University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia’s Signing Class Ranks No. 1 Nationally
June 01, 2023 | Men's Tennis
ATHENS, Ga. – Fresh off a run to the NCAA Elite Eight and a national championship in singles by redshirt-freshman Ethan Quinn, the University of Georgia men's tennis team has inked the nation's No.1 signing class according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.
The Bulldogs welcome five players in the fall, including the No. 1 prospect in the class, Alex Michelsen, as well as fellow blue-chip and the sixth-ranked player Ignacio Buse. Five-star Davis Taylor and four stars Parker Jacques and Parker Mariencheck round out the signees.
Georgia's incoming freshmen finished with 489 of 525 possible points from the Tennis Recruiting Network voting panel, earning 13 of 21 first-place votes to secure the top class. Stanford, Tennessee, Florida and Princeton round out the top five.
Alex Michelsen | Laurel Springs School | Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Michelsen, the top-ranked American-born player in the 2023 class according to tennisrecruiting.net, comes from Aliso Viejo, Calif., and is a graduate of Laurel Springs School. He holds an International Tennis Federation Junior world ranking of No. 25 and has one of the highest Universal Tennis Rating among all 18-and-under players internationally with a 14.65.
Michelsen climbed inside the ATP Top 300 at No. 262 in the world after defeating a top-200 player in main draw at the Tallahassee Challenger, reaching the quarterfinals. This ranking is a new career-best for the 18-year-old, who also just finished in the finals of the Calabasas 25k.
Michelsen's loaded resume is highlighted with a 2022 Grand Slam doubles title in the boys' division of Wimbledon. He also was a 2022 Australian Open doubles finalist, the 2022 International Tennis Federation Easter Bowl champion in both singles and doubles and was a quarterfinalist in singles and finalist in doubles at the 2022 USTA Boys' Nationals in Kalamazoo, Mich. He also advanced to at least the quarterfinals in four ITF Futures events this calendar year.
He holds an impressive 22-10 record at the ITF Futures and Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger level in 2022, including reaching the finals of the Winston Salem 15k on Nov. 13, 2022, and winning the singles and doubles titles at the East Lansing 15k on Nov. 20, 2022.
The son of Erik and Sondra Michelsen, Alex comes from a family of tennis players. His dad Erik was a three-time All-American for the men's tennis team at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., winning the 1983 Division III singles and team title with the school. His mother Sandra also had a storied career at San Diego State. She anchored the top court during her junior and senior seasons, helping lead the Aztecs to a conference championship her senior year and capped off her career with the National ITA Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship in 1989.
Ignacio Buse | Lima, Peru
Buse currently ranks as the sixth-best player in 2023 and holds a 13.54 Universal Tennis Rating. The Lima, Peru native currently resides in Bradenton, Fla.
He holds a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals singles ranking of 665 and 498 in doubles. He peaked in the International Tennis Federation Junior World rankings at No. 9 in the world, the highest ranking of any class of 2023 signee.
Buse has a loaded resume from his tournament accomplishments as well. He finished as the singles champion at the ITF Grade 1 event in his hometown of Lima and won the 2022 ITF 15k Cancun Doubles title. Further, Buse finished as a 2022 French Open finalist in Doubles, in the ITF Lima 15k and he has played in each of the four junior Grand Slam events.
Parker Jacques | Madison Academy | Huntsville, Ala.
Coming from Madison Academy, Jacques was the 97th-best prospect in the class of 2022 and a four-star recruit with a UTR of 11.55. He helped lead his high school to its first-ever state championship in 2021 in the Alabama High School Athletic Association 4A-5A class. During his junior season, Jacques also won the state singles title, winning the championship with a straight-set 6-0, 6-0 win.
Jacques followed in his dad's footsteps by winning both the singles and doubles state titles for Madison Academy and playing collegiate tennis for Georgia. His father, Eddie, was the top-ranked player coming out of high school in 1991, helping the Bulldogs win three-straight conference titles while in Athens, was an NCAA All-American in 1997 and was a regional winner of the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award as a collegiate athlete.
Parker Mariencheck | Crossroads FLEX Academy | Raleigh, N.C.
