texascollegetennis blog

David Roditi, one of the great players in the history of the TCU men’s tennis program, has been hired as the Horned Frogs’ new head coach, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Chris Del Conte announced Tuesday. Roditi, a three-time doubles All-American who lettered from 1993 through 1996, still holds the school record for career combined victories.

Roditi takes over the program from former head coach Dave Borelli, who returned to the TCU women’s program after spending the last three seasons with the men’s squad.

“We are very excited to bring Dave Roditi back home to TCU,” Del Conte said. “Dave is a true Horned Frog and an excellent fit to lead our men’s tennis program. He had an exceptional playing career and experience here as a student-athlete. We have no doubt his passion for TCU will carry into a successful coaching career.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to be back at TCU,” Roditi said. “This is a dream I have been working towards since the day I left as a player. It is an honor to follow in the great tradition of head coaches at TCU highlighted by the legendary Tut Bartzen. We will continue to uphold the great tennis tradition that TCU has always had, and I plan on making the same positive impact that Coach Bartzen made on me as a student-athlete.”

Roditi inherits a veteran TCU men’s tennis team poised for one of its most successful seasons in recent memory. Five of the top six singles players from last year’s Mountain West Conference Tournament championship squad return, including four Frogs who have earned all-conference honors at least once in their careers. Last season’s team concluded its season in the NCAA tournament for the 19th time in the last 20 years.

“I am excited about the team we have this year, and I have no doubt that we will have a successful season,” Roditi said. “Our experience and senior leadership will be key for us as we look to continue TCU’s strong tradition on the courts,” Roditi said.

Roditi returns to TCU after serving the previous five years as Lead National Coach at the USTA Training Center in Carson, Calif. Prior to joining the USTA in 2005, he worked as the Associate Director of St. Stephens Tennis Academy in Austin, Texas, and was also an assistant coach at Texas from 2000-02.

Among the players Roditi has coached with the USTA is current top American male prospect Ryan Harrison, who recently upended 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic in the first round of the U.S. Open. The victory marked the first win in a Grand Slam tournament for the 18-year old, who has been under Roditi’s watch since he was only 13. In addition to Harrison, Roditi has tutored a number of other top juniors. He served as coach for the U.S. Junior Davis Cup team that won the 2008 Junior Davis Cup title.

Other players Roditi has been involved with include John Isner, currently the world’s No. 20-ranked singles player. Isner grabbed headlines this past summer for his first-round victory at Wimbledon over Nicolas Mahut that ranked as the longest match in the history of professional tennis (6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68).

Roditi will lead a TCU program that he helped build into a national power during a four-year career from 1993 through 1996 playing for legendary former head coach Tut Bartzen. The Frogs finished the season ranked among the nation’s top-7 teams in each of Roditi’s final three years, including a school-record rating of No. 3 following his senior campaign. The Frogs advanced to the NCAA semifinals that season, one of three Final Four appearances in program history.

In addition to the team’s success during his playing days, Roditi racked up numerous individual accomplishments as a Frog. A nationally ranked player during each of his four years on campus, he twice reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championships alongside partner Paul Robinson. The pair finished the 1995 season ranked No. 2 nationally in doubles and was rated as high as No. 1 at times in both 1995 and 1996. Among the titles won by the duo were two ITA National Clay Court championships (1994, 1995) and the 1994 ITA All-American Championships crown. The players were also named to the Rolex Collegiate All-Star Team in 1996.

Roditi capped his career by earning a career-best No. 25 singles rating in 1996 to go along with a No. 5 mark in doubles. Overall, he posted a career combined record of 250-82 for TCU, which is 12 victories more than any other player in program history. He also ranks No. 2 in doubles wins (121) and No. 4 in singles victories (129). Three times he was ranked All-Southwest Conference in both singles and doubles (1004, 1995, 1996) and he combined for five individual SWC individual singles and doubles titles. The accomplishments resulted in his election to the TCU Letterman’s Hall of Fame in 2007.

Following his time as a Frog, Roditi experienced a highly successful professional career. He reached a career-high position of No. 41 in the ATP doubles rankings and recorded a win over the former No. 1 doubles team of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. He also represented Mexico in 10 Davis Cup matches.

Roditi graduated from TCU in 1996 with a degree in marketing.

The TCU men’s tennis team was honored with the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) All-Academic Team Award Monday. In addition to the team milestone, three Horned Frogs were named ITA Scholar-Athletes for standout work in the classroom.

TCU received the ITA’s All-Academic Team Award for the second straight year, and only the second time in program history, after exceeding the minimum cumulative team grade-point average requirement of 3.20 (on a 4.00 scale) during the fall 2009 and spring 2010 semesters. All eligible student-athletes who competed in at least one varsity match during the academic year factored into the team GPA figure.

Leading TCU’s academic efforts were three student-athletes named ITA Scholar-Athletes for the second consecutive year in Kelubia Mabatah, Cameron Nash and Zach Nichols. The honor was awarded to only those players who posted a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 over the two semesters while earning a varsity letter.

Each of the three Frogs are accomplished scholar-athletes, having also been honored by the Mountain West Conference earlier this summer with academic honors. Nash added the prestigious Clark Scholarship to his resume in the spring, an honor given to only three TCU students each year.

Four members of the TCU women’s tennis squad were named 2010 ITA Scholar-Athletes, the ITA announced Monday.

Maria Babanova, Gaby Mastromarino, Shalini Sahoo and Katariina Touhimaa all earned the distinction for the first time in their Frog careers.

Babanova and Touhimaa will be seniors when the semester commences on Aug. 23, while Mastromarino and Sahoo will be juniors.

In addition to the ITA Scholar-Athlete honor, Babanova, Matromarino and Touhimaa were named to the Academic All-Mountain West Conference team in the spring.

To be named an ITA Scholar-Athlete, the athlete must be a varsity letter winner, have a grade point average of at least 3.50 and have been enrolled at the current school for at least two semesters.