Elite of College Tennis: The Serbians

This week we are highlighting the top 10 Serbian men and women playing college tennis, as rated by the UTR system. The men’s top 10 is comprised of four freshmen, four sophomores, one junior, and one senior. The women’s top 10 is comprised of three sophomores, three juniors, two seniors, and two freshmen. 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.Strahinja Rakic (Mississippi State University) The sophomore from Belgrade was just named to the All-SEC Second Team after winning 19 matches this season with almost all of them coming from the No. 3 spot in the singles lineup. In his freshman year, Rakic played primarily at No. 5 in the singles lineup and won 16 matches so to move up two spots and win three more matches shows a solid year over year improvement. Rakic picked up a ranked win in the fall en route to a quarterfinal finish at the ITA Southern Regional Championship and then he added three more ranked wins in the spring. Rakic is currently ranked No. 115 in the latest Oracle/ITA singles rankings. 4. Jefta Kecic (University of North Florida) The junior from Mokrin was named All-Atlantic Sun First Team after posting a 9-7 dual-match record, 5-1 in conference, at the No. 2 spot in the singles lineup. Kecic played his first two years of collegiate tennis at Western Michigan University and was named all-conference each year plus he was named the conference player of the year his sophomore year. In his first fall in Jacksonville, Kecic won four qualifying matches at the ITA All-American Championships plus he advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships. In his first dual-match at UNF, Kecic defeated the ITA No. 4 ranked singles player in straight sets. Kecic is currently ranked No. 120 in the latest Oracle/ITA singles rankings. 5. Luka Sucevic (St. John’s University) The sophomore from Belgrade just finished his first season at the Jamaica, New York, school after spending his freshman year at Mississippi State. Sucevic played primarily at No. 6 in the lineup while at Mississippi State but this year he played two matches at No. 1 while splitting the rest of his time between No. 2 and No. 3. Sucevic began the season by splitting his first four matches at the Ivy Plus Invitational and then he won a singles flight at the Princeton Farnsworth Invitational. During dual-match play Sucevic hit his peak at the end of the season by winning seven of his final ten matches with six of those wins coming in straight sets. Women 1. Katarina Adamovic (Oklahoma State University) The senior from Cacak won a slew of awards after a sensational junior season in Stillwater. Last season Adamovic was named an ITA All-American, First-Team All-Big 12, NCAA All-Tournament Team, plus she was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player after leading her team to the NCAA Championship match. Adamovic kicked off her senior season by winning her opening round match at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships and the following week she advanced to the quarterfinals at the Oracle ITA Masters. This past spring Adamovic played primarily at the No. 2 spot in the lineup and went 14-3. Adamovic is currently ranked No. 56 in the latest Oracle/ITA singles rankings. 7. Katarina Kozarov (Furman University) The freshman from Novi Sad had a superb first season in Greenville after winning 23 matches in singles and another 19 in doubles. Kozarov finished the regular season on a 29-match winning streak which included 14 wins in singles and 15 in doubles. She won her last 13 singles matches in straight sets with all but one coming at the No. 4 spot in the singles lineup. Kozarov was named All-Southern Conference Second Team at No. 4 singles while also named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team. 10. Jelena Dzinic (Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi) The junior from Subotica was named First-Team All-Southland Conference for the second year in a row after going 9-2 in conference play. Dzinic won a total of 18 singles matches on the year with 14 coming in the spring while playing primarily at the No. 2 spot in the singles lineup. The other four wins came in the fall when Dzinic won a singles title at the Islander Open which marked the second year in a row that she won a title at her home event. The top spot on the women’s side will be up for grabs next season with Katarina Adamovic set to graduate so the question is who is ready to take over? About UTR The Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) system provides tennis players worldwide a common scale for determining 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.

1. Strahinja Rakic So Mississippi State University
2. Stefan Milicevic Fr University of Minnesota
3. Srdjan Jakovijevic So University of Tennessee
4. Jefta Kecic Jr University of North Florida
5. Luka Sucevic So St. John's University
6. Dusan Vukicevic So St. John's University
7. Filip Bogic Sr Lindenwood (Mo.)
8. Filip Grbic Fr University at Buffalo
9. Djuro Opacic Fr Seward County Comm. College
10. Ognjen Trejgut Fr St. John's University

1. Katarina Adamovic Sr Oklahoma State University
2. Dzina Milovanovic So Pepperdine University
3. Jelena Lukic Fr University of Portland
4. Vanja Klaric So University of South Florida
5. Mina Markovic Jr Florida International University (FIU)
6. Teodora Radosavljevic Jr University of Virginia
7. Katarina Kozarov Fr Furman University
8. Saska Gavrilovska Sr Texas A&M University
9. Natalija Popovic So Florida Southern College
10. Jelena Dzinic Fr Texas A&M - Corpus Christi

Feature Photo: Katarina Adamovic of Oklahoma State University (Credit: Tulsa World)