Heading into the summer, Corey Craig had three main goals: win a UTR Pro Tennis Tour event, improve his UTR Rating to 13, and earn an ATP ranking point.
Mission accomplished on all counts.
Craig, who is headed to Florida State University this fall after two years at Boston University, clinched his first PTT title in Japan in June.
“The final was probably one of my best wins ever,” said the 20-year-old, who came back from a set down against a more experienced player in Japan’s Ryotero Matsumura to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“I kind of wanted it more than him, I feel like I found myself fighting harder, and on those big games it came down to who wanted it more. We were both cramping a little, it was a long match, and it worked out. For me it went back to being disciplined and fighting.”
Craig, currently sitting at a UTR Rating of 13.18, says the title is one of his favorite achievements in the sport so far.
“The PTT win was huge for me. I remember in the past, when I started playing PTTs, I’d be in the fourth or fifth-place playoff. So it was a good feeling winning one,” he said.
Earlier in the summer, he secured his first ATP point at an ITF Futures event in Kingston, Jamaica, with what he refers to as “probably my craziest experience with tennis.”
He had headed to Jamaica having only played one ITF event two years before in Florida, losing in qualifying. An onsite alternate, he didn’t know if he would even get the opportunity to play. He sat on the sidelines for the first tournament of his two-week trip. But the next week was his moment to shine.
Making it last-minute into the qualifying draw, he proceeded to win two matches to earn a spot in the main draw. A third victory in a row placed him in the second round.
“My original goal was to just get one ATP point,” said Craig, who’s from Coconut Creek, Florida. “I knew that was a stretch, so once I won that first round, I was really happy about it. But I knew I could keep going. I had an open draw; I had a couple guys I knew I matched up well against, especially in the Jamaican heat.”
He indeed did keep going – all the way to the final. For the title, he took on Sweden’s Leo Borg, the youngest son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg.
“There were probably around 80 people watching, which for me is a lot, I’ve never really played with that type of atmosphere,” Craig said. “I was up a set, and it was crazy because I was like, ‘I’m one set away from winning a Futures’. I ended up losing it but overall it was a crazy experience, because I was originally hoping I would just get in the tournament, in qualies. I’m fortunate it worked out like that.”
The final score was 6-3, 4-6, 4-6. He now sits at No. 1099 on the ATP rankings with 10 points.
Craig’s two years of college tennis have helped equip him to handle situations like playing for a pro title.
“The two main things college tennis has helped me with are the mental side of my game and how strong I’ve gotten,” said Craig, who was the 2024 Patriot League Player of the Year in his sophomore season. “I play kind of a defensive, grindy type of game, and I realize sometimes my ball wouldn’t be heavy enough. I really worked on just being stronger so I can push my opponents more.
“You also have to be so strong mentally in college, there’s a lot of people cheering and you have the no-ad points. I’ve found that I’ve definitely matured a lot with my mentality, and become more disciplined and confident on the court.”
Craig has been playing tennis as long as he can remember. His dad is a tennis coach, so he started at a young age.
A leftie, one of his tennis idols is Rafael Nadal.
“I just love how he fights. I try and mimic some things Rafa does, his patterns, his mentality on the court.”
It’s clear Craig also displays that spirit on court, loving that tennis is “just you versus the opponent – it’s a fight, who wants it more.”
He says playing UTR PTT events have probably helped him the most in his young career so far.
“Knowing you have a guarantee of at least four matches for most formats, it helps so much because you can focus on playing well rather than having so much pressure to stay in the tournament,” he said. “It’s really good practice, you’re just playing daily against really tough guys.
“When you’ve played before in the PTT and you’ve had some good results, you can rely on ‘I know I can do this’. It’s definitely helped my tennis with the kind of experience I’ve had.”
Next up for Craig is his junior year of college. He’s transferred to Florida State for a higher level of training. He also hopes to hit 13.5 on the UTR Ratings.
And after that?
“My overall long-term goal is Top 100. I know I’m so far away from that, but I definitely think if I keep working on my game and improving certain aspects of it, I can get there one day.
“For now, it’s just trying to get better as much as I can.”
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