Northern Illinois men's tennis coach Patrick Fisher announced Monday the addition of three international recruits that have signed National Letters of Intent to play tennis and continue their education at Northern Illinois. All three players have enrolled in classes for the spring semester, and will begin their eligibility for the upcoming 2009-10 season.
"I'm extremely happy with the make-up of this class; they are going to make great contributions to our team, our program and our university," said Fisher. "They possess all the qualities that we look for when recruiting a student-athlete. They are all great students, they are all going to be great players, and each has outstanding character. I think we've laid a great base and great foundation for the future of this program with the addition of these guys.
"There will certainly be an adjustment period, because when they arrive in January, they'll start classes immediately, and we'll begin practicing. We're hoping that our newcomers, and our team in general, will be playing its best tennis in the second half of the semester."
Maksym Bartiuk a 6-foot-1, 165-pound 19-year old (11-28-1990) native of Ukraine, garnered an individual European Tennis Association (ETA) ranking as high as No. 98, and has an International Tennis Federation (ITF) ranking of 855. Bartiuk, who graduated from high school last spring, has also picked up Ukrainian national championships in both singles and doubles on the club circuit. The left-hander was ranked as the top junior in Ukraine as recent as one year ago.
Maximilian Phillips, from England, also graduated from high school last spring, and has spent the last five months playing at the Berkhamsted Elite Tennis Academy in Spain. Phillips, who started playing tennis at age four, has lived in four European countries, but resided in England for a total of 13 years. Phillips, who stands 6-foot-1 and is 168 pounds, has experience on the international circuit that includes winning tournaments in Holland, France and England. Recently, the 19-year old (10-28-90) recorded a win over the 139th-ranked player in Spain.
Roman Turtygin, a native of Sochi, Russia, is a top-50 player in Russia. He graduated from high school in June 2007, and has been playing in tournaments across Eastern Europe over the past 18 months. In 2008, the 19-year old (7-8-90) left-hander advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the International 18 & under Championships of Kyrgyzstan.
In the ITF Junior 18 & under Championships of Turkmenistan, Turtygin advanced to the singles semifinals, and recorded a second-place finish in doubles competition. In 2006, in the under-16 division, Turtygin boasted a combined five top-three finishes in various tournaments in Russia and Kazakhstan
Fisher's 2009-10 roster includes senior Javier Bernabe, freshman Mikhail Titov, who saw action for NIU during the 2009 fall season, Bartiuk, Phillips and Turtygin. Walk-ons Greg Czajkowski and John Kuang have also joined the program, and will be eligible this season.
