Men’s Tennis Signs Midyear Addition Bautista Vilicich
September 08, 2021 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State's men's tennis roster received an added boost on Wednesday with the addition of Bautista Vilicich.
The Balcarce, Argentina native inked his national letter of intent with the Bulldogs and will join the team in January, just in time for the spring season to begin.
"Bautista has shown he is a great fit for our program in many areas," said MSU head coach Matt Roberts. "The main quality that is evident to our coaching staff and team is his self confidence and resiliency. With limited resources around him in juniors, he has created a lot of momentum in his development and results.
"We are very excited to see him make an immediate impact on our team for the spring season. We feel grateful to have this opportunity to coach Bautista through a successful career at Mississippi State University and then help him be prepared for a successful career as a professional tennis player."
Vilicich currently holds a 13.1 Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) and is rated at 1,181 in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Singles rankings. His career-best ATP ranking is 1,145, set on June 21.
The 19-year old right-hander also held a 281 ranking in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Juniors. This year, he has earned two main draw quarterfinal appearances in ITF Futures events and owns a victory over Mukund Sasikumar, who is currently rated No. 325 in the ATP rankings.
"I've seen him play in Europe a couple of summers ago," said MSU assistant coach Jake Jacoby. "He's kind of a late bloomer. He didn't come onto the ITF World Junior scene until he was about 15 or 16 years old. I saw him at 17 and he really came on the stage and started having success at some high level ITF Junior events and then started translating that to ITF Futures events and 15K's and 25K's.
"He strikes us as a guy that's really hungry to keep improving and working hard and is willing to travel around the world on his own dime, especially during his junior career, to keep developing."
Vilicich took an official visit to MSU last month and committed to the Bulldogs soon after returning home.
"He was our first visit in over a year because of COVID, which was fun for us and I know fun for him," Jacoby said. "Our guys loved hosting a new player and he really connected quickly and genuinely with our guys, which obviously struck a tone with us that this could be a really good fit."
For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
The Balcarce, Argentina native inked his national letter of intent with the Bulldogs and will join the team in January, just in time for the spring season to begin.
"Bautista has shown he is a great fit for our program in many areas," said MSU head coach Matt Roberts. "The main quality that is evident to our coaching staff and team is his self confidence and resiliency. With limited resources around him in juniors, he has created a lot of momentum in his development and results.
"We are very excited to see him make an immediate impact on our team for the spring season. We feel grateful to have this opportunity to coach Bautista through a successful career at Mississippi State University and then help him be prepared for a successful career as a professional tennis player."
Vilicich currently holds a 13.1 Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) and is rated at 1,181 in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Singles rankings. His career-best ATP ranking is 1,145, set on June 21.
The 19-year old right-hander also held a 281 ranking in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour Juniors. This year, he has earned two main draw quarterfinal appearances in ITF Futures events and owns a victory over Mukund Sasikumar, who is currently rated No. 325 in the ATP rankings.
"I've seen him play in Europe a couple of summers ago," said MSU assistant coach Jake Jacoby. "He's kind of a late bloomer. He didn't come onto the ITF World Junior scene until he was about 15 or 16 years old. I saw him at 17 and he really came on the stage and started having success at some high level ITF Junior events and then started translating that to ITF Futures events and 15K's and 25K's.
"He strikes us as a guy that's really hungry to keep improving and working hard and is willing to travel around the world on his own dime, especially during his junior career, to keep developing."
Vilicich took an official visit to MSU last month and committed to the Bulldogs soon after returning home.
"He was our first visit in over a year because of COVID, which was fun for us and I know fun for him," Jacoby said. "Our guys loved hosting a new player and he really connected quickly and genuinely with our guys, which obviously struck a tone with us that this could be a really good fit."
For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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