University of Illinois
Gamecock Kickoff
Illini Start 2024 Season at Gamecock Kickoff
January 3, 2024 | Men's Tennis
PREVIEW
| Illinois at Gamecock Kickoff | |
|---|---|
| Date | Time | Friday, Jan. 5 - Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 | 8 a.m. CT |
| Location | Columbia, South Carolina |
| Live Stream & Stats | Track Tennis |
| Printable Notes | Illinois |
| Social Media | @IlliniMtennis  | #Illini | @Illinimtennis  | Facebook  |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The 2024 Fighting Illini men's tennis team will start the season at the Gamecock Kickoff from Jan. 5-6 in Columbia, South Carolina.
Participating teams will be South Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, and VCU. The format of the tournament is round robin style, in which the teams will be doing one round of singles and one round of doubles each day. Official match times will be 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. CT on both Friday and Saturday.
Dancer Adds Clark to Coaching Staff
Head coach Brad Dancer has added former player Zeke Clark to the 2023-24 coaching staff as a full-time assistant coach.
Before stepping into a coaching role, Clark competed on the pro circuit from 2021-2023, reaching a doubles ranking as high as No. 209 and a singles ranking as high as No. 469.
In his first year at Illinois, Clark had a 17-12 singles record and helped the Illini to wins over a pair of ranked opponents – No. 16 Northwestern and No. 14 Michigan. He also helped the Illini to a season-high No. 17 in the ITA National Rankings.
He clinched multiple big victories for the Illini, including upsets over No. 1 USC and No. 7 Virginia during the ITA Indoor Championships and against No. 17 Ohio State in the 2021 Big Ten Championship. He was also named Big Ten Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week and All-Big Ten and advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA Singles Tournament.
Clark became the 16th Illini to win 100 career singles matches after defeating Nebraska's Albert Sprlak-Puk, 6-2, 6-0, on April 11, 2021.
Clark also was a three-time winner of the team's Fighting Illini Spirit Award (2017, '18, '19) and the winner of the team's Strength and Conditioning Award and Most Improved Player in 2018. He was voted recipient of Illinois Athletics' Fighting Illini Spirit Award in 2021.
During his five-year playing career for the Fighting Illini, the Tulsa, Oklahoma, native totaled 104 singles wins, a mark that ranks 14th in program history.
Dancer Pens Zhang to 2023 Signing Class
Jeremy Zhang | The Scots College | Sydney, Australia
Career-high ITF rank: 104
No. 1 ranked Australian for 2005
Played 2023 Junior Australian Open and made the Round of 16 in doubles
Played for Australia at 2019 ITF World Junior Teams Asia/Oceania Qualifying, finishing second
Has been the No. 1 2005 for Australia for around a year, previously was in the top three every year
Played at No. 1 spot for Scots College for Year 10, 11, 12
Won the GPS 1sts Premiership with Scots College three times (2019, 2021, 2022) for the first time in 40+ years.
Is currently playing J1 Thailand then J1 Malaysia
His goal is to build ITF ranking so that he can compete in the juniors at French Open, Wimbledon, US Open for the rest of the year before heading to college in the fall
