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Tempe, AZ – Now entering year three of the joint initiative between the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and the ATP, the first players have now qualified for the 2025-26 ATP Next Gen Accelerator after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2024-25 NCAA Division I Men’s Singles Championship this past week in Waco.
With the NCAA Singles Championship being one of two ways to qualify for the Next Gen Accelerator, the remaining qualifiers are determined by year-end ranking.
Qualifying through the 2024-25 NCAA Singles Championships included Ozan Baris (Michigan State), Corey Craig (Florida State), Jay Friend (Arizona), Spencer Johnson (UCLA), Timo Legout (Texas), Lui Maxted (TCU), Dhakshineswar Suresh (Wake Forest), and Michael Zheng (Columbia).
These players will now compete in spring to determine if their Accelerator Spots at Challenger 50 and 75 tournaments will be for the main draw (for Top 10 ITA ranked players) or for qualifying (11-20). Michael Zheng will be awarded main draw Accelerator Spots since he was the NCAA Singles Champion. Players will be able to first utilize these Accelerator Spots come July 2025.
Of these eight players, two (Baris & Zheng) are currently taking advantage of the ATP Next Gen Accelerator after qualifying for the 2024-25 program this past spring. Each finished within the Top 10 of the ITA rankings this past May to earn six main draw Accelerator Spots which they can use through December of this year if they have not used them already.
Over the two years of this joint initiative from the ITA and ATP, several players such as Jacob Fearnley (TCU ‘23 & ‘24, ATP No. 98), Nishesh Basavareddy (Stanford ‘23 & ‘24, ATP No. 139), Ethan Quinn (Georgia ‘23, ATP No. 204), Eliot Spizzirri (Texas ‘23 & ‘24, ATP No. 226), and Liam Draxl (Kentucky ‘23, ATP No. 269) have all used the program to get a jumpstart on their professional careers.
Across the entire Challenger Tour, collegians continue to showcase their immense skills week in and week out. Over the 2024 ATP Challenger Tour season, players with college tennis ties won 15 of the possible 23 titles on American soil and had representation in 18 of the 23 finals.
Be sure to follow along with the remainder of the 2024-25 college tennis season as the remaining players looking to qualify for the 2025-26 ATP Next Gen Accelerator battle it out alongside their teams this spring.
About The ATP – As the global governing body of men’s professional tennis, the ATP’s mission is to serve tennis. We entertain a billion global fans, showcase the world’s greatest players at the most prestigious tournaments, and inspire the next generation of fans and players. From the United Cup in Australia, to Europe, the Americas and Asia, the stars of the game battle for titles and Pepperstone ATP Rankings points at ATP Masters 1000, 500 and 250 events, and Grand Slams. All roads lead towards the Nitto ATP Finals, the prestigious season finale held in Turin, Italy. Featuring only the world’s top 8 qualified singles players and doubles teams, the tournament also sees the official crowning of the year-end ATP World No. 1, presented by Pepperstone, the ultimate achievement in tennis. For more information, please visit www.ATPTour.com.
About the ITA – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. Comprised of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 varsity programs, 3,000 coaches, and 1,350 college tennis officials, the ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational to their student-athletes. Follow the college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
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