Indiana College Tennis Should Put American Kids First

Tennis Anyone?

Hoosier Enquirer | Opinion

First of all putting America first is not racist or xenophobia. It is what is expected in country with boarders. And tennis is not likely worse than soccer or volleyball or other sports.

Indiana colleges and universities should be developing American tennis players, opening doors for young people who grow up on this country’s courts and giving Indiana families a reasonable opportunity to see their children compete at the collegiate level. Recruiting internationally can enrich a program. But when an Indiana university’s men’s roster lists seven overseas hometowns among eight players, its athletic department should expect a pointed question: Where is the commitment to developing America’s kids?

The public universities need to have legislation to put America first. That is what people voted for!

A Hoosier Enquirer review of official 2026–27 Division I tennis rosters found 131 players across 15 men’s and women’s teams at eight Indiana institutions. Of those, 47, or 35.9 percent, listed hometowns outside the United States. Among men, the figure was 26 of 63 players, or 41.3 percent. Among women, it was 21 of 68, or 30.9 percent.

Those figures describe hometowns, not citizenship. Public rosters generally do not disclose whether a player is an American citizen, a permanent resident or an international student..

They also do not reveal how scholarship dollars are distributed. The findings therefore cannot establish that 35.9 percent of players are foreign students, or that any particular American applicant lost a scholarship.

Nevertheless, they raise a legitimate question about the balance between recruiting established talent abroad and developing players at home.

Purdue’s men’s team presents the sharpest example: seven of eight players list overseas hometowns, an 87.5 percent share. They are Lorenzo Balducci of Italy, Liam Channon of England, Nour Fathalla of Egypt, Nikola Jovic of Serbia, Mateusz Miton of Poland, Maj Premzl of Slovenia and Stefan Simeunovic of Canada. Jacob Lee, whose hometown is Johns Creek, Georgia, is the sole player listing a U.S. hometown.

Purdue’s women list four overseas hometowns among eight players: Sophya Devas of England, Nehir Dogan and Ece Gencer of Turkey, and Aleksandra Kyselova, whose hometown Purdue identifies as Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine.

Ball State’s men list five overseas hometowns among nine players, or 55.6 percent: Jenson Bicanic, Andrei Caragea, Zack Kimelman and Jeremy Milette of Canada, and Maksym Ivashko of Slovakia. Its women list four among nine, or 44.4 percent: Alana Bristow of Great Britain, Priyanka Rana of India, Anya Tkachyk of Canada and Jemima Williams-Phillips of Australia.

Southern Indiana has the same 55.6 percent share on its men’s roster. Mathys Bove lists a hometown in France, Aaron Dawson in England, Jy Hibbert and Kalani Hibbert in Australia, and Eduardo Trovo Vieira da Silva in Brazil. Four of its eight women list overseas hometowns: Sofia Davidoff and Anais Negrail in France, Antonia Ferrarini in Brazil and Enna Krnjic in Canada.

At IU Indianapolis, four of eight men list overseas hometowns: Chris Cusick in Northern Ireland, Ellison Minnaar in England, Owen Nguyen in Canada and Pumiphat Sukkho in Thailand. All seven women list U.S. hometowns.

That contrast within the same university underscores why each team’s recruiting priorities deserve examination.

Notre Dame’s men list four overseas hometowns among ten players: Jonas Kucera of the Czech Republic, Peter Nad of Slovakia, Luis Llorens Saracho of Spain and Kyran Magimay of England. Two of its ten women list overseas hometowns: Lily Rochon of Canada and Mari-Louise Van Zyl of South Africa. Those shares are 40 percent for the men and 20 percent for the women.

IU Bloomington offers another striking contrast. All ten men list American hometowns, while five of ten women list overseas hometowns: Gabby Gregg of Australia, Ran Inaba of Japan, Li Hsin Lin of Taiwan, Nicole Sifuentes of Mexico and Alessandra Teodosescu of Italy. Substantial domestic representation plainly exists within Indiana’s Division I tennis programs.

