Commitment Profile
Countdown: Robert Levine a Blue Chip Blue Devil
by Todd Holcomb, 16 March 2016
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Most blue-chip recruits get ready for college tennis by playing each other at nationals such as Kalamazoo or ITF junior events.
Robert Levine of Bedford, N.Y. - who signed with
Duke University last fall - is taking a different route. Since the start of 2015, Levine has played almost exclusively in ITF Futures pro tournaments, traveling from Texas to Florida in the United States as well as the Dominican Republic and Canada, grinding through qualifying and hoping to make it into the main draw.
The strategy seems to be working. In February, Levine scored a victory over Gonzales Austin, the 2015 SEC player of the year from Vanderbilt, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (5) in the fourth and final qualifying round of a Futures clay-court event in Plantation, Fla.
Levine had another three-set win in the previous round against Sebastian Korda, a blue-chipper from the class of 2018 and the son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda. Levine won that one 6-7, 6-1, 6-4.
In December in the Dominican, Levine had a victory over 2014 NCAA singles semifinalist Denis Nguyen of Harvard.
"Getting ATP points and beating former top-ranked college players keeps me really motivated and excited for my future at Duke," Levine said.
The decision to try the Futures circuit was always with an eye toward college tennis - and then a transition to joining the pro tour full-time.
"I felt that playing in those tournaments would help my game progress the most," Levine said. "It has definitely been the best preparation possible for college tennis. Particularly when playing in the U.S., the draws are filled with current and former college players from all of the top schools. Exposing myself to that competition has given me a lot of confidence going into my first year at Duke."
Levine has played only two junior events in the past year. Instead, his path has taken him to Houston, Toronto, Winnipeg and Santo Domingo, among other places. Levine also kept up with his schoolwork on the road. He graduated in March from Laurel Springs, an online school.
Levine went through the recruiting process pretty early because he played in the Junior U.S. Open right before his junior year of high school. Several college coaches came to watch him play there in New York. The schools he was seriously considering were Duke, California and Stanford. He felt he could've been happy at any of those.
"Ultimately I chose Duke because after narrowing down my list to schools with top academic programs, I felt that Coach (Ramsey) Smith and Coach (Jonathan) Stokke would be the best fit to help me keep improving my tennis," Levine said.
