ROSEMONT Ill. – Fighting Illini junior Aleks Kovacevic was named the Big Ten Tennis Athlete of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon. Kovacevic went 4-2 overall last weekend as the Illini were fine-tuning their craft at the MLK Invitational in Atlanta, Ga.
The junior swept his matches for the first day of competition against No. 12 Georgia and host Georgia Tech. Kovacevic started off the three-day tournament strong on Friday easily defeating Andrew Li (Georgia Tech), 7-5, 6-0. At No. 3 doubles, Kovacevic and freshman Keenan Mayo defeated Brandon Freestone and Phillip Gresk of Georgia Tech, 6-1. On Saturday, No. 44 Kovacevic defeated No. 2 Jan Zielinski (Georgia), 6-2, 7-6(4) in an upset win. Partnering again with Mayo, Kovacevic capped off a fantastic day with a doubles win against Georgia's Phillip Henning and Emil Reinberg.
The conference honor marks the first time the New York native has won this award and first for the Illini men's tennis squad this season. The last Illini men's tennis player to earn this accomplishment was Illini alum and current professional tennis player, Aleks Vukic (April 24, 2018).
Illinois begins dual match season by hosting Duke on Friday, Feb. 1 at Atkins Tennis Center. The Zero Chill Night is slated for 6 p.m. CT start time and will feature Illini Knit Beanies for the first 100 students and Jimmy John's for food.
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