Columbia’s Michael Zheng makes College Tennis “GOAT” talk with NCAA Singles title defense – World Tennis Magazine

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In a dramatic three-set showdown at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Columbia University senior Michael Zheng wrote his name into the university’s tennis record books. The Montville, NJ native defeated SMU’s Trevor Svajda 6–4, 1–6, 6–3 to win the 2025 NCAA Division I men’s singles championship, becoming just the eighth player in NCAA history (since 1946) to win back-to-back singles titles – cementing himself as the all-time leader in NCAA tournament match wins with 19.

Going into the finals, Zheng carried the weight of expectation — and not just because he was the defending champion, but because he entered the final already tied for most NCAA wins in individual competition. And he knew exactly where he stood on the edge of history, admitting that he heard all the history he was playing for in his NCAA finals after listening to college tennis expert John Parsons discuss it on his “No Ad, No Problem” podcast. With this victory over Svajda, Zheng jumped to 19 victories in the NCAA singles tournament, surpassing Virginia’s Somdev Devvarman, who had set the previous mark at 18.

His win also makes him the only eighth man ever to win consecutive NCAA singles titles since 1946. That feat hadn’t been accomplished since USC’s Steve Johnson in 2011-12. The other members of the illustrious group are Devvarman of Virginia (2007-2008), Matias Boeker of the University of Georgia (2001-2002), Mikael Pernfors of the University of Georgia (1984-1985), Dennis Ralston of USC (1963-1964) and Ham Richardson of Tulane (1953-1954).

“These guys are history makers themselves. It is certainly an honor to work with such names,” Zheng said after his victory. “It’s definitely an amazing achievement,” he continued when speaking to the USTA media team about his record-breaking efforts. “It’s definitely not something I would have thought about in my freshman year.”

In Zheng’s freshman year in 2023, he won two singles matches in the NCAA singles tournament to reach the round of 16 and the following year he won five matches in reaching the NCAA singles finals, falling to Alabama’s Filip Planinsek in the final. Last fall, in the first of a two-year pilot program to play the individual NCAA events in the fall of November, Zheng won the title by defeating Michigan State’s Ozan Baris in the final.

An ironic twist to Zheng’s second NCAA win is that he almost didn’t qualify for the tournament. Zheng, like many top collegiate players, uses the fall season to play lower-level Futures or Challenger professional events. Zheng won two Challenger-level tournaments in professional tennis this fall, in Tiburon, California and Columbus, Ohio, raising his ATP singles rankings to No. 185. However, Zheng didn’t play any collegiate events in the fall — which were used to determine eligibility for the NCAA Championships — until he spontaneously decided to actually try to qualify for the NCAAs after losing in the first round to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Due to his lack of collegiate results in the fall – and despite his No. 185 ATP pro ranking and defending champion status – he was denied seeding for the tournament by the NCAA Tennis Committee.

Zheng’s path to the title was not easy. In the semifinals, he defeated Princeton’s Paul Inchauspe in a tight three-set match (6–3, 5–7, 6–2) to earn his spot in the final. Svajda was also a dangerous opponent, achieving a No. 386 ATP ranking in singles, buoyed by reaching the ATP Challenger final in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in September. The former USTA Boys’ 18 runner-up advanced to the finals by dominating NC State’s Martin Borisiouk 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals. In doing so, he became the first Mustang to reach an NCAA final since Richey Reneberg in 1986. Svajda, whose older brother Zach Novak extended Djokovic to four sets in the second round of the US Open earlier this year, played with a heavy heart after the death of his father Tom last month.

In the final, Zheng took advantage of winning the last two games of the first set with sudden death deuce points to break Svajda for the 5–4 lead and then hold another deuce point to close out the set. But Svajda roared back in the second set, breaking Zheng early and using that momentum to make it 6-1. The decisive third set was a nerve-wracking test. Zheng, the four-time All-American, elevated his game, serving fiercely and breaking Svajda twice to build a lead. After closing the break for a 4–2 lead, he held firm under pressure and closed the break at 6–3. The last two points of the match can be seen here: https://youtu.be/7tWRrqnUosg?si=zkhYX6fZcJk8TAa5

This championship is more than just a trophy for Zheng: it caps off a storied career at Columbia. The senior is a four-time All-American and the first in Ivy League men’s tennis history to earn this distinction. He also won the ITA National Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award in 2025 and was twice Ivy League Player of the Year (2023 and 2025).

Before his back-to-back titles, Zheng had already broken ground: In 2024, he became Columbia’s first NCAA men’s singles champion of the modern era, and the first from the Ivy League in more than a century. Zheng’s achievement transcends individual glory. For Columbia, a school not historically synonymous with national tennis dominance, his success underscores how one player can transform a program’s identity. For Ivy League tennis, Zheng’s back-to-back titles break long-standing barriers; the last Ivy man to win a singles crown was Lucien Williams of Yale in 1922.

Zheng will travel to Australia in January to play in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open before returning to Columbia to play team matches for the Lions squad in New York City and perhaps lead the Lions team to an NCAA team title. He will also be invited to play in the US Tennis Association’s new American Collegiate Wild Card tournament – ​​also played at the USTA National Campus – where he would earn wild card entry into the main draw of the US Open with a tournament win. Last year, Zheng lost to Wake Forest’s Stefan Dostanic in the final round of that event.