Former Tulane Green Wave Tennis Star Advances to Australian Open Main Draw
Former Tulane Green Wave tennis star Dominik Koepfer won his final match in Australian Open qualifying earlier this week, putting him in the main draw of the year’s first grand slam event.
Koepfer, who was seeded No. 1 among qualifiers, needed three wins to get into the main draw and. He beat Ignacio Buse, 2-6, 6-3 and 7-6 (10-5 tiebreaker) in his first match. He followed that with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Ethan Quinn and then a straight set, 7-5, 7-5 win over Australian Blake Ellis.
Now, he’ll take on another Australian, Jordan Thompson, in the first round. Thompson is the No. 27 seed.
The 30-year-old has been limited the past several months due to injuries and is ranked No. 123 in the world singles rankings.
The Furtwangen, Germany, native has won more than $3 million on the ATP Tour after turning pro in 2016. He hasn’t won a singles title on tour and has a record of 60-73 overall.
The last time he got past the first round in a grand slam event was the 2022 Australian Open, when he reached the second round. His deepest run in a grand slam was in 2019, when he reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open. He also represented Germany in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
As a doubles player he reached the semifinals of the 2024 Australian Open. As a doubles player he is ranked No. 87 in the world.
Koepfer left the Green Wave program after the 2016 season, when he was named a NCAA all-American in singles and was named the ITA National men’s senior player of the year, which was a first in Green Wave history. He was the No. 3 seed in the NCAA singles championships.
In 2016 he won the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships singles draw.
With his 2015 all-America selection, he was only the fifth player in program history to earn multiple all-America picks.
At the end of his career, he was among the Top 10 in program history in career singles wins, career singles winning percentage, career doubles wins, career doubles winning percentage, career overall wins and career overall winning percentage.
He was also in the Top 10 in single season singles wins, single season singles winning percentage, single season doubles winning percentage, single season overall wins and single season overall winning percentage.