Lansing Sun

Michigan State men's tennis freshman Matthew Forbes will commence action in the main draw of the 2024 U.S. Open on Tuesday, August 27 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, New York, as announced by the U.S. Open on Friday.

Forbes is the first Spartan to qualify for the tournament and will face Roman Safiullin of Russia in his first match.

"It means a lot to me to play in the U.S. Open as a Spartan and be the first Michigan State player to play there, especially since I think I'm one of just four college players in the main draw," Forbes said. "I think it means a lot to the program and recruiting wise, there's going to be young kids that see that Spartan head logo and our coaching staff in Spartan gear and hopefully over the next few years and that will be great for our program."

Forbes earned the wild card entry by winning the singles title at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Boys' 18-Under National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on August 11 at Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium.

"It's great to have Matthew playing in the U.S. Open main draw, he's the first from our program and not a lot of college programs get to say they have a guy in the main draw of the U.S. Open," assistant coach Kazuki Matsuno said on Thursday. "It's huge for us and huge promotion for us since he'll be sporting some Sparty gear while he's there, so people will be seeing Spartan colors there, which is huge for our tennis program and for Michigan State University."

Forbes began action at the 18U Tournament in the Round of 32 on August 7, defeating Braeden Gelletich, 6-3, 6-0. He then knocked off incoming Penn freshman Sanjeev Chundu, 6-0, 6-3, in the Round of 16 before earning a three-set victory (6-2, 2-6, 6-4) over Ohio State freshman Nikita Filin in the quarterfinals.

A dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over TCU freshman Cooper Woestendick on August 10 sent Forbes to the finals against 16-year-old Jack Kennedy. Forbes secured a win with scores of 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, and 7-5 to take the title Sunday.

A TennisRecruiting.net blue-chip recruit, Forbes signed a National Letter of Intent with the Spartans in July. The Raleigh, North Carolina native has an International Tennis Federation (ITF) juniors career-high ranking of No. 34 and is ranked sixth in his class.

Forbes will be accompanied to New York by MSU men's tennis head coach Harry Jadun, Coach Matsuno, other members of the Spartan coaching staff along with his hitting partner junior Ozan Baris.