How the Kansas Jayhawks became college baseballs unlikeliest powerhouse
THE UNLIKELIEST POWERHOUSE in college baseball features a lineup with eight junior college transfers and a ninth from Division II Minnesota Crookston. When Dan Fitzgerald arrived at the University of Kansas three years ago to take over a program defined by its perpetual mediocrity, he did not intend to build around the overlooked and underappreciated. It just came naturally.
From 2012 to 2016, when Fitzgerald was helping turn Dallas Baptist into an implausible winner as recruiting coordinator, he called Jon Coyne every Monday between lunch with his wife and picking up his kids at school. Coyne was a Texas juco assistant during that time, and the conversations with Fitzgerald were information tsunamis, with Coyne a font of knowledge on the state of two-year college ball in Texas.
Fitzgerald, earlier than most, saw the coming evolution of baseball with clarity. Pitchers were throwing harder, and hitters needed physicality and maturity to keep pace, and as tantalizing as the idea of bringing in raw freshmen and developing them into productive upperclassmen was to Fitzgerald, winning now sounded better. It’s a philosophy that has rooted itself as much at KU as it did at DBU. There is nothing flashy about the Jayhawks, aside from the shine coming off their Big 12 regular-season championship trophy.
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1949!!!!!
KU BASEBALL WINS A REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP 🏆
In a universe of seven-figure NIL deals, KU is the merriest band of juco bandits in college baseball. Of the team’s 34 players, 23 have played junior college ball. Survivors of 10-hour bus rides, armed with stories of cricket-filled sinks and the other joys juco ball brings, the Jayhawks enter the Big 12 tournament this week (Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU) fresh off the school’s first conference title since 1949, intent on hosting an NCAA regional for the first time in program history.
The turnaround coincided with the arrival of Fitzgerald and his subsequent hiring of Coyne as recruiting coordinator to modernize a dusty program. Within months of coming to Lawrence in June 2022, they had booked the No. 1-ranked juco recruiting class in the country, according to Perfect Game. They did it again in 2023. And 2024. And once more last year. And now it is manifesting itself in a way long considered impossible in Lawrence.
“All we do is get up and think about where can we find good players and how we coach them,” Fitzgerald said. “So if there’s anything else in life that is needed of us — like, need me to hang something on the wall — probably not going to happen. Certainly can’t wire anything electrically. This is literally all we do.”
What they do is different from every Power 4 team in the country — and, based on Fitzgerald’s background, not entirely surprising. Juco ball holds a special place in Fitzgerald’s heart. His first full-time coaching job was as an assistant at North Iowa Area Community College in 2003. He moved to Division II Flagler, where he spent two seasons before joining Des Moines Area Community College in 2007. He was named head coach a year after that and went 249-73 over the next five seasons.
Dallas Baptist marked his first foray into Division I, and there he caught the eye of Jay Johnson, who two weeks after taking over as head coach at LSU in June 2021 poached Fitzgerald from DBU as his recruiting coordinator. Fitzgerald’s first group of commitments was headlined by Konnor Griffin, who today is starting shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates in what would have been his junior year in college. Between DBU and LSU, Fitzgerald’s persuasiveness earned him a reputation as college baseball’s Mariano Rivera-caliber closer.
Replicating that at Kansas was an entirely different story. Power 4 teams historically have not constructed their rosters around juco players, typically signing one or two a year. With a limited NIL budget and facilities that don’t stack up to what other top-tier teams offer, Kansas would zag where everyone else zigged. Fitzgerald understood that only special sorts of freshmen warrant significant playing time, so if he wanted to win, he would lean into more mature players that prioritized at-bats and innings and winning over money and perks.
It’s how, last year, it landed first baseman Brady Ballinger. Unrecruited out of a Las Vegas high school, Ballinger enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada, he said, because “it was that or go to a trade school.” Kansas was the only team to seriously court Ballinger, seeing swing tweaks that might unlock his production. Almost immediately Kansas coaches asked the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Ballinger to move his hand position and add a leg kick to improve his timing, then start trying to hit the ball in the air more. In 58 games as the Jayhawks’ first baseman last year, Ballinger hit .353/.490/.670 with 16 home runs, 56 RBIs and 71 runs, and today he serves as Kansas’ cleanup hitter.
