Season Preview: 2019 Michigan Men's Tennis

The University of Michigan men's tennis program looks ahead to the 2019 season trying to build off last year's success. The Wolverines finished the 2018 campaign with 22 wins and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008.

Wolverine Bites

• Adam Steinberg returns to Ann Arbor for his sixth season as head coach at Michigan. He built on the team's success from the past two seasons, coaching the Wolverines to a 22-win season in 2018 -- the fourth-best total in school history. Michigan reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008, and made its third trip to the NCAA tournament in as many years. U-M, which began the season ranked No.17, finished at No.14 in the final ITA rankings.

• Michigan will be led by its two-man senior class, Myles Schalet and Gabe Tishman. The Wolverines enter the season with a young roster, with four upperclassmen among the roster's 12 players. After graduating four from its singles lineup at the end of last season, U-M will look to its younger players to replace them this season.

• Michigan will host the ITA Kick-Off for the first time in program history. The event will be held at the Varsity Tennis Center from Jan. 26-27. Each team is guaranteed two matches, with the winner of the weekend advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 15-17). Michigan is the ITA Kick-Off's No. 1 seed, Baylor is No. 2, Georgia is No. 3 and North Carolina State is No. 4, as the first matches of the weekend feature the Michigan vs. NC State and Baylor vs. Georgia. The winners will play each other the next day, with the losers also squaring off. Since the ITA switched to this format for the 2008-09 season, U-M has one national tournament appearance, which came in the inaugural season (2009) of the event.

Breaking Down the Roster

• Michigan returns two seniors (Myles Schalet, Gabe Tishman), two juniors (Nick Beaty, Connor Johnston), four sophomores (Harrison Brown, Teddy Oosterbaan, Kristofer Siimar, Mattias Siimar) and welcomes four freshman this season (Andrew Fenty, Steven Forman, Ryan Fu, Patrick Maloney).

• Senior Myles Schalet had a strong 2017-18 season, recording a 17-11 record in singles action and was primarily in the No. 3 spot of the lineup. He also tallied an overall doubles record of 13-9, going 11-6 in dual matches. He ranked as high as No. 113 nationally in singles (Feb.18), and will look to continue to build off last season's success during his final season as a Wolverine.

• Michigan returns sophomore Mattias Siimar after his successful rookie season. Siimar recorded a 25-11 mark in singles play, going 15-7 in dual match play and played primarily in the No.4 spot. His 25 singles wins rank sixth most all-time by a freshman. He also compiled a 19-8 doubles record, going 11-7 in dual matches. This year, Siimar ended the fall season with a 6-5 singles record and 5-2 doubles record, and competed in the ITA All-American Championship.

• Freshman Andrew Fenty had a strong fall season, finishing with a 7-3 singles record and a 5-2 doubles record. He joins the squad after coming in as a five-star Blue Chip Recruit by tennisrecruiting.net, and was ranked No.4 in the world as a junior prior to coming to Ann Arbor.

• Junior Connor Johnston will return to the Michigan doubles lineup this season after recording a 15-12 overall record in doubles play last season. Johnston ended the 2018 fall season with a 3-2 singles record and a 4-2 doubles record playing two matches with both Patrick Maloney and Gabe Tishman. During his rookie season, Johnston compiled a doubles record of 19-8 and a 10-2 singles record. He also was regionally ranked No.15 by ITA, and ranked as high as No.10 in doubles.

• Benjamin Becker enters his first season as associate head coach for the University of Michigan men's tennis team. Becker arrived in Ann Arbor after most recently serving as a volunteer assistant coach a Southern Methodist University during the 2018 spring season. Prior to SMU, Becker served in the same capacity at his alma mater, Baylor, during the fall of 2017 upon retirement from professional tennis. From 2005-2017 Becker played professionally on the ATP Tour, competing in 36 main draw grand slam tournaments, while earning his highest world ranking of No. 35 in 2014. The ATP Newcomer of the Year in 2006, Becker accumulated five career victories over former world No. 1's throughout 12-year career.

• Entering his first season as an assistant coach, Marek Michalicka, arrived in Ann Arbor after spending the past three seasons serving as the assistant coach at Oklahoma State. In his three seasons, the Cowboys posted consecutive winnings campaigns and reached the NCAA Tournament every year, while earning a top-20 ranking by the ITA each season. From 2011-2016 Michalicka played professionally, where he earned 11 ITF Futures singles titles and compiled 251 professional victories across both the ITF Futures and Challenger tours.

2019 Schedule

• Michigan will open the spring dual-match on Jan. 19, when they take on No. 22-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The teams last met in 2017, when Michigan earned a 4-0 win to open the season. Michigan leads, 7-3, in the all-time series against Alabama.

• Following the match against Alabama, Michigan will host the ITA Kick-Off for the first time in program history. The event will be held at the Varsity Tennis Center from Jan. 26-27. Joining U-M will be Baylor, Georgia and North Carolina State.

• The Maize and Blue will open Big Ten Conference play on Wednesday, Feb. 27, when it travels to East Lansing to battle Michigan State. The Wolverines hold a 101-19 record in the all-time series with the Spartans. Michigan has a 15-match win streak against MSU, with its last loss against Michigan State coming in the 2004 Big Ten Tournament.

• The Wolverines will head home for their last regular-season homestand, starting with a matchup against Northwestern on April 6. The Wolverines will also take on Illinois (March 7), Minnesota (April 13), and Wisconsin (April 14).

• Michigan will round up the regular season on a two-match road trip, with the first matchup taking place against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln (April 19). U-M will then head to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on the Hawkeyes in the Wolverines' last regular-season competition on April 21, before hosting the Big Ten Tournament at the Varsity Tennis Center, April 25-28.