A four-star prospect, Mariencheck is the 103rd-ranked player in the 2023 class with 18 wins against other four and three-star players, a pair of victories against players in the ITF Juniors World Rankings and an 11.11 Universal Tennis Rating.
The Raleigh, N.C. native has been ranked a top-10 junior in his home state for the past four years. He was a sixth-place finisher at the Winter Nationals Boys' 18s in Florence, S.C. in 2022 and finished in the top 64 of a 256-person field at the Boys' 18s National Championships this past August in Kalamazoo, Mich. His favorite tennis player is Rafael Nadal and his favorite athlete outside of tennis is Kobe Bryant.
Mariencheck native comes from a family of Bulldogs. His father Bobby played for Georgia men's tennis from 1990 until his graduation in 1994, earning All-American status three times and advancing to the 1991 NCAA Doubles Tournament semifinals with partner Wade McGuire. His mother Nikole was also a member of the graduating class of 1994 from UGA.
Davis Taylor | UTA Tennis Academy | Capstone Academy | Atlanta
Taylor is a five-star recruit with a 11.47 UTR and currently the 66th-ranked prospect on tennisrecruiting.net, peaking at No. 43. The incoming freshman has an impressive resume, reaching the semifinal round of the Atlanta Junior ITF event in October 2022 and the quarterfinals of the Horgen Switzerland Junior ITF event in September.
Taylor also previously earned a Gold Ball at the UTSA National Championship for the Boys' 14 field, finished top-15 in the nation in the 12s and 14 s field and reached the quarterfinals in doubles for both the Boys' 14 National Claycourts and Boys' 14 National Hardcourts. He finished fourth in doubles at the Boys 16s National Winter Championships at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla.
Coming from the UTA Tennis Academy, the high school senior holds an unweighted 3.8 grade point average while taking all honors courses at Capstone Academy for academics. Davis is the son of Marianna Land, a former letter winner for the Georgia women's tennis team and a member of Jeff Wallace's 1994 national championship team, as well as the 1994 and 1995 national indoor championship teams.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men's Tennis on social media on Twitter and Instagram @UGATennis, on Facebook @UGAMensTennis, and on web at GeorgiaDogs.com.
The Bulldogs welcome five players in the fall, including the No. 1 prospect in the class, Alex Michelsen, as well as fellow blue-chip and the sixth-ranked player Ignacio Buse. Five-star Davis Taylor and four stars Parker Jacques and Parker Mariencheck round out the signees.
Georgia's incoming freshmen finished with 489 of 525 possible points from the Tennis Recruiting Network voting panel, earning 13 of 21 first-place votes to secure the top class. Stanford, Tennessee, Florida and Princeton round out the top five.
Alex Michelsen | Laurel Springs School | Aliso Viejo, Calif.
Michelsen, the top-ranked American-born player in the 2023 class according to tennisrecruiting.net, comes from Aliso Viejo, Calif., and is a graduate of Laurel Springs School. He holds an International Tennis Federation Junior world ranking of No. 25 and has one of the highest Universal Tennis Rating among all 18-and-under players internationally with a 14.65.
Michelsen climbed inside the ATP Top 300 at No. 262 in the world after defeating a top-200 player in main draw at the Tallahassee Challenger, reaching the quarterfinals. This ranking is a new career-best for the 18-year-old, who also just finished in the finals of the Calabasas 25k.
Michelsen's loaded resume is highlighted with a 2022 Grand Slam doubles title in the boys' division of Wimbledon. He also was a 2022 Australian Open doubles finalist, the 2022 International Tennis Federation Easter Bowl champion in both singles and doubles and was a quarterfinalist in singles and finalist in doubles at the 2022 USTA Boys' Nationals in Kalamazoo, Mich. He also advanced to at least the quarterfinals in four ITF Futures events this calendar year.
He holds an impressive 22-10 record at the ITF Futures and Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger level in 2022, including reaching the finals of the Winston Salem 15k on Nov. 13, 2022, and winning the singles and doubles titles at the East Lansing 15k on Nov. 20, 2022.
