Competing as a graduate student-athlete is an option worth pursuing

Over the next three days, we'll look at how the coronavirus crisis has impacted one aspect of tennis in a particularly cruel way: the college game.

On Monday, Steve Tignor looks back on a season at the top for the University of Southern California men's team—before it suddenly stopped. He also speaks with Joel Drucker, in the #MondayRally, about the communal side of college tennis, and if it can be replicated elsewhere in the sport.

On Tuesday, Ed McGrogan writes about Fairfield University's women's team, which made an unlikely run to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. But in covering the mid-major school this March, he got an up-close look at the abrupt sadness that followed.

On Wednesday, Nina Pantic examines the NCAA's ruling that grants spring-sports athletes another year of college eligibility, if they so choose.

While everyone has been lamenting the disintegration of the 2020 ATP and WTA schedule due to COVID-19, the pandemic's impact on college tennis has been largely overlooked. For thousands of student-athletes across the United States, April would normally have been a very busy month as anticipation built for the NCAA Championship in May. With the coronavirus halting the spring season in its tracks in early March, the rest of the college tennis season evaporated.

To put the impact into perspective: just at the Division I level, there are 264 women’s teams and 256 men’s teams. At the now-cancelled NCAA Division I Tennis Championship in Stillwater, Okla., 64 men’s and 64 women’s teams would have competed.

“It’s disappointing to not see these young athletes be able to fulfill their dreams,” Katrina Adams said, on March 16. “Or at least play in their National Championships, not matter what sports they may be in.”

Katrina Adams with 2019 NCAA singles champion Estela Perez-Somarriba, from Miami. (Hurricane Sports)

Adams, an NCAA doubles champion for Northwestern in 1987, was looking forward to calling the Championships in May, which were going to be held at Oklahoma State for the very first time.

“I just feel for the athletes; I feel for the seniors even more so,” she said. “This is their last chance to perhaps win a national title and have that on their resumes for the rest of their lives.”

The good news is that college athletes went from the utter disappointment of seeing their hard work disappear to being handed a new opportunity. On March 30, the NCAA announced that all spring-sports students would get one more season of eligibility.

Usually, students have four years of athletic eligibility to use up within five years. Now there’s a sixth “bonus” year on the table, though it doesn’t guarantee the same financial aid or scholarship status that the athlete earned previously.

Stanford won the NCAA National Championship team title last May. (Stanford Athletics)

For underclassman, finding use for their extra season is less of a panic; seniors are the ones who have little time to react. Most planned to graduate in May and pursue real jobs, while some might have had their sights set on the pro tour, which is now postponed until at least July 13.

A number of successful pros on tour experienced full college careers, complete with proper senior sendoffs. John Isner, a four-time All-American at the University of Georgia, surprised many by returning for his senior year.

"I wanted to play NCAAs in front of my home crowd, and I also wanted to win a National Championship. And that's what we did," the world No. 21 said (the Georgia Bulldogs went 32-0 in 2007). "For whatever reasons I made the right decisions. Whether it's luck or whatnot, but it all worked out for me. I wouldn't change a thing."

John Isner enjoyed four successful years as a Georgia Bulldog. (Getty Images)

Fellow American Steve Johnson ended his college career at USC on a 72-match win streak, complete with an NCAA team and singles title. Virginia's Danielle Collins won her second NCAA singles title as a senior, which earned her a wild card into that summer's US Open.

These are memories they'll cherish forever, in their hearts and on their resumes. Pro tennis might not be the right path for many of this year's seniors, but at least the likes of Isner, Johnson and Collins—and countless more—had the choice to finish out their college careers as they wanted.

For tennis players impacted by COVID-19, there’s one option student-athletes might want to consider. A player could continue on their graduation schedule unchanged, and then use their extra season to compete as a graduate student at their school, or even at a different school.

On March 31, senior Estela Perez-Somarriba announced that she will stay at Miami for another year to defend her NCAA singles title, putting off turning pro. She'll start studying towards a master's degree, and play in professional tournaments during the fall.

"The fact that both the NCAA and the University of Miami gave me the chance to come back and finish my college career like I had always dreamed was very thoughtful," she wrote in an essay for Hurricane Sports. "Finishing my career like I had always thought I would is something that means a lot to me."

Estela Perez-Somarriba is currently ranked No. 871 on the pro tour. (Hurricane Sports)

While Perez-Somarriba is staying put, the "graduate transfer" rule also exists. It's used sparingly—or at least it was. A recent study showed that there were 599 graduate transfers out of 112,000 Division I student-athletes in 2018—about 0.53 percent.

Transfer rules vary from conference to conference, but it’s an option worth pursuing if higher education was ever a thought. Each division, conference and even university might handle cases differently. Case in point: the Ivy League has already stated that it will not allow graduates to compete. The biggest issue with the rule has been athletes bailing out of graduate programs after their eligibility runs out, though some programs might let a player stay on as a graduate assistant coach.

The double-degree whammy has been pulled off before. I know, because I did it. As a junior, with my eyes set on a journalism master’s degree and inspired by a multitude of other reasons, I rushed graduation from UCLA from May 2012 to December of 2011, and started playing for the University of Missouri in January of 2012. A plan that felt absolutely crazy at first came to fruition with the careful guidance of both schools—who were both more than willing to help.

Of course, there are possible roadblocks on this unorthodox road: some schools don’t allow one-year transfers, others might just not want to invest in a player with only one season of use to them, and the graduate rule itself has a number of caveats.

But the trouble could be worth it. When the dust settled in 2014, I walked away with four nearly full years of college tennis and two very full degrees.

At the undergraduate or graduate level, it’s called student-athlete for a reason.