The Ivy League is the strongest academic conference in the country. All eight universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia) place in the top twenty of the US News & World Report’s National Universities rankings. In fact, an Ivy League institution has topped the national university rankings every year since 2001. 

While the Ivy League is unquestionably an academic powerhouse, it trails other Power 5 conferences when it comes to modern NCAA athletic success. From 2010 – 2019, the Ivy League won a combined 7 NCAA team titles. For comparison, the Pac-12 Conference earned 12 NCAA team titles in 2019 alone. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, as the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships for student-athletes. In tennis, that means Ivy League teams are competing against schools who can offer eight full scholarships for the women and 4.5 scholarships for the men.

Ivy League NCAA Team Titles (2010-2019)

Ivy League NCAA Team Titles (2010-2019)

YEAR	SPORT	CHAMPION
2011	Women’s Rowing	Brown
2013	Men’s Ice Hockey	Yale
2013	Fencing	Princeton
2014	Fencing	Columbia
2016	Fencing	Columbia
2018	Men’s Lacrosse	Yale
2019	Fencing	Columbia

The Ivy League Rise in Men’s Tennis

The History

Historically, men’s tennis in the Ivy League has been dominated by three schools: Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. Harvard has won 30 conference championships, Princeton owns 17, and Columbia has 15. Penn comes in a distant fourth place with 5 titles. Princeton’s last conference championship was in 1988, though, so it’s really been a duopoly of power at the top of the conference over the past decade with Harvard and Columbia. 

These two schools, despite the lack of athletic scholarships, have really pushed the conference towards national relevance in men’s tennis. In 2010, half of the conference was ranked just within the ITA’s top 75 final rankings, with Columbia leading the pack at #45. Over the next five years, you saw the conference make a steady rise up the rankings. By 2015, five teams were ranked – all in the ITA top 40. During that time, Columbia’s success was headlined by Winston Lin. Lin, a native of New York, reached a career-high singles ranking of #8 and was a 2x All-American in 2014 and 2015 – just the fourth All-American in Columbia’s history. Lin helped the Lions break into the top twenty for two consecutive seasons, ultimately finishing at #14 in 2015 after falling to the eventual champion, Virginia, in the Sweet 16.

Columbia’s breakthrough success on the national stage in the mid-2010s challenged its conference members and made them better. By the 2020 season, Columbia was ranked #14, Harvard had broken into the top 20, and both Cornell and Dartmouth were in the top 30. The Ivy League had four teams in the top 30 – a noticeable improvement from just four teams ranked 45, 65, 67, and 71 in 2010. 

Men’s Team	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Columbia	45	–	43	44	17	14	28	25	15	16	14	–	27
Harvard	67	72	24	28	28	34	51	–	33	41	17	–	16
Princeton	–	63	–	51	61	35	52	–	53	52	–	–	40
Yale	71	–	–	57	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Brown	–	–	50	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Dartmouth	–	–	49	–	48	42	43	–	31	40	29	–	–
Cornell	65	43	70	54	58	48	54	26	48	59	24	–	60
Penn	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	60	60	–	37	–
# Ranked Teams	4	3	5	5	5	5	5	2	6	6	4	–	4
Avg Ranking	62	59	47	47	42	35	46	26	40	45	21	–	36

Recruiting Blue Chips

Success begets success. That’s certainly true for the recruiting efforts of the teams in the Ivy League. Based on data from Tennis Recruiting, the Ivy League brought in just one blue chip recruit in 2014, yet, corresponding with the rise in the rankings, the conference signed five blue chip recruits in the class of 2018. Despite having only eight schools, that’s the same amount of blue chips signed by the Pac-12, Big Ten, and SEC in that same year. Spoiler: that trend continued with the Ivy League signing more blue chips in the class of 2022 than any P5 conference! 

According to Money.com, tennis has the highest costs of any youth sport. As a result, successful junior tennis players in the US tend to come from wealthier backgrounds. Competition for college tennis talent is at an all-time high with programs searching the globe for the best possible recruits. The combination of international players becoming increasingly more common at the elite levels of college tennis and the generally wealthier backgrounds of tennis families has created a situation where more top US blue chip recruits are using their tennis skills to get into the elite academic conference – even if they have to pay out of pocket.

The Coronavirus Disruption

The Ivy League was looking to take another step forward on the collegiate tennis stage in the 2020s. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season and everything changed.

Students across the country were sent home, athletic seasons were canceled, and questions surrounded what would come next. For some schools and conferences, those answers came quicker than others. The SEC, for example, had students back on campus and was allowed to play hidden duals in the fall of 2020. The situation for the Ivy League was different. Most schools were entirely remote in the fall of 2020, with almost all students, including student-athletes, still living off campus. The athletic teams, in particular, were at a disadvantage. Teams had to manage practices and training remotely for 10+ student-athletes, which was an unprecedented task for coaches and trainers.

