2024 Division I Men’s Tennis ITA National Awards

Wilson ITA Coach of the Year

David Roditi | TCU

David Roditi is the 2024 Division I Men’s Wilson ITA Coach of the Year after leading the Horned Frogs to new heights during his 14th season at the helm of the program. After reaching the ITA National Team Indoor Championship finals for the third straight season, TCU would fall in a close 4-3 match to Ohio State which would ultimately serve as a defining moment in the team’s trajectory. Battling some injuries throughout the lineup all season, the Horned Frogs were able to get healthy and peak at the right time for the NCAA Championships where they would set many program firsts. Taking down in-state foe Texas in the NCAA National Championship, Roditi is one of two active Horned Frog head coaches to win an NCAA Championship alongside TCU rifle’s Karen Monez. Meanwhile, Roditi and the men’s tennis team joined rifle and women’s golf as one of three Horned Frog athletic programs with an NCAA title since 1983.

ITA Assistant Coach of the Year

Devin Bowen | TCU

Devin Bowen in his 11th season with the Horned Frogs helped guide the team to new heights, including the program’s first NCAA Division I Men’s National Championship. With his guidance, TCU would finish 28-4 on the season and ranked as the No. 1 team in the final ITA Team Rankings. This ranking made it ten straight years in which the Horned Frogs have finished within the top ten of the final ITA Team Rankings. Bowen coached four-time All-American Jake Fearnley and was instrumental in compiling doubles lineups when TCU faced a number of key injuries. He coached seven All-Big 12 selections and two ITA All-Americans in 2024.

ITA Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship

Alex Kiefer | University of Virginia

Alex Kiefer is the model of what you want a team leader to look like. He is humble, fair and always carries himself with a sense of decorum. He shakes hands with all he meets, looking people in the eye as he introduces himself and greets them. In the classroom, he took on the McIntire School of Commerce, and won there, too. He got into the highly-competitive program and will be graduating in May with his degree in Commerce. Heading into the final semester, he holds a 3.357 cumulative GPA. He has been a part of the SAAC mentoring program and has been the team’s SAAC representative. He has taken part in the annual Special Olympics clinics, working with the athletes in a fun annual event that is held here on our courts.

ITA Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award

Ryan Fishback | Virginia Tech

Ryan Fishback has exemplified sportsmanship his entire college career. Not only has he been successful on the court, but he has always been respected for being a great sport and extremely fair. In addition to his sportsmanship, Ryan is an incredible teammate. Ryan was always willing to do whatever to make the team better. He led by example and he certainly made the ones around him better. Outside of tennis, he has been involved in our Wheelchair tennis program, volunteering time to work with our athletes as a coach. He worked this semester in a lab for a professor doing studies on obesity.

ITA Rookie of the Year

Cooper Williams | Harvard University

Cooper Williams finished the regular season ranked #15 nationally – the highest ranked first-year player in the nation. He was also the highest nationally ranked first-year player in doubles at #19 with his partner Daniel Milavsky. He had a singles record of 14-9 and 25-12 in doubles, playing at both the No. 1 singles and doubles spots. Cooper won the ITA Northeast Regionals in singles and doubles this fall, beating Michael Zheng of Columbia and Radu Papoe of Cornell to win. During the season, Cooper beat Zheng three separate times. By virtue of his finishing the regular season in the top 16, Cooper was named an ITA All-American and qualified for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator.

ITA Most Improved Player

Jake Fearnley | TCU

For TCU’s Jake Fearnley, his entire career with the Horned Frogs has shown the value of college tennis and the steady growth a player can achieve with strong coaching and a high level of competition week in and week out. As a freshman (2020-21), Fearnley was the 2021 Big 12 Conference No. 4 Singles Individual Season Co-Champion. As a sophomore (2021-22), Fearnley earned 2022 ITA All-American in doubles, 2022 All-Big 12 First Team in doubles, 2022 All-Big 12 Second Team in singles, and was a two-time Big 12 Men’s Tennis Player of the Week. As a junior (2022-23), Fearnley was the Battle in the Bay Classic singles champion, was awarded All-Big 12 first team in singles and doubles, earned ITA All-American honors in doubles, and was an NCAA Individual Championships qualifier in singles and doubles. This year as a senior (2023-24), Fearnley was on the ITA Indoor National Championships All-Tournament Team (No. 1 singles) and earned Big 12 Player of the Week (March 5). He is also a four-time All-American.

ITA Player to Watch

Michael Zheng | Columbia University

Michael Zheng has proved to be one of the top singles players in all of college tennis. Zheng earned a No. 23 national ranking at the end of the regular season and is 26-9 overall this season, with a 16-5 mark in dual matches playing the No. 1 spot. At the 2024 NCAA Singles Championship, Zheng would reach the finals where he would finish as the national runner-up. Zheng was awarded a US Open Qualifying Draw wild card and was named a member of the ATP Next Gen Accelerator Program and USTA Collegiate Summer Team. As a freshman in 2023, Zheng earned All-American honors, was named the Ivy League Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Ivy League in singles and doubles, the first player ever to garner all five honors in the same season. Zheng followed that up by again earning First Team All-Ivy recognition in singles and doubles this season.

ITA Senior Player of the Year

Micah Braswell | University of Texas

Micah Braswell has emerged as one of the best players in the country this year and held a 34-match winning streak in singles dating back to the fall, only losing four sets in that span. During one of the two weeks (Feb. 7) when Eliot Spizzirri wasn’t No. 1 in the ITA singles rankings, it was Braswell in that spot for the first No. 1 ranking of his career, making him the third Longhorn since 2015 to hold that position. Outside of that, he has been in the No. 2 spot throughout most of the spring season before moving down to No. 3 and then No. 5, despite not having lost. Overall, the All-Big 12 First Team honoree is 37-2 in the 2023-24 year with 23 ranked wins, 15 top-50 victories and a perfect 21-0 mark in dual matches, while for his career, he ranks fourth all-time in UT history with 116 singles victories and is sixth in singles winning percentage at .778 with just 33 losses.

ITA National Player of the Year

Eliot Spizzirri | University of Texas

This season, Spizzirri repeated as Big 12 Player of the Year, along with once again finishing ranked No. 1 in singles by the ITA. He became the fourth player nationally to twice finish as the top-ranked singles player since the ITA rankings began in 1981. He concluded the season with a 29-6 overall record, including 21-4 in dual matches, playing on the top line in all of those. Fourteen of his 29 wins came against top-50 opponents with 12 of those against the top-25. In the fall, Spizzirri won the singles title at the ITA All-American Championships. Spizzirri finished his Texas careers as one of the winningest players in combined singles and doubles victories in program history. Spizzirri closed with 218, including 113 in singles and 105 in doubles. Spizzirri’s 113 singles wins rank fifth at UT, and his .785 winning percentage is fourth.

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