Damian Hume joined the Princeton men's tennis staff as the team's Cornelia Drake and John Van Ryn Jr. '28 assistant coach in October 2015.
2023-24 saw the Tigers use a youthful core to return to the NCAA Tournament, rise as high as No. 21 in the ITA team rankings and compile a 22-8 overall record along with a 5-2 record in conference play. Hume helped guide Princeton to wins over ranked opponents such as No. 19 Alabama, No. 21 Michigan State, No. 28 Cornell, No. 47 ODU, No. 58 Penn and No. 72 Yale while also win both the Blue Gray Classic and ECAC Championships. Paul Inchauspe, the 2024 Ivy Rookie of the Year and a unanimous First Team All-Ivy selection, was ranked No. 27 in singles and selected to compete at the NCAA Tournament in the singles competition. Inchauspe was also tabbed as high as No. 16 in doubles with Filippos Astreinidis, and the duo were named alternates for the doubles competition at the NCAA Tournament.
The 2022-23 season saw the Tigers rise as high as No. 49 in the ITA team rankings, and earn wins over power five opponents Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Indiana. In addition, Fnu Nidunjianzan was named First Team All-Ivy League in his first season of college tennis and played at the ITA All-American Championships.
Hume helped Princeton end the 2022 season ranked No. 40 by the ITA, and return to the NCAA Championships where it took on Arizona in the Round of 64. Hume helped guide Ryan Seggerman and Justin Barki to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Doubles Championships, and the duo would the end season ranked No. 30 by the ITA in the doubles rankings, while Seggerman was tabbed at No. 60 in the singles rankings. With help from Hume, the Tigers also defeated six power five opponents in 2022; No. 66 Nebraska, No. 75 Michigan State, Arizona State, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Penn State. Off the court, Princeton was honored as an ITA All-Academic Team, and had four players named ITA Scholar-Athletes.
"I am excited for the opportunity to work at such a distinguished institution as Princeton University and a tennis program that is intent on developing college-age players that are strong both academically and athletically," Hume said upon his hiring. "I am ready to jump in quickly to assist Coach (Billy) Pate in helping the tennis team achieve their goals."
Hume came to Princeton from Michigan State, where he served as the men's program's assistant coach for the better part of two years.
"We are very excited and proud to have Damian join our program and continue building on the success of the last few years," Pate said upon Hume's hiring. "In a very short time, Damian has garnered tremendous respect nationally from the work he has done at Michigan State. He is a very driven and ambitious professional who has a great skill set not only on court with the technical and tactical elements of the game, but also with psychology and team-building. Damian is a great player in his own right and I actually recruited him quite heavily when he was coming up as one of the top junior players in the world. Though it didn’t work out then, I’m certainly glad it worked out now at Princeton.”
A South African native, Hume studied at Boise State, where he played at the team's top position in singles and doubles and was ranked as high as 25th in singles by the ITA during his senior season. Hume also spent time as part of a ranked doubles pair, reaching 43rd on the list at the end of his junior season.
Hume came to the U.S. in 2009 to begin his college career at Collin County Community College in Texas, where he won a Junior College national singles title. In South Africa, Hume earned a ranking as high as 37th in the world during his junior career and No. 1 in the country.
After graduating with a degree in psychology in 2012, Hume spent two summers as an assistant pro at the Country Club of New Canaan in Connecticut before returning to Boise State as an assistant coach in the fall of 2013.
Hume joined the Michigan State staff in January 2014 and helped the doubles pair of Harry Jadun and John Patrick Mullane win three matches at the 2015 NCAA doubles tournament and earn All-America honors with their semifinal run.
