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Tennis Recruits

Men's Tennis Athletic Communications

Hatters Add Two Standouts During Early Signing Period

Stetson men's tennis recently announced the signing of Malik Bhatnagar (Ottawa, Ont.) and Antoine Sanchez (Sarasota, Fla.) to National Letters-of-Intent to continue their athletic and academic careers at Stetson beginning next fall.
 
Head coach Christophe Noblet is excited about adding two talented newcomers to the program for next season and beyond. Bhatnagar and Sanchez will be asked to help fill the void left behind when current senior Graham Ball graduates in May.
 
"I knew a long time ago that replacing Graham will not be an easy task," Noblet said. "He is the most positive person I have ever met, and has contagious pride in playing for Stetson. So, I went after players who can make a direct impact on this program, but also will represent the school with tremendous pride. For those reasons, I cannot be more excited to welcome Malik and Antoine to the program."
 
Bhatnagar is currently ranked as the No. 10 player in Canada, with a No. 3 provincial ranking in Ontario. He is also ranked #338 in the world by the ITF. In 2016, he posted a singles record of 43-12 and was 18-3 in doubles play.
 
"Malik is another 'blue collar' type player," Noblet said. "He loves the game, and cannot get enough of it. He also puts a lot of effort into developing his body the right way, which will certainly help with the transition into college tennis. He is not your typical high school senior, and I expect him to make a direct impact on the team right off the bat. He was highly recruited all around the country, and for us to land a player with such high profile, is very encouraging for the future of the program."
 
Bhatnagar has regularly finished in the top five in Canadian Indoor and Outdoor national events in singles and reached the finals and semi-finals in doubles. He currently attends Robert Bateman High School in Burlington, Ont. Bhatnagar chose Stetson over the likes of Penn State, Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Iowa and others.
 
Sanchez comes to Stetson from Riverview High School in Sarasota where he is captain of the tennis team. He is a 5-star recruit by TennisRecruiting.net and chose Stetson over Denver, FAU and USF.
 
"Antoine plays a very aggressive and determined style of tennis, which I really like," Noblet said. "He loves to come in to the net as much as possible, which will be a great asset for us. He is also very fast on the court, and can develop great power from his legs. Antoine has always been a top player in Florida, and nationwide. Similar to Malik, having Antoine join us next year shows the positive direction of the program and the bright future we have ahead of us."
 
TennisRecruiting.net ranks Sanchez as the No. 84 singles player in the country among the Class of 2017, No. 12 in Florida and No. 26 in the Southeast. He has consistently been ranked among the top 100 players nationwide throughout his junior career.
 
--SU--
 
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Players Mentioned

Graham Ball

Graham Ball

6' 0"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Graham Ball

Graham Ball

6' 0"
Junior