The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels to Kick off Fall Season
9/23/2015 | Men's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. - According to the calendar, Sept. 23 is the official first day of fall, and the Ole Miss men's tennis team will kick off their fall season this weekend at two separate tournaments in Louisiana and Georgia.
Four members of the team will be competing at the Cajun Classic in Lafayette, Louisiana, against players from some of the nation's top teams, while the rest of the team will be in Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational.
Cajun Classic
Senior Stefan Lindmark, junior Vinod Gowda, sophomore Grey Hamilton and freshman Filip Kraljevic will represent the Rebels at the Cajun Classic, which includes players from No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 4 TCU, No. 7 Southern Cal, No. 8 Georgia as well as Oklahoma State, LSU and ULL. Play begins Thursday morning with the round of 32 singles at the Cajun Courts. There will be two rounds of singles on Thursday, with doubles play set to begin on Friday. Lindmark is seeded No. 2 in the 32-player draw. He will face Thibault Forget of Southern Cal in the first round. Gowda faces Jake Wynan of Louisiana-Lafayette and Grey Hamilton gets 48th-ranked Jordan Daigle of LSU in the first round. In his first match as a Rebel, Kraljevic will play TCU's Trevor Johnson.
Georgia Tech Invitational
Junior Ricardo Jorge, sophomores Gustav Hansson and Zvonimir Babic, redshirt freshman Robert Mounger and freshman Fabian Fallert are going to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Invitational. The field includes players from SEC schools Arkansas, Auburn, South Carolina and Tennessee. On Friday, there will be a wave of 32 singles matches that begin at 9 a.m., followed by 16 doubles matches that begin at 1:30 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, doubles matches will begin at 9 a.m., followed by singles matches at 10 a.m.
Quoting Head Coach Toby Hansson
"It's been going well. I feel like we're getting stronger, doing well with our fitness. The guys are really excited to start playing some tournaments now. We'll be facing some very good competition this weekend, which is what we want. We're very excited about the opportunity to play against some of the best teams in the country."
Oracle/ITA Rankings
The Rebels are well-represented in the preseason Oracle/ITA Rankings, led by senior All-SEC honoree Stefan Lindmark, who checks in at No. 44 after an outstanding junior year. The Stockholm, Sweden native finished the 2015 season with a 21-10 record, including becoming the fifth player in program history to go undefeated in the SEC. Junior Ricardo Jorge is ranked No. 82. He posted a 20-8 record in 2015. In doubles, Lindmark and sophomore Gustav Hansson earned a No. 30 ranking. Freshman Filip Kraljevic is ranked No. 5 in the freshman/newcomers preseason rankings.
NCAA Moves to No-Ad Scoring
The NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee approved no-ad scoring for all matches of the men's and women's tennis championships starting in 2016, so this year matches will be played with that format. In no-ad scoring, when a game is tied at 40-40, known as deuce, the player who wins the next point wins the game.
For more information on Ole Miss Men's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis. Also, follow head coach Toby Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.
Players Mentioned
