ATP Tour

Friend, Zheng among college players to qualify for PIF ATP Next Gen Accelerator

Jay Friend and Michael Zheng are among 23 college players who will benefit from direct entry into ATP Challenger Tour events as part of the fourth year of the PIF ATP Next Gen Accelerator.

This initiative between ATP and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) was created to increase the development pathway for top players in the American collegiate system. Following the NCAA Championships in May, players qualified based on their year-end ranking and/or performance in the NCAA Championships.

Seven of the 23 qualifiers — Friend, Zheng, Dylan Dietrich, Oliver Tarvet, Kenta Miyoshi, Aidan Kim and Ozan Baris — are multiple-time qualifiers for the Accelerator through the college pillar of the programme.

The University of Arizona's Friend recently reached the quarter-finals at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Little Rock and earlier in the season qualified for the Challenger 175 in Phoenix, where he reached the second round. Last October, the Japanese star lifted the crown at the ATP Challenger event in Fairfield.

Former NCAA men’s singles champion Zheng (Columbia University) made his major debut in January when he came through qualifying to compete in the main draw at the Australian Open. The American reached the second round by upsetting Sebastian Korda in the first round. Two weeks later, Zheng played in the ATP 500 event in Dallas. He also successfully qualified for the Roland Garros main draw.

The University of San Diego's Oliver Tarvet broke through last year at Wimbledon, where he qualified and reached the second round of the main draw, only falling to Carlos Alcaraz. At the time the Briton was No. 733 in the PIF ATP Rankings and he is currently World No. 342.

Trevor Svajda of Southern Methodist University played two tight sets in Dallas this year and then won his first-round qualifying match at Indian Wells against Luca Nardi.

Players ranked in the Top 20 of the ITA final singles rankings who have finished their education are granted up to eight Accelerator Spots at Challenger 50 and 75 tournaments, with opportunities split between main draw (for Top 10 ITA-ranked players) and qualifying (11-20).

Players who reached the quarter-finals or better of the individual NCAA Division I Championships, who were not already elibile through their ITA Ranking, also qualified for the PIF ATP Next Gen Accelerator. The opportunities for those players — Luca Pow, Martin Borisiouk and Ozan Baris — are available from July 2026 for a period of 12 months.

Accelerator qualifiers who will continue their education will receive six opportunities over six months (July– December), enabling them to benefit from the programme during their college offseason and parts of their fall season.

PIF ATP Next Gen Accelerator College Qualifiers