The SEC is showing up strong in the ITA Division I Men’s Singles Preseason Rankings. All five of the top singles players hail from SEC schools. The Gators are the sole SEC school to place two in the top five with No. 2 Sam Riffice and No. 4 Duarte Vale.

The top spot went to Kentucky standout and ITA National Player of the Year Liam Draxl. Draxl finished the 2021 season ranked No. 1 nationally after reaching the singles semifinals at the NCAA Championships. Draxl was featured in every ranking during the 2021 season and held the top spot in the final five rankings. Last season, he notched two wins over two players ranked No. 1 in the country.

Returning for his senior year, Florida’s Sam Riffice slides into the No. 2 spot. Riffice ended his junior campaign with a NCAA Singles title. He came back in the championship match to defeat Daniel Rodrigues and bring home the third singles title in program history to Gainesville. After spending his summer competing on the USTA Collegiate Summer Team, Riffice competed in the 2021 US Open. He fell in the first round to Grigor Dimitrov (ATP 18). Joining him in the top five of the rankings is teammate Duarte Vale. Vale checks in at No. 4. Vale led the Gators at the top of the lineup all season. He finished with a 17-6 record and was named an ITA Singles All-American for the second time in his career.

Coming off a stellar sophomore season, South Carolina’s Daniel Rodrigues claims the No. 3 spot in the preseason rankings. Rodrigues had a record breaking season for the Gamecocks. He became the first player to be ranked No. 1 and only the second player to reach the NCAA singles finals.

Tennessee’s Adam Walton rounds out the top five of the preseason rankings. Walton was a key player for the Vols last season. He led the team at the No. 1 singles spot and finished with a 22-11 record. During the NCAA Team Championship, Walton went 4-0 at No. 1 singles which earned him All-NCAA Tournament honors.

The ITA Division I Men’s Preseason Doubles Rankings and ITA Division I Men’s Newcomers were also released Tuesday.

 

ITA Division I Men’s Rankings

Top 125 Preseason National Singles
Administered by the ITA
September 7, 2021

Rank Player Team
1 Liam Draxl Kentucky
2 Sam Riffice Florida
3 Daniel Rodrigues University of South Carolina
4 Duarte Vale Florida
5 Adam Walton University of Tennessee
6 Johannus Monday University of Tennessee
7 Matias Soto Baylor
8 Luc Fomba TCU
9 Adrian Boitan Baylor
10 Eliot Spizzirri University of Texas
11 Finn Reynolds Ole Miss
12 Trent Bryde University of Georgia
13 Gabriel Diallo University of Kentucky
14 Andy Andrade Florida
15 Philip Henning University of Georgia
16 Connor Thomson University of South Carolina
17 Micah Braswell University of Texas
18 Juan Carlos Aguilar TCU
19 Tyler Stice Auburn University
20 Matej Vocel Ohio State
21 Nikola Slavic Ole Miss
22 Eduardo Nava Wake Forest
23 Hamish Stewart University of Georgia
24 Ronnie Hohmann LSU
25 Axel Nefve University of Notre Dame
26 Marcus McDaniel Georgia Tech
27 Florian Broska Mississippi State
28 August Holmgren University of San Diego
29 Martim Prata University of Tennessee
30 Tyler Zink Oklahoma State University
31 Andres Martin Georgia Tech
32 Jonas Ziverts University of Arizona
33 Blaise Bicknell Florida
34 Jeffrey Von Der Schulenburg University of Virginia
35 Gustaf Strom University of Arizona
36 Nemanja Malesevic Mississippi State
37 Kody Pearson University of Tulsa
38 Francisco Rocha Middle Tennessee
39 Raphael Lambling University of South Carolina
40 Siphosothando Montsi University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
41 Ben Sigouin North Carolina
42 George Harwell Vanderbilt University
43 Sander Jong TCU
44 Brian Cernoch North Carolina
45 Iñaki Montes University of Virginia
46 Mason Beiler University of Oklahoma
47 Chase Ferguson University of South Florida
48 Arthur Fery Stanford University
49 Toby Samuel University of South Carolina
50 Patrick Kaukovalta University of Alabama
51 Garrett Johns Duke University
52 Fabien Salle Arizona State
53 Dimitri Badra ETSU
54 Davide Tortora Mississippi State
55 Nicolas Rousset Arkansas
56 James Story University of South Carolina
57 Olle Wallin Texas Tech University
58 Siem Woldeab University of Texas
59 Josh Goodger Florida
60 Axel Geller Stanford University
61 Richard Ciamarra University of Texas
62 Noah Schachter Texas A&M
63 Emmanuel Coste UC Irvine
64 Cleeve Harper University of Texas
65 Cannon Kingsley Ohio State
66 Joao Ceolin UTSA
67 Barnaby Smith Florida State
68 Stefan Dostanic University of Southern California
69 Magnus Johnson Florida Gulf Coast University
70 Lleyton Cronje UCF
71 Joshua Lapadat University of Kentucky
72 Clement Chidekh University of Washington
73 Sven Lah Baylor
74 James Davis University of Denver
75 Tomas Jirousek TCU
76 David Stevenson Memphis
77 Ryan Goetz University of Virginia
78 Ondrej Styler University of Michigan
79 Matthis Ross Texas A&M
80 Teodor Giusca Clemson University
81 Jake Fearnley TCU
82 Rafael Izquierdo Luque NC State
83 Jeremie Casabon Vanderbilt University
84 Pat Harper University of Tennessee
85 Loris Pourroy Florida State
86 Ben Shelton Florida
87 James Trotter Ohio State
88 Kento Yamada UCF
89 Andrew Fenty University of Michigan
90 Joshua Charlton Oregon
91 Pierce Rollins Texas A&M
92 Alberto Colas Mississippi State
93 Bar Botzer University of Virginia
94 Steven Forman Northwestern University
95 Emile Hudd University of Tennessee
96 Jim Hendrikx Samford University
97 Vito Tonejc DePaul University
98 Franco Capalbo University of Utah
99 JJ Tracy Ohio State
100 Alex Rotsaert Stanford University
101 Karl Poling Princeton
102 Alex Martinez University of Oklahoma
103 Mattias Siimar Florida
104 Chris Edge Middle Tennessee
105 Francois Musitelli University of Kentucky
106 Henry von der Schulenburg Harvard
107 Bradley Frye University of Southern California
108 Alan Rubio UCF
109 Stijn Slump Middle Tennessee
110 Alex Kotzen Columbia
111 Lukas Greif Florida
112 Tristan Boyer Stanford University
113 Kyle Frankel Elon
114 Patrick Maloney University of Michigan
115 Chris Rodesch University of Virginia
116 Finn Bass Baylor
117 Daniel De Jonge Pepperdine
118 Drew Baird UCLA
119 Lodewijk Weststrate University of Southern California
120 Andrew Zhang Duke University
121 Ilgiz Valiev Texas Tech University
122 Blake Croyder University of Georgia
123 Marcus Ferreira Vanderbilt University
124 Yuta Kikuchi California
125 Tim Zeitvogel Pepperdine
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