An Introduction to Florida Men’s Tennis’ New Signees

Florida Gators men’s tennis has made three signings for the upcoming season over the past year. 

Ty Host, Alaa Trifi and Chen Ye have all been signed as freshmen. Trifi and Ye were both signed within the past month.

“One thing that I like about all three is that they are very technically sound,” Florida coach Adam Steinberg said. “It gives you the ability to adapt to a lot of different speeds and styles of play.”

Ty Host

Host was the first to sign. The 18-year-old signed with the Gators in November. Host hails from Brisbane, Australia.  

However, Host has family in Florida. This helped with the recruiting process.

“We had a close connection there,” Steinberg said. “That was obviously a great thing for us to be so close.”

He has earned nine ITA juniors titles during his career, with four singles titles and five doubles titles. His most recent singles and doubles titles came in 2024 at the J100 Johannesburg and the J200 Sydney, respectively.  

His highest ITA juniors ranking was No. 34, which he reached last year. However, his ranking has since fallen to No. 95. His Ultimate Tennis Rating, which is a number that measures a tennis player’s skill on a scale from 1-16, is 12.32.

Steinberg believes Host has the skills to be a great doubles player at the college level.

“He has great skills up at net,” he said. “I think he’s going to adapt really well to the college game. Most kids don’t play a lot of doubles, but he takes a lot of pride there. He’s obviously a very good singles player, but he’s skilled at both which I think puts him ahead of a lot of other prospects.”  

Alaa Trifi

Trifi comes from Tunisia. He signed with the Gators on Feb. 4. The 19-year-old has had success in doubles, as he has won six doubles titles in his career. However, he is no slouch in singles either, as he boasts two titles in the category.  

Trifi holds his career high ITA ranking of No. 54 and a UTR of 12.98. Trifi has played in four tournaments this year. The furthest he has advanced is the semifinals of the M15 Monastir.

Steinberg highlighted Trifi’s fiery personality and believes it will bring a spark to the locker room.

“Alaa (Trifi) is a great competitor,” he said. “He’s a warrior out there. He’s a great fighter and that’s hard to teach.”

Chen Ye

Ye, a 19-year-old from China, signed on the same day as Trifi. Ye holds five singles titles. His most recent came last year at the J100 Huzhou.

Ye is now training in Spain. Ye is being coached by a player Steinberg coached at Pepperdine. Steinberg said that having that connection was a big help in the recruiting process.

All three will have the opportunity to earn a starting role in their freshman season.  Florida has three seniors on the team, Lorenzo Claverie, Tanapatt Nirundorn and Pablo Perez Ramos.  All three are starters, so there will be spots in the lineup to compete for.

“I think they have a great chance,” he said. “They have to earn their spots, but they can compete for the top six for sure.”

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