UVA on Tour

Have you ever wondered where the best players on tour are coming from?  Most of the best players in the world have come from top-flight tennis programs like IMG Academy in Florida and Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in France.  These programs allow young players to train and prepare for the rigors of the pro tour.  In the past, a more traditional pathway to play on tour was to gain experience and compete through the collegiate system.  Great American players like John McEnroe (Stanford), John Isner (Georgia) and Ben Shelton (Florida) followed this path to greatness. 

The University of Virginia is one of those programs that is currently recruiting and developing professionals ready for the tour. 

Former top 10 players Emma Navarro and Danielle Collins have recently been very successful on the WTA Tour.  Emma is currently ranked 26 in the world, obtaining a high ranking of 8 (2024), winning a tour-level event in each of the past 3 years: Hobart in 2024, Merida in 2025 and Strasbourg in 2026.  Danielle has had even more success on tour, reaching a career high of 7 (2022) in the world after reaching the finals of the 2022 Australian Open and winning the 2024 Miami Open. 

Both players had outstanding careers at UVA.  Emma’s record was an impressive 51-3 in singles, leading her to be named ACC Player of the Year in 2022.  Danielle also had a superlative career at UVA with a record of 101-20, finishing as the top-ranked collegiate player in 2016.  The UVA standouts won national collegiate titles; Danielle winning 2 in 2014 and 2016, and Emma winning in 2021 (as a freshman). 

On the men’s side, Brandon Nakashima and Rafael Jodar each spent one season at UVA before foregoing their final years of eligibility for the pros.  While at UVA, Brandon went 17 – 5 in 2020, winning the ACC Freshman of the Year award.  Like Brandon, Rafael went 19 – 3 in his freshman year, becoming ACC Freshman of the Year and ITA National Rookie of the Year in 2025.   For both players, each has shown immediate success on tour; Brandon winning his first ATP title at San Diego in 2022.  He would later go undefeated while winning the NEXT Gen ATP Finals in 2022.  He is currently ranked 31 in the world as one of the promising American men’s players on tour.  Rafael is showing even greater promise, winning his first ATP title at Marrakech in 2026.  Jodar has steadily climbed in the ranking to his current ranking of 15 after losing in the finals of the Mubadala Citi Open this past weekend. 

Brandon and Rafael at 2026 Citi Open

Then there is Joao Fonseca.   Fonseca never played a match for UVA but was recruited by and committed to play in Charlottesville. At 17, after winning the 2023 US Open junior championship and reaching the quarters of the Rio Open in 2024, Fonseca gave up his college eligibility to turn professional.  He is currently ranked 27 in the world and is highly regarded as one of the most promising players on tour.  UVA recently won the 2026 ITA National Championship.  Imagine if Rafael and Joao had stayed on?  The UVA team would have been one of the best collegiate teams in recent memory.   

This is what makes the UVA program interesting. The women have used college play to prepare for careers on tour.  The men have needed even shorter seasons at UVA before making the leap to the pros.  The program has been identifying and playing with professional-level talent for a few years while providing a legitimate pathway to the WTA and ATP tours.  How many more future professionals are already preparing to play in Charlottesville?