Butler’s men’s and women’s teams each list only one overseas hometown among nine players, an 11.1 percent share: Riccardo Baldi of Italy on the men’s team and Sienna Miles of Canada on the women’s team. Valparaiso, which sponsors women’s tennis but has no current men’s team, lists one overseas hometown among seven players: Jolene Fernandes of Canada, giving the women a 14.3 percent share.

The players’ countries above refer to their listed hometowns. Their names identify the publicly listed roster entries underlying the counts; they are not evidence of citizenship or a basis for criticism of the students themselves.

|University|Men:overseas/total| Men: overseas %

|Women: overseas/total| Women: overseas %|

|-----------|----------:|------M----:|----------------:|-----W---:|

|Purdue     |7 / 8          |87.5%        |4 / 8      |. 50.0%           

|Ball State  |5 / 9       |55.6%          |4 / 9      | 44.4% 

|Southern Indiana|5 / 9 |55.6%    |4 / 8       | 50.0% 

|IU Indianapolis |4 / 8    |50.0%      |0 / 7      |0.0%  

|Notre Dame      |4 / 10 |40.0%    |2 / 10    | 20.0%

|Butler          |1 / 9      |11.1%       |1 / 9     | 11.1% 

|IU Bloomington  |0 / 10   0.0%     |5 / 10    | 50.0%

|Valparaiso  |No men’s team   |     |1 / 7         |14.3%           

|*Total  | 26 / 63 men  | 41.3% I 21 / 68   | 30.9%

These differences matter. Athletic departments should explain their own recruiting priorities instead of treating international recruitment as an unquestionable necessity.

HE sees a profoundly problematic imbalance when an American college program draws overwhelmingly from overseas while its contribution to the domestic development pipeline remains unclear. Winning matches is part of a coach’s job, but a university’s educational mission should reach beyond assembling the strongest available lineup.

Athletic departments should be embarrassed if they can describe their worldwide recruiting network in detail but cannot show what they are doing to help talented American teenagers reach college tennis.

Families invest years in lessons, equipment, tournament travel and practice. Many young players pursue that commitment alongside demanding schoolwork, hoping collegiate tennis will offer an opportunity to keep improving. Universities cannot promise every aspiring player a roster spot. They can, however, make developing domestic talent a visible institutional priority rather than leaving families to wonder whether the most meaningful opportunities are being sought elsewhere.

Putting American kids first should begin with concrete commitments: sustained partnerships with Indiana high school coaches and community tennis programs, affordable development clinics, clear recruiting standards and meaningful evaluations for qualified domestic prospects. Public universities, in particular, should explain how their tennis programs serve young people in the state whose residents support the institution.

Private universities should be equally willing to demonstrate that their educational mission includes cultivating talent close to home.

Transparency belongs in that commitment. Schools should publish aggregate information on domestic and international recruitment, scholarship allocations and participation by Indiana players, using clearly defined categories that protect individual students’ privacy. Such reporting would let families assess actual opportunities instead of trying to infer citizenship or financial aid from a hometown on a website.

The responsibility rests with university leaders and athletic departments. International players accept opportunities that schools offer them, and they deserve respectful treatment. Our criticism concerns the institutions making those recruiting decisions and whether they are investing enough effort in the development of American players.

This roster snapshot does not prove that international recruitment is increasing over time; that would require comparisons with earlier seasons. It does show that some Indiana programs rely heavily on players listing overseas hometowns. HE believes those schools owe families an explanation—and a stronger commitment to American junior tennis. Indiana’s colleges should take pride in helping develop America’s kids, and their recruiting priorities should make that commitment unmistakable.

Reporting sources and methodology

Official 2026–27 rosters checked October 4, 2026. Listed players were counted once; coaches and staff were excluded. Percentages are weighted by player count. Hometown is not a measure of citizenship, visa status, scholarship funding or birthplace. No historical trend or displacement of an individual applicant was established.