MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team hosts another round of matches this weekend, as it welcomes Auburn on Friday, Feb. 9 followed by Alabama on Sunday, Feb. 11. The matches will commence at 5:30 p.m. and 12 p.m. respectively, and will be played inside Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
Here are five things you should know before Wisconsin welcomes its two opponents:
1. SCOUTING THE TIGERS: The Auburn Tigers are 3-1 to begin the season, with 7-0 victories against both Samford and Alabama State, as well as a 4-0 win over Louisiana. The only match the team has dropped was back on Sunday, Jan. 28 when the team lost, 4-2, to No. 18 Texas A&M. The Tigers have two nationally ranked singles players, with Tyler Stice at No. 84 and Raul Dobai at No. 105. Stice has won three of his four matches, while Dobai has secured victories in two out of three. The Badgers and Tigers last played one another Feb. 12, 2023 in Auburn, Ala. where Auburn emerged victorious, winning 6-1. Jason Hildebrandt was the lone Badger to claim a singles win, defeating Wil Nolan at No. 2 singles, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
2. SCOUTING THE CRIMSON TIDE: The No. 21-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide are 5-2 to kickoff the 2023-24 season. After starting off 0-2, Alabama has won its last five matches, which includes an upset victory over No. 10 Kentucky in Lexington. In doubles, the Crimson Tide have the No. 55-ranked pair of Filip Planinsek and Andrii Zimnokh. As for singles, Alabama has three nationally ranked players, No. 53 Filip Planinsek, No. 74 Enzo Aguiard and No. 115 Matias Ponce De Leon. The last time the two teams played a duals match against one another was last season on Feb. 10 2023 when Wisconsin fell to Alabama, 4-3, in Tuscaloosa. More recently, Wisconsin saw Alabama at the SEC-Big Ten Challenge, where Wisconsin’s Matthew Fullerton secured a win over Alabama’s Yair Sarouk, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4).
3. LAST SERVE: In Wisconsin’s last weekend of play, the team lost 6-1 to both Washington on Friday, Feb. 2 and Oregon on Sunday, Feb. 4. In the match against the Huskies, freshman Oliver Olsson was the lone Badger to secure a singles win. The Berlin, Germany native won at No. 5 singles over Ivan Sodan 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (11-9), marking his second-consecutive No. 5 singles victory. Against the Ducks, the doubles matches were highly…
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