2023-24 Men's Tennis Roster
Roster
Sheldon, Max
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Jersey Number 17
Max Sheldon
- Height:
- 5-10
- Weight:
- null
- Class:
- Junior
- Hometown:
- Arlington Heights, Ill.
- High School:
- John Hersey
Bio
CAREER NOTES: Established a new program record for all-time combined wins, tallying his 168th and 169th wins as a Spartan on May 2, 2025 during MSU’s win over North Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to become MSU’s all-time combined wins leader, passing the record of 167 wins held by Nick Rinks (2005-08), and finished career with 170 wins, after doubles win with younger brother, Mitchell, over Mississippi State duo on May 3, 2025 in second round of NCAA Tournament ... Garnered College Sports Communicators (CSC) Second-Team All-District accolades ... A three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
SENIOR (2024-25): Earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Second-Team All-District accolades ... Recipient of ITA Midwest Region Most Improved Player Award after posting 26 singles wins during the 2024-25 season, including 18 in dual matches, improving from 22 wins in 2024 ... Finished the season with a 26-8 singles record and a 14-9 doubles mark, ending ranked No. 104 in ITA National Rankings … Played a key role in helping MSU not only qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but make it to the second round ... Garnered Second Team All-Big Ten honors ... Named Big Ten Player of the Week once in the fall and once in spring action, first earning accolade on Sept. 25, after going 5-0 in singles action over the first four days of the ITA All-American Championships to qualify for the Main Draw, and was one of five players who started out in Pre-Qualifying and made it to the Main Draw at the ITA-All American Championships, and the only one from the Big Ten to do so ... Notable plays from this tournament include two tough three-set wins over seeded players, including rallying from a set down vs. conference rival and 13th-seeded Christopher Li of Ohio State (4-6, 6-2, 6-2), one of the three matches that he rallied from down a set for the win ... Defeated four other ranked players, including Connor Gannon of Memphis, who was seeded 17-32, along with No. 96 Alexander Hoogmartens of UCLA, No. 1,216 Gabriele Brancatelli of Georgia Tech and No. 1,851 William Mroz of Illinois ... Also teamed up with freshman Matthew Forbes in doubles action and posted doubles win over 60th-ranked doubles team of Gus Tettamble and Timothy Carlsson Seger of Tulsa, on their home court ... Named Big Ten Player of the Week for second time of season on March 19 after an outstanding performance, going undefeated in singles play and securing crucial victories for the Spartans, teaming with brother, freshman Mitchell Sheldon, to help MSU take an early lead against Arizona by rallying from a 0-2 deficit to defeat Inaki Cabrera-Bello and Casper Christensen in doubles ... In the Spartans’ upset win over Arizona, he evened the score with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win against Filip Gustafsson ... In next singles match, delivered the Spartans’ first win against Wisconsin, controlling the match for a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Thomas Zlatohlavek, then the Sheldon brothers continued their dominance in doubles, earning a commanding 6-3 win over Bilicic and Shepp from Nebraska, then battled through a tough singles match against Nebraska’s Nikolay Sysoev, securing his second win of the day with a clutch 7-5, 6-4 victory ... Was 9-1 in B1G action ... Played mostly at No. 3 singles, going 12-3, while also playing No. 2 singles (4-2) and No. 1 singles (2-0) ... Posted longest win streak of season of any Spartan winning 11-straight singles matches, starting on Feb. 2 with straight-set win over Viktor Markov of Clemson, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, and continuing until April 13, coming to close with loss to 87th-ranked Emon van Loben Sels of UCLA at No. 2 singles... Was 2-3 against Top 125 ranked opponents, beating No. 79 Charlelei Cosnet of Kentucky, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 3 singles in Spartans’ historic upset of No. 7 Wildcats for highest-ranked win in program history, and also beat No. 115 Jett Middleton of Boise State at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-3, while losing to No. 18 Shunsuke Mitsuie of No. 19 Tennessee, 4-6, 4-6; the loss to van Loben Sels, and loss to No. 111 Niccolo Baroni of No. 12 Mississippi State, 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, in the second round NCAA Tournament ... Teamed with his younger brother, Mitchell, for majority of doubles action, going 10-5 together, including beating No. 73 Inaki Bavrera-Bello and Casper Christensen, 6-4, in helping Spartans knock off No. 10 Arizona ... Sheldon brothers also went 2-0 in NCAA Tournament doubles action, beating Lachlan Brain and Sotoru Nakajima of No. 68 North Alabama, 6-0, in opening round, and topping Dusan Milanovic and Michal Novansky, 7-6 (7-4) of No. 12 Mississippi State in second round.
JUNIOR (2023-24): ITA National Fall Doubles Championships ... Academic All-Big Ten ... Ranked No. 22 doubles ... Consistently contributed to the Spartans’ ability to close out games with a 15-6 doubles record and 13-6 record ... NCAA Championship Qualifier in doubles.
