The Florida men’s tennis team opens its fall season as the host of the Gator Invitational Friday through Sunday at the Linder Stadium/Ring Tennis Complex. Competing with the Gators are UCF, South Florida, Florida Atlantic and North Florida. Admission is free.
“It’s exciting to get another season going,” Florida head coach Andy Jackson said. “This event will generate a lot of matches for everyone. We think we have a great group of guys on our team this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we compete.”
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 morning session beginning at 10 a.m. and the afternoon session at 3 p.m. Florida’s players will compete in the afternoon session. There invitational continues Saturday and Sunday with single sessions starting at 10 a.m.
Florida begins play this season with three singles players among the top 125 as ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Senior Alexandre Lacroix, a returning All-American in both singles and doubles, is ranked No. 9 in singles. Sophomores Bob van Overbeek and Sekou Bangoura Jr. are ranked 105th and 111th, respectively.
Lacroix will team with Nassim Slilam at No. 1 doubles and the team is ranked No. 20 in the ITA Top 60. The team of Van Overbeek and Bangoura is ranked No. 56.
The Gator Invitational is one of two events Florida will play host to this fall. The other is the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Oct. 21-25.