Filip Planinsek

Filip Planinsek after hitting the ball at the NCAA Singles Championship

Filip Planinsek returning a ball at the NCAA Singles Championships

Photo by: Craig Pessman

Filip Planinsek hits the ball at the NCAA Championships

Filip Planinsek celebrates with fist pump

Filip Planinsek places a shot over the net

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Photo by: David Gray

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Filip Planinsek prepares to return a ball

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Photo by: David Gray

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Juan Martin and Filip Plininsek with trophies at ITA Southern Regionals

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Height:
6-2
Class:
Freshman
Hometown:
Hoce, Slovenia
High School:
Secondary Construction School and Gymnasium Maribor

NIL Opportunities

Career Accolades

2024 NCAA Singles Champion
2024 All-American
2024, 2025 First Team All-SEC
2022, 2023 Second Team All-SEC
2022 SEC Freshman of the Year
2022 SEC All-Freshman Team
2022, 2024 NCAA Singles Championships qualifier
2021, 2023 ITA Southern Regional Doubles Champion

2024-25

Concluded the season ranked 22nd in singles and 36th in doubles
Named to First Team All-SEC
Took the fall off to compete professionally as part of the ATP Next Gen Accelerator Program after winning the 2024 NCAA singles title
Has been nearly perfect in singles this year, recording a 17-3 run at the No. 1 spot
Went into the SEC Tournament with the second-highest singles ranking in the conference
Defeated 10 ranked singles opponents at the No. 1 position for the Tide
Aided UA in downing then-No. 15 Florida State with a win over the then-No. 4 doubles paring of Youcef Rihane and Alex Bulte and then-No. 15 Corey Craig at the No. 1 singles spot
Clinched the Tide's 4-3 win over Kentucky with a 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-2 victory against then-No. 63 Antoine Ghibaudo
Captured UA's first singles point in wins against Alabama State, then-No. 15 FSU and Vandy
Defeated ranked singles opponents No. 15 Corey Craig (FSU), No. 21 Edward Winter (Pepperdine), No. 24 Shunsuke Mitsui (Tennessee), No. 38 Miguel Perez Pena (Georgia), No. 57 Dylan Dietrich (Virginia), No. 61 Jeremy Jin (Florida), No. 63 Antoine Ghibaudo (Kentucky), No. 90 Nate Bonetto (Georgia Tech), No. 94 Oscar Lacides (Oklahoma) and No. 98 Nathan Cox (Vanderbilt)
Defeated four nationally ranked doubles teams in No. 4 Youcef Rihane and Alex Bulte (Florida State), No. 19 Krish Arora and Christophe Clements (Georgia Tech), No. 63 Niccolo Baroni/Mario Serrano (Mississippi State) and No. 87 Nathan Cox and Michael Ross (Vanderbilt)
Represented Slovenia in this year's Davis Cup and captured a win to help the team advance over Indonesia

2023-24

NCAA Singles Champion
Recorded the Crimson Tide's first-ever NCAA title in addition to claiming the school's first-ever singles crown between the men's and women's tennis programs
Posted a thrilling 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2 come-from-behind win against No. 23 Michael Zheng (Columbia) in the Singles Championships Match
Historic run to the national crown included wins over five consecutive top-25 ranked singles players
In addition to downing No. 23 Zheng in the finals, he defeated No. 17 Cannon Kingsley (Ohio State) in the Round of 32, No. 5 Micah Braswell (Texas) in the Round of 16, No. 15 Cooper Williams (Harvard) in the quarterfinals and No. 9 Ozan Baris (Michigan State) in the semifinals in addition to topping No. 118 Jonas Hartenstein (North Florida) in the opening match
Eighth player in program history to earn All-America honors as he picked up the Tide's 10th overall accolade for advance to the quarterfinals at the NCAA Championships
First player in program history to reach the semifinals at the NCAA Singles Championships and only the second to reach the quarterfinals
Concluded the season with a 27-13 overall singles record, concluding the season ranked No. 29
Won second ITA Southern Regional Doubles Title alongside freshman partner Andrii Zimnokh
Defeated Harvard's Cooper Williams earlier in the year in the opening match at the ITA All-America Championships
Went undefeated at the ITA National Indoor Championships
Recorded wins in singles and doubles play contributing to the win against then No. 10 Kentucky
Ranked singles wins: No. 5 Micah Braswell (Texas), No. 9 Ozan Baris (Michigan State). No. 15 Cooper Williams (Harvard), No. 17 Cannon Kingsley (Ohio State), No. 22 Raphael Perot (Texas A&M, currently ranked 20^th), No. 23 Michael Zheng (Columbia), No. 38 Peter Makk (Southern California), No. 50 Nikola Slavic (Ole Miss, currently ranked 39^th ), No. 67 Cannon Kingsley (Ohio State, currently ranked 17^th), No. 83 Mihailo Popovic (Wisconsin), No. 118 Jonas Hartenstein (North Florida) and No. 118 Nemanja Malesevic (Mississippi State, currently ranked 47^th), while also battling to a third-set, unfinished match against No. 15 Michael Zheng (Columbia) and No. 44 Tyler Stice (Auburn-Blue Gray National Classic, currently ranked 31^st).
Ranked doubles wins: No. 8 Lukas Engelhardt and Nikola Slavic (Ole Miss- ITA Southern Regional Championships), No. 29 Bozo Barun and Jared Horwood (Arkansas), No. 35 Robert Cash and Bryce Nakashima (Ohio State) and No. 75 Aleksi Lofman and Stefan Latinovic (LSU), in addition to an unfinished tiebreaker (6-6 (5-5)) against No. 24 Nicolas Kotzen and Max Westphal (Columbia).
Two-time SEC Player of the Week for his performance at the ITA National Indoor Championships (Feb. 21) and against Ole Miss and then-No. 11 Texas A&M (April 15)

