The Mississippi State men’s tennis team, ranked seventh nationally, will begin its 2026 season with a doubleheader in Dallas on Saturday, January 10. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play against Southern Methodist University (SMU) at the Styslinger / Altec Tennis Complex at 10 a.m. CT, followed by a match versus Lamar University.
This marks the first time since 2017 that Mississippi State opens its season on the road and continues their trend of starting the year against non-conference opponents for a tenth consecutive season.
Under head coach Matt Roberts, Mississippi State has posted a strong record in season openers, winning 10 out of 11 such matches. The team brings back eight letterwinners from last year’s squad and enters the new campaign ranked inside the ITA Top 25 for the fourth straight year.
Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez return as ITA Doubles All-Americans. Jovanovic also earned ITA Singles All-American honors after reaching the NCAA Individual Championships quarterfinals last season. The Bulldogs achieved 25 wins during their previous campaign, tying with their 1979 team for most single-season victories in program history.
Sanchez Martinez set program records last year for dual match wins in both singles and doubles. As a pair, Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez hold the school record for most doubles wins by any duo, surpassing previous leaders Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic by eight victories.
Mississippi State has not lost to an unranked opponent in a season opener since falling to Arkansas-Little Rock in 1986. Last season, they won the doubles point in 27 of their 30 matches—including all but one SEC contest—and finished with five consecutive doubles points victories dating back to April 18, 2025.
Coach Matt Roberts is approaching significant milestones: he needs four more wins to tie Tom Sawyer (1949-68) for second-most career coaching victories at Mississippi State with 216 and nine more to surpass Andy Jackson’s all-time mark of 220 wins as head coach.
Individually, Petar Jovanovic stands two wins away from sole possession of second place on MSU’s career victory list behind Nuno Borges’ total of 189. He also ranks fourth all-time in career doubles wins at MSU and could move up with his next win.
In current ITA rankings, Mississippi State is seventh as a team; individually, Jovanovic is ranked No.13 in singles while Bryan Hernandez Cortes (No.34), Mario Martinez Serrano (No.37), Benito Sanchez Martinez (No.54), and Raphael Vaksmann (No.125) are also listed among top singles players nationally. In doubles rankings, Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are ranked No.2 nationally.
Regarding series history:
– SMU leads Mississippi State all-time by three games to two; this will be their first meeting since MSU defeated SMU at Gainesville during the ITA Kickoff Weekend in 2023.
– Under Coach Roberts’ leadership, MSU has never lost to SMU.
– Against Lamar University, Lamar holds a one-game advantage from their only meeting in Beaumont back in 1976 under then-coach Rodney Hartzog.
For further updates about Mississippi State men’s tennis throughout the season fans can follow them on social media platforms including Twitter (“HailStateMT”), Facebook or Instagram.
