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Through its centuries-long existence, tennis has witnessed several players from different parts of the world achieve the zenith of success in their careers. However, the pursuit of any sport involves sacrifices in other areas of life, which in some cases, translates to the pursuit of a college education.
Most of the tennis players we know and love were unable to properly tend to their academics, which often took a back seat in the due process of playing the sport professionally and spending a major part of their childhood, training and traveling.
However, over the last few years, tennis has witnessed several professionals who took the academic route to pursue a college career and went on to make a mark for themselves in the international circuit.
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With that said, here are some of the tennis professionals who had an impressive college tennis career:
#5 Cameron Norrie
British tennis player Cameron Norrie is well known as the first-ever champion from Britain to win the Indian Wells Open in 2021.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Norrie moved to his parent’s hometown in the United Kingdom at the age of 16. Following his stay in the UK, he soon moved to the United States and enrolled himself at the Texas Christian University, where, in addition to pursuing a degree in sociology, he played collegiate tennis. He became the top-ranked male college tennis player in the United States before turning pro in 2017 after his graduation.
In continuation to his glorious college tennis career, five years after the same, he achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 8 in 2022.
#4 Danielle Collins
American tennis player Danielle Collins had an impressive collegiate tennis career at the University of Virginia, which she joined after taking a transfer from the University of Florida in her freshman year. Collins won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) singles title twice in 2014 and 2016 before stepping foot on the WTA Tour.
Not only that, as part of her collegiate tennis career, the now 30-year-old won the prestigious Honda Sports Award, an honor that is presented to the top women athletes in the sports sanctioned by NCAA and translated to “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”
Having been a runner-up at the Australian Open in 2022, the Former World No.7 announced that the year 2024 will be her final year on tour.
#3 Ben Shelton
World No.16 Ben Shelton pursued collegiate tennis at the University of Florida where his father, Bryan Shelton, occupied the position of Head Coach. The American won the National Championship in 2021 and the NCAA Singles Championship in 2022 and finished his sophomore year with the No.1 rank in the United States. However, the same year, Shelton decided to turn pro and pursued his college education online while spending his time on the circuit.
While the 21-year-old is yet to clinch a major Grand Slam title, he won the 2023 Japan Open Tennis Championship a few weeks after reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open where he lost to the eventual champion, Novak Djokovic.
#2 John Isner
Another prominent name within the United States' scintillating collegiate tennis scene, John Isner spent four years at the University of Georgia before turning professional in 2007.
He reached the No.1 rank during his junior year and went on to win the NCCA Championship in his senior year.
With a towering height of 6 ft 10 inches, Isner was not just known for having one of the best serves on the court, but is also the tallest top 10 player in history. In 2018, he achieved his career-high singles ranking of No.8 and also won the Miami Open after defeating Alexander Zverev, as well as reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon.
The American, along with French tennis professional Nicolas Mahut created history by playing the longest tennis match in history at Wimbledon in 2010, a match that lasted for a record of 11 hours and 5 minutes.
He announced his retirement after the US Open 2023.
#1 Steve Johnson
Another noteworthy name that again happens to hail from the United States of America is that of former tennis professional Steve Johnson, who pursued collegiate tennis at the prestigious University of Southern California.
By the time he graduated from USC in 2012, in addition to winning the NCCA Singles Championship, Johnson held the record of 72 consecutive wins, following which he is regarded as the greatest college tennis player of all time.
The ongoing Indian Wells Championship marked the last tournament for the 34-year-old whose achievements include four ATP Singles titles and an Olympic Bronze medal in 2016 at Rio and a career-high ranking of World No. 21 in Men’s Singles in 2016.
Following Johnson’s retirement, Ben Shelton paid tribute to his fellow American and said (via Essentially Sports):
“Thanks for helping pave the way for us college guys.” Later, he went on to express even more respect for Steve Johnson by referring to him as the “collegiate GOAT” (Greatest of All Time)
