CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team officially starts its 2024 regular season with an away match, opening up the spring campaign against Miami on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. The match will be played inside the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Here are five things you should know before the season is underway:
1. BUILDING OFF FALL MATCHES: The Badgers had some success on the fall tournament circuit, and tried out a variety of combinations of players, with 50 percent of the team consisting of freshmen. As for the more experienced players, Gabriel Huber entered his fifth season of play with the Badgers, going 4-5 in singles matches and 5-4 in doubles. His 2022-23 doubles partner, sophomore Michael Minasyan, went 2-6 in singles and 2-4 in doubles. The pair was the No. 12 ranked ITA Preseason Doubles team after winning the 2022-23 ITA Regionals Doubles Championships, which will certainly drive them to build off their past success heading into team play.
Senior Mihailo Popovic was another familiar face on the court for the Badgers this fall, and was the No. 83 ranked singles player in the ITA preseason polls. The Serbia native fought tough competition in the fall, finishing 1-6 in singles and 1-4 in doubles play.
Jason Hildebrandt, a graduate student in his second season with the Badgers, saw limited action this fall, going 0-2 in singles and 1-1 in doubles matches alongside Popovic at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships.
2. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The 2024 roster includes four freshmen that will make their regular season debut in Miami this weekend. This includes Collin Beduhn, Matthew Fullerton, Oliver Olsson and Tomas Zlatohlavek.
Beduhn and Fullerton both hail from Minnesota where they were frequent high school competitors, even facing one another in the 2023 class 2A singles championship match. The two were often paired up with one another for doubles play in the fall, playing eight matches together. Fullerton, an Edina native, put on a strong showing in singles matches, going 7-5 and earning a notable Big Ten Invitational win against Michigan’s Will Cooksey, who ranked 85th in the ITA Preseason Singles rankings. Beduhn, who hails from Wayzata, went 7-8 in singles play, and closed out the fall season with three-straight wins.
Olsson, a product of Berlin Germany, went 4-8 in…
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