Michael Zheng accomplishes a historic feat in his career! Who’s Zheng, though? Well, he is a 20-year-old tennis player from Montville, New Jersey. He recently beat Ozan Baris of Michigan State by 6-2,4-6,6-2 to become the first Ivy League player to win an NCAA men’s singles title since 1922! Shortly after this emphatic victory, we saw Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert showering praise on the youngster. Gilbert is known for his extraordinary ability to turn stones into a glittering diamond in the tennis world. So, getting spotted by one of the finest in the coaching field is itself a big achievement for young Zheng. What did the experienced coach say about Michael Zheng’s recent heroics, though?

For those who are unaware, Brad Gilbert rose to prominence as a coach after working with Andre Agassi, who won 6 of his 8 Grand Slam titles while working with Gilbert. After that, he coached the likes of Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, Coco Gauff, and many more. However, after working together for almost fourteen months, Brad Gilbert parted ways with Coco Gauff in September 2024. After that, he is seen spending time making all the analyses, coming up with new advice for the betterment of the sport, and also highlighting the next-gen stars in the tennis world through his social media accounts.

One of those lucky stars is Michael Zheng! Recently, a basketball insider, Adam Zagoria shared an update on tennis on his X account. He wrote, “Michael Zheng of @CULionsMTEN will compete in a 4-man playoff next summer for a US Open main-draw wildcard in Singles He is the first NCAA champion from Columbia since 1906 and first from Ivy League since 1922.” He even tagged, Coco Gauff ex-coach in that post, and later on, Gilbert was seen congratulating the youngster on his incredible win. Brad Gilbert tweeted, “Great effort from Zheng got to finals in May as well.“

Just for information, Michael Zheng played in Columbia’s first-ever NCAA singles championship final on May this year. He is the first player to reach back-to-back finals on the men’s side since Steve Johnson of USC (2011.2012). However, he had lost that match to the University of Alabama’s Filip Planinsek. Then in August this year, he was spotted attracting a lot of crowd in his US Open qualifying match. Even there he lost the match to Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in three sets, but he still managed to impress a lot of tennis fans. A group of kids were seen asking him for selfies and autographs after the match.

After seeing all this craze, Michael Zheng said, “It was amazing seeing so many players out there supporting me, kids and adults as well. It’s a great experience and I hope to come back next year and build on that.” Coach Howard Endelman often praises this young lad for his dedication and growth in both his game and character. Does his astonishing feats remind you of another 20-year-old American star who gained quite a lot of popularity in a very short span?

Can Michael Zheng follow in the footsteps of Coco Gauff and become one of the brightest stars in American tennis?

Coco Gauff is only 20 years old and she’s already regarded as one of the best in women’s tennis! She won the US Open title last year, and although she couldn’t defend her title this season, she still received a word of encouragement from her ex-coach after her exit from the ‘NY slam.’ Brad Gilbert said, “She’s accomplished a lot and the great thing is, she has huge upside at 20. If she was a stock, you still put a buy rating on her. She’s a great kid. She works hard, and good things will happen for her.“

Unlike Coco Gauff, Michael Zheng hasn’t had that enormous success in the early phases of his career, but still, this young lad has shown a lot of promise over the last few months. What did he say after becoming the first men’s Ivy Leaguer to win the title since Yale’s Lucien Williams over a century ago? “I just reset and I knew it was going to be a tough match today. I knew that [Baris] wanted it really bad and he was going to come out and give it his best, so I kind of just did the same,” said Zheng.

He further added, “It’s a huge relief, I just kind of sighed of relief after that last point. It feels amazing to finally get it done and get the title for myself and Columbia.“ Do you think just like Coco Gauff, he can also establish himself on the bigger stages of the game in the next few months?