The 2025-26 college tennis season ended with two thrillers in Athens — and both champions are loaded to run it back. Official ITA preseason rankings won’t drop until late August, but the offseason picture is already sharp. Here’s our early read on the best teams for 2026-27, plus something the traditional previews won’t tell you: which athletes on these rosters are the smartest NIL bets for fans who want in early.
The Quick Version
Virginia and Texas A&M are the teams to beat. Both won national titles in May, and both bring back the reigning ITA National Player of the Year — Dylan Dietrich for the Cavaliers, Lucciana Perez for the Aggies. Two defending champs, two returning No. 1 players. That almost never happens, and it makes this the rare offseason where fans know exactly where the star power lives before a single fall match is played.
Men’s Teams to Watch
1. Virginia — The Favorite
The Cavaliers won their seventh national championship in May, edging Texas 4-3 in a final decided by the last match standing on court one. And the player who clinched it is confirmed back.
Dylan Dietrich returns for his senior season with a resume that barely fits on one page: 2026 ITA National Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, NCAA doubles champion, and a 29-4 singles record with a 24-1 mark on the top court — his lone spring loss coming against Ohio State’s Aidan Kim at ITA Indoors. He’s also the reigning Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, a Data Science major from Zurich who spent part of his summer reaching an ATP Challenger quarterfinal.
The fan angle: a returning national champion, top-ranked player, and elite student with one more year on campus is about as high-visibility as college tennis NIL gets. Cavalier fans who want to fuel the title defense don’t have to guess who’s carrying it.
2. Wake Forest — The Revenge Tour
The Demon Deacons entered the 2026 tournament as the No. 1 overall seed — a year after winning the 2025 title — and lost a 4-3 semifinal heartbreaker to Virginia. Two championships since 2018, a fresh No. 1 seed, and a very fresh grudge: that’s a team built to start fast in the fall.
3. Texas — Reloading, Not Rebuilding
Texas pushed Virginia to the brink in the final, won 29 matches to tie a program record dating to 1975, and swept back-to-back SEC regular season and tournament crowns. The catch: Sebastian Gorzny, the national Senior Player of the Year and their court-one anchor, has graduated. The Longhorns recruit too well to fall far — but someone new has to carry the top court, and for fans, breakout candidates on title-contending teams are exactly where early NIL support goes furthest.
4. TCU and Ohio State — The Perennials
TCU reached the semifinals and Ohio State the quarterfinals, and both live in the top ten year after year. Ohio State carries the season’s juiciest subplot: Aidan Kim is the only player who beat Dietrich all spring. If Kim is back, every Virginia–Ohio State meeting becomes appointment viewing — and a rivalry storyline that lifts both players’ profiles.
Mid-Major Sleeper: San Diego
The Toreros finished No. 1 in the ITA men’s mid-major poll and proved it in the bracket, beating UCLA as the No. 15 national seed. Here’s the thing about mid-major stars: they have real campus recognition and real results, but far fewer NIL dollars chasing them than Power Four athletes. For fans, that’s not a weakness — it’s the whole opportunity. Direct fan support moves the needle most exactly where the big collectives aren’t looking.
Women’s Teams to Watch
1. Texas A&M — The Juggernaut
Where do you start? The Aggies won their second national title in three years, claimed a fifth straight SEC regular-season crown, and did it during the first undefeated season in program history.
Then there’s Lucciana Perez. The junior from Lima, Peru finished No. 1 in the nation with a perfect 28-0 singles record — 7-0 against top-10 opponents — and swept the sport’s biggest individual honors: ITA National Player of the Year, SEC Player of the Year, and the Honda Sports Award. The strongest signal for next season? The ITA also named her its Player to Watch, an award that by definition points at the year ahead. She has eligibility remaining and every reason to chase a repeat.
Add the nation’s top-rated 2026 signing class, a transfer who was the 2025 Big 12 Player of the Year, and a hosting slot at 2027 ITA Kickoff Weekend, and it’s hard to imagine a stronger offseason.
The fan angle: an undefeated, trophy-sweeping international star heading into what could be her final college season is the definition of a rising NIL brand. Aggie fans wanting to back women’s tennis have their marquee name — and the supporting cast on a champion roster deserves fuel too.
2. Auburn — The Contender
The Tigers were the No. 2 seed and beat Ohio State in the semifinals to reach the national final before falling to A&M. In a women’s game that increasingly runs through the SEC, Auburn is the clearest threat to the crown.
3. Georgia — The Wounded Giant
Georgia won it all in 2025, entered 2026 as the No. 1 overall seed, and lost a 4-3 semifinal to Texas A&M — at home in Athens. That exit will fuel an entire offseason. The Bulldogs aren’t going anywhere.
4. Ohio State and North Carolina — Knocking on the Door
Ohio State made the semifinals; North Carolina took eventual champion Texas A&M to 4-3 in the quarterfinals, closer than anyone else all tournament. Both have the depth for another deep May.
Mid-Major Sleeper: Pepperdine
The Waves earned the No. 11 national seed — remarkable outside the Power Four — and finished No. 1 in the women’s mid-major poll ahead of Charlotte, Wichita State, and Rice. Same story as San Diego on the men’s side: real stars, real results, underserved by traditional NIL money. Fan-powered support hits different here.
Three Storylines That Could Shake It All Up
Pro departures. Dietrich is confirmed on Virginia’s roster and every signal points to Perez returning, but college stars test the pro waters every summer. One announcement reshuffles either race overnight.
The transfer portal. Rosters aren’t final until fall, and A&M just showed how much one elite transfer moves the needle. Expect contenders to answer.
The Kim–Dietrich rematch. If Aidan Kim returns to Ohio State, college tennis gets a genuine No. 1-versus-nemesis narrative all season. Circle any Virginia–Ohio State date now.
When Do Official Rankings Come Out?
The ITA typically releases preseason team, singles, and doubles rankings in late August as the fall season opens — last year’s landed August 26. Until then, treat this as an educated early read: grounded in how last season ended and who’s confirmed back, subject to a summer of roster news. We’ll update this page when the official polls drop.
The Bottom Line — And How Fans Fit In
Virginia and Texas A&M enter 2026-27 as the teams to beat, each armed with the reigning National Player of the Year and a title to defend. Wake Forest and Auburn lead the chase packs, Georgia and Texas have scores to settle, and San Diego and Pepperdine carry the mid-major banner.
Here’s what’s different about this era: fans don’t have to just watch anymore. Tennis players — even national champions — see a fraction of the NIL money that flows to football and basketball, which means direct fan support goes further in this sport than almost any other. Find your school, find your athletes, and fuel the season before it starts. When the trophies get lifted in Athens next May, you’ll have been part of it.
