During USC’s stretch of dominance, which saw them win 4 National Titles in 5 years, one of the biggest things that contributed to USC’s success (aside from Steve Johnson) was the lack of turnover among its starters. The last time USC had to replace more than 2 starters was all the back in 2008 (Van’t Hof, Sacks, Piotrowski) but this season they have to replace 4 with Yannick Hanfmann, Roberto Quiroz, Eric Johnson, and Jonny Wang all moving on after 4 spectacular seasons.
Hanfmann, Quiroz, Johnson, and Wang accounted for 59% of USC’s dual-match singles wins last season though the 2 returning starters, Max de Vroome (Sr) and Nick Crystal (Jr), each won 18 dual-matches which tied them for 2nd on the team.
Peter Smith welcomes back several quality depth players with a few of them likely to start this season. If healthy, I think that both Connor Farren (Jr) and Rob Bellamy (Jr) will be in the starting 6 with Thibault Forget (Guy Forget’s son) and Tanner Smith (Peter Smith’s son) just on the outside looking in.
Smith brought in the 3rd ranked recruiting class by TennisRecruiting.Net (really 2nd since Tommy Paul turned pro instead of going to Georgia) with at least 2 of the 4 newcomers likely to have a spot in the starting lineup on January 22nd. Logan Smith (Blue Chip/13.82 UTR) had the best fall among the group with Jake DeVine (Blue Chip/13.23 UTR), Kalman Boyd (Blue Chip/UTR 13.34), and Jack Jaede (UTR 13.34) pretty much neck and neck with each other. Smith, Jaede, and DeVine each had a ranked win with DeVine beating #36 Florian Lakat (Cal), Smith beating teammate #61 Max de Vroome, and Jaede beating #96 David Hsu (Stanford). Boyd didn’t have a ranked win but he did beat Cal’s Billy Griffith who had 4 ranked wins in the fall and will likely be ranked in January.
It’ll be tough to project the singles lineup but I have de Vroome and Crystal inked in at #1 and #2 with Farren and Logan Smith at #3 and #4. I think Rob Bellamy has earned a spot at either #5 or #6 with the other spot up for grabs between the 3 other freshman and Thibault Forget. I have a feeling the lineup will get shuffled frequently in the opening month with Peter Smith looking to see who can handle the pressure situations the best.
It’s also going to be interesting to see who Peter Smith puts out for doubles. Hanfmann and Quiroz played #1 last year but they’re both gone as is Eric Johnson who teamed with Max de Vroome at #2. Nick Crystal and Thibault Forget finished the year playing at #3 doubles but they didn’t play together at all during the fall. 16 different doubles combinations were used during the fall so it’s hard to tell who will play with whom but I’m sure they’ll get it figured out.
Below are each players fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is the ITA preseason ranking.
#42 Nick Crystal (9-3/3-3) – beat 2 ranked players at the Cajun Classic, #66 Arjun Kadhe (Okla St) and #91 Justin Butsch (LSU), before falling to #48 Jordan Daigle (LSU) in the finals, made the semifinals at the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional, beat #18 Felipe Soares (Tx Tech) and #39 Beck Pennington (KY) before losing to Hugo Di Feo (Ohio St) in the Round of 16 at the ITA All-Americans.
Connor Farren (11-4/9-3) – won the consolation draw at the Southwest Regional, made the singles semifinals at the San Diego State Fall Invite, made the semifinals at the Jack Kramer Classic, made the doubles semifinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates (w T Smith) and San Diego State Fall Invite (w Forget)
Logan Smith (9-4/5-4) – made the finals of the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional before falling 6-4 in the 3rd to #57 Martin Redlicki (UCLA), made the quarterfinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates, made the doubles quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional (w DeVine), picked up 1st ATP point at the Xi’an China F10 Futures
Rob Bellamy (7-3/6-3) – made the semifinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates which included a win over the D2’s #1 player Jan Meyer (Azusa Pacific), made the Round of 16 at the Southwest Regional, made the doubles semifinals at the San Diego State Fall Invite (w T Smith), made the doubles semifinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates (w DeVine), picked up 1st ATP point at the Vancouver Canada F5 Futures.
