UNC Tennis: Tar Heel alumn wins ATP Doubles title

Tar Heel tennis player William Blumberg had an illustrious and decorate career at North Carolina. He was the first person to ever become a 10-time All-American, getting the honor in both singles and doubles all five years he competed at Carolina. That career came to an end earlier this year, and he’s entered the professional ranks. In terms of immediate pro success after leaving college, there can’t be many Tar Heels who pulled it off quicker than Blumberg just did.

Last weekend, Blumberg teamed with Jack Sock to compete in the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, RI. It was just his second ever doubles event on the ATP Tour level. (The first came back at the 2017 US Open when he was still at UNC.) So far in his post college doubles career, Blumberg has a 1.000 winning percentage, as he and Sock won the title in Newport.

After going the distance in the first round of the 16-team tournament, he and Sock won the final three rounds all in straight sets, with only two sets going as far as a tiebreak. In the process, they defeated five different players who were ranked in the top 100 of the ATP Doubles Rankings, including one ranked in the top 50.

Blumberg himself shot up in the ATP Doubles Rankings as a result of the win. Considering that he just left UNC and before this his previous tournaments had been in the lower level tours, his ranking had unsurprisingly been #1300 in the world. After just four wins in Newport, he is up all the way to #284.

He also competed in the qualifying event in the Newport tournament, but did not have as great a result, and missed out on making the main tournament.

Especially in the big team sports, you can turn around that quickly into becoming a champion. Even if a rookie was part of a championship team, they still typically have to play through an entire regular season to get there. Just weeks after competing in the NCAA Tournament, William Blumberg is a champion in the pros, and that’s pretty cool.