‘We Trust Each Other’: Harvard Men’s Tennis Captures 2025 ECAC Championship

As sophomore Rohan Murali ripped a cross-court forehand winner to seal a 4-2 win over Princeton (9-4, 0-0 Ivy), Harvard (8-3, 0-0 Ivy) men’s tennis earned an honorable title for the 24th time in program history: ECAC Tournament Champions. The team, swarming Murali after his three-set thriller, dominated Brown and Penn before taking down Princeton in a Sunday evening showdown.

Against the Bears and Quakers, the Crimson only dropped one point. Entering Sunday’s matchup across from the Tigers, the team had extra motivation to clinch the title and add hardware to its extensive collection.

4-3 losses earlier in the season to No. 7 Duke, No. 14 Texas A&M, and No. 20 University of Michigan left the team disappointed, but undeterred.

“We were disappointed a little bit not to get over the line especially because we were so close, but I think that we will use that as fuel and motivation for the rest of the season,” said junior Melchior Delloye.

Still, after a 6-1 trouncing of Louisville, the team recognizes the momentum built over the season.

“It’s been a really positive season. We’ve played four top 25 teams,” said Delloye. “I think we’re feeling good and we’ve got some good wins, including the ones against NC State and Northwestern.”

“In the fall, we were missing Danny and David, who were taking the semester off,” he continued. “Myself, Mark, Valdemar, and Masa had to step up and lead by example and help the freshmen and sophomores bond with the team. We’ve really come together and the season has helped us become really close.”

“Especially this weekend, ECACs, we were really hungry to use the good performances this season to carry that into matches,” Delloye concluded.

Opening up action, the Crimson — entering the match losing only one doubles point — were stunned by intense play from the Tigers. On the first court, Filipos Astreinidis and Paul Inchaupse broke serve early and defeated freshman Benjamin Privara and junior Masato Perera, the 21st-ranked tandem in the nation.

Shortly after, seniors Daniel Milavsky and David Lins struck back and secured a 6-3 win on court 2. With the point coming down to the third and final court, the teams lined up to cheer on Delloye and fellow junior Valdemar Pape’s match.

Electric points ultimately fell in the Lions’ favor as the juniors fell 6-3, giving Princeton the doubles point and a 1-0 lead entering singles play.

In need of a jolt, Harvard quickly responded with three singles wins from Delloye, Milavsky, and Perera, giving the Crimson a 3-1 advantage.

Privara, playing on court 2, fell to Inchaupse — the 20th-ranked singles player in the nation — in straight sets.

Both Pape and Murali found themselves in tight contests heading to third sets. One more win was all that was needed for the Crimson to be ECAC Champions once again.

In tense environments where crowd pressure, nerves, and self-inflicted mistakes can take hold of players, coaching becomes vital to calm a player down. Luckily for the Crimson, Head Coach Andrew Rueb ’95, in his 7th year at the top of the program, had the full trust of players.

“I know they’ve really helped us take a step forward and really focus on our intentions and what really helps us on the court, not really focusing too much on the result,” reflected Delloye.

As Murali settled down and found his rhythm, he moved his opponent, Evan Wen, from side to side. His precision and calculated strikes enabled him to claw back from a one set deficit. When he slapped his forehand to win the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, the team quickly surrounded him and let out joyous, triumphant screams.

“A big reward for the hard work that we put in and kind of the great performances that we’ve put in this season,” said Delloye. “We trust each other and we put in the work every day.”

— Staff writer Praveen Kumar can be reached at praveen.kumar@thecrimson.com.