Clemson Men's Tennis // Courtesy
Noa Vukadin bounced back with a singles win over Conor Glennon in the Tigers' win over Memphis at the Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis, Tennessee, on Jan. 19.
It has been over 120 days since Clemson’s men’s tennis team was last in action. After a historic season and a triumphant march to the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Tigers are restarting their engines as the fall campaign gets underway.
As with any offseason, the roster was shaken up. Head coach Brandon Wagner bid farewell to seniors Matt Pitts, Max Damm and Maxwell Smith. Wissam Abderrahman and Stewart Aronson took advantage of the transfer portal and ended up at Central Florida and Boise State, respectively.
While these departures carved out sizable gaps in the Tigers’ lineup, a strong core has held the squad together. In the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s preseason rankings release, the Tigers had two singles players inside the top 60 with Noa Vukadin at No. 25 and Viktor Markov at No. 58. But the story for Vukadin and Markov doesn’t end there; they are both ranked in doubles, too.
After making waves on the doubles court with Romain Gales last year, Markov returns ranked No. 73 in the country with his partner. As for Vukadin, the Croatian is partnered with newcomer Henrik Bladelius, a duo ranked No. 29 nationally.
Last year, Vukadin and Smith played the entire year as Clemson’s No. 1 doubles team. The duo was ranked as high as No. 5 in the country and consistently proved why. Now, Vukadin will take over Smith’s role as mentor and leader as he looks to make noise with Swedish freshman Bladelius, ranked No. 15 in the ITA’s newcomer rankings.
Bladelius is one of four new faces at Duckworth Family Tennis Facility. Additionally, the Tigers added freshmen Manuel Plunger, Yannic Nittmann and Matisse Farzam in their revamp. Farzam is coming off of a second-round appearance at the US Open junior this year.
Meanwhile, with a year under their belts, sophomores Edoardo Chérié Lignière and Nathan Pitts are ready to turn heads. Lignière, after cracking the starting lineup and earning some crucial singles wins last season, now has an opportunity to climb the singles ladder.
Pitts, who recently went 5-0 and won a UTR College Circuit at Furman, is headed into the season with a full head of steam.
After much anticipation, the Tigers will kick off their season at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama, on Sept. 12. The team-style tournament features seven other teams: Alabama, Auburn, Boise State, Georgia Tech, North Alabama, Rice and Tulane.