Harvard Men’s Tennis Opens Up Fall Play at Chowderfest

Alongside the sights and sounds of a brand-new school year, college tennis teams across the country have geared up for fall play. While the spring season features team play and a wide range of strategies for collegiate duels, the fall season gives players a springboard to try new styles while competing individually. In the spring, the entire team must be successful for the team to flourish. In the fall season, there’s only one thing to worry about: win your match and advance.

Similar to the professional ATP tour, the fall collegiate season consists of individual brackets that determine national rankings, seedings, and top qualification spots that can prove advantageous once spring rolls around. Beyond simple exhibition matches, the fall season also has accolades that crown ITA individual champions, All-Americans, and even an NCAA Individual Champion.

Chowderfest was the first opportunity for Harvard’s players to compete against other teams after weeks of training. Hosted by the Crimson and held at the Beren Center, the tournament kicks off the fall collegiate season for several Division I tennis programs, including other Ivy League schools such as Yale and Brown. This year, Chowderfest also featured teams like SMU and Illinois. The three-day tournament enables players to play against one another in a round-robin format.

This was also the first test for a handful of new freshman players. With four blue-chip/five-star-level players in its 2026 recruiting class, Harvard enters the 2026-2027 season with the ninth-best incoming class in the country according to The Tennis Recruiting Network. It only trails Princeton as the top recruiting class of 2026 in the Ivy League.

Head coach Andrew Rueb ’95 wasted no time putting his star recruits in match situations during Chowderfest, giving all five rookies ample opportunity to play. Freshman Bill Chan, arguably the team’s top recruit as an international player from Singapore, played solidly against tough opponents, posting a 2-1 singles record and a 1-2 doubles result during the weekend.

Zachary Cohen, hailing from Media, Pa., went undefeated, going 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles with fellow Evan Sharygin. Cohen defeated players from Dartmouth and Cornell en route to a dream first impression on the court. Sharygin’s towering presence helped him post a strong 3-0 in doubles with Cohen, while going 1-2 in singles.

David Wu, a blue-chip recruit who was top 15 in the country for the class of 2026, battled through two Big Green opponents, splitting the weekend 1-1. Freshman RJ Kuo competed well during his matches but started the season 0-2.

The rest of the Harvard team utilized Chowderfest as a way to prepare for the rigorous fall season ahead. For reigning unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year Nathan Blokhin, the pressure to build on a successful 2026 campaign is certainly present. Ahead of the ITA All-American Tournament, No. 44 Blokhin posted a 2-2 overall record this weekend, splitting both singles and doubles at 1-1.

The team’s other nationally ranked player, No. 25 senior Rohan Murali, started undefeated with two wins in doubles and one in singles. Senior Kolo Kinsces and junior Mitchell Lee also followed suit with 3-0 singles records, though both had mixed results in doubles.

Overall, the men’s team finished Chowderfest with a 15-10 singles record and a 7-4 doubles record, notching wins over several prominent programs in the process. The question now remains as to whether this fast start is maintainable in the future. Blokhin and Murali now head to Tulsa, Okla., to compete in the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships, which kicks off on Sept. 23.

—Staff writer Alex S. Kim can be reached at [email protected].