Qualifying championships and results
Tuscaloosa, AL – The 2025 ITA Wheelchair Individual National Championships have concluded in Tuscaloosa and the four players who will qualify for the 2025 NCAA Individual Championships have now been determined. Marking the second consecutive year of holding the Individual National Championship in the fall in line with the NCAA Division I Individual Championship pilot program, six programs in Alabama came together to determine which players would earn their spots in the semifinals to be played in November.
In addition to the A Singles draw from which the four qualifiers emerge, the 2025 ITA Wheelchair Individual National Championships also included a B Singles draw and a C Singles draw in which players completed their draws in full and were crowned national champions at those draw levels.
Caiden Baxter (Michigan), Francesco Felici (Alabama), Jacob Wald (Michigan) and Maximus Wong (Arizona) earned their spots in Lake Nona for later this fall. With both reaching the semifinals of the ITA Wheelchair Individual National Championship, they will now play Nov. 22-23 at the USTA National Campus alongside the nation’s top NCAA Division I college tennis players.
Meanwhile, in the B Singles Draw and C Singles Draw, Max Barbier (Alabama) came out on top with a three-set battle in the finals, while Xander Frost (Arizona) won the C Draw and lost only five matches over the weekend.
To read more about the advanced players and national champions of the B Singles Draw and C Singles Draw, continue scrolling to the sections below:
Players advancing to compete in the NCAA Individual Championships
Caiden Baxter, University of Michigan: Caiden will return to the NCAA Individual Championships in 2025 after reaching the finals last fall in Waco. As a founding member of the University of Michigan’s Adaptive Sports Program, Baxter has set the standard for the wheelchair tennis team in Ann Arbor, rising to No. 2 in the ITA Collegiate Singles Rankings and No. 1 in the nation at the amateur level. Now with some extra firepower on his side in Jacob Wald, who had previously played at Virginia, Michigan was the team to beat this fall season after beating defending ITA Collegiate Wheelchair Team Champions Alabama a few months ago.
Francesco Felici, University of Alabama: A former Grand Slam Junior Championship finalist, Felici has been one of the most dominant players at the collegiate level since enrolling at Alabama. As the reigning champion of the ITA Collegiate Wheelchair Singles Championship, Felici helped lead the Crimson Tide to an ITA Collegiate Wheelchair Team Championship at the USTA National Campus last spring. During last weekend’s qualifiers, Felici showed his skills in every game, dropping just two games in 26 games played on his home court in Tuscaloosa.
Jacob Wald, University of Michigan: Jacob has been one of the rising stars of collegiate wheelchair tennis at Virginia for the past three years and has attempted to once again take the next step in his development since moving to Michigan this summer. Wald rises in the draws every year, from the C Singles Draw to the B Singles Draw and finally the A Singles Draw. Throughout his studies, Wald has continually grown throughout the year. Reaching the semifinals of the qualifiers, Wald defeated Arizona’s Eric Court in the quarterfinals to clinch his spot alongside the nation’s top Division I athletes at the NCAA Division I Individual Championships.
Maximus Wong, University of Arizona: As one of the top incoming players in the collegiate wheelchair space, Wong has built on his junior success during his first semester at Arizona. Wong played wheelchair tennis from an early age and competed in the US Open Wheelchair Juniors Championship earlier this fall, giving him valuable experience on the biggest stages. Familiar with the fact that the USTA National Campus has sometimes competed with Team USA as a junior, Wong will look to continue his big start to his collegiate career at Lake Nona in November alongside these other semifinalists.
B Singles Draw National Champion
Max Barbier, University of Alabama: Now in his fifth year as a contributor to the Alabama wheelchair tennis team, Barbier won his first ITA Wheelchair Individual National Championship last weekend, defeating Evan Heller (Auburn) in the final. Runner-up in the B Singles Draw in the 2023-2024 season, Barbier has competed in two ITA Collegiate Wheelchair Team Championships in Alabama, including one last year. As the defending champion, Barbier will look to combine again this season with Felici and Martha Harris to reach the pinnacle of collegiate wheelchair tennis later in the spring.
C Singles Draw National Champion
Xander Frost, University of Arizona: Frost started his collegiate career just a few months ago and is already making waves in the collegiate space by winning the C Singles Draw at the ITA Wheelchair Individual National Championships. Part of three highly ranked junior players who enrolled in Arizona this fall, Frost was one of four Bearcats to compete in Tuscaloosa. Frost has been playing wheelchair tennis since he was seven and has long loved the game. He was heavily recruited by many top programs coming out of high school. With the individual portion of the season complete, Frost will look to play a key role for his team in the spring as Arizona looks to be one of the top programs once again this season.
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