Photo: Sarah-Jäde Champagne

Tennis has historically been a sport where players go pro early. Many will turn pro before they even graduate high school. Compared to other sports in North America, it is far less common for aspiring pros to go to college before pursuing their careers on tour.

But that is beginning to change.

In recent years, more and more former NCAA players are making waves on the professional circuit, having competed for a school for several years before turning pro in their early 20s. Big-name examples currently on tour include WTA No. 9 Emma Navarro, former Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins, and two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Ben Shelton.

The NCAA presence was strong with Team Canada in early February at the Davis Cup, with four of the five members of the Canadian squad being former collegiate players.

Gabriel Diallo and Liam Draxl both played for the University of Kentucky, while Alexis Galarneau competed at North Carolina State University. Cleeve Harper was a national champion with the University of Texas. All four were named All-Americans at some point in their collegiate career.

All four men are age 25 or under, which means that Team Canada will likely have a heavy NCAA influence for years to come.

So why choose the NCAA route?

There are lots of reasons why players would choose to go to university rather than jumping straight to the pros as a teenager. Ahead of Canada’s Davis Cup tie in Montreal, the four NCAA alumnis spoke about their reasoning for playing college tennis.

Galarneau and Harper cited furthering their education as a big reason why they chose to play in the NCAA rather than going pro immediately.

“I was still young, 17 years old, so I didn’t feel like I was necessarily ready to go play on the professional tour,” explained Galarneau. “I also wanted to continue my education and I thought that was the best option with being able to have a full ride and keep playing tennis. It was a good decision.”

“I went to Texas because I thought it was a great opportunity for me to improve my tennis and also get an education. I was able to get my master’s degree there in finance. So I figured if tennis doesn’t end up working ou,t or if you get injured, there’s a possibility of not being able to play because of injuries, I figured it would be a great fall back to have a master’s degree and be able to go work basically where I want,” said Harper.

For Diallo and Draxl, influence from those closest to them helped guide the decision.

“My dad really kind of suggested it to me,” said Draxl. “He knew it was a good path, something that he did when he played college tennis and he really liked it. I just feel like he always had that awareness because he did it himself and he knew that it’s a really good opportunity and I think it’s only getting better throughout the years. I would say it was always on my radar, I never thought I was going to go straight pro unless I did something crazy. It was never really a decision, I just knew I was going to go.”

Diallo explained that “I was advised by my people close to me, my coach at the time, Fred Niemeyer, and Felix’s [Auger-Aliassime] father, and a lot of people went through that route and I obviously wasn’t ready to make a transition so I needed to mature a lot on and off the court. Coach [Cedric] Kaufman [the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats] gave me the opportunity to go and play for him and learn and I never regretted the decision.”

For all four, the decision has worked out fairly well.

Diallo is now a Top 100 player and reached his first ATP Tour final in 2024.

Draxl is the No. 1-ranked Canadian doubles player and has won a 20 professional titles across singles and doubles, including nine in 2024.

Galarneau won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in 2023 and has represented Canada at every Davis Cup tie since first being selected for the team in 2022, the longest active streak of any Canadian.

Harper, who arguably had the best NCAA career of all four having won the DI doubles title in 2022, has recently started to focus on the pros after graduating last summer. Since his graduation, he has won seven professional doubles titles, including four ATP Challengers, with five of those titles coming alongside Draxl.

“I think [playing NCAA] helps a ton. I feel like you can go pro and play maybe more futures, challengers, and that’s kind of tough. It’s a tough life on the futures tour,” explained Draxl. “You can either go on the futures tour and kind of learn and develop that way or you can develop at a school on a team and get a degree and be taken care of really well at those schools. I would say that development process just really helps you along and I think it’s done in a really fun manner.”

“Coming into college, I wasn’t the best recruit and I wasn’t really the best player either,” admitted Harper. “So I was able to train with guys at a super high level. We were one of the best teams in the country at Texas so I had tons of guys to practice with, playing practice matches with, and then being able to play matches every weekend throughout the spring was super beneficial for me to improve my level and give it a shot on the pro tour.”

“It helped me with finding a little bit more accountability for my tennis, finding ways to keep improving and also just being a little bit more responsible and maturing,” was Galarneau’s analysis.

Diallo gave a slightly different explanation as to how he benefitted from playing college tennis, focusing more on his personal development than his game, saying, “balancing your social life, study life, and then tennis. We spend a lot of time on court, but you have to find a way to compensate and spend time behind the books to try and get your grades right. So I think that whole aspect, maybe more maturing . I lived alone in the house with my teammates or pay rent, you’ve got to manage your money and stuff.”

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

The format of NCAA tennis is different from the pros. While players do spend some time competing in tournaments, a big part of the season is more like a regular team sport, with schools facing off with one other team at a time, looking to win as many overall meetings as possible to position themselves for the national championships.

When asked what their favourite part of playing NCAA tennis was, all four men gave the same answer: being a part of a team.

“The team events the best part by far,” said Harper. “I loved just trying to get points on the board for your team and playing alongside your best friends and your brothers out there.”

“The team aspect, representing my school, learning and growing this pride for that school,” said Galarneau. “Just fighting for your teammates. That vibe is awesome.”

Photo: Sarah-Jäde Champagne

“Playing for a team, and you get to be so close with your brothers and spend so much time with them on the road and the bus rides and all that fun stuff,” reflected Draxl. “You just grow so close to them and there’s just no really better feeling than just competing super hard and kind of looking on the sidelines or the cord next to you and you guys are all battling it out. It’s just something so special and the environment is pretty loud and energetic and that’s something I really enjoy.”

“The team atmosphere, for sure. Just being with my teammates. Some of them are my closest friends now,” explained Diallo. “Just going to practice, going through the hard times together, the tough losses, the surreal wins, the great run that we had in 2022. It’s tough to pinpoint one moment, but every time I look back, I have a smile on my face.”

READ`: Pospisil Passes the Davis Cup Torch in Montreal

Diallo touched on an interesting point when talking about the team aspect of NCAA, saying, “It’s something that you don’t get a lot [in the pros]… maybe in Davis Cup.”

Davis Cup is probably the closest thing to the NCAA vibe that players can find in the pros as it is the predominant team event for the men. And that is where the four Canadian NCAA alumnus found themselves in early February.

“It’s obviously super similar, especially with three other guys that played college tennis,” said Harper ahead of Canada’s tie with Hungary. “You get to go out there and practice with them, battle on the court with them, and then get ready for the big match on the weekend. It was the same as in college, you practice four or five times a week, and then you play those big matches on the weekend. It’s similar to that.”

Galarneau drew the connection between NCAA and Davis Cup, saying that the pro team event reminds him of playing in college, “especially when we keep having more and more guys from the NCAA joining us. They know what it’s like and they get rowdy on the bench and stuff like that. So definitely feels like college but I would say in an even more professional setting which is awesome.”

As to the specifics of how Davis Cup is similar to the NCAA experience, Diallo explained that “the way you know people care more about the team than themselves. Unselfishness throughout the board. You have a lot of people behind the curtains that are putting in a lot of work, the physio, coaches, stringer and all that. So you know, to see all these people work hard and then to put us in the opportunity to perform. The team atmosphere, cheering, cheering loud and using your guys to create momentum is quite similar.”

Draxl was participating in just his second Davis Cup tie and his doubles win against the Hungarians was his first time representing Canada in a Davis Cup match. He said of participating in the team event, “it’s something definitely I want to be a part of every time I can. It’s super cool to be here. I think all the college guys really like the team stuff because they’ve been exposed to that through NCAA. It’s unreal.”

CLICK HERE to learn more about NCAA tennis.

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