Florida men’s tennis starts season at home

The Florida men’s tennis team kicks off a new season this weekend by hosting the Gator Invitational at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.

There will be matches Friday through Sunday featuring four teams: the Gators, Florida Atlantic, UCF and USF. Admission to the Gator Invitational is free.

The event will feature individual, head-to-head matches for competitors in both singles and doubles each day.

On Friday, action will be divided into two sessions, with the early portion beginning at 10 a.m., followed by a later session at 3 p.m. On Saturday, matches will begin at 9 a.m. and Sunday matches are scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

The Gators open the individual season with four players ranked in the ITA top-125 rankings. Senior Nassim Slilam received a preseason ranking of No. 37.

Junior Bob van Overbeek checks in at No. 58 after finishing 117th in the final ITA singles rankings last spring.

Junior Frank Carleton, a transfer from Wake Forest, is ranked No. 69.

Junior Billy Federhofer earned the first ITA singles ranking of his career, coming in at No. 119.

On the doubles side, the duo of Federhofer and Slilam is ranked No. 36.

The Gator Invitational is the only event that the UF men will host during the fall season.