INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Columbia men’s tennis senior Michael Zheng has been named the Universal Tennis Foundation’s 2026 Hurd Award Champion, as announced by the foundation on Friday afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open.
Introduced by Mark Hurd in 2017, the UTR Foundation Hurd Award is a pair of $100,000 grants awarded annually to one male and one female American tennis player. Hurd launched the awards to support young-adult tennis players in their transition from college tennis to the world stage of professional tennis.
Zheng, the back-to-back NCAA Singles National Champion, burst onto the international scene earlier this year when he made his debut in the main draw of a major tournament, advancing to the second round of the Australian Open. Recently, he moved up four spots on the ATP ranking to 145, a career-best. His UTR rating of 14.90 is the highest among men’s tennis college players.
Bidyut K. Goswami Head Coach of Men’s Tennis Howard Endelman had this to say about Zheng.
“We’re so proud of Michael. He exemplifies all the qualities that make college sports great. He’s just a special individual. He’s done it on the court and in the classroom here at Columbia, and we could not be more proud of him for this achievement.”
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