Tempe, AZ – Now coming up on year three of a joint initiative between the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) the ITF, and the WTA, the first two players have now qualified for the 2025-26 ITF/WTA Accelerator Program by virtue of finish at the NCAA Singles Championship this past November in Waco.
With players qualifying for the program by finishing as NCAA Singles Finalists, or Top Five in the year-end ITA Singles Rankings, Dasha Vidmanova (Georgia, NCAA Champion) and DJ Bennett (Auburn, NCAA Finalist) are the first two qualifiers for the 2025-26 ITF/WTA Accelerator Program.
For Vidmanova (8.93 WTN), this marks the second consecutive year in which she has qualified for this Accelerator Program. Finishing Top Five in the ITA Singles Rankings this past May, Vidmanova showed her dominance once again this fall, finishing 12-1 across all matches including an 11-match win streak to end the fall.
Currently ranked No. 327 in the WTA Singles Rankings, Vidmanova is currently the third highest ranked WTA player in college tennis behind fellow SEC student-athletes Maya Joint (Texas) and Mary Stoiana (Texas A&M). Since 2022, Vidmanova has climbed over 600 ranking spots and is currently hovering within one spot of her career-high WTA Ranking.
Meanwhile, for Bennett (10.92 WTN), this is her first time qualifying for the ITF/WTA Accelerator Program. The junior from Bellview, Florida has shown the many benefits of the development opportunities college tennis has to offer top junior players, continuously improving her play year-over-year with the NCAA Singles Finalist result being the culmination of years of hard work.
Named the ITA Southern Region Player to Watch after the 2023-24 season, Bennett has already secured ITA All-American honors for both singles and doubles for the 2024-25 season earning seven ranked singles wins this fall in singles and four ranked doubles wins to propel her up the rankings this fall.
Over the first two years of this program, several players such as Diana Shnaider (NC State, WTA No. 13), Amelia Rajecki (NC State, WTA No. 302), Madison Sieg (USC, WTA No. 359), Kari Miller (Michigan, WTA No. 398), and Fiona Crawley (North Carolina, WTA No. 507) have all used the program to ease their transition from the college game to the pro tour.
In total, the ITF/WTA College Accelerator Programme will award five ITF main draw wild cards (one W60, two W40s, two W25s) to any qualifying student-athlete who is not returning to college. Meanwhile, for any returning student-athletes, this program will award three ITF main draw wild cards (one W60, two W40s) to qualifying student-athletes. These wild cards will become available to qualifying student-athletes after the 2025 college tennis spring season.
Be sure to follow along with the remainder of the 2024-25 college tennis season as the remaining players looking to qualify for the 2025-26 ITF/WTA Accelerator Program battle it out alongside their teammates this spring.
About the WTA: Founded by Billie Jean King in 1973 on the principle of equal opportunity, the WTA is the global leader in women’s professional sports. The WTA is one of the world’s most recognizable and high-profile sports organizations, consisting of more than 1650 players representing approximately 85 nations, all competing to earn WTA rankings points and prestigious tournament titles. The WTA Tour comprises of over 50 events and four Grand Slams, spanning six continents and nearly 30 countries and regions with a global audience of over 700 million. The Tour culminates with the WTA Finals, honoring the season’s top singles and doubles players based on the final standings of the Race to WTA Finals leaderboard. Further information on the WTA can be found at wtatennis.com.
About the ITF: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there are 211 national and six regional associations that make up the ITF’s membership. The ITF organizes the Grand Slam events, annual team competitions for men (Davis Cup), women (Billie Jean King Cup), and mixed teams (Hopman Cup), as well as tennis and wheelchair tennis events at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the International Olympic Committee. The ITF sanctions the Grand Slam tennis tournaments as well as circuits that span age ranges (junior, professional men and women, and seniors) as well as disciplines (wheelchair tennis; beach tennis). In addition to these circuits, the ITF also maintains rankings for juniors, seniors, wheelchair and beach tennis. Further information can be found at itftennis.com.
About the ITA: The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body and coaches association of college tennis, both an advocate and an authority for the sport and its members. Comprised of 1,260 colleges and universities, 20,000 student-athletes, 1,700 varsity programs, 3,000 coaches, and 1,350 college tennis officials, the ITA empowers college tennis coaches at all levels to deliver vibrant tennis programs that are vital to their college communities and transformational to their student-athletes. Follow the college tennis season on the ITA website and ITA social channels on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
