Tennis
2023-24 TCU Men’s Tennis Season Recap
The TCU men’s tennis team achieved glory during the 2023-24 season, winning the first NCAA National Championship in program history. The Horned Frogs took down longtime Big 12 Conference rival Texas 4-3 in an epic finals matchup that featured Sebastian Gorzny upsetting Jonas Braswell 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 at the No. 5 singles court to clinch the championship. TCU concluded the 2023-24 season with a 28-4 overall record and four ITA All-Americans including Jack Pinnington, Jake Fearnley, Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives.
The Horned Frogs began their 2023-24 campaign during the fall, when TCU athletes competed in six events including the ITA Texas Regional in Fort Worth and the ITA Fall National Championships, where Jack Pinnington became the first TCU men’s tennis player to reach the finals in 41 years and the second finalist in program history. Pedro Vives reached the quarterfinal round in singles, while Vives and Sebastian Gorzny made the semifinal round in doubles. Lui Maxted and Duncan Chan were quarterfinalists in doubles.
ITA Kickoff Weekend meant the start of the second semester for the Horned Frogs, who scored 4-0 wins over Rice and Tulsa to start the 2024 portion of the season. TCU followed with consecutive top-15 ranked victories against Stanford, Tennessee and Michigan before traveling for the ITA Indoor National Championships in New York, where the Horned Frogs eliminated top-15 foes Arizona State, Texas A&M and Wake Forest before falling just short against No. 1 Ohio State in the championship. TCU was the indoor champion last year.
The Horned Frogs cruised through the early portion of their outdoor schedule, beating six consecutive ranked teams including Texas, UCLA and Baylor (twice). Injuries slowed TCU down midway through the spring weeks, where the short-handed Horned Frogs conceded losses against Texas and Oklahoma before rallying off five straight victories heading into the Big 12 Conference tournament. TCU reached the final round of the Big 12 tournament, where they fell in another matchup against the Longhorns in the championship match.
TCU was selected to host both the NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional tournaments. The Horned Frogs dominated both events, sweeping UC Irvine and Cornell in the regional tournament before shutting down No. 13 Duke 4-0 to claim the super regional crown. The Horned Frogs played their best tennis of the season at the NCAA National Championship tournament, where they defeated three top-10 teams including No. 5 Kentucky and No. 1 Ohio State before edging No. 2 Texas in their fourth head-to-head matchup of the year.
The Horned Frogs were led by All-American singles players Jack Pinnington and Jake Fearnley, who closed out the season as the No. 6 and No. 8 ranked singles players in the nation. TCU ended the season with five ranked singles players, as Sebastian Gorzny finished ranked No. 67 while Pedro Vives ranked No. 80 and Lui Maxted ranked No. 84 nationally. TCU’s doubles duo of Gorzny and Vives ranked No. 14 in the nation, while Fearnley and Vives ranked No. 18 nationally. The Horned Frogs are set to lose two fifth-year players from the 2023-24 roster in Fearnley and Tomas Jirousek, who was TCU’s No. 6 singles player.
The Horned Frogs are also losing Sebastian Gorzny, who entered the transfer portal after two seasons at TCU and has committed to Texas. Jack Pinnington headlines the TCU players who’re eligible to return for the 2024-25 campaign. The sophomore, along with juniors Lui Maxted, Pedro Vives and Luke Swan, are also eligible to come back next school year. Notable freshmen eligible to return include Duncan Chan, Julian Alonso and Kaj Quirijns.