Tennis

Jesuit tennis has a storied history that includes 27 District titles in the past 31 seasons entering 2026, and seven State runner-up finishes, most recently in 2019.

The program entered a new era in 2025, with Kevin Hughes, who was named Hillsborough County public school Coach of the Year 4 times in 8 years coaching East Bay, succeeding Joe Curtis following Curtis' three decades at the helm of Jesuit tennis. The Tigers were 7-4 in 2025, including wins over Robinson, T.C., Clearwater C.C., Bishop McLaughlin, and Shorecrest. Jesuit placed second in the District Tournament, with Grant Newman '27 at No. 4 singles and Cole Knutzen '28 at No. 5 winning their respective flights. 

In 2024, Curtis' final season, the Tigers upset the 2023 State Champion, Wiregrass Ranch, twice within the span of a week to capture the District and the Region titles - Jesuit's 12th Region title in 13 years. In 2023, Jesuit had a strong regular season before losing  hard-fought battles for both the District and Region to Wiregrass Ranch. The year before, in 2022, the Tigers captured the Region title for the 11th straight time and won their first match at State, defeating Citrus 5-0 in the State Quarterfinal before succumbing in a grueling State Semifinal to Satellite, 4-3. 

2019 was Jesuit's best season of the past two decades as the Tigers advanced to the Class 2A State Championship match, finishing as State runner-up to Miami Gulliver Prep. It was the seventh time Jesuit had finished second in the State, and first time since 2000. Sebastian Solano '20 finished as the 2A State runner-up in the individual competition in 2019. With most of the team returning in 2020, the Tigers started 8-0 against a rugged schedule and were locked in on capturing the State title. However, in mid-March the remainder of the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tennis was one of the earliest competitive sports at Jesuit, and in 1950 the Tigers, led by Dave Murphey '50 captured the City and Conference Championship, helping to establish Jesuit as one of the top programs in the region. Among the notable Jesuit tennis alumni are two-time singles State Champion Ryler DeHeart '02, who advanced to the second round of the 2008 U.S. Open before succumbing to Rafael Nadal, and 1998 singles State Champion Andrew Laflin '98.