Team_CG_01312020_6_2_Team_CG_01312020_6_2_
Cody Glenn
Men's Tennis

2019-20: Year in Review

RECAPPING THE SEASON
Stanford finished 8-5 overall, and was ranked No. 8 nationally when the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 global outbreak. The Cardinal tallied four wins over ranked opponents, coming against No. 13 California (Jan. 26), No. 11 UCLA (Feb. 1), No. 10 North Carolina State (Feb. 14) and No. 5 Ohio State (March 4). The team reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor Championships, and saw a plethora of players succeed in fall tournament action.

Showcasing its depth, six different players were ranked in singles throughout the season, led by a season-ending No. 7 mark for Alexandre Rotsaert, while the doubles pair of Axel Geller and Neel Rajesh wrapped the shortened campaign as the 14th-ranked tandem.

Five players posted double-digit victories: Sangeet Sridhar (16), Rajesh (14), Filip Kolasinski (14), Rotsaert (13) and Timothy Sah (10). The pair of Geller and Rajesh posted a team-leading eight doubles victories, with the duo of Tomas Kopczynski and Rotsaert close behind at seven.

REGIONAL HONORS
Freshman Neel Rajesh and sophomore Alexandre Rotsaert earned regional awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) - Rajesh was the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year, while Rotsaert took home ITA Northwest Region Player to Watch honors. Rajesh is the third Stanford player to take home the award under Paul Goldstein, The Taube Family Director of Men's Tennis. He joins Geller (2018) and Tom Fawcett (2015) with the regional honor. Rotsaert is Stanford's second-consecutive winner of the award, joining Geller a year ago.

ALL-AMERICA
After a breakout sophomore campaign, Alexandre Rotsaert earned All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. He gave Stanford an All-American for the sixth-consecutive season.

Ranked No. 7 nationally when the season ended, and as high as No. 5 on Feb. 18, Rotsaert finished with a 13-7 singles mark, including a team-leading eight wins over ranked opponents and three top-10 wins. He advanced to the semifinals this fall at the ITA All-American Championships, and later reached the Championship at the Sherwood Cup. He finished with a 10-10 doubles mark, including a pair of victories over ranked pairs.

The Boca Raton, Florida native has a 35-19 career singles record and a 28-19 mark over two doubles seasons.

RAJESH RALLIES
Neel Rajesh showed the ability to win clutch points during his first year on campus, earning four of Stanford's eight clinching points this spring. Three of his clinching wins came against ranked foes – vs. No. 13 California, No. 10 NC State and No. 5 Ohio State – as well as the program's second win of the year, over Tulane.

View this post on Instagram

Comeback complete?? Card knocks off No. 5 Ohio State, 4-3. #GoStanford

A post shared by StanfordMensTennis (@stanfordmenstennis) on Mar 4, 2020 at 4:01pm PST

WIN NO. 100
With Stanford's round of 16 victory at the ITA Indoor Championship over North Carolina State, Paul Goldstein became the fourth head coach in program history to reach 100 career wins. Goldstein, who has led the Stanford program since 2015, has guided the Cardinal to a 101-43 (.701) record. He joined Dick Gould (776), John Whitlinger (160) and Robert Renker (131) in triple digits.