Thanos Earns Men’s Tennis Big Ten Player of the Week Award
1/22/2025 4:00:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Redshirt-sophomore earns his first big ten player of the week accolade.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- After a historic weekend for Michigan State men's tennis defeating No. 7 Kentucky at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center, redshirt sophomore Aristotelis Thanos was recognized as the Big Ten Player of the Week award.
This is Thanos' first career weekly honor from the B1G.
Thanos helped No. 23 MSU to its highest-ranked win in program history by knocking off No. 7 Kentucky Friday night in the first-ever top-25 match-up at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center, in front of program-record crowd.
MSU's previous highest-ranked win was in 2004 under head coach Gene Orlando with a 4-3 victory for MSU over No. 8 Vanderbilt.
Thanos went 2-0 in singles matches and 1-0 in doubles this weekend, contributing significantly to the Spartans' team success, clinching both team wins.
To help the Spartan clinch the decisive fifth point over No. 7 Kentucky, he defeated No. 39-ranked Jaden Weekes from Kentucky in a thrilling match at No. 2 singles. Thanos battled through a tough second set to force a tiebreaker, rallying from dropping the first set, 6-3, by bouncing back to win the next two, 6-3 and 6-2.
Continuing his momentum he helped the team secure a victory over Vanderbilt with a strong singles performance, also clinching the team win by defeating Danil Panarin from Vanderbilt in straight sets at No. 2 singles.
He finished out the weekend with 6-2 doubles win teaming with Ozan Baris to beat Western Michigan duo of Brogan Pierce and Jack Davison.
Thanos demonstrated exceptional resilience, poise, and determination in high-stakes matches.
He earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year last year and continues to help the Spartans succeed this season.
The Spartans vaulted from No. 23 to No. 17 in the ITA Team Rankings, the biggest jump of any team in the poll, which was released Wednesday.
MSU hits the road for the first time during dual match play, heading to Fort Worth, Texas next weekend for the ITA Kickoff Weekend, hosted by TCU. The Spartans will take on Liberty on Saturday, Jan. 25 in an 11 a.m. ET / 10 a.m. CT start time, and then face either No. 2 TCU or Pacific on Sunday, Jan. 26.
Players Mentioned