“Fitz is really good at bringing guys in and on Day 1 he’s going to tell you exactly what he’s going to expect of you,” Ballinger said. “There’s no surprises. Everything’s pretty upfront: ‘Here’s what’s going to happen, here’s how everything’s going to go and you’re either on board or we’re going to leave you behind.’ And his coaching style really helps with juco players just trying to acclimate.”
KU becoming a haven for the best juco players makes sense considering the success of two-year colleges in the state. Johnson County Community College has been the best juco team in the country this season, winning 41 games in a row at one point. Dozens of players in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference are set to play Division I ball next year — including Cowley County catcher Holden Groebl at Kansas.
Fitzgerald and Coyne don’t limit their juco recruiting to a small radius, of course. They regularly land players from legacy juco programs such as LSU Eunice, from which they plucked their leadoff hitter and best player this season, shortstop Tyson LeBlanc. The depth of Coyne’s research into the players he recruits runs deep, and he got a leg up on others by avoiding a common mistake: mispronouncing LeBlanc’s last name. (It is pronounced Luh-BLAHn, with the C silent and the N soft.) LeBlanc noticed. He also noticed that KU gathered video and player-tracking data and used it to give a comprehensive assessment of his game, including a player comparison to former San Diego Padres shortstop Khalil Greene, whose power-first game indeed resembles LeBlanc’s.
He committed soon after his in-person visit, leaving behind Eunice, where, he said, “the baseball field is paradise and then the outskirts are crawfish fields, drive-through daiquiri shops and Walmart. We have a Tractor Supply. One Mexican restaurant that’s the hotspot. If you’ve got 10 bucks in your bank account, that’s where you’re spending your 10 bucks.” Lawrence felt like Valhalla comparatively.
And that, as much as anything, is what Fitzgerald and Coyne love about juco players. It’s not just that they’re appreciative of the amenities. It’s that they’ve proved they can excel in trying situations. At Eunice, LeBlanc said, the team didn’t have an athletic trainer his freshman year, so players did their own cupping therapy and electrical nerve stimulation. There’s a level of self-sufficiency and purpose with them helping to lessen the stigma bigger programs have with juco transfers.
It’s how a team that was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 and doesn’t necessarily have the statistics of a first-place unit wins a championship. Other programs can go wild in the transfer portal. Kansas will happily do what it knows best and keep winning.
Success compounds in college baseball, especially when the foundational players find themselves in professional ball. LeBlanc and Ballinger are expected to be drafted this July. Others could be as well. And consistent years of drafted players take the penciling of a narrative — a program on the upswing — and etch it in ink.
It’s starting to dry now, to firmly lock in KU as a force to be reckoned with in college baseball. Like UConn has done with Division III standouts, the Jayhawks’ identity is rooted in their willingness to tread where other programs are too proud or pompous. It’s a formula, and it works, and by now Kansas knows how to navigate the potential pitfalls.
“Everyone on your team is all of a sudden good when you get to a level like the Big 12 where you look up and say, ‘Holy buckets, every at-bat that I have in the fall is against the best guy that I faced last year,'” Fitzgerald said. “When you do that, you really start to get an appreciation for how many good baseball players there are.”
There are plenty. The best get drafted out of high school. The tier after that commits in hopes of forging that same path three years down the road. And then there are the 99.9%, the thousands who have excellence within and simply take a more tortuous path to find it — the overlooked and underappreciated. Or, as they’re otherwise known, the exact sorts of players the University of Kansas would love to have.
A quick nod to some of those who do not make the list. Udo Lattek won all three European trophies with different clubs – a European Cup at Bayern Munich, Uefa Cup with Borussia Monchengladbach and Cup Winners’ Cup with Barcelona.
Sven-Goran Eriksson led Gothenburg to a Uefa Cup, won a Cup Winners’ Cup with Lazio and lost European and Uefa Cup finals with Benfica.
Raymond Goethals lifted the Champions League with Marseille in 1993, having lost the final two years earlier, and led Anderlecht to Cup Winners’ Cup success in 1978 a year after finishing runners-up to Hamburg. He also lost a final with Standard Liege.
Then there’s Jurgen Klopp, Champions League winner in 2019 and three-time runner-up. And, of course, heavy-hitting omissions in Brian Clough, who clinched successive European Cups with Nottingham Forest, and Celtic great Jock Stein, the first British manager to win the continent’s top trophy and beaten finalist in 1970.
