May 22, 2002

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Jesse Witten, a freshman on the University of Kentucky men’s tennis team, grabbed an opening round victory in the NCAA Singles Championships in College Station, Texas. In addition to his second-round advancement, Witten also received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Rookie of the Year Award announced at the annual tournament banquet on May 22.

In his first round match, Witten faced the University of Arizona’s Steve Capriati, brother of one of the country’s top women’s tennis professionals, Jennifer Capriati. Witten, seeded fourth in the championships, cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 straight set victory for advancement into the second round on Thursday, May 23. The next opponent for Witten is Stanford’s Scott Lipsky, who also grabbed a straight-set win in the first round over Florian Marquardt of Virginia Commonwealth.

Making UK tennis history, Witten was honored with the ITA National Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the only Wildcat to earn such an honor. This season, Witten led the Wildcats to a No. 9 national team ranking with an 18-9 overall record at the No. 1 singles spot in the Kentucky line-up. Ranked sixth in the country, Witten was also named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year. Witten began his collegiate career by advancing to the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Championships last October, the first national event of the season.

“This is a great honor for Jesse to recieve,” Coach Dennis Emery said. “He has worked so hard all season to be where he is at right now and to see him be honored nationally for that is remarkable.”

Times for second round action were not known prior to release.