Playing college tennis in the United States has shown to be a reliable backup for many kids who have trained in the sport for years. It offers them a chance at studying in a good college and still playing competitively for up to 4 years, with the best facilities at their disposal.
Many players from India have gone to U.S colleges and universities on a tennis scholarship. Some of the prominent names include Somdev Devvarman, Saketh Myneni, Rutuja Bhosale among many others. In fact, we recently had a player, Aarav Sane, who started building his UTR through our tournaments and went on to get a scholarship at University of California, Riverside.
Studying Goals
Before you decide that you want to play for a college, you must decide what you want to study…and where. With over a thousand colleges to choose from, across all the D1, D2 and D3 levels, one can have their pick.
At the outset, that means basically you need to keep your grades up at school in order to be a good candidate academically as well. This also improves your chances of getting an academic scholarship, if available.
Scholarship Chances
Tennis has the highest percentage of foreign student athletes competing than any other NCAA sport and as a result the odds of a US player making a D1 roster are the steepest – by far – of all NCAA sports.
Which means the chances of getting a scholarship is higher for players outside of the U.S. But this also means that you will be competing with some of the best players around the world for those scholarships.
Some of the main factors that would define your chances are:
- Your grades
- Your UTR rating
- Your playing history, i.e how frequently you compete
- Whether you bring something unique to the team
- Your overall game
As of now playing the Junior ITF circuit is one the best ways to build up your UTR, and of course playing local UTR tournaments too. Since India has few and far between ITF tournaments, with a lot of entries, at times it’s better to perhaps travel to a foreign country with a higher chance of acceptance and perhaps a favorable draw. With some homework you can pick the right country and tournament to travel too. Sometimes they host 2 or 3 back to back, making it worth it in the long run.
College Options
Here is a select list of colleges that have college tennis programs for Men and Women.
Men’s Tennis
NCAA Division 1:
- University of Virginia
- University of Tennessee
- University of Texas
- Ohio State University
- University of Southern California
- Florida State University
- Baylor University
- Stanford University
- UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Texas A&M University
- University of Kentucky
- University of Georgia
NCAA Division II: Armstrong Atlantic, Valdosta State, Lynn, Ouachita Baptist, Barry, Hawaii Pacific, Florida Southern, Rollins, West Florida, Columbus State, Concordia, Lander
NCAA Division III: Middlebury, Washington St. Louis, Emory, Claremont, Cal Lutheran, UC Santa Cruz, Carnegie Mellon, Amherst, Kenyon, Johns Hopkins, NC Wesleyan
NAIA: Fresno Pacific University, Auburn University Montgomery, Azusa Pacific University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Concordia University, Vanguard University, Oklahoma Christian University, Westmont College, Point Loma Nazarene University, Graceland University, Lindsey Wilson College
Women’s Tennis
NCAA Division I:
- Baylor University
- University of North Carolina
- Florida State University
- University of Michigan
- Northwestern University
- University of Notre Dame
- UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Stanford University
- Clemson University
- Duke University
- University of Miami
- University of Southern California
- Georgia Tech University
- Florida State University
- Texas A&M University
- University of Southern California
NCAA Division II: Armstrong Atlantic, BYU-Hawaii, Lynn, Barry, West Florida, Abilene Christian, Hawaii Pacific, California (Pennsylvania), Clayton Street, Rollins, Columbus Street, Florida Southern, UC San Diego, Francis Marion
NCAA Division III: Amherst, Williams, Emory, Chicago, Denison, Pomona-Pitzer, Gustavus Adolphus, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, Washington and Lee, Johns Hopkins, Middlebury, Chapman, DePauw, Washington-St. Louis
NAIA: Auburn University Montgomery, Fresno Pacific University, Point Loma Nazarene University, Concordia University, Vanguard University, Brenau University, Azusa Pacific University, Oklahoma Christian University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Northwood University, Shorter College, Savannah College of Art and Design, Southern Nazarene University, Lindsey Wilson College
So if you are looking for a college to attend, and play tennis in, perhaps the above list can help you narrow down a few of them to apply too. Good luck!