The SEC awaits: No. 5 Kentucky men's tennis set to begin conference play

Just like that, Kentucky men’s tennis approaches the business end of its schedule with SEC action commencing in two days for the Wildcats. This year, the conference has depth and multiple challengers. Depth may be a generous way to put it, considering this year the SEC boasts six top-25 squads with three of them being ranked inside the top 10.

Joining No. 5 Kentucky inside the top 10 are No. 6 South Carolina and No. 8 Georgia. Some of the outliers, if that’s what you want to call them? Well, that would be No. 12 Tennessee, No. 15 Florida, and No. 20 Mississippi State, according to the ITA rankings.

The Wildcats will have no shortage of tricky opponents with South Carolina coming to Lexington to kick off conference play for Kentucky. A mouth-watering top-10 matchup takes stage on Thursday with the Cocks and ‘Cats set to duke it out. Tennis College Gameday anyone?

Deep dive into the Southeastern Conference

I would say there is a good chance of taking “the field” over Florida, which is the reigning conference champion. Just look at last year. The Gators went on to beat Kentucky in the conference tournament, but the ‘Cats went on to finish the year as NCAA Tournament runners-up.

Let’s put last year’s SEC tourney defeat into perspective. Florida’s Ben Shelton overcame Kentucky’s Liam Draxl to give the Gators the trophy. Shelton would go on to turn pro later that year and wouldn’t return to Florida. Shelton just reached his first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal in the 2023 Australian Open over a month ago. Kentucky was hanging with the best of the best since last year.

While the ‘Cats seemed to have already exorcized the Gator demons in their win at the ITA indoors, other SEC foes raise a question mark. Kentucky sits at 12-1 on the year, but the Gamecocks aren’t far behind with a 10-1 record of their own. While Georgia’s 6-5 record may raise some eyebrows, the Bulldogs had a grueling schedule to start the year. Ranked opponents such as Texas, Florida State, and Illinois all got the best of the Bulldogs.

Kentucky has also groomed its strength of schedule 13 matches into the season. The ‘Cats knocked off USC and Florida, which are both top-25 squads, two weekends ago in Chicago. To put the cherry on top, UK came into then-No. 1 Virginia’s house and knocked them off in early February.

The trend here is that the SEC scheduled difficulty to kickstart the year and Kentucky is no different. These early matchups against the best of the best should prepare the ‘Cats for the gauntlet that proves to be the SEC this season. As of now, Kentucky looks the part of a title contender. Their only loss is against No. 1 TCU, so yes, the Wildcats do belong amongst the big boys. They’re big boys themselves.

A look ahead

South Carolina was in Chicago competing in the ITA Indoors alongside Kentucky. There, the Gamecocks only lost to Georgia and went 2-1 on the weekend with wins over Baylor and North Carolina. On Thursday, Kentucky and South Carolina will put their two combined losses to the test in what should be an epic battle.

After kicking off the SEC opener at home, the ‘Cats will travel to College Station to face Texas A&M on Saturday. A busy weekend awaits the boys in blue, but it’s something that they must get used to. Kentucky has three straight Thursday-Saturday matches. SEC tennis isn’t for the faint of heart, so strap in!

In honor of conference play being less than 48 hours away, I thought a true SEC prediction would be necessary.

SEC regular season champion: Kentucky
SEC regular season runners-up: South Carolina

Conference tournament champion: Georgia
Conference tournament runners-up: Kentucky

We can revisit this in about two months. Welcome to conference play, everyone.

Ready to kickoff SEC play this week! #WeAreUK 🔵😺🎾 pic.twitter.com/zBkhI1Bcl4

— Kentucky Men's Tennis (@UKMensTennis) February 27, 2023