To be the best, you have to beat the best. So goes the saying, and the first Tennis Channel / USTA College Tennis Top 25 of 2020. 

 

The defending NCAA champion Texas men and Stanford women sit atop the polls as they did at the conclusion of the 2019 season, the Longhorns having taken their first NCAA crown and the Cardinal their record 20th. And indeed, both teams began their seasons in impressive fashion, scoring two 4-0 victories in their respective ITA Kickoff Weekends regionals (Texas over Indiana and Florida State, and Stanford over USF and Washington State).

 

The first poll also reflects a number of eye-catching results from the Kickoff Weekend on both the men's and women's sides. 

 

The SEC leads all conferences with seven teams ranked in the men's poll, followed by five from the ACC and four each from the Big 12—which has the most teams in the Top 10, with three—and the Pac 12. 

ADVERTISEMENT

 

The strength on the women's side is bicoastal, with the Pac 12 and ACC each landing six teams in the Top 25, with the Atlantic Coast claiming four in the Top 10. 

 

The weekly rankings will rate the Top 25 men’s and women’s teams in NCAA Division I and will be released each Wednesday on Tennis Channel’s and the USTA’s platforms, including the USTA’s new Top 25 homepage, through the conclusion of the NCAA Championship.

 

Each team's point total, specified below, is the sum of its ranking points from the USTA's panel of 14 voters (listed below). Each voter ranked 25 teams from Nos. 1 to 25, with the first-place team receiving 25 points and the last-place team receiving one. For control, the highest and lowest outlying ranking for each team on the ballot was removed. Therefore, the maximum number of points a team can receive is 300. First-place votes were not tallied.

 

The full voting panel includes: Casey Angle (former Intercollegiate Tennis Association Director of Championships); Jordan Bishop (The News Press; Stillwater, Okla.); Virgil Christian (USTA); Richard Croome (The Eagle; Bryan, Texas); Sonny Dearth (Daily Press; Newport News, Va.); Judy Dixon (former UMass women’s head coach); David Fish (Universal Tennis Ratings); Granger Huntress (Texas College Tennis); Andy Katz (NCAA.com); Bobby Knight (College Tennis Today); Brandon Moglen (Tennis Channel); Peter Smith (former USC men’s head coach); Lisa Stone (Parenting Aces) and Caitlin Thompson (Racquet Magazine).

 

Men

Rank (End of 2019 Ranking) – Points

1. (1) Texas – 300

2. (3) North Carolina – 278

3. (4) Florida – 261

4. (5) Ohio State – 258

5. (7) Baylor – 253

6. (2) Wake Forest – 247

7. (9) USC – 236

8. (8) TCU – 219

9. (11) UCLA – 190

10. (12) Columbia – 170

11. (16) Texas A&M – 167

12. (14) Stanford – 165

13. (20) South Carolina – 152

14. (13) Tennessee – 139

15. (24) NC State – 115

16. (19) Georgia – 107

17. (10) Mississippi State – 95

18. (17) Illinois – 79

19. (18) California – 74

20. (23) Michigan – 73

21. (6) Virginia – 72

22. (21) Florida State – 67

23. (NR) UCF – 33

24. (15) Oklahoma – 29

25. (NR) Kentucky – 21

Receiving Votes: Mississippi  16, Harvard 14, San Diego 13, Arizona 8, Alabama 5, Louisville 5, Dartmouth 4, Oklahoma State 4, Arizona State 1

Dropped Out: San Diego (22), Arizona State (25)

 

Women

Rank (End of 2019 Ranking) – Points

1. (1) Stanford – 299

2. (2) Georgia – 283

3. (3) North Carolina – 280

4. (4) Duke – 263

5. (9) UCLA – 248

6. (6) Pepperdine – 240

7. (12) Texas – 216

8. (11) Michigan – 206

9. (T15) NC State – 204

10. (17) Florida State – 171

11. (24) Ohio State – 134

12. (23) Virginia – 129

13. (7) Vanderbilt – 113

14. (13) UCF – 112

15. (5) South Carolina – 107

16. (10) Oklahoma State – 106

17. (NR) Princeton – 97

18. (NR) Arizona State – 96

19. (T15) Texas A&M – 87

20. (NR) Georgia Tech – 74

21. (22) California – 67

22. (19) USC – 60

23. (20) Tennessee – 57

24. (14) Washington – 53

25. (8) Kansas – 50

Receiving Votes: Florida 30, Miami (Fla.) 18, Wake Forest 16, Alabama 11, Boston College 7

Dropped Out: Miami (Fla.) (18), Florida (21), Wake Forest (25)

 

Note: The ITA men's and women's Top 25 polls are available here.

 

In addition to the polls above, each week this space will highlight the former and current American collegians in the ATP's and WTA's Top 300. The below reflects the rankings released on Jan. 20, 2020, with current college players in bold.

 

ATP

No. 19 John Isner (Georgia)

No. 75 Steve Johnson (USC)

No. 100 Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee)

No. 107 Marcos Giron (UCLA)

No. 129 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA)

No. 132 Bradley Klahn (Stanford)

No. 181 JJ Wolf (Ohio State)

No. 189 Maxime Cressy (UCLA)

No. 221 Chris Eubanks (Georgia Tech)

No. 253Noah Rubin (Wake Forest)

No. 262 JC Aragone (Virginia)

No. 271 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia)

No. 275 Jenson Brooksby (Baylor)

 

WTA

No. 25 Danielle Collins (Virginia)

No. 49 Jennifer Brady (UCLA)

No. 92 Kristie Ahn (Stanford)

No. 122 Francesca Di Lorenzo (Ohio State)

No. 124 Nicole Gibbs (Stanford)

No. 161 Robin Anderson (UCLA)

No. 200 Danielle Lao (USC)

No. 289 Catherine Harrison (UCLA)

No. 297 Jamie Loeb (North Carolina)

 

(Photo courtesy of the University of Texas)