When you’re in the same conference as Virginia you know it’s going to be an uphill battle to win a conference championship but Wake Forest has come as close to beating the 9-time defending champs as just about anyone else in the last few years. Wake has played for the conference championship in 2 of the last 3 seasons and one of the main reasons is because of its head coach Tony Bresky. The 1998 Western Illinois graduate was part of Brian Boland’s staff during the years when the program went from an also-ran to a perennial powerhouse. Bresky learned how to recruit and put a team together and when he left Virginia after the 2010 season to take over as head coach at Cornell he immediately took the Big Red to new heights. In his one season at Cornell he led them to their first-ever Ivy League Championship, first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, and won 26 matches which blew away the schools previous best win mark of 20.
Bresky took over at Wake Forest in the fall of 2011 and with a fairly inexperienced roster he went 14-15 in his debut season but he turned things around in year two. Bresky guided the Deacs to a 20-9 record in the 2012-13 season, which was only the third time Wake had ever won 20 matches, and was named ACC Coach of the Year. Bresky had to replace his top 3 for the 2013-14 season and his young roster fought hard but they lost 8 matches that finished with a 4-3 score and ended up going 15-14 on the season.
The 2014-15 season would be a record-breaking season for Wake Forest with the centerpiece of the team being the 2014 Wimbledon Junior Champion Noah Rubin. Bresky did a heck of a recruiting job to get Rubin to come to Wake after winning Wimbledon and the move ended up paying off for both parties. Rubin helped guide Wake to a 24-win season (previous record was 23 in 2007), a spot in the ACC Championship Finals (2nd in 3 years), and a spot in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen (3rd time ever). Rubin made it to the finals of the NCAA Singles Championship (and served for the match) before falling in 3-sets to UVA’s Ryan Shane but it marked the first time ever that a Wake player made it past the second round of the NCAAs. Rubin turned pro after the season and has risen to as high as 317 in the ATP rankings (currently 335).
Bresky returns all of his contributors from last season except for Rubin who went 26-4 including 21-3 in dual-match play. Rubin also teamed up with Jon Ho to go 15-6 in doubles with 14 of those wins coming at #2.
Bresky brought in a recruiting class that probably would have been rated in the top 5 by tennisrecruiting.net had a few of the signings been made before TRN voted on its classes in May. Petros Chrysochos, whose signing was announced in November, comes in with an ATP ranking of 575 which is the second highest of all current college players (Mackie McDonald #373). Dennis Uspensky, who was signed in June, played pro events most of the year though his best results were on clay. Eric Rutledge was the #2 recruit in Texas and #11 in the US and even though he didn’t play any college events in the fall he had some good wins in a few USTA tournaments. Alan Gadjiev, who is a native of Uzbekistan, is the fourth addition to the class and like Rutledge he didn’t play any college events this fall though he did play in a few local USTA tournaments. Chrysochos and Uspensky are the 2 freshmen that are the most likely to start in singles with Chrysochos looking at a spot in the top 3 while Uspensky will fit in somewhere in the bottom 3.
Many figured Romain Bogaerts (Sr) would take over at #1 after going 21-5 last season in dual-match play, with 17 of those wins coming at #2, but the senior from Belgium had a rough fall. Bogaerts went just 1-7 in singles and won only 4 sets in those 8 matches. 4 of the losses came against guys that are ranked or were ranked but the other 3 were against opponents that he would have beaten 1 and 1 a year ago. While his singles results weren’t there his doubles results were actually pretty strong with he and Max Kan going 9-3. When Bogaerts is in-form he’s a Top 10 player so for his and Wake’s sake let’s hope he gets his touch back sooner rather than later. I think Romain will start the year off at either #2 or #3 but should see time at #1 assuming he gets it together.
#26 Skander Mansouri (Soph) had a decent freshman year going 15-11 in dual-match play, with his time spent between #3 and #4, but he took his game to a new level this fall going 12-3 and capturing the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional. Mansouri had some success on the Futures circuit as well by making it to the quarterfinals in two different tournaments in his native Tunisia. It wouldn’t surprise me if Mansouri starts out the year playing at #1 although I think he could do more damage at #2 or #3.
#103 Jon Ho (Sr) started 14 of his 28 dual-matches last season at #4 and I think that’s where we’ll see him again this year. Ho went 17-9 last season in dual-match play and then went 8-4 this fall including a 2-3 record against ranked opponents.
The 6’8″ Christian Seraphim (R-So) spent most of last season at #5 going 18-9 in dual-match play and even though he had some nice results in the fall he’s probably looking at another season at #5 or possibly even #6 due to some of the new recruits coming in.