2022-23

Selected to Second Team All-SEC
Competed primarily at the No. 1 spot for the Crimson Tide's singles and doubles lineup
Won 19 singles matches and 14 doubles matches
Held the No. 1 doubles duo in the nation, Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson (South Carolina), to an unfinished 5-5 match result
Upset ranked doubles duos No. 23 Taha Baadi/Alafia Aydeni (Kentucky), No. 44 Nemanja Malesevic/Carles Hernandez (Mississippi State) and No. 48 Stefan Latinovic/Nick Watson (LSU)
Captured wins against No. 38 Noah Schachter (Texas A&M), No. 58 Ronald Hohmann (LSU) and No. 60 Nikola Slavic (Ole Miss)
Defeated No. 72 Will Grant in singles while competing at the No. 2 spot in the lineup to help Alabama upset No. 16 Florida
Opened season on a six-game win streak in singles, highlighted by an upset win over No. 26 Ozan Baris (Michigan State)
Earned appearance on CSC Academic All-District Team
Entered the season with pre-season national singles ranking of No. 13 and doubles ranking of No. 33 (with teammate German Samofalov)
Competed at the All-American Championships and defeated No. 19 Noah Schachter (Texas A&M)
Earned Top-10 doubles victory at All-American Championships with win over No. 10 Eleftherios Neos and Sema Pankin (Portland) with teammate German Samofalov
Reached quarterfinals at the ITA Southern Regional Championships

2021-22

First SEC Freshman of the Year honoree in program history
Advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Singles Championships
Only SEC freshman to hold a national ranking in singles and one of just four to be ranked in doubles this season
Qualified for the NCAA Singles Draw
Currently ranked 25^th in singles and ranked with two doubles partners coming in at No. 60 with Patrick Kaukovalta and No. 62 with German Samofalov
Competed as the No. 1 singles player and member for the No. 1 doubles team for the Crimson Tide all season
Holds a team-leading 21 singles wins, capturing 14 wins while playing at the No. 1 spot
Recorded a team-leading 21 doubles wins with 15 victories coming at the top of the lineup
Has been ranked with three different doubles partners this year, recording a season-high No. 16 with Juan Martin, No. 28 with Samofalov and No. 53 with Kaukovalta
Won the ITA Southern Regional Championships Doubles Draw with Martin, earning an automatic berth the ITA National Fall Championships
Recorded ranked singles wins against then-No. 1 Ben Shelton (Florida), then-No. 44 Finn Reynolds (Ole Miss), then-No. 44 George Harwell (Vanderbilt), then-No. 50 Ronald Hohmann (LSU), then-No. 112 Oscar Cutting (Memphis), then-No. 107 Alex Reco (Arkansas) Reco during the regular season as well as then-No. 35 George Harwell (Vanderbilt) in SEC Tournament

Prep Highlights

Coached by Luka Hazdovac at Ptuj Tennis Club
Five-time Slovenia National Champion in doubles
Slovenian National Singles Champion, U16 & U18
Represented Slovenia at the 2017 European Championships U16 in Moscow, the 2018 and 2019 U18 European Championships in Klosters
ITF Singles Champion J4 Kranj in 2019 and ITF J4 Singles Runner-up Maribor in 2019
ITF Doubles Winner J3 Mohammedia in 2019 and ITF Doubles Runner-up J3 Trnava in 2019
Played Portoroz Challenger qualification in 2019
Highest ranked win over an ATP player - Kocevar Desman (ATP 717) in July 2020