University of Tennessee Athletics
Steven Karl Joins Tennis Squad
November 17, 2015 | Men's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two-time Tennessee state singles champion and five-star recruit Steven Karl has signed to play with the Volunteers, head tennis coach Sam Winterbotham announced.
“We’re extremely excited that Steven’s chosen to join the family,” Winterbotham said. “Having watched him grow and develop as a player, one constant always stood out and that was his ability to compete for every point. This is something that we as a program instill in players from Day 1. When you have someone who already has that quality, we just had to have Steven here.
“He’s a great guy and comes from a phenomenal family. He’s going to help us compete for championships.”
Steven is the youngest brother of former Vol Sean Karl, who passed away in November 2014 following a two-year battle with cancer.
Steven, a native of Brentwood, Tenn., is graduating in December. He plans to join the Vols in January and redshirt during the spring season.
For three years, Steven was a star for Ravenwood High School. He compiled a 53-3 career record in high school, including 40-0 the last two years. He won the Class AAA Tennessee state singles title in 2014 and 2015. He was named the 2015 Tennessean boys tennis player of the year.
He is currently listed as the No. 20 recruit in the country and the No. 1 prospect in Tennessee by TennisRecruiting.net. He will be the second in-state player on the roster, joining junior Sunay Bhat.
Karl had a busy summer, reaching the finals of the USTA Southern Closed 18s Championships and making the fourth round of the USTA 18s National Clay Court Championship.
Like many members of the Karl family, Steven played hockey growing up. He also competed in baseball, soccer and cross country before focusing on tennis at age 14.
