The 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships saw the men’s Florida tennis team rise to the occasion, delivering a series of high-caliber performances on one of the sport's biggest stages. Battling through intense competition, UF proved its caliber.
Three Gators were featured at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Junior Tanapatt Nirundorn, redshirt senior JanMagnus Johnson and sophomore Jeremy Jin competed in the singles competition. While Nirundorn and Jin played together on the doubles side.
Johnson and Nirundorn had to qualify their way into the main draw. Nirundorn started singles play with a match against sophomore Lincoln Battle from Cleveland State. Nirundorn lost the match in straight sets 3-6, 4-6. After losing his opening match, Nirundorn was able to win his consolation matchup against junior David Saye from Michigan.
Johnson was victorious in his first match of the pre-qualifying rounds, defeating senior Giacomo Revelli from UCLA 6-1, 6-1. In the second round, Johnson was defeated in straight sets 7-6, 6-3 by junior Santiago Giamichelle from UCF.
On the doubles court, Nirundorn and Jin, ranked No. 37, had to qualify their way into the main draw. In their first game, they had a similar outcome to the singles matches beforehand. Nirundorn and Jin were defeated in straight sets 2-6, 2-6 by No. 26-ranked Baylor sophomore Devin Badenhorst and junior Zsombor Velcz.
After pre-qualifying rounds were finished, the tournament moved to the main draw, consisting of the 64 best men’s tennis players in the country.
The Gators’ last hope was Jin, the No. 24 player preseason by ITA.
Jin opened singles play with an impressive comeback win against No. 41 graduate student Isaac Becroft from Oklahoma State 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In the Round of 32 against Notre Dame’s No. 13-ranked junior Sebastian Dominko, Jin opened that match looking like he picked up right where he had left off, winning the first set 6-1.
In the second set, Jin lost 6-2. But in a winner take all third set, Jin was sensational in a 6-4 victory.
Moving into the Round of 16, Jin was set to face sophomore No. 23 Samir Banerjee from Stanford. The 2023 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year had not lost a set at the tournament.
The task proved to be too tall for Jin, who was defeated in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Jin’s Round of 16 appearance was the furthest by any Gator since Ben Shelton was able to win the event in 2021.
Florida will return to the court for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge hosted by Baylor University Oct. 4-6.
Contact Carston Handy at chandy@alligator.org. Follow Carston on X @carston_handy.
Carston Handy is a junior journalism major with a focus in sports and media. Fall 2024 marks his first semester reporting sports with the Alligator. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his fiancé and their dog. He also enjoys playing a bunch of sports, including pickleball, basketball and soccer.
