Gonzales Austin
Career (as of summer ’15)
Singles record: 107-44 overall, 55-25 dual record
Highest Singles Ranking: No. 7 (3/24/15)
Doubles Record: 90-43 overall, 61-29 dual record
Highest Doubles Ranking: No. 1 (With Rhys Johnson and Ryan Lipman)
Vanderbilt Records:
- Career singles win: 107 (2011-15)
- Single season doubles wins (team): 30 w/ Ryan Lipman (2014)
- Career doubles wins (team): 36 w/ Ryan Lipman (2012-14)
Awards/Honors:
- 2015 ITA All-American (S/D)
- 2015 SEC Player of the Year
- 2015 Ohio Valley Regional Player of the Year
- 2015 First Team All SEC
- 2015 Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll
- 2014 Spring SEC Academic Honor Roll
- 2014 ITA All-American (S/D)
- 2014 First Team All-SEC
- 2014 ITA Ohio Valley Player to Watch
- 2014 SEC All-Tournament Team
- 2013 First Team All-SEC
- 2012 Second Team All-SEC
- 2012 SEC All-Freshman Team
Senior (2014-15): Received the SEC Player of the Year award… Second Commodore to ever earn the title… Ohio Valley Player of the Year… Austin has garnered a 20-2 record at No. 1 singles with both losses coming in tough conference action… Owns Vanderbilt career singles win record with 107 victories… Vanderbilt’s only four-Time first team All-American… 4th player to earn multi-year ITA All-American honors… USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Runner-Up… 2014 USTA/ITA Division I Men’s Ohio Valley Regional Champion… Round of 32 at ITA Men’s All-American Championships… Recorded his highest career ranking at No. 7 in his senior season… Since his debut in the ITA rankings on April 10, 2012 AJ was in ranked in the polls in every single release… Austin has been ranked in the ITA top 25 in 30 of 32 releases, which date back to his sophomore year… highest ranked player in the SEC entire year… Went 30-8 overall in doubles action… sat atop the rankings as the No. 1 doubles team in the country for over a month with Rhys Johnson…
Junior (2013-14):Spring– Earned All-American honors in both singles and doubles … Finished the year ranked No. 19 in singles and No. 3 in doubles … First VU duo (w/ Ryan Lipman) to earn All-American accolades in doubles … Joins Ryan Lipman and Bobby Reynolds as the only players to earn multiple All-American honors … Named ITA Ohio Valley Player to Watch … Named First Team All-SEC and SEC All-Tournament Team … Set single season and career record for wins by a doubles team with Ryan Lipman … Qualified for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships … Joined Lipman as the first players to make it to the NCAA singles round of 16 since 2004 … Led the team in wins with 29 in singles and 30 in doubles … Defeated a team best 16 ranked opponents … Defeated No. 37 Leonard Stakhovsky (Penn State) and No. 17 Winston Lin (Columbia) to make it to the NCAA round of 16 before falling to No. 51 Florent Diep (Florida) … Made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA doubles tournament with Lipman … Defeated No. 11 Chappell/Stein (TCU) and No. 17 Angus/Stropp (Miss. State) before falling to No. 9 Harrington/Maden in NCAA play … Finished 5-3 in SEC regular season play … Defeated No. 11 Tom Jomby (Kentucky), No. 109 Chris Simpson (LSU), No. 91 Malte Stropp (Miss. State) in conference play.
Fall – Made it to the quarterfinals of the ITA National Indoor Tournament … Semifinalist at the ITA All-American Tournament … Defeated No. 11 Jeremy Efferding (Texas A&M), No. 41 Campbell Johnson (Cal), No. 43 Amerigo Contini (Va. Tech) and Austin Smith (Georgia) to make it to the semis of All-Americans … Took down Henry Craig (Denver) and No. 87 Joran Vliegen (ECU) before falling to No. 8 Ray Sarmiento of Southern Cal at National Indoors.
Sophomore (2012-13): First Team All-SEC … Finished with an overall record of 25-13, including 16-10 during the dual season … Playing primarily out of the No. 2 singles position … Ended the season ranked 48th by the ITA … Was ranked as high as 20th (last on 2/10) … Selected for the NCAA Singles Championships … Helped VU advance to the Sweet 16 with wins at No. 2 singles over ETSU and Illinois … Knocked off 24th-ranked Tom Jomby of No. 8 Kentucky, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 … Put together two streaks of four-straight match wins … Defeated 19th-ranked Nathan Pasha of No. 6 Georgia … Ended the fall season with a record of 9-3 … Got to the semi-finals of both the Southern Collegiates and ITA Regionals.
Freshman (2011-12): Clinched wins for his team over #33 South Carolina, UAB, and MTSU … Had a 7 match winning streak from 2/10 (against Brown) through #17 LSU on 3/4 … Finished his fall tournament slate with a 7-4 overall record.
Personal: Gonzalez Austin Jr … goes by AJ … father, Gonzales, is a tennis coach while mother Susan is a teacher … has a sister, Nakita … favorite tennis player is Rafael Nadal … favorite part about competing for Vanderbilt is the team camaraderie … said no one would believe he watches America’s Next Top Model … double majoring in political science and economics.