NBA coaching carousel: Firings, hirings, whats next for each job
The Milwaukee Bucks became the first team to fill its vacancy, hiring Taylor Jenkins as the new head coach. He replaces Doc Rivers, who exited the role after the regular season.
Let’s examine the positions currently available, the pros and cons of each situation and who could step in this offseason.
Open jobs
2025-26 record: 26-56 (missed postseason) Previous coach: Jason Kidd (mutually parted ways May 19) Lead executive: Masai Ujiri (hired May 2026)
Why this job is open: When Ujiri held his introductory news conference, he made it clear there was going to be a top-down look at every single part of the organization. Moving on from Kidd is Ujiri following through on that — and an indication that this organization will be completely reshaped in Ujiri’s image going forward. Team owner Patrick Dumont is not going to spare any expense doing so, as few other owners in the league would greenlight this sort of expenditure. Kidd has four years and more than $40 million remaining on his contract, sources told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Positives of the job: This begins and ends with Cooper Flagg. Yes, there is other talent on the roster and a couple of first-round picks to work with this summer. But Flagg has a chance to be a true difference-making talent. He has the positional size and skill set on the wing that make him one of the most malleable stars in the NBA — presenting the Mavericks with flexibility in building out a contending roster around him. Flagg is an ideal building block who makes this an intriguing job all by himself.
Negatives of the job: For starters, there are the teams located a few hours’ drive north (the Oklahoma City Thunder) and southwest (the San Antonio Spurs) that will likely pose a persistent threat for the next decade. Dallas also has burned through its first-round picks for the next several years, and both Kyrie Irving‘s age (34) and Dereck Lively II‘s injuries make it tough to rely on either of them being long-term building blocks alongside Flagg.
Orlando Magic
2025-26 record: 45-37 (lost in first round) Previous coach: Jamahl Mosley (fired May 4) Lead executive: Jeff Weltman (hired May 2017)
Why this job is open: When Orlando acquired guard Desmond Bane last summer, the expectation was a major step forward and a top-four seed in the East. Instead, a season full of disappointments followed. Magic once again landed in the play-in tournament as the 8-seed, then suffered a first-round collapse after leading the top-seeded Detroit Pistons 3-1.
Positives of the job: Talent. And for that reason, the Magic will be as attractive as any job opening this summer. Between Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, Bane and the rest of Orlando’s roster, a new coach would believe that, with some tweaks to the offense and improved consistency, this team could attempt to fulfill this year’s promise next season.
Negatives of the job: This roster is expensive, with the Magic headed for the second apron as currently constructed. That’s not a path play-in teams tend to take, and this franchise hasn’t expressed much willingness to enter that spending territory — which could mean more changes are coming.
Portland Trail Blazers
2025-26 record: 42-40 (lost in first round) Previous coach: Chauncey Billups (on leave), Tiago Splitter (coached this season on an interim basis) Lead executive: Joe Cronin (hired December 2021)
Why this job is open: The Trail Blazers job has been in flux ever since Billups was arrested as part of an FBI investigation into an illegal betting scheme back in October. While Splitter did a commendable job on an interim basis throughout the season, after losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the first round Portland is conducting a full search for a long-term replacement.
Positives of the job: There’s a pretty solid collection of talent in Portland, led by one of the season’s breakout players: forward Deni Avdija. Portland has a ton of long, rangy athletes around him — plus massive center Donovan Clingan protecting the rim — which allows the Trail Blazers the ability to create a compelling defensive mix.
Negatives of the job: There are real questions about what the ownership of Tom Dundon, who officially bought the team in April, is going to look like. He has been open about cutting costs and Portland made several moves to shave money off expenditures in the time since he assumed control of the franchise. On top of that, Portland is not anywhere near the talent level of the top teams in the West, and the Blazers’ books are pretty full money-wise for the next couple of seasons — which is how long Avdija is on a below-market contract before he will become a free agent.
Why this job is open: After the season ended, ownership made it abundantly clear that if Donovan wanted, he would remain in the job. However, after a series of family situations he dealt with during the season and facing the prospect of a lengthy rebuild in Chicago, Donovan chose to step down from the job he has had since 2020, allowing the Bulls to move forward with a clean slate after firing Karnisovas two weeks earlier.
Positives of the job: A lot about Chicago’s situation should appeal to potential coaches: a huge market, a giant fan base and ownership that has proven to be patient. There should be total alignment with the front office, given the new head of basketball operations is going to be hired before a head coach. And in a deep 2026 draft, Chicago will pick twice in the top 15.