The son of Erik and Sondra Michelsen, Alex comes from a family of tennis players. His dad Erik was a three-time All-American for the men's tennis team at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., winning the 1983 Division III singles and team title with the school. His mother Sandra also had a storied career at San Diego State. She anchored the top court during her junior and senior seasons, helping lead the Aztecs to a conference championship her senior year and capped off her career with the National ITA Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship in 1989.
Ignacio Buse | Lima, Peru
Buse currently ranks as the sixth-best player in 2023 and holds a 13.54 Universal Tennis Rating. The Lima, Peru native currently resides in Bradenton, Fla.
He holds a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals singles ranking of 665 and 498 in doubles. He peaked in the International Tennis Federation Junior World rankings at No. 9 in the world, the highest ranking of any class of 2023 signee.
Buse has a loaded resume from his tournament accomplishments as well. He finished as the singles champion at the ITF Grade 1 event in his hometown of Lima and won the 2022 ITF 15k Cancun Doubles title. Further, Buse finished as a 2022 French Open finalist in Doubles, in the ITF Lima 15k and he has played in each of the four junior Grand Slam events.
Parker Jacques | Madison Academy | Huntsville, Ala.
Coming from Madison Academy, Jacques was the 97th-best prospect in the class of 2022 and a four-star recruit with a UTR of 11.55. He helped lead his high school to its first-ever state championship in 2021 in the Alabama High School Athletic Association 4A-5A class. During his junior season, Jacques also won the state singles title, winning the championship with a straight-set 6-0, 6-0 win.
Jacques followed in his dad's footsteps by winning both the singles and doubles state titles for Madison Academy and playing collegiate tennis for Georgia. His father, Eddie, was the top-ranked player coming out of high school in 1991, helping the Bulldogs win three-straight conference titles while in Athens, was an NCAA All-American in 1997 and was a regional winner of the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship and Leadership Award as a collegiate athlete.
Parker Mariencheck | Crossroads FLEX Academy | Raleigh, N.C.
A four-star prospect, Mariencheck is the 103rd-ranked player in the 2023 class with 18 wins against other four and three-star players, a pair of victories against players in the ITF Juniors World Rankings and an 11.11 Universal Tennis Rating.
The Raleigh, N.C. native has been ranked a top-10 junior in his home state for the past four years. He was a sixth-place finisher at the Winter Nationals Boys' 18s in Florence, S.C. in 2022 and finished in the top 64 of a 256-person field at the Boys' 18s National Championships this past August in Kalamazoo, Mich. His favorite tennis player is Rafael Nadal and his favorite athlete outside of tennis is Kobe Bryant.
Mariencheck native comes from a family of Bulldogs. His father Bobby played for Georgia men's tennis from 1990 until his graduation in 1994, earning All-American status three times and advancing to the 1991 NCAA Doubles Tournament semifinals with partner Wade McGuire. His mother Nikole was also a member of the graduating class of 1994 from UGA.
Davis Taylor | UTA Tennis Academy | Capstone Academy | Atlanta
Taylor is a five-star recruit with a 11.47 UTR and currently the 66th-ranked prospect on tennisrecruiting.net, peaking at No. 43. The incoming freshman has an impressive resume, reaching the semifinal round of the Atlanta Junior ITF event in October 2022 and the quarterfinals of the Horgen Switzerland Junior ITF event in September.
Taylor also previously earned a Gold Ball at the UTSA National Championship for the Boys' 14 field, finished top-15 in the nation in the 12s and 14 s field and reached the quarterfinals in doubles for both the Boys' 14 National Claycourts and Boys' 14 National Hardcourts. He finished fourth in doubles at the Boys 16s National Winter Championships at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla.
Coming from the UTA Tennis Academy, the high school senior holds an unweighted 3.8 grade point average while taking all honors courses at Capstone Academy for academics. Davis is the son of Marianna Land, a former letter winner for the Georgia women's tennis team and a member of Jeff Wallace's 1994 national championship team, as well as the 1994 and 1995 national indoor championship teams.
Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Bulldogs by following UGA Men's Tennis on social media on Twitter and Instagram @UGATennis, on Facebook @UGAMensTennis, and on web at GeorgiaDogs.com.
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