Ben Shelton and Peyton Stearns are giving it the New College Try in the pros

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NEW YORK—“You always knew, when you played an American, or someone who played in college, they were going to be tough,” former Top 10 pro Andrea Petkovic said over the weekend, as she watched 21-year-old Ohio native Peyton Stearns in Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Petkovic was impressed by Stearns’s “presence” on court, and it wasn’t hard to see why. The former University of Texas standout—Stearns won the 2022 NCAA singles title and led UT to the team title—was playing in just her second US Open main draw, and she was facing Marketa Vondrousova, who won Wimbledon two months ago. But it was Stearns who had the confident strut and powerful, modern, inside-out forehand of a Top 10 player.

Something similar could have been said of another young American, Ben Shelton, when he was playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium the previous day. Much like Stearns, the 20-year-old Shelton helped the University of Florida to an NCAA title in 2021—he was playing fifth in the team’s lineup that year—and then won the NCAA singles title himself in 2022. Like Stearns, he was in just his second US Open main draw, and he was playing a more-experienced and higher-ranked opponent in Tommy Paul. But with his wide smile, 6’4” frame, 149-M.P.H. serves, and youthfully high-pitched “Yeahhh!” after his winning shots, Shelton was the guy who lit up the big stadium.

“God does wonders,” he said as he gazed up in awe at the 23,000 people who had filled Ashe to watch him.

Stearns would eventually lose in three sets to Vondrousova. But since leaving college she has shot up the rankings much faster than even she expected.

“I told myself I wanted to be Top 75, and that happened pretty quickly,” she said last week. “Once I cracked that, I told myself I wanted to be Top 50.

“Well, I just did that by winning today. Now I have to make a new goal.”

Shelton has also rocketed up the charts, making the Australian Open quarterfinals in his first trip Down Under. On Tuesday night, he’ll play another Grand Slam quarterfinal, against countryman Frances Tiafoe.

Welcome to tennis’ New College Try. Both tours are populated by players who honed their games—and their attitudes—at American universities. Shelton, Stearns, Chris Eubanks, Danielle Collins, Cam Norrie, Francisco Cerundolo, Mackenzie McDonald, J.J. Wolf, Mayar Sherif and Emma Navarro are some of the players in the Top 100 who have spent time in collegiate programs.

Once upon a time, when pro careers were short and phenoms could burn out before they turned 22, going to college seemed like a waste of precious time for a top teenager. Now that the sport rewards adult physicality, and late-blooming Grand Slam champs are common, it makes more sense to put off the lonely rigors of the pro tour and join a team where everything is taken care of for you. The training facilities are free, and practice partners are plentiful.

As Petkovic said, you also learn how to compete in a certain way. In college, tennis is transformed from an individual, inward-directed sport into a tribal and social one. You play alongside your teammates, and in front of your fellow students. Noise, rowdiness, intimidating the opposing team: It’s all part of the game. You don’t just play for yourself; you play for your school and teammates as well, which means you’re less likely to give up even if it doesn’t seem to be your day.

You always knew, when you played an American, or someone who played in college, they were going to be tough. Andrea Petkovic

Shelton, for one, misses the unruliness and high spirits of college tennis.

“Obviously the pro game is very different than the college game,” he says. “The college game is much more obnoxious, people are screaming at all times. It’s not as much of a gentleman’s sport as it is out on tour. I’ve been kind of trying to find that balance.”

That less-than-gentlemanly atmosphere can produce fierce competitors and lively personalities. Collins is legendarily loud. Eubanks is charismatically loquacious. Norrie gets the most out of his game. And now Shelton and Stearns have brought their own upbeat swagger to the tours. Stearns says she even likes it when fans root against her in the pros, because it reminds her of road matches in college. She has something to fight against.

With the rise of Name Image Likeness (NIL), tennis players can also benefit financially by going to school, though the money in tennis will always pale in comparison to what’s available in football and basketball. The strangeness of the NCAA’s current rules was on display at the Open this year when Fiona Crawley, who plays for the University of North Carolina, won three qualifying matches before losing in the first round of the main draw. Despite the fact that college athletes can earn money from their names now, they still can’t get paid for their performances. So Crawley couldn’t take home her $81,000 first-round check.

“I would never take the money because I would never risk my eligibility,” Crawley told a small group of reporters, including my TENNIS.com colleague Ed McGrogan. “But to speak out against it, I worked my ass off this week, and it would be unreal to make some money when there’s football and basketball players making millions of dollars on NIL deals.”

Still, Crawley wouldn’t trade away her time at UNC.

“Carolina just gave me a feeling of comfort and family,” she said. “Not being able to bring my Carolina bag on court [because of US Open rules] crushed me.”

“I would make a million dollars and not take it, to go back to school.”