Negatives of the job: There is a definitive lack of talent on the roster. Josh Giddey is a below-average starting point guard, while Matas Buzelis is an intriguing long-term player who might eventually be an above-average starter. Outside of that, this group will take significant time to develop into a true factor in the East. With lottery reform coming, that task could become even more difficult.
Hired jobs
New Orleans Pelicans
2025-26 record: 26-56 (missed postseason) New coach: Jamahl Mosley Previous coach: Willie Green (Fired Nov. 15; James Borrego named interim coach) Lead executive: Joe Dumars (hired April 2025)
Positives of the job: There is talent here. Zion Williamson is coming off perhaps his best, and certainly most available, season. Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones are quality two-way wings.
Negatives of the job: There are questions about the lack of overall funding into the franchise by ownership, with discussions ongoing over much-needed investment in the team’s arena. The decision to trade a 2026 lottery pick, plus a first-round pick last season, for Derik Queen looked worse as he fell out of the starting lineup down the stretch. There’s still a ton of money tied up for next season in Jordan Poole and for the next two seasons in Dejounte Murray, both of whom are questionable fits. Getting this team back into a playoff spot in the West won’t be easy.
What does the new coach bring? Discipline, accountability and a track record of getting teams to defend — all things that will help establish a new culture in New Orleans.
Mosley methodically built Orlando into a team that has made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, helping to shepherd the young talent and consistently proving to be able to motivate players. The Pelicans have never made the postseason three consecutive times and haven’t made it in back-to-back seasons in almost 20 years. If Mosley can just repeat what he did in Orlando, the Pelicans will be thrilled with the hire.
Milwaukee Bucks
2025-26 record: 32-50 (missed postseason) New coach: Taylor Jenkins (finalizing deal) Previous coach: Doc Rivers (exited April 12) Lead executive: Jon Horst (hired June 2017)
Positives of the job: In the event Giannis Antetokounmpo is still on the Bucks’ roster next season, it won’t hurt having one of the best players on the planet to build around. And if he’s not on the roster, that means he has been moved in a trade that could completely reshape both Milwaukee’s roster and asset sheet, giving Jenkins some intriguing options. Some lottery luck next month would certainly help.
Negatives of the job: The Bucks’ roadmap is full of challenges. With the $20 million from waiving and stretching Damian Lillard‘s contract on the books for the next four seasons, plus a lack of draft capital because of the trade to acquire him, adding impact players to the roster will be difficult. If Antetokounmpo isn’t traded, it’s unlikely the Bucks fare any better next season amid the continuing saga.
What does the new coach bring? Jenkins won 250 games in five-plus seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, getting fired with a handful of games remaining last season as the team went from rising power in the West to hitting a franchise reset in the wake of Ja Morant‘s on-and-off court issues. Jenkins has a proven track record of developing players, which will be critical as Milwaukee either rebuilds after an Antetokounmpo trade or re-tools with him still on the roster. Jenkins has familiarity with both Antetokounmpo and Horst after his one season with the Bucks on Mike Budenholzer‘s staff in 2018-19.
Barcelona have cooled their interest in Atletico Madrid’s Argentina striker Julian Alvarez, 26, and will instead pursue a move for 24-year-old Chelsea and Brazil forward Joao Pedro. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish), external
Roma’s Argentine forward Paulo Dybala, 32, is open to a move to the Premier League this summer. (Sky Sports) , external
Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are battling to signBrighton and Denmark midfielder Matt O’Riley, withTottenham boss Roberto de Zerbi also a fan of the 25-year-old. (Teamtalk) , external
Everton‘s interest in FC Midtjylland’s Chile winger Dario Osorio, 22, is unlikely to impact a deal being done for 30-year-old England attacker Jack Grealish following his loan spell from Manchester City. (Football Insider) , external
Everton have also reignited their interest in 22-year-old Leicester City and Ghana forward Abdul Fatawu. (Teamtalk) , external
Based in Liverpool, Beth Lindop is ESPN’s Liverpool correspondent and also covers the WSL and UWCL.
Multiple Authors
Perhaps it is fitting that a Liverpool season characterized by late drama should have one final twist in the tale.
