Elite of College Tennis: The Brits

March 10, 2017 Bobby Knight

This week we are highlighting the top 10 British men and women playing college tennis, as rated by the UTR system. The men’s top 10 is comprised of five juniors, two seniors, two sophomores, and one freshman. The women’s top 10 is comprised of four freshmen, three sophomores, two seniors, and one junior. I did a profile on three men and three women and listed their accomplishments to show you why each belongs in the UTR top 10.

MEN #1 Cameron Norrie (Texas Christian University Junior - Auckland, New Zealand) Norrie has racked up plenty of accolades in his time at TCU with the Auckland native, who plays under the British flag, named an ITA All-American in singles each of the past two years while also being named to the All-Big 12 First Team in singles. Norrie had a 56-19 record in singles coming into his junior season and after taking the fall off to play professional events he is a perfect 6-0 this season with all six wins coming in straight sets over top 75 opponents. Norrie has the highest ATP singles ranking of any current collegiate player at 233 and he is also currently ranked No. 23 in the latest ITA singles rankings. #2 Julian Cash (Oklahoma State University Junior - Brighton, England) Cash started his collegiate career at Mississippi State and was an ITA Doubles All-American as a freshman then last year as a sophomore at Oklahoma State he once again earned ITA Doubles All-American honors after winning 34 matches with Arjun Kadhe. Cash and Kadhe teamed up to win the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in 2016 and this past fall the duo won the consolation draw at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa. Cash has played almost exclusively at No. 1 singles over the last two years and so far this year he is 7-2 in dual-match play with five ranked wins. Cash is currently ranked No. 22 in the latest ITA singles rankings while he and Kadhe are ranked No. 3 in the doubles rankings. #8 Vinny Gillespie (Drake University Sophomore - Stirling, Scotland) Gillespie won 21 matches during his freshman year in Des Moines while playing mostly at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the singles lineup. This year Gillespie has moved up to the No. 1 spot in the lineup and his results have been award worthy with the sophomore from Stirling picking up four Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Week honors. Gillespie is 10-2 in dual-match play with three wins over ranked opponents. Gillespie is currently ranked No. 48 in the latest ITA singles rankings. WOMEN #1 Emily Arbuthnott (Stanford University Freshman - Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England) Arbuthnott may only be a freshman but she’s already won several big matches in her first season on “The Farm”. Arbuthnott has a perfect 6-0 record in dual-match play and she won the deciding match at No. 5 singles against Vanderbilt on February 26th. During the fall Emily made it to the round of 16 at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. Emily is currently ranked No. 67 in the latest ITA singles rankings. #5 Georgie Axon (Auburn University Freshman - Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England) Axon started off her collegiate career in the fall by dropping three of her first five matches but since then there have been a whole lot of Ws. Axon won a singles flight at the Roberta Alison Fall Classic in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in October and then she won her first six dual-matches while alternating between No. 5 and No. 6 singles. So far this spring Axon is 10-1 in dual-match play with one ranked win against Texas Tech. #9 Elise Van Heuvelen (University of Iowa Freshman - Seaford, East Sussex, England) Van Heuvelen opened up her collegiate career by winning the Flight B singles draw at the Minnesota Gopher Invitational and then she also picked up two wins at both the Northwestern Wildcat Invitational and the Kitty Hawk Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina. Van Heuvelen has started all 10 dual-matches at the No. 1 spot in the singles lineup while posting a 6-2 record with the other two going unfinished. It’s interesting that 7 of the top 10 women are either freshmen or sophomores while 7 of the top 10 men are either juniors or seniors. Will it stay that way going forward or will we see it swing the other way? About UTR The Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) system provides tennis players worldwide a common scale to determine their level of play. The 16-level scale (from beginners to elite world-class professionals), precisely and reliably determines individual players’ ratings based on actual match results without regard for age, gender or where the matches are played. The Universal Tennis website allows visitors to view more than three million tennis results. College tennis coaches utilize UTR ratings for recruiting, for scouting opponents, and also to track the levels of their current players. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) currently uses UTR ratings to assist with selections and seedings for select regional and national events. A UTR subscription is required to search and view player ratings on the UTR system, with pricing starting at forever free for UTR Basic. The UTR Premium Plus allows subscribers access to search and view college team profiles.

Cameron Norrie Jr Texas Christian University
Julian Cash Jr Oklahoma State University
Samm Butler Jr Southern Methodist University
Ryan Peniston Jr University of Memphis
Jathan Malik Sr University of Michigan
Andrew Watson Jr University of Memphis
Ewan Moore Fr Tulane University
Vinny Gillespie So Drake University
Sebastian Rey Sr Tulane University
Jack Findel-Hawkins Sr University of North Florida

Feature photo: Emily Arbuthnott from Stanford University. (Courtesy of Stanford Athletics)

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