#110 Maksim Kan (Jr) is going to be in the mix as well after starting 20 dual-matches last season (15 at #6) going 10-5 with 5 others that went unfinished. Kan had a solid week at the All-Americans going 5-1 with each of the wins coming over a guy that will probably be in the starting 6 at a fellow Power 5 school.
Keivon Tabrizi (Soph), Sam Bloom (Sr), Anthony Delcore (Sr), Eric Rutledge (Fr) and Alan Gadjiev (Fr) will probably see action when Wake plays a doubleheader with a lighter school (Morehead St/Citadel/Norfolk St) on the backend of the twin-bill.
Wake Forest won the doubles point 74% of the time last season (23-8) with Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim teaming up for 18 wins while playing almost exclusively at #1. I’d look for those two to be back at #1 this season with Romain Bogaerts and Maksim Kan and Keivon Tabrizi and Jon Ho probably teaming up to fill the other spots.
Below are each players summer/fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is their ITA rankings as of 1/6. Brendan Henry didn’t participate in any fall events.
Dennis Uspensky (joined team in January) – earned ATP points at the 9 different events in 2015 including 2 quarterfinals (both on clay), made the Round of 16 at the USTA National Championships (Kalamazoo), made the semifinals at the 30th Turkey Bowl Tennis Championships (November)
#26 Skander Mansouri (12-3/5-5) – won the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional by beating #43 Brett Clark (UNC) in the finals, beat #24 Guillermo Nunez (TCU) at the National Indoor Intercollegiates; earned ATP points by making the quarterfinals at the Tunisia F17 & F36 Futures, made the doubles final at the Tunisia F36 Futures (w Echargui), went 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles in October Davis Cup play
Romain Bogaerts (1-7/9-3) – made it to the doubles finals at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional (w Kan); won the A1 doubles flight at the Wake Forest Fall Invite (w Kan); made it the Round of 16 in doubles at the National Indoor Intercollegiates (w Kan), made the singles finals at the $3K Wake Forest Open (November) before falling to NC State’s Simon Norenius 6-4, 6-4
#103 Jon Ho (8-4/6-4) – beat #47 Robert Kelly (UNC) at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional before falling to #43 Brett Clark (UNC) 6-3 in the third in the semifinals, beat #90 Henrik Wiersholm (Virginia) in the third place match of the Blue singles draw at the UVA Ranked 1+1, came through the doubles qualie draw at the ITA All-Americans (w Tabrizi) before falling to the #1 seed from Georgia
Christian Seraphim (12-6/8-5) – came through qualies at the ITA All-Americans before losing to Minnesota’s Matic Spec 7-5 in the 3rd, made it to the Round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional, finished in third place in the A2 singles draw at the Wake Forest Fall Invite, won the A2 doubles flight at the Wake Forest Fall Invite (w Delcore), made it to the semifinals of the doubles consolation draw at the All-Americans (w Mansouri)
#110 Maksim Kan (10-6/9-3) – beat #100 Marko Krickovic (Auburn) before falling to UNC’s #47 Robert Kelly 6-4, 6-4 in the finals of the Blue Draw at the Duke Bonk Invitational; came through the pre-qualie draw at the ITA All-Americans before losing to Texas Tech’s Jolan Cailleau 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of qualies; made it to the doubles finals at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional (w Bogaerts); won the A1 doubles flight at the Wake Forest Fall Invite (w Bogaerts); made it the Round of 16 in doubles at the National Indoor Intercollegiates (w Bogaerts); made it the semifinals at the USTA $7500 Midwest Indoor Championships (December) before falling to recent Ohio State graduate Kevin Metka
Keivon Tabrizi (10-4/9-4) – made it to the Round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional, came through the pre-qualie draw at the ITA All-Americans before losing to #89 Maciek Romanowicz (Stanford) 7-5, 3-6, 6-0 in the opening round of qualies; came through the doubles qualie draw at the ITA All-Americans (w Ho) before falling to the #1 seed from Georgia, won the A3 doubles flight at the Wake Forest Fall Invite (w Bloom)