SOPHOMORE (2022-23): ITA Doubles All-American ... First-Team All-Big Ten ... CSC Academic All-District ... Academic All-Big Ten ... Reached a season-high at No. 6 in the ITA Doubles Rankings alongside Ozan Baris on three occasions during the spring and spent four-straight weeks in the top 10 ... Earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Doubles Championships, the first for MSU since 2015 ... Defeated the No. 1-seeded team to advance to the NCAA Doubles Championship Round of 16 with Baris ... Led the team in overall doubles wins with 21 and posted an overall doubles record of 21-9, including a 6-2 record against ranked doubles teams ... Owned a 6-0 record at No. 3 doubles in conference play with Graydon Lair ... Posted an 18-16 overall singles record and 12-10 mark in the spring, primarily playing at the No. 2 position ... Won six of his first nine singles matches to begin the spring season.
FRESHMAN (2021-22): Played to a 7-6 record in fall tournament play … Winningest Spartan in duals with a 13-7 record … Earned a 6-6 mark at No. 2 singles … Went 3-1 at No. 4 and 2-0 at No. 6 singles … Earned one win each at No. 3 and 5 singles … Won four of his last ten matches … Compiled a 7-7 record in doubles action with Carson Gates, going 3-3 at No. 2 doubles and 4-4 at No. 3 … Went 2-0 in matches played with Luke Baylis … Went 1-2 at No. 2 doubles with Nick Williams.
PRIOR TO MSU: Rated a five-star recruit, according to TennisRecruiting.net . . . ranked one of the top 30 players in the country . . . recently won the USTA Midwest Level 1 Championships held Nov. 7-9 in Indianapolis . . . ranked the No. 2 player in the state of Illinois and the No. 10 senior in the nation (TennisRecruiting.net) . . . placed runner-up in the Illinois 2019 Class 2A State Championships as a sophomore with a 37-3 record at No. 1 singles . . . helped his team to a seventh-place finish in the state tournament in 2019 . . . first-team all-state selection . . . two-time conference champion at No. 1 singles . . . had a top-16 finish in singles and doubles at the winter nationals in Orlando, Florida (December 2019) . . . also placed in the top 16 at the indoor nationals in November 2019 at Wayland, Massachusetts . . . won the Mid-Suburban League championship and was named the MSL player of the year as a freshman and also qualified for state tournament at No. 1 singles to earn honorable mention all-state accolades . . . also golfed in high school and helped his team to two regional titles.
PERSONAL: Son of Walter and Chris Sheldon ... Has a younger brother, Mitchell, who is played with as doubles partner during senior season and Mitchell's freshman season ... Mother coaches tennis ... Mother played tennis at Wisconsin, while father played at Western Illinois ... Grandpa played baseball for Central Michigan ... Biggest influence is his parents, who got him into the game of tennis and constantly pushed him to get better ... Favorite athletic experience was hosting the high school State tennis tournament and getting to play in front of his entire school, friends and family ... Graduated in spring of 2025 with a 3.569 and a degree in finance.
SENIOR (2024-25): Earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Second-Team All-District accolades ... Recipient of ITA Midwest Region Most Improved Player Award after posting 26 singles wins during the 2024-25 season, including 18 in dual matches, improving from 22 wins in 2024 ... Finished the season with a 26-8 singles record and a 14-9 doubles mark, ending ranked No. 104 in ITA National Rankings … Played a key role in helping MSU not only qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but make it to the second round ... Garnered Second Team All-Big Ten honors ... Named Big Ten Player of the Week once in the fall and once in spring action, first earning accolade on Sept. 25, after going 5-0 in singles action over the first four days of the ITA All-American Championships to qualify for the Main Draw, and was one of five players who started out in Pre-Qualifying and made it to the Main Draw at the ITA-All American Championships, and the only one from the Big Ten to do so ... Notable plays from this tournament include two tough three-set wins over seeded players, including rallying from a set down vs. conference rival and 13th-seeded Christopher Li of Ohio State (4-6, 6-2, 6-2), one of the three matches that he rallied from down a set for the win ... Defeated four other ranked players, including Connor Gannon of Memphis, who was seeded 17-32, along with No. 96 Alexander Hoogmartens of UCLA, No. 1,216 Gabriele Brancatelli of Georgia Tech and No. 1,851 William Mroz of Illinois ... Also teamed up with freshman Matthew Forbes in doubles action and posted doubles win over 60th-ranked doubles team of Gus Tettamble and Timothy Carlsson Seger of Tulsa, on their home court ... Named Big Ten Player of the Week for second time of season on March 19 after an outstanding performance, going undefeated in singles play and securing crucial victories for the Spartans, teaming with brother, freshman Mitchell Sheldon, to help MSU take an early lead against Arizona by rallying from a 0-2 deficit to defeat Inaki Cabrera-Bello and Casper Christensen in doubles ... In the Spartans’ upset win over Arizona, he evened the score