May 25, 2010
SKILLMAN, N.J. - Texas A&M junior All-American Austin Krajicek (pronounced CRY-check) was honored as the ITA National Player to Watch by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Tuesday.
Krajicek, a 19-year-old left-hander from Brandon, Fla., is one of the top Americans in the country and currently ranks No. 6 nationally in singles and No. 5 in doubles. The reigning co-Big 12 Conference Player of the Year becomes only the second A&M player in school history next to four-time All-American Shuon Madden (1998-2001) to be named the national recipient of the award. Madden was tabbed ITA National Player to Watch in 2000.
Krajicek is only the third Aggie in the last decade to be ranked among the top 5 singles players in the nation. He has compiled a 23-11 overall record this season having defeated 14 nationally-ranked opponents including the No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, No. 11, No. 14, No. 15, No. 19 and No. 20 players in the country.
Krajicek is the third consecutive player from the Big 12 to earn the national award along with Oklahoma State's Oleksandr Nedovyesov in 2008 and 2009. They are both joined on the prestigious list by former Georgia All-American John Isner (2005) who is currently the No. 2 ranked American tennis player in the world on the ATP Tour.
One player from each of the 12 ITA regions were considered for the award which is presented to a student-athlete who has an outstanding season and is expected to perform at a high level the rest of his career. The player's sportsmanship and character is also considered.
Krajicek was chosen as the national recipient of the award over California's Pedro Zerbini (Northwest), San Diego's Nikola Bubnic (Southwest), UNLV's Mehdi Bouras (Mountain), Oklahoma's Costin Paval (Central), Ohio State's Chase Buchanan (Midwest), Boston College's Akash Muppidi (Northeast), Kentucky's Eric Quigley (Ohio Valley), Virginia's Michael Shabaz (Atlantic), North Carolina's Jose Hernandez (Carolina), Auburn's Tim Puetz (Southern) and Florida's Alexandre Lacroix (Southeast).