It's exciting that this event will be held with 229 guys starting in the PreQs from 67 different schools with 25 of out the 30 D1 conferences represented. In the preQ, 60% of the players and schools are midmajors with the remaining 40% lower line or bench players from P5 schools and a couple Ivys. The top guys in the Prequalis are UTR 13.0-one of the top preQ seeds is Brian Shi of Harvard-in 2018 he made it to the QFs of several Futures-even beat Skander of Wake.
The greatest thing about preQualis is that most years 1-2 guys win 8 matches to reach the main draw. It takes 4 wins to get in Qualis and another 4 into MD. One year a guy won 10 matches to make it into the R16 of MD. Sometimes it is a JUCO or D2 transfer that goes from preQ to MD. You have to appreciate the 40 coaches of those MM teams digging deep to fly players to Tulsa to give them a shot to play players from regions they would never normally play and then have that 12% chance to get in Qualis and that 1% chance to get in MD. It is also a chance for those P5 benchwarmers to show that maybe they deserve to be in the lineup if they can make it to Qualis and win a couple matches there too. In the PreQs there are guys from the lineup of the mid to lower tier P5s-the teams usually ranked 30ish to 50ish. Opportunity for all to shine. Now there are MM players starting in Qualis too, but most start in PreQ.
Some matches will be livestreamed-I dont know if they will livestream PreQs or wait until Qualis. I think the top 10 newcomers get to play in Qualis so that's a chance for fans to watch the best of the new guys. I just hope everyone has a positive attitude and and negative COVID tests-I believe there is required PCR testing for unvaxxed players prior to the start of each draws and then unvaxxed players who move from pre Q to Q or Q to MD have to take a rapid antigen test. Colleges have to provide the initial test but the tests between draws will be covered by host site Tulsa. The men and women are in different cities this year.
Speaking of testing, USTA Futures for this fall (after Lubbock) appear to require PCR testing for vaxxed and unvaxxed players. Assuming players' insurance wont pay for weekly tests, that could be a $100-$200 hit each week just for the player and double if he travels with a coach. Hopefully collegiate players can get a free test on campus before they leave. Few players are playing the Naples and Ithaca Futures the week of All Americans-the only ITA ranked players I saw on entry list were Boitan (Ithaca) and Draxl and Vale for Naples. It figures that USTA would schedule 2 Futures the week of All American...when most fall weeks without major ITA tourneys only have one US Future. There are a few other college players on the Quali lists of those-Drew Baird, Tristan McCormick, a recent grad transfer to Georgia, Jake Van Emburgh, recent grad transfer to Ohio State, a Western Mich player, etc. For the Futures starting 10/4, players will have a quali draw of 32 so only have to win 2 matches vs 3 to get in MD. Naples 10/11 is a 64 Quali draw.
For more info on AA draws and selection list, here is the site:
https://colleges.wearecollegetennis...Overview/f14a95ae-33af-413d-8fa0-0c8183f39a17
drive.google.com