Jake DeVine (10-5/6-5) – beat #36 Florian Lakat (Cal) in route to a quarterfinal finish at the Battle in the Bay Classic, made the finals at the San Diego State Fall Invite, made the doubles finals at the Jack Kramer Classic (w Forget), made the doubles semifinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates (w Bellamy)
Jack Jaede (8-4/3-3) – made the quarterfinals at the Battle in the Bay Classic before losing to #22 Andre Goransson (Cal) 6-3 in the 3rd, made the quarterfinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates, picked up 1st ATP point at the Australia F5 Futures
Kalman Boyd (7-4/6-3) – made the quarterfinals at the Battle in the Bay Classic, made the doubles finals at the Southern California Intercollegiates (w Laser)
Thibault Forget (11-7/7-3) – made the finals of the Jack Kramer Classic before losing to #37 Naoki Takeda (Arizona) 6-4 in the 3rd, made the finals of the Flight 2 singles draw at the San Diego State Fall Invite, made the doubles finals at the Jack Kramer Classic (w DeVine), made the doubles semifinals at the San Diego State Fall Invite (w Farren)
Tanner Smith (5-1/8-4) – won the Flight 2 singles draw at the San Diego State Fall Invite, made the doubles semifinals at the San Diego State Fall Invite (w Bellamy), made the doubles semifinals at the Southern California Intercollegiates (w Farren)
Henry Ji (2-2/0-1) – made the semifinals of the Flight 2 singles draw at the San Diego State Fall Invite
David Laser (3-3/6-4) – made the finals of the Flight 3 singles draw at the San Diego State Fall Invite, made the doubles finals at the Southern California Intercollegiates (w Boyd)
Projected Depth Chart (6 through 9 almost even):
1. Max de Vroome
2. Nick Crystal
3. Connor Farren
4. Logan Smith
5. Rob Bellamy
6. Jake DeVine
7. Thibault Forget
8. Jack Jaede
9. Kalman Boyd
10. Tanner Smith
11. Henry Ji
12. David Laser
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 12/21/15 – high in ( )
#1029 – Connor Farren (882)
#1481 – Jack Jaede (1438)
#1900 – Max de Vroome (1515)
#1900 – Logan Smith (1872)
#2087 – Rob Bellamy (1861)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 12/23/15:
14.14 – Nick Crystal
13.99 – Max de Vroome
13.82 – Logan Smith
13.65 – Connor Farren
13.34 – Jack Jaede
13.34 – Kalman Boyd
13.33 – Rob Bellamy
13.23 – Jake DeVine
13.14 – Thibault Forget
13.02 – Henry Ji
12.64 – Tanner Smith
11.73 – David Laser
Universal Tennis Rating as of 6/3/15
14.16 – Max de Vroome
13.95 – Nick Crystal
13.90 – Connor Farren
13.73 – Logan Smith
13.62 – Jake DeVine
13.53 – Kalman Boyd
13.22 – Rob Bellamy
13.19 – Jack Jaede
13.19 – Thibault Forget
12.76 – Tanner Smith
12.11 – Henry Ji
11.51 – David Laser
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#12 – Connor Farren
#21 – Max de Vroome
#42 – Logan Smith
#72 – Kalman Boyd
#193 – Jake DeVine
#267 – Nick Crystal
#600 – Jack Jaede
#757 – Rob Bellamy
#1179 – Henry Ji
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #1 – Kalman Boyd
Blue Chip #2 – Connor Farren
Blue Chip #2 – Logan Smith
Blue Chip #3 – Jake DeVine
Blue Chip #5 – Rob Bellamy
5-star #28 – Nick Crystal
4-star #48 – Henry Ji
2-star #550 – David Laser
No Star #153 – Tanner Smith
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – #2 – (L. Smith, DeVine, Boyd, Jaede)
2014 – NR – (Ji, T. Smith)
2013 – #7 – (Crystal, Bellamy, Farren, Laser)
2012 – NR – (de Vroome)
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
Brandon Holt – Rolling Hills, CA – TRN Blue Chip #5 – UTR 14.21
Riley Smith – Long Beach, CA – TRN Blue Chip #11 – UTR 13.34
2016 ROSTER
Returning singles starters: Max De Vroome (5), Nick Crystal (6)
Departing singles starters: Yannick Hanfmann (1), Roberto Quiroz (2), Eric Johnson (3), Jonny Wang (4)
Departing singles depth: None
Departing doubles starters: Hanfmann/Quiroz (1), Johnson (2)
USC lost to Baylor 4-2 in the NCAA Quarterfinals in a highly competitive match that saw Baylor win most of the close sets in addition to the doubles point. The link has a few video clips including the ones where USC couldn’t convert multiple set points at #4 and #6 singles in the 2 matches that ended up putting Baylor over the top.
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,5,2,6,4)
Thanks for your follow up!
I haven't heard what happened but I'm planning on being in LA in 2 weeks for the Pac-12/SEC Challenge so I'll see if I can find out then if it hasn't already come out. Both are no longer showing on the ITA's site either so I'd take that to mean they aren't coming back this season.
Do you know why Connor Farren and Kalman Boyd are no longer on the USC men's tennis roster? Did they drop off the team?