to the courts. Andrew Dale will serve once again as the Men's Tennis representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). The ACC Student-Athlete Advisory Group representatives will be Connor and Jake Krug.
Garrett is dedicating the fall season to play professional events around the world to jumpstart his professional career. He will return in January for the team season and take advantage of his permitted COVID year. We wish him the best of luck this fall and looking forward to having him back with us in the Spring. Keep an eye out for him in a city near you!
Our schedule this Fall includes a combination of collegiate and professional tournaments. Each player will be scheduled for 4 or more events in preparation for our spring Championship season.
We have two major facilities projects underway and expected completion is in November. Construction began at Ambler Stadium after the spring season. We will have 12 newly constructed and surfaced outdoor tennis courts, consisting of post-tension foundation and US Open Quality. Once the Sheffield expansion project is complete, the team will have new locker rooms, a spacious player's lounge, and designated training room. The coaches will also have new offices.
Finally, please note that our annual Giving Day this year will be on Tuesday, November 28th. Our Duke Tennis family has always been generous, and this is a great opportunity to support our team. Thank you in advance for your generosity and more info will be sent as we get closer to that date.
Go Duke!
Ramsey Smith
Head Men's Tennis Coach