There was optimism as the 2021 spring season approached, but that quickly dissipated as the country managed its first winter with the coronavirus. Cases spiked and many northeastern states were reimplementing restrictions. Then, in February 2021, in a move that diverged from other athletic conferences across the country, the Ivy League made the decision to cancel spring season sports. Everyone suffered through the 2020 season cancellation, but being unable to play in 2021 and having to sit out from competition for another year was unique to the Ivy League. Teams like Columbia and Harvard – which had worked so hard to be relevant on the national stage – couldn’t be further removed from the conversation as the 2021 college tennis season proceeded without them and concluded with Florida defeating Baylor in front of a 100% capacity crowd.

Rebounding in 2022

The one silver lining for many student-athletes from the 2020 cancellation was that the NCAA granted them an extra year of eligibility, colloquially referred to as someone’s “covid year.” An example of this is the North Carolina women’s team in 2021. They returned three fifth-years who helped the Tar Heels advance to the Final Four. The Ivy League, though, has a long-standing rule that limits athletic participation to undergraduate students.  

Add in the 2021 cancellation for the Ivy League and you now had student-athletes with two extra years of eligibility that they couldn’t use at their undergrad institution. All of that work that Ivy League coaches had put into recruiting? Most of it was diminished as they’d now lost two years with those players that would need to find grad programs at other institutions (see: Charlie Broom of Dartmouth transferring to Baylor).

As challenging as 2020 and 2021 were for the Ivy League schools, many rebounded very well in 2022. Playing in just its fourth dual match since March 2020, Harvard went on the road and upset #15 Pepperdine. The Crimson followed it up a week later with another upset over #17 Michigan. Columbia had similar success. The Lions went to Chapel Hill to face a team who had won the 2021 Indoors – an event the Lions couldn’t play – and was ranked #1 just one year prior. Columbia left with a thrilling 4-3 win.

Harvard went undefeated in conference play and won its 30th conference title. Those early upsets helped propel the Crimson to a top 16 host seed at the NCAA tournament where they ultimately fell to Stanford in the second round.

After all the conference had been through, just playing a full dual match schedule in 2022 would’ve been a success. The conference exceeded expectations and set the foundation for a successful 2023. 

What’s Next in 2023?

Columbia and Harvard, once again, seem poised to tussle for the conference championship this year. But even more, they both have the talent to compete for a top 16 seed in the NCAA tournament and host regionals. 

Harvard returns five of its top six singles players from last year’s successful run, including its top two of #22 Henry von der Schulenburg and #46 Harris Walker. The Crimson also added four freshmen to its roster. Highlighting the newcomer class is Masato Perera, a blue chip from California, and Marc Kitri, a former top 60 junior in the world. Ktri ended the fall season ranked #105. Combined, Harvard’s Power 6 UTR is higher than perennial powerhouses like North Carolina and Florida.

Similar to Harvard, Columbia returns five of its top six singles players from last season’s lineup, losing just #5 singles, Austin Huang. Those five players are headlined by junior Alex Kotzen, who entered the fall ranked #10. In addition, the Lions bring in three freshmen with Michael Zheng, the 2022 junior Wimbledon finalist, leading the class. Zheng, from New Jersey, came in to college ranked as the #3 Newcomer, and he’s asserted himself quite well. He won the Northeast regional and the consolation bracket at the National Fall Championships. Zhen finished the fall season ranked #11. Also joining Zheng is Nicholas Kotzen, younger brother of Alex, and Sachin Palta. Both Kotzen and Palta are blue chip recruits from New York.

Two other players likely to be a major factor in Columbia’s lineup are junior #33 Roko Horvat and sophomore #64 Max Westphal. Horvat has had a very successful year playing on the pro tour, most recently winning a first round ATP Challenger match in Canada. Horvat’s ATP ranking has risen to #756. Westphal was a successful junior player, reaching a career high ranking of #24 in the world. He’s had a strong fall, pushing teammate Zheng to a third set tiebreak and beating Harvard’s #1 von der Schulenburg. By UTR, Columbia is the 12th most talented team in the country – they certainly have the pieces up and down the roster to challenge any team.

We’ll know quickly how these two teams compare – they face each other in the first round of the ITA kickoff weekend. The winner will likely face the host team North Carolina for a chance to advance to ITA Indoors. A strong showing early in the season will be critical for both teams so they can earn high-quality victories to pad its ranking through the conference schedule. With smart scheduling, a little bit of luck, and a chip on its shoulder from missing the 2021 season, both the US News and World Report and ITA rankings could have at least two Ivy League schools in the top 16. 

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