UF MTN: Trio of Gators’ Freshman Playing at US Open Junior Championship

All three freshman are ranked in the Top-100 of the ITF Junior Rankings.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida men’s tennis program will have three Gators representing at the US Open Junior Championship, beginning with the singles qualifying on September 2.

Togan Tokac will start in the first round of the singles qualifier against Daniel Verbeek from the Netherlands. He will compete to join fellow freshman Jonah Braswell and Tanapatt Nirundorn in the main draw on September 4.

Tokac will look to earn his third opportunity in the main draw of a Junior Championship in 2022 after playing in the main draw of the Australian Open Junior Championships and Roland Garros Junior Championships. The Turkey native collected a win in qualifying at the Wimbledon Junior Championships.

Braswell initially was to play in qualifying, but earned a wild card in to the main draw. The US Open marks the Sarasota, Fla. native’s third appearance at a Junior Championship in 2022 after participating in both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Braswell qualified for the singles main draw at the Wimbledon Junior Championships after notching two Top-100 wins in the qualifier.

Nirundorn is the lone freshman to compete in the main draw of all four 2022 Junior Championships. His best performance came at the Australian Open Junior Championship where he reached the second round of singles and the semifinals of the doubles tournament.

Abedallah Shelbayh made an appearance in the singles and doubles competition at the 2021 US Open Junior Championships. In addition, three current Gators have competed in past US Open Junior Championships: Will Grant (2019), Lukas Greif (2016, 2017) and Axel Nefve (2017, 2018).