With only days to go until the end of what has been a tumultuous campaign for the reigning Premier League champions, Mohamed Salah — who is set to bring the curtain down on a glittering Anfield career when he plays his final game on Sunday before leaving on a free transfer this summer — has set the stage for an intriguing season finale by once again turning up the heat on besieged head coach Arne Slot.
On Saturday, less than 24 hours after Liverpool’s humiliating 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa, Salah took to social media to make his frustrations with the Reds’ insipid title defence known to his legions of online followers.
“I have witnessed this club go from doubters to believers, and from believers to champions,” the Egypt international wrote. “It took hard work and I always did everything I could to help the club get there. Nothing makes me prouder than that.
“Us crumbling to yet another defeat this season was very painful and not what our fans deserve. I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies.
“That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.”
On the face of it, Salah makes some salient points. For a team that won the title by a 10-point margin last term, Liverpool have fallen way short of expectations this season, even when accounting for the considerable mitigation.
While UEFA Champions League qualification can still be assured with a victory over Brentford this weekend, the Reds have undeniably underperformed according to nearly every conceivable metric. The rap sheet of unwelcome records plundered by Slot’s side this season make for uncomfortable reading for the Dutchman — 19 defeats (the most suffered since 2009-10) and 52 league goals conceded (the most in more than a century), to name but a few.
Salah’s sentiments have resonated not only with the fanbase — which has grown disillusioned with Slot’s management — but also with several of his teammates. At the time of writing, 12 members of the squad, including six of those who featured at Villa Park on Friday night, have liked the post on Instagram, suggesting the forward’s misgivings are also harbored by other members of the Liverpool dressing room.
However you dress it up, the optics do not look good for Slot, who over the course of the past nine months has haemorrhaged most of the support he deservedly won for guiding the Reds to the title last season. And yet that does not mean that Salah’s methods here are entirely selfless, nor that they should be beyond reproach.
The 33-year-old’s feud with Slot has provided an undignified subplot to a season that has already had its fair share of challenges, both on and off the pitch. Last December, after being dropped to the bench for a third consecutive game, Salah gave an incendiary interview to reporters at Elland Road following Liverpool’s 3-3 draw with Leeds United.
“I think it is very clear that someone wanted me to get all of the blame,” Salah said. “I said many times before that I had a good relationship with the manager, and all of a sudden we don’t have any relationship. I don’t know why but it seems to me, how I see it, that someone doesn’t want me in the club. It seems like the club has thrown me under the bus. That is how I am feeling.”
It was only the fourth time in more than eight years that Salah had stopped in the post-match mixed zone to give an interview to the written press, with his outburst clearly fueled by the belief that he had been scapegoated for his team’s poor form.
Perhaps in that instance, too, there was some semblance of truth in his assertions. After all, Liverpool have won 61% of their games with Salah in the starting XI this season, compared to 35% without.
He is far from the Reds’ only problem, although even his most ardent supporters would have to concede that his own performance levels have dropped dramatically this term, with his current tally of nine goals and 12 assists in all competitions putting him emphatically on course for his least productive season in a Liverpool shirt. What’s more, as one of the most high-profile athletes on the planet, it is only natural that Salah’s contributions, both positive and negative, will invite more external attention than those of his less prominent teammates.
In the aftermath of his comments at Leeds, the forward was omitted from the squad for a decisive Champions League clash against Internazionale. But, despite his absence at San Siro, 26 of the 34 questions posed to Slot and goalkeeper Alisson Becker in the pre-match news conference were about Salah.
Whether or not it was his intention, the Egypt international made himself the story, just as he has done again here. A week that should be about the celebration of his remarkable legacy — and that of left back Andy Robertson, who is also set to play his last game for Liverpool this weekend — has now become a breeding ground for more hostility and tension in a fanbase that is already worryingly fractured.
Nobody connected with the club needs to be told this season has not been good enough, nor that things must improve next term. Salah’s commitment to Liverpool cannot be questioned and his obvious concerns about the direction of the club — as well as the thoughts of his teammates — should help to inform the decisions made by owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and sporting director Richard Hughes this summer.
However, no player — no matter how great their stature — should be allowed to dictate a manager’s future. Cristiano Ronaldo tried to do so at Manchester United in November 2022, when he gave an explosive interview to broadcaster Piers Morgan in which he claimed he had no respect for boss Erik ten Hag.
