Tennessee tennis’ No. 14 ranked Shunsuke Mitsui took home the SEC Player of the Week honors, the conference announced Wednesday afternoon. The senior’s dynamic play led the Vols to a win over Michigan State and netted the award for the first time in his career.
Mitsui and Alan Jesudason, the 59th-ranked pair in the country, got a quick doubles win over the Spartans last week before Mitsui went on to get the match clincher in dominating fashion for Tennessee.
Mitsui is off to a 6-0 start in singles and with wins over No. 83 ranked Max Sheldon of Michigan State and No. 30 William Mroz of Illinois so far. He is 32-8 combined this season, with nine ranked singles wins total for the year.
He is 113-29 and 30-4 in SEC play during his career and the award marks his fifth competitive award in four years with the Vols. Mitsui has three All-SEC nominations, making the first-team this season and capturing a second-team nod the previous two seasons as well as picking up an ITA Singles All-American nod in the fall.
The Japan native also landed an SEC All-Tournament team nomination in 2023 and won an ITA Ohio Valley Rookie of the Year award in 2022. He won the SEC Freshman of the Week award three times in 2022, but the SEC Player of the Week honors evaded him until this week.
The senior has become a fan favorite in Knoxville during his four-year run with the team, etching his name into the Tennessee tennis record books along the way. Mitsui’s 113 career singles win is good for ninth in program history, one win ahead of Adam Carey and two wins behind Paul Annacone.
Mitsui has become the heart and soul of the Vols both program-wide and this season, helping Tennessee to a semifinal appearance in 2022, a Super Regional in 2023 and a run to the quarterfinals last season.
This year he has stepped into a leadership role, being one of only two returners for Tennessee, and will continue to take the reins on the court for head coach Chris Woodruff. His No. 14 rank this season is the second-highest mark of his career, behind only his No. 10 ranking set last August.
Mitsui and the Vols will be back in action Saturday with a doubleheader against Elon and Penn. Tennessee will take on Elon at 10 a.m. before it faces Penn at 3 p.m. to finish off the non-conference portion of the 2025 spring season.
Conference play opens Saturday, Feb. 22 with the Vols hosting Mississippi State at Goodfriend Tennis Center or Barksdale Stadium at 5 p.m. ET.
