ATA Alum Joins The Texas Longhorns
Payton Holden, an all-conference honoree from Princeton University and an Austin native, will join with the Longhorns as a graduate transfer for the 2020-21 season, head coach Bruce Berque announced today. Holden earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton in economics.
“During his four years at Princeton, Payton excelled both in the classroom and on the court, distinguishing himself as one of the better doubles players in the country,” Berque said. “His coaches at Princeton speak glowingly of his leadership, and we are thrilled that he will bring his skills and experience back to Austin for his final year of college tennis, and to pursue a master’s degree in accounting at the McCombs School of Business. We can’t wait to get started with Payton and the rest of the team in August.”
“I am really excited to come back to Austin and become a Longhorn,” Holden said. “I’m extremely grateful to have the opportunity to continue my education and athletics at such an amazing school.”
Holden has been spending quite a bit of time on court at ATA so far this summer hitting with junior players and working on his own game.
This past season, Holden was ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) in doubles with partner Ryan Seggerman, spending six weeks in the top 10, peaking at No. 6 in February and finishing at No. 16. Holden led Princeton in doubles wins, finishing with a 26-8 overall record, including 15-3 in dual matches, as he and Seggerman defeated six ranked doubles teams. Holden went 4-4 in singles with a 4-0 record in dual matches.
Due to the shortened season, the Ivy League did not issue its annual conference awards, however Princeton was on pace for one of its better finishes in school history. The Tigers began the season with a 14-4 record that included wins over No. 31 Middle Tennessee State, No. 44 Auburn and No. 46 Arizona with two of their losses coming to top-20 opponents in No. 14 NC State and No. 19 Ole Miss.
During the 2018-19 season, Holden helped Princeton tie a school record with 20 team wins. He was named a first-team All-Ivy League doubles honoree with Seggerman, reaching as high as No. 17 in the ITA rankings in mid-April. The duo qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championships and defeated No. 4 Oli Nolan and Henry Patten of UNC-Asheville in the first round, which was Princeton’s first win in the event since 2001. Holden and Seggerman faced five top-40 doubles opponents in Ivy play and defeated four of them, highlighted by a win over No. 7 Charlie Broom and David Horneffer of Dartmouth. Overall, Holden registered a 17-14 doubles record, including a 15-9 mark in dual matches, and a 6-7 singles record, including 4-3 in dual match play.
The previous season, Holden helped Princeton to 18 team wins, going 12-10 overall in singles with a 10-8 record in dual matches, and 17-11 overall in doubles with a 16-9 dual match mark. While as a freshman, he led the team with 20 overall singles wins, including eight in dual match play, and ranked No. 101 in February of that year. He also led the team with 25 doubles wins, going 13-10 in dual matches.
Prior to Princeton, the Austin native attended the Austin Tennis Academy and ATA College Prep, and ranked as the No. 1 player in Texas in U12s, U14s, U16s, U18s. He was a Junior Team Tennis National Champion and five-star recruit according to TennisRecruiting.net.
