Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The 2024 ITA Collegiate Wheelchair National Individual Championships begin today, November 1, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the Parker-Haun Tennis Facility on the campus of the University of Alabama.
Marking the first year of a split individual and team national championships, to coincide with the NCAA Division I Individual Championship pilot, the top four finishers in the A draw are all looking to secure their spot in Waco as the semifinals and finals of the Collegiate Wheelchair National Individual Championships will be played alongside the NCAA Division I Individual Championships at Baylor.
Outside of the A draw, student-athletes make up three separate draws in which they can each be crowned national champions at their level. Additionally, the team championships that used to coincide with the individual championships will still be played at the USTA National Campus in the spring.
Read more about the student-athletes in each of the Collegiate Wheelchair National Individual Championship draws below:
A Draw Singles Entry List
Eric Court, Arizona [1]
Francesco Felici, Alabama [2]
Caiden Baxter, Michigan [3]
Nicholas Tijerina, Houston [4]
Gabe Puthoff, Auburn
Martha Harris, Alabama
Jacob Wald, Virginia
Within the A draw, many familiar faces return for the 2024 championships. All four semifinalists who competed at the NCAA Championship in Stillwater this past spring are back in the draw.
Eric Court (Arizona) is back as the tournament’s top-seeded player after being crowned the Collegiate Wheelchair National Individual Champion for the A Draw this past spring. Court, who beat Gabe Puthoff (Auburn) in the finals, is a former top-ten-ranked ITF junior player who currently ranks No. 51 in the ITF Quad Singles Rankings.
Francesco Felici (Alabama) makes his Collegiate Wheelchair National Individual Championship debut this weekend as the No. 2 ranked ITF junior player looks to continue to make an impact in the college space. Competing in his first dual match action at the ITA Cup, Felici looked ready to make a name for himself, earning several victories over fellow competitors in the A draw and helping Alabama to an unbeaten weekend against Clemson, Auburn, and Michigan.
A rising player in the college ranks over the past few seasons has been Virginia’s Jacob Wald. After winning the C draw in 2023 and the B draw this past spring, Wald is now competing in the A draw where he looks to keep his success going.
B Draw Singles Entry List
Brian Douglas, Virginia
Daniel Toro, Clemson
Den Baseda, Arizona
Max Barbier, Alabama
The B draw sees many returning players, similarly to the A draw, as all but one student-athlete in the draw competed last season for their teams in Lake Nona.
Den Baseda (Arizona) makes his first appearance in the B draw this fall after being crowned the champion of the C draw this past spring. For Baseda, he is still refining his craft while showing lots of promise for the Wildcats as this past spring was his introduction to wheelchair tennis after competing in various other adaptive sports.
Max Barbier (Alabama) is another returner this fall as he looks to continue his decorated career with the Tide. As a senior, Barbier has been competing for Alabama since 2021 and has helped lead them to a Collegiate Wheelchair National Team Championship during his career in addition to his individual accolades.
C Draw Singles Entry List
McKenna Woodhead, Clemson [1]
Maria Velat, Michigan [2]
Jillian Crawford, Michigan [3]
Delaney Hopkins, Michigan [4]
Sarah Kate Sligh, Auburn
Andrew Dame, Michigan
Madison Dupre, Auburn
It is a very experienced group of athletes in the C draw this year as well. However, all will be competing for the first Collegiate Wheelchair National Individual Championship this weekend in Tuscaloosa as past winners have all made their way up to the A and B draws this fall.
Featuring seven athletes across the draw, McKenna Woodhead (Clemson) [1], Maria Velat (Michigan) [2], Jillian Crawford (Michigan) [3], and Delaney Hopkins (Michigan) [4] will be the seeded student-athletes in the draw. For a large portion of these athletes, they bring one to two years of collegiate experience into this tournament and will look to make it count when competition begins later today.
