Men's Tennis Adds Top-Ranked Recruit Ryotaro Matsumura
May 1, 2015
LEXINGTON, Ky. —
The University of Kentucky men’s tennis team announced the signing of Ryotaro Matsumura on Friday afternoon, one of the most highly-touted recruits in the nation, and the highest-ranked player to sign with the Wildcats since 2001.
Matsumura signs as the second-highest ranked player in Kentucky history, only behind current UK assistant coach, Matt Emery, who was ranked as high as No. 12 in the world back in 2001. Matsumura has been ranked in the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) junior world rankings as high as No. 42 in the world.
“We are excitedto welcome Ryotaro into our family here at Kentucky,” Cedric Kauffmann said, who will be entering his fourth year as head coach of Kentucky in 2015-16. “He is as an established junior player as there is out there and has the experience on the biggest stages in junior tennis. He is truly a hard worker, and we will work hard to help him achieve his goals in college, the next level of tennis, and in life. He will be a great Kentucky teammate and can make an immediate impact in singles and doubles right away.”
Matsumura hails from Japan, where he has competed in all four junior grand slam events, with huis best result coming Down Under at the 2014 Australian Open, where he lost to world No. 1, and now top-120 professional ATP player, Alexander Zverev, 9-7 in the third set.
He also advanced to the second round of the World Youth Olympic Games, defeating world No. 12, and ATP professional, Marcelo Zormann in the event.
“We are incredibly excited about Ryotaro joining our family here at Kentucky,” UK assistant coach and former UK standout Matt Emery said. “Ryotaro is a great athlete with an uncanny feel for the game. But, more importantly, he knows how to win, and how to win on the biggest of stages. Three things stuck out to me in the recruiting process with Ryotaro. First, with nine wins over top-25 players in the world, he has the ability to beat anybody. Secondly, he is an incredibly hard worker who is very consistent day-to-day in achieving his goals. And lastly, he still has tremendous room for improvement. We can’t wait to get him on campus and start working with him to achieve his goals.”
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