LOGAN, Utah – Utah State head men’s tennis coach Aaron Paajanen has announced the team’s 2025 signing class, featuring five players. The Aggies welcome Xavier Calvelo (Las Vegas, Nevada / SMU), Jean-Baptist Badon (Sunland, California / Arkansas), Brody Nejedly-Krall (Rancho Mirage, California / Texas Tech), Emmanuel Alex (San Pedro, California) and Jakub Medved (Banská Bystrica, Slovakia) to Logan in 2025-26.
Xavier Calvelo comes to Utah State after spending his freshman year at SMU. With the Mustangs, Calvelo went a combined 20-15 across singles and doubles matches on the year. Originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, and attending Odyssey Charter School, Calvelo was a five-star recruit after compiling a 26-15 mark in singles and a 31-8 doubles record in junior matches, reaching as high as 202nd in the ITF Junior world rankings. Calvelo claimed singles titles at the J30 Tabasco and J60 Mexico City tournaments in 2023 and claimed four junior doubles titles at the J30 Tobaso, J60 Mexico City, J60 Corpus Christi and J60 Las Vegas tournaments.
Jean-Baptist Badon spent his sophomore year at Arkansas last season. Badon saw action in 11 dual matches and compiled records of 3-1 in singles and 3-2 in doubles, including wins over opponents from Alabama State, Hawaii and Tennessee State. Prior to Arkansas, Badon played his freshman year at Glendale (California) CC where he was crowned the men’s singles champion at the 2023 ITA CCCAA Men’s SoCal Regional Championships. Badon then qualified for the ITA Cup Super Bowl after becoming the first-ever California Community College player to claim the JUCO singles title at the ITA Cup. Badon defeated the DII and NAIA champions in the Super Bowl draw en route to securing a wild card entry into the ITA National Fall Championships. Badon ended the dual season undefeated and was named the Western State Conference co-Player of the Year while obtaining the WSC tournament singles title. Badon completed his remarkable season by winning the CCCAA Men’s Individual State Championship. Badon closed the year as the No. 1 ITA CCCAA ranked singles player and ended the spring No. 7 in the final doubles rankings with Andy Zau. Badon was awarded the 2023-24 ITA Rookie of the Year at the JUCO level in addition to being named to the 2024 ITA Collegiate All-Star Team and receiving ITA CCCAA All-American honors. Badon was a former top-20 prospect and five-star recruit in the 2021 class according to Tennis Recruiting Network.
Brody Nejedly-Krall arrives to Logan after spending his freshman year at Texas Tech where he compiled records of 10-8 in singles and 2-6 in doubles. Prior to TTU, Nejedly-Krall trained at ICL Academy and was a five-star recruit according to Tennis Recruiting Network. He was ranked as the 11th-best recruit out of California and in the top-55 nationally. Originally from Rancho Mirage, California, he advanced out of qualifying with three singles victories at the J300 San Diego American Regional Championships in 2024 and was a singles semifinalist at both the J30 San Diego and J30 Claremont tournaments. Nejedly-Krall also picked up four singles wins at the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, two in the main draw and two in the consolation draw, all against five-star junior players, and was a singles semifinalist at the Level 3 Las Vegas – Darling Memorial National Championships in the Boys 18 and under category Doubles quarterfinalist at two J30 San Diego tournaments. He recorded a total of 30 singles wins in UTR events in 2024.
Emmanuel Alex committed to Utah State after playing for Odyssey Charter School where he helped the team to a state title in 2019 as well as another third-place finish for the team. Alex also placed third at the National Level 1 Indoors, third place at a National Level 2 event and fourth place at the National Winter Championships. Alex has also made three appearances on the ITF World Tennis Tour. Emmanuel’s brother, Christos, currently plays at North Dakota while his other brother, Petros, is currently the assistant men’s tennis coach for Utah State.
Jakub Medved comes to Utah State out of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, where he attended Sport’s Gymnastium. Medved has achieved a career-high ITF Juniors world ranking of 506th, compiling a 59-47 singles record alongside 22 doubles wins. Medved has claimed singles titles at the J60 Slovenska Lupca and J30 Presov tournaments. Medved has also scored three doubles victories across ITF, ATP and Davis Cup professional level results, achieving a career-high ranking of 1595 in the ATP World Rankings.
FOLLOW ALONG
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