2-time defending champion Virginia handed massive blow after All-American Chris Rodesch suffers season-ending injury | NCAA 2024 men's tennis

Chris Rodesch, a representative of the University of Virginia men's tennis team, will sit out the remainder of the 2024 tournament due to illness. The Virginia Cavaliers are two-time defending NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) champions and are currently in the quarterfinals.

Rodesch is a Luxembourgish tennis player who is currently ranked 643 in the world and has won two titles on the ITF Futures Tour stage in singles and doubles. He also represents Lexumburg in the Davis Cup where he has a win-loss record of 6-4.

The 22-year-old currently plays for the University of Virginia, who were the winners of the NCAA championships in 2022 and 2023 and are currently looking for a three-peat. They are seeded third at the championships and will be facing Wake Forest in the quarterfinals.

However, the two-time defending champions have suffered a huge blow as Rodesch, who has been an integral part of the team for four years, will be missing out on the remainder of the 2024 NCAA Tournament due to an illness. Alex Gruskin, a prominent podcaster who discusses college tennis took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the news.

"Breaking News: UVA All-American Chris Rodesch will MISS the remainder of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The fourth-year has officially been pulled from the lineup for the weekend due to illness. A devastating blow to the 2x defending NCAA Men's Champs"

Here's how the Virginia Cavaliers men's tennis team has fared so far in the 2024 NCAA championships

Virginia Cavaliers with the 2022-23 title

The two-time defending champion began their 2024 NCAA championships campaign with a comprehensive 4-0 against VCU including wins from Jefferey von der Schulenberg, Chris Rodesch, and Mans Dahlberg winning their singles matches in straight sets. Though they faced some difficulties in their doubles match, they clinched the tiebreaker 8-6 to sweep VCU.

The Cavaliers then faced South Carolina in the Round of 16 and got off to a rocky start losing their doubles in a topsy-turvy three-setter. However, Dahlberg, Inka Montes, Dylan Dietrich, and Von der Schulenberg won their singles matches to win Virginia the tie 4-1 and set up a quarterfinal clash with sixth-seed Wake Forest.

Provided they win their match against Wake Forest, Virginia Cavaliers will play the winner of the tie between second-seed Texas and seventh-seed Kentucky. All the top eight seeds currently remain in the draw.

All the quarterfinals will take place on 16th May (Thursday) with the semifinals taking place on the 18th followed by the summit clash on the 19th.