Princeton University Athletics
Men's Tennis Coaching Record & Program Facts
First Match: 1901 — exact date unknown (vs. Columbia)
All-Time Record: 1,243-500-6 (.712) (through 2024-25 season)
EITA Record: 167-39-0 (.811)
Ivy League Record: 102-78 (.568)
Head Coaching Register:
| W | L | T | Pct. | |
| Mercer Beasley (1934-37) * | 31 | 7 | 1 | 0.808 |
| John McDiarmid (1938) | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0.955 |
| Mercer Beasley (1939-42) * | 40 | 5 | 0 | 0.889 |
| Burnham Dell (1943) | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0.857 |
| Dick Swinnerton (1944-45) | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0.824 |
| John Conroy (1946-71) | 259 | 37 | 0 | 0.875 |
| Bill Summers (1972-74) | 41 | 7 | 0 | 0.854 |
| David Benjamin (1975-2000) | 339 | 150 | 0 | 0.693 |
| Glenn Michibata (2001-12) | 135 | 109 | 0 | 0.550 |
| Billy Pate (2012-present) | 206 | 105 | 0 | 0.662 |
| * Mercer Beasley (1934-37, 1939-42) | 89 | 20 | 1 | 0.809 |
Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association (EITA) Championships (24): 1941, 1942, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969,
1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1988
EITA Player of the Year (1): Reed Cordish (1996)
EITA Rookies of the Year (2): Andy Weiss (1990), Dave Murphy (1992).
Ivy League Rookie of the Year (4): Judson Williams (1999), Darius Craton (2003), Karl Poling (2019), Paul Inchauspe (2024)
Ivy League Player of the Year (5): Judson Williams (2002), Peter Capkovic (2008), Matija Pecotic (2011, 2012, 2013)
Ivy League Senior of the Year (1): Kyle Kliegerman (2001)
Ivy League Sportsman of the Year (1): Trevor Smith (2003)
ITA Northeast Region Rookie of the Year (1): Judson Williams (1999) Paul Inchauspe (2024)
ITA Northeast Region Senior of the Year (1): Judson Williams (2002)
ITA East Region Arthur Ashe Award For Leadership and Sportsmanship (2): Trevor Smith (2003), Karl Poling (2022)
*Ivy League Championships began in the 1998-99 season.
Quick Facts:
• Princeton’s 24 EITA titles are the most of any team in the league (Ivy schools plus Army and Navy). From 1940-98, the Tigers accumulated a record of 408-70 (.854)
against EITA opponents. The 1998 season was the final season of competition for the EITA, once Army and Navy joined the Patriot League in tennis.
• The Princeton team has appeared in the national tournament 11 times since 1977 (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2015, 2022, 2024, 2025) when the NCAA initiated a dual-match, single-elimination tournament to determine the team championship. In 1979, the 12th-seeded Tigers shocked fifth-seeded Arkansas before losing to defending-champion Stanford. Prior to 1977, individual wins counted toward the team championship and Princeton regularly finished in the top 25. In 1994, the Tigers won the NCAA Region I qualifier to advance to the NCAA finals where they lost to eventual national champion Southern California. The 1996 Tigers advanced to the Region I semifinals and nearly upset seventh-ranked Florida. Princeton hosted the Region I championships in 1998, resulting in a first-round loss to
third-seeded Virginia Tech. Princeton returned to the NCAA tournament in 2015, losing to Minnesota at Virginia, and took on Arizona in the Round of 64 at the NCAA Tournament in 2022.
• Princeton is the only Ivy League team to finish a season ranked in the top 10 nationally. In 1979 the Tigers were ranked eighth, and in 1980 the Tigers finished in the
No. 9 spot.
• Reed Cordish ’96 became Princeton's first-ever Rolex Eastern Intercollegiate Champion, winning that tournament in November 1995. He finished his senior season as the No. 44 ranked player in the country.
• Five Tigers have earned All-America honors: Jay Lapidus ’81, Leif Shiras ’81, Ted Farnsworth ’84, Matija Pecotic '13 and Paul Inchauspe '27. Lapidus and Shiras reached the quarterfinals of the 1978 NCAA doubles championships, losing to John McEnroe and Bill Maze of Stanford.
• Princeton can boast of five national singles championships (S.G. Thompson ’98, 1897; Raymond Little ’01, 1900; Fred Alexander ’02, 1901; George Church ’15, 1912 and 1914) and five doubles championships (Alexander and Little, 1900; Dean Mathey ’12 and Burnham Dell ’12, 1910; Mathey and C.T. Butler ’12, 1911; Church and W.H. Mace ’15, 1912; John Van Ryn ’28 and Ken Appel ’29, 1927). In 1983, Ted Farnsworth ’84 was the Rolex National Intercollegiate indoor singles champion, making him the first Princeton player since Church to win a national collegiate singles title.
• Several Princeton players have gone on to compete professionally. Leif Shiras ’81 has played on the professional circuit since 1981 and been ranked as high as 32 in singles on the ATP computer. Jay Lapidus ’81 also reached a ranking in the high 30s during his stint on the Pro Tour. Steve Muster ’80 was ranked in the top 10 in
doubles and reached the doubles semifinals at both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.
• In 2013, Matija Pecotic became the first player to win the Ivy League Player of the Year award three times in men's tennis.