Lansing Sun

Michigan State University's men's tennis freshman, Danial Rakhmatullayev, has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week. The announcement came from the conference office on Wednesday afternoon. This marks Rakhmatullayev's first recognition as a Spartan and he is the third MSU player to receive this accolade this season.

Rakhmatullayev joins senior Max Sheldon, who was awarded on September 25, and junior Ozan Baris, who shared the title with Michigan's Gavin Young on October 16. MSU has now claimed or shared the award in three out of seven weeks this season. No other school has received the honor more than once during this period.

This year marks a significant achievement for MSU as it is the first time they have won more than two weekly awards from the conference office in a single year, surpassing last year's record of two awards.

Over the weekend of October 25-27, Rakhmatullayev competed at the Louisville Classic tournament where he secured three victories for MSU. Despite an initial loss on Friday, he went on to defeat Russell Lokko from Louisville with scores of 6-4 and 6-0. He continued his success by overcoming Evan Duggal from Louisville 6-3, 6-2 and finished with a win against Nice from Bellarmine with scores of 6-0 and 6-3.

Rakhmatullayev demonstrated resilience and strong performance throughout the tournament. Looking ahead, he will compete alongside freshman Mitchell Sheldon at Notre Dame for the Fighting Irish Mini Duals from November 1 to November 3.