with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win against Filip Gustafsson ... In next singles match, delivered the Spartans’ first win against Wisconsin, controlling the match for a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Thomas Zlatohlavek, then the Sheldon brothers continued their dominance in doubles, earning a commanding 6-3 win over Bilicic and Shepp from Nebraska, then battled through a tough singles match against Nebraska’s Nikolay Sysoev, securing his second win of the day with a clutch 7-5, 6-4 victory ... Was 9-1 in B1G action ... Played mostly at No. 3 singles, going 12-3, while also playing No. 2 singles (4-2) and No. 1 singles (2-0) ... Posted longest win streak of season of any Spartan winning 11-straight singles matches, starting on Feb. 2 with straight-set win over Viktor Markov of Clemson, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, and continuing until April 13, coming to close with loss to 87th-ranked Emon van Loben Sels of UCLA at No. 2 singles... Was 2-3 against Top 125 ranked opponents, beating No. 79 Charlelei Cosnet of Kentucky, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 3 singles in Spartans’ historic upset of No. 7 Wildcats for highest-ranked win in program history, and also beat No. 115 Jett Middleton of Boise State at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-3, while losing to No. 18 Shunsuke Mitsuie of No. 19 Tennessee, 4-6, 4-6; the loss to van Loben Sels, and loss to No. 111 Niccolo Baroni of No. 12 Mississippi State, 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, in the second round NCAA Tournament ... Teamed with his younger brother, Mitchell, for majority of doubles action, going 10-5 together, including beating No. 73 Inaki Bavrera-Bello and Casper Christensen, 6-4, in helping Spartans knock off No. 10 Arizona ... Sheldon brothers also went 2-0 in NCAA Tournament doubles action, beating Lachlan Brain and Sotoru Nakajima of No. 68 North Alabama, 6-0, in opening round, and topping Dusan Milanovic and Michal Novansky, 7-6 (7-4) of No. 12 Mississippi State in second round.
JUNIOR (2023-24): ITA National Fall Doubles Championships ... Academic All-Big Ten ... Ranked No. 22 doubles ... Consistently contributed to the Spartans’ ability to close out games with a 15-6 doubles record and 13-6 record ... NCAA Championship Qualifier in doubles.
SOPHOMORE (2022-23): ITA Doubles All-American ... First-Team All-Big Ten ... CSC Academic All-District ... Academic All-Big Ten ... Reached a season-high at No. 6 in the ITA Doubles Rankings alongside Ozan Baris on three occasions during the spring and spent four-straight weeks in the top 10 ... Earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Doubles Championships, the first for MSU since 2015 ... Defeated the No. 1-seeded team to advance to the NCAA Doubles Championship Round of 16 with Baris ... Led the team in overall doubles wins with 21 and posted an overall doubles record of 21-9, including a 6-2 record against ranked doubles teams ... Owned a 6-0 record at No. 3 doubles in conference play with Graydon Lair ... Posted an 18-16 overall singles record and 12-10 mark in the spring, primarily playing at the No. 2 position ... Won six of his first nine singles matches to begin the spring season.
FRESHMAN (2021-22): Played to a 7-6 record in fall tournament play … Winningest Spartan in duals with a 13-7 record … Earned a 6-6 mark at No. 2 singles … Went 3-1 at No. 4 and 2-0 at No. 6 singles … Earned one win each at No. 3 and 5 singles … Won four of his last ten matches … Compiled a 7-7 record in doubles action with Carson Gates, going 3-3 at No. 2 doubles and 4-4 at No. 3 … Went 2-0 in matches played with Luke Baylis … Went 1-2 at No. 2 doubles with Nick Williams.
PRIOR TO MSU: Rated a five-star recruit, according to TennisRecruiting.net . . . ranked one of the top 30 players in the country . . . recently won the USTA Midwest Level 1 Championships held Nov. 7-9 in Indianapolis . . . ranked the No. 2 player in the state of Illinois and the No. 10 senior in the nation (TennisRecruiting.net) . . . placed runner-up in the Illinois 2019 Class 2A State Championships as a sophomore with a 37-3 record at No. 1 singles . . . helped his team to a seventh-place finish in the state tournament in 2019 . . . first-team all-state selection . . . two-time conference champion at No. 1 singles . . . had a top-16 finish in singles and doubles at the winter nationals in Orlando, Florida (December 2019) . . . also placed in the top 16 at the indoor nationals in November 2019 at Wayland, Massachusetts . . . won the Mid-Suburban League championship and was named the MSL player of the year as a freshman and also qualified for state tournament at No. 1 singles to earn honorable mention all-state accolades . . . also golfed in high school and helped his team to two regional titles.
PERSONAL: Son of Walter and Chris Sheldon ... Has a younger brother, Mitchell, who is played with as doubles partner during senior season and Mitchell's freshman season ... Mother coaches tennis ... Mother played tennis at Wisconsin, while father played at Western Illinois ... Grandpa played baseball for Central Michigan ... Biggest influence is his parents, who got him into the game of tennis and constantly pushed him to get better ... Favorite athletic experience was