NCAA D-I Roundtable Part I; Adamovic Takes Over at Oklahoma State; Brantmeier Settlement Allows Pre-Enrollment Prize Money; Milan, Roland Garros Junior Acceptances; Akli Beats Zarazua at Bonita Springs W100

Part I of Tennis Recruiting Network’s annual NCAA Division I Roundtable went up today, with Cracked Racquets’ Alex Gruskin, CollegeTennisRanks’ Chris Halioris and me offering our thoughts on the storylines from the regular season and what Super Regionals matchups we’re looking forward to. Part II, when we name our dark horses and predict the champions, will be out Thursday afternoon.

Halioris is again offering his Division I Bracket Challenge for both men and women at collegetennisranks.com.

In other college news, former Oklahoma State All-American Katarina Adamovic will be returning to her alma mater as the head coach of the women’s program. After the departure of Chris Young in the wake of NCAA recruiting violations, the Cowgirls have had two interim coaches, but with Adamovic, who had great success in two-year stints at Grand Canyon and, most recently, Houston. The Oklahoma State announcement is here.

Details of the settlement in the Reese Brantmeier have been announced, with, as was obviously from a recent NCAA rule change, prize money earned prior to enrollment no longer prohibited. Although Brantmeier’s suit was tennis-related, the NCAA decided to lift that restriction on prize money for all potential student-athletes in all sports. The settlement provides for payments to players who were forced to decline money earned prior to enrollment with damages set at over two million dollars.

While this is a significant settlement that will lead to reduced anxiety among top juniors contemplating college, with their amateur status no longer jeopardized by accepting prize money greater than expenses, it does not solve the issue that has generated most of the headlines recently: current student-athletes unable to accept their prize money at major events.

North Carolina’s Fiona Crawley made news for her decision to turn down $81,000 in prize money after qualifying for the US Open in 2023 and San Diego senior Oliver Tarvet did the same for his second-round prize money at Wimbledon last year. This year, if Michigan State’s Matt Forbes, who turned down first round prize money at the US Open after receiving a wild card as the Kalamazoo 18s champion in 2024, has a run in qualifying there this year, he will have to decline that prize money again to retain his eligibility.

Half a loaf is better than none, but that such a big issue remains is disappointing.

The news from Milan is that the draws have been decreased from 64 to 48 this year, so the cutoffs for direct entry are even higher than those for Roland Garros.

The top US junior boys are all entered in both events:

Jack Kennedy

Keaton Hance

Michael Antonius

Andy Johnson

Ryan Cozad

Gavin Goode

Jack Secord

Tanishk Konduri

Secord and Konduri are currently in qualifying for Milan, with the boys cutoff 38.

Kristina Penickova, still No. 7 in the ITF junior rankings, has been out with an injury for months and has not entered either. Julieta Pareja is not entered in Milan, but is on the Roland Garros acceptance list.

Julieta Pareja (RG only)

Janae Preston

Thea Frodin

Jordyn Hazelitt

Welles Newman

Melije Clarke

Clarke is currently one out of the main draw in Milan, with the cutoff 46.

The Roland Garros main draw cutoff for boys is 47, with Connor Roig of South Africa, at 51, receives direct entry as the top player from Africa.

The girls main draw cutoff is 49, with Alisa Oktiabreva of Russia receiving main draw entry via her WTA ranking of 281. She has not played a junior event since 2023.

The US boys in Roland Garros qualifying are Safir Azam, Marcel Latak and Vihaan Reddy, with the cutoff 74. The US girls in Roland Garros qualifying are Lani Chang, Oliva Traynor and Nancy Lee, with the cutoff 75.

World No. 1 junior Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria is not entered in either event, but 2026 Australian Open boys champion Ziga Sesko of Slovenia has entered both, and 2026 Australian Open girls champion Ksenia Efremova of France is entered in Paris. Orange Bowl champion Xinran Sun of China, who has not played since Australia, is back on the ITF Junior Circuit this week in Bulgaria, and she has entered both tournaments. Orange Bowl champion Thijs Boogaard of the Netherlands is not entered in either tournament.

The withdrawal date for Milan is next Tuesday, but the withdrawal date for Roland Garros isn’t until May 19, so these lists are likely to change.

In the first round of the W100 in Bonita Springs Florida today, former University of South Carolina All-American Ayana Akli took out top seed and last week’s W100 Charlottesville champion Renata Zarazua of Mexico 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. It’s the first WTA Top 100 win for the 24-year-old from Maryland.

Akasha Urhobo defeated Thea Frodin 6-4, 6-4 for her fourth win this year over the 17-year-old qualifier. Urhobo will meet No. 3 seed Elvina Kalieva, who beat qualifier Eryn Cayetano(USC) 6-4, 6-2, with Kalieva needing to win that second round match to stay in the USTA’s Roland Garros Wild Card race.

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