T10s747
Rookie
Men's Tennis Adds UCLA Transfer Eugen Brazdil
Courtesy: University of Pennsylvania
Release: 07/22/2009
PHILADELPHIA - University of Pennsylvania men’s tennis coach Nik DeVore has announced the addition of another newcomer for the 2009-10 academic year, and it is a big one.
Eugen Brazdil will join the Quakers this year, after spending last year at UCLA. The Bruins, of course, are a traditional tennis power and have won 16 NCAA team championships (trailing only USC and Stanford, with 17 each). This past year, UCLA lost in the NCAA semifinal round to Ohio State.
Brazdil -- a lefty who will have three years of eligibility at Penn -- joins an incoming class of five players that was ranked 21st in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)-endorsed website TennisRecruiting.net.
“We are very excited to be adding Eugen to our team for the upcoming season,” said Penn head coach Nik DeVore, who recently completed his second season with the Quakers. “UCLA is one of the premiere tennis programs in the country, so for a player of Eugen's caliber to be transferring to Penn says a lot about our institution. Eugen has long looked up to the Ivy schools and is really looking forward to attending one of the best academic schools in the country while helping our program challenge for an Ivy League title.
“Eugen has a great all-court game and is very accomplished at the international level in both singles and doubles. He will no doubt bring a lot to our program.”
Before attending UCLA, Brazdil was a three-time national singles champion and two-time national doubles champion in his native country of Slovakia. He was ranked in the top 25 in Europe and as high as #50 in the ITF Junior World rankings. Brazdil competed in the Wimbledon Junior Championships and French Open Juniors, and captured seven ITF Doubles titles throughout his junior career. His ITF doubles record was an outstanding 61-30 overall.
As a freshman at UCLA, Brazdil went 8-5 in singles and 8-5 in doubles. His highlights included victories over Stanford #5 Greg Hirshman, and national champion USC's Abdullah Magdas, who played as high as #3 singles for the Trojans and was ranked 65th in the ITA national singles rankings. Brazdil was also a finalist at the Pac-10 Flight B Singles Championship.
In doubles play, Brazdil made the Flight A final at the Pac-10 Championships, defeating USC's Nguyen/Magdas (who were ranked 34th in the nation) before falling 7-6 in the third set of the final to Stanford's top team of Klahn/Thacher (28th in the ITA national doubles rankings).
Penn -- which won Ivy League titles in both 2006 and 2007 -- will now add six newcomers to a roster that includes seven returning letterwinners from 2008-09. The returnees are headlined by Hicham Laalej, who was first-team All-Ivy in singles as a junior this past season.
Courtesy: University of Pennsylvania
Release: 07/22/2009
PHILADELPHIA - University of Pennsylvania men’s tennis coach Nik DeVore has announced the addition of another newcomer for the 2009-10 academic year, and it is a big one.
Eugen Brazdil will join the Quakers this year, after spending last year at UCLA. The Bruins, of course, are a traditional tennis power and have won 16 NCAA team championships (trailing only USC and Stanford, with 17 each). This past year, UCLA lost in the NCAA semifinal round to Ohio State.
Brazdil -- a lefty who will have three years of eligibility at Penn -- joins an incoming class of five players that was ranked 21st in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)-endorsed website TennisRecruiting.net.
“We are very excited to be adding Eugen to our team for the upcoming season,” said Penn head coach Nik DeVore, who recently completed his second season with the Quakers. “UCLA is one of the premiere tennis programs in the country, so for a player of Eugen's caliber to be transferring to Penn says a lot about our institution. Eugen has long looked up to the Ivy schools and is really looking forward to attending one of the best academic schools in the country while helping our program challenge for an Ivy League title.
“Eugen has a great all-court game and is very accomplished at the international level in both singles and doubles. He will no doubt bring a lot to our program.”
Before attending UCLA, Brazdil was a three-time national singles champion and two-time national doubles champion in his native country of Slovakia. He was ranked in the top 25 in Europe and as high as #50 in the ITF Junior World rankings. Brazdil competed in the Wimbledon Junior Championships and French Open Juniors, and captured seven ITF Doubles titles throughout his junior career. His ITF doubles record was an outstanding 61-30 overall.
As a freshman at UCLA, Brazdil went 8-5 in singles and 8-5 in doubles. His highlights included victories over Stanford #5 Greg Hirshman, and national champion USC's Abdullah Magdas, who played as high as #3 singles for the Trojans and was ranked 65th in the ITA national singles rankings. Brazdil was also a finalist at the Pac-10 Flight B Singles Championship.
In doubles play, Brazdil made the Flight A final at the Pac-10 Championships, defeating USC's Nguyen/Magdas (who were ranked 34th in the nation) before falling 7-6 in the third set of the final to Stanford's top team of Klahn/Thacher (28th in the ITA national doubles rankings).
Penn -- which won Ivy League titles in both 2006 and 2007 -- will now add six newcomers to a roster that includes seven returning letterwinners from 2008-09. The returnees are headlined by Hicham Laalej, who was first-team All-Ivy in singles as a junior this past season.