Within weeks, Ronaldo’s contract at United had been terminated and he had found a fresh challenge with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. It did not matter that his lack of faith in Ten Hag was ultimately vindicated by the Dutchman’s dismissal less than two years later; the reality is that empowering star players to indulge in such powerplays rarely ends well for a club.
Salah has always been adept at choosing the pertinent moments to speak and it is no coincidence that he has done so at a time when Slot’s standing within the eyes of the fanbase is at an all-time low. The Egypt international’s references to “heavy metal” football and turning fans from “doubters to believers” — both phrases coined by Jürgen Klopp — play on the heartstrings of a fanbase that craves the return of the glory days under Slot’s predecessor.
To many, it is of little consequence that both Salah and Klopp have acknowledged their relationship has improved dramatically now they no longer have to work together, nor is it relevant that Salah eulogized about Slot’s more controlled style of play when it was yielding success for both him and the team last season.
In the partisan world of football fandom, where support for an individual player or coach can sometimes trump an allegiance to a club as a whole, battle lines must be drawn and sides must be taken.
Slot himself reinforced that notion earlier this month when, after being quizzed on Salah’s suggestion that standards at Liverpool needed to be upheld in his absence, he pointed out that “standards are not only important in the gym.”
It was a needless comment that only added fuel to the fire, though perhaps Slot — much like Salah — simply felt the human urge to defend himself after being assailed from all angles.
For the most part this season, the Dutchman has publicly remained respectful to the forward, though his diplomacy is likely to be tested once more when he gives a news conference ahead of the Brentford game later this week.
“If I was Arne Slot, I’d have [Salah] nowhere near the stadium in the last game,” Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney said on his BBC podcast on Monday. “I had it with Alex Ferguson. I had a disagreement and fallout and at Alex Ferguson’s last game at Old Trafford, he left me out of the squad for that reason.”
Ultimately, though, Slot will know that any stance he takes will invite criticism. With his position already precarious, including Salah in the squad against Brentford and allowing him his Anfield farewell is likely to be the safest course of action.
It is a sad, messy state of affairs and there is no magical cure for all of Liverpool’s ills. Perhaps the fact of the matter is that two things can be true at once.
Slot can be a talented coach who deserves enormous respect for his work last season, but whose long-term future is worthy of scrutiny. Likewise, Salah can be a Liverpool legend deeply invested in the future of the club, but also a footballer unable to reconcile with the reality that his powers are waning.
This is a time of enormous uncertainty at Anfield. The only thing beyond any doubt is that, in this situation, there can be no winner.
Bianca Andreescu: How former US Open champion and world number four went to the bottom of the tour to rise back up
Andreescu was plagued with injuries – issues with her abdomen and ankle kept her away from the court, and her 2025 season was delayed by appendectomy surgery.
Her form suffered and she has failed to go beyond the fourth round at a Grand Slam since her US Open triumph, with her ranking tumbling from a high of world number four in 2019 to 228 earlier this year.
At the start of 2026 she decided to return to an environment where she hadn’t played since 2018, swapping life on the WTA Tour for that on the ITF.
The tournament rankings work from W15 – the lowest level – up to W100. Andreescu was competing in W35 and W75 editions, with the total prize pot for a W35 tournament about £26,000.
The make-up of the ITF tour tends to be youngsters who are trying to make their mark on the sport, women who were unable to break on to the WTA Tour or players who are using it to regain previous form.
The crowds might be tiny and line judges rare, but competition on the court is fierce.
“The hunger the women had that I was playing against, every match was so difficult, and I feel like maybe on the WTA Tour, the athletes are maybe a bit more comfortable with certain things,” Andreescu says.
“Certain things are getting paid for [on the WTA Tour]. But on that [ITF] level, nothing’s getting paid for, and you’re barely breaking even. I was there too at one point, so I know how it is.
“I don’t want people to get the idea that the ITF tour is Mickey Mouse compared to the WTA Tour, because that’s not the case.
“I feel a lot of admiration and respect for the women that continue to grind on the tour, because it’s not easy, even on the WTA Tour, it’s just not easy.”
Vemic, who joined Andreescu’s team in September 2025, echoed those thoughts.
“Every player there needs to prove themselves and everyone is hungry and they’re not bored of playing many years on tour,” he says.
“They’re all driven by their dreams and passion because a lot of them are younger athletes.
“So sometimes it’s a transitional part or stage of coming from juniors into professional waters and some of them carry a lot of confidence.”
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