Eric Rutledge (didn’t play any college events) – won the USTA Cotton Bowl Classic (December) beating LSU’s Andrew Korinek in the fianls, made it to the finals of the $3K Wake Forest Open (September) before losing to teammate Skander Mansouri 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Sam Bloom (5-7, 7-3) – won the A3 doubles flight at the Wake Forest Fall Invite (w Tabrizi), made it to the singles semifinals at the Duke Bonk Invitational, made it to the third round of pre-qualies at the ITA All-Americans, made it the quarterfinals at the USTA $5K Walt Herrick Open (December) before falling to Illinois’s Jared Hiltzik 6-3, 6-3
Anthony Delcore (6-8/7-3) – won the A2 doubles flight at the Wake Forest Fall Invite (w Seraphim), won his opening pre-qualie singles match at the ITA All-Americans, won 2 consolation singles matches at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional
Alan Gadjiev (didn’t play college events) – beat NC State’s Nick Horton 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the $3K Wake Forest Open (November) before falling to teammate Romain Bogaerts 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals
Projected Depth Chart:
1. Skander Mansouri
2. Petros Chrysochos
3. Romain Bogaerts
4. Jon Ho
5. Dennis Uspensky
6. Christian Seraphim
7. Maksim Kan
8. Keivon Tabrizi
9. Eric Rutledge
10. Alan Gadjiev
11. Sam Bloom
12. Anthony Delcore
13. Brendan Henry
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 1/11/16 – high in ( )
#575 – Petros Chrysochos (469)
#1033 – Dennis Uspensky (1021)
#1272 – Skander Mansouri (1257)
#2013 – Jon Ho (1867)
#2234 – Keivon Tabrizi (1143)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 1/11/16:
14.16 – Skander Mansouri
14.16 – Romain Bogaerts
14.14 – Petros Chrysochos
13.91 – Jon Ho
13.72 – Dennis Uspensky
13.52 – Christian Seraphim
13.39 – Eric Rutledge
13.29 – Maksim Kan
13.21 – Keivon Tabrizi
13.18 – Alan Gadjiev
13.03 – Sam Bloom
12.64 – Anthony Delcore
10.42 – Brendan Henry (0%)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 6/3/15
14.40 – Romain Bogaerts
14.22 – Dennis Uspensky
13.83 – Jon Ho
13.78 – Christian Seraphim
13.51 – Skander Mansouri
13.43 – Eric Rutledge
13.31 – Maksim Kan
13.09 – Alan Gadjiev
13.02 – Sam Bloom
12.89 – Keivon Tabrizi
12.59 – Anthony Delcore
**didn’t make note of Petros Chrysochos or Brendan Henry’s UTR
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#19 – Petros Chrysochos
#38 – Skander Mansouri
#54 – Dennis Uspensky
#118 – Romain Bogaerts
#166 – Anthony Delcore
#287 – Keivon Tabrizi
#345 Alan Gadjiev
#1544 – Jon Ho
#1546 – Eric Rutledge
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #1 – Dennis Uspensky
Blue Chip #5 – Maksim Kan
Blue Chip #9 – Anthony Delcore
Blue Chip #10 – Jon Ho
Blue Chip #11 – Eric Rutledge
5-star #55 – Sam Bloom
4-star #76 – Brendan Henry
Not Rated #63 – Keivon Tabrizi
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – NR – (Chrysochos, Uspensky, Rutledge, Gadjiev)
2014 – RV – (Seraphim, Tabrizi, Mansouri; Noah Rubin turned pro & Matt Erdman transferred)
2013 – #21 – (Kan, Osterling; Aws Laaribi transferred)
2012 – #8 – (Ho, Bloom, Delcore, Henry; Nolan Bauer & Jay Billa transferred)
NR = Not Ranked; RV = Received Votes
Note: Romain Bogaerts was part of Mississippi State’s 2012 recruiting class; 2015 class wasn’t ranked by TRN because only Rutledge had committed as of May.
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
None at the moment
Departing singles starters: Noah Rubin (1)
Departing depth: None
Departing doubles starters: Rubin (2)
Wake Forest beat TCU 4-3 in the regular season, without Noah Rubin in the lineup, but TCU really took it to the Demon Deacons in the Sweet Sixteen and shut them out 4-0. It looked like Wake would take the doubles point when Tabrizi and Bogaerts led 4-1 in the tiebreak at #3 but TCU’s Nunez and Blake came back and won 7 of the next 9 points to take it 8-6. Losing the doubles point was really a crushing blow for Wake because TCU came out and blitzed them at 2, 3, 4, and 6 singles and got the 3 wins they needed at 2, 4, and 6 to cap the shutout – recap
Notes:
Wake Forest hosts the NCAA Championships in 2018
I might be crazy but I think they'll drop 1 – either at Virginia Tech on 3/6 or at North Carolina on 4/1.
Do you think UVA takes an ACC loss this year?