link on the front page to aggieathletics.com article. hope he stays involved with the team when he has time. the aggie tennis program is where it is today in large part because of shuon.

give 'em hell and gig 'em shuon.

Agreed! The best of luck to you, Shuon! I was hoping that I would hear this announcement someday...

Give 'em hell!

I am glad to see this, but Shuon will be missed as an assistant coach. It was great watching him play when he was in top form his junior year. If I remember correctly he went as high as #2 and ended the year in the top 5.

Does anyone know how his recent play compares to our current players? For example can he beat Lester or Ante? He will obviously get better with training, but I am wondering where he stands now.

It looks like he is going about this with the right attitude and if things work out maybe we will see him playing a grand slam tournament in a couple of years.

Does anyone know how the professional tennis circuit works? The article about Shuon stated that professional tennis is divided into three levels: Futures, Challengers, and the ATP Tour. It stated that players advance through the divisions based on their accumulation of award points.

Shuon stated that he planned to play “Futures” for about 16 months and then hopefully move to the “Challengers.”

Does anyone know specifically how points are earned and how many are required to move to the Challengers level?

He stated that only about 150 are at the ATP level. How many are at the Challengers level? Is there a Web site that has these players listed with their points or their rankings?

I wish Shuon well. He has been outstanding while at Aggieland as a player and as a coach.

http://www.usta.com/protennis/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=25062&itype=921&icategoryid=200

This article only talks about the USTA circuit, but it will give you a better idea of how things works.

He just wants to go pro for a year or two, then come back to the states and play tennis for Baylor.

Shoun has an uphill battle on his hands. He appears to have a pretty realistic assessment of how long it will take to see if he has a chance of making it and how tough it will be. In general even the NCAA champion doesn't even have a top 500 in the world ranking.Generally at ATP challenger tournaments the players have rankings between 250 and 125. There is a huge gap between being top 250 in the world and being a top collegiate player. Very, very few top collegiate players ever attain even a 250 ranking.

68 Ag has it right. This is a tough battle, but Shuon has a very realistic look at what is before him. Whether he makes it or not, to date he is still the finest Aggie tennis playerI have ever seen. If I live long enough, I hope to be there whem he is inducted to the Athletic Hall of Fame.

Thanks, the information will be very helpful. I will try to follow him on the Internet as much as I can.

He, or someone, should design a Web site with his schedule and progress on it. Maybe one day he will play in a tournament in the southeast that I can drive to from the Nashville area.

I have never seen him play and I sure would like to.

There are several former top college players in the top 300. Delic, last year's national champ is ranked around 300 after one year as is Bobby Reynolds who was top 5. Jeff Morrison and Robert Kendrick are both top 150 now, and Shuon beat both of them in college. However, there are many others who are only around 500. Estaban Carrill, from TCU is about 480. You really never know until you give it a shot, which is why it's good that Shuon is going to give it a shot. He has the talent and hopefully he can find that same fire he had in college that made him so good.

Actually I think Grant Connell is the most successful aggie tennis player ever. I belive he was top 5 in doubles and even ranked number I at one point much better than Madden will ever do. IMHO

Cory

Where did you find the rankings you speak of? I would like to be able to determine if and when Shuon makes the Top 500 and makes the Challenger’s level.

I do not know Shuon as a tennis player. I never had the oppertunity to watch a match of his. I only know him as Coach Madden, and I know the program is going to miss him. He is a person of kindness and character. I have had the oppertunity to visit with him on many occasions and to have been such a quality tennis player and not have a huge ego is truly incredible. I wish him the best of luck in turing pro. I believe he will be successful, if not on the court than in coaching in college or the professional ranks.

I look forward to finally getting a chance to see him on the court. I have listen to the stories of his drive and determination during matches and can't wait to witness it first hand. I agree with and earlier poster who said there needs to be a web site to keep up with Shuon's tourneys and results.

Shuon, best of luck in your new career. You will be missed. Better to try and chase that dream than to look back and say "what if." I have no doubt you will represent yourself and Texas A&M with respect and dignity.

The best place to check futures and challenger results is www.stevegtennis.com this sight has the results from all over the world and to check the rankings just go to atptour.com click on rankings it will only list the top 50, but click on united states as the country and it will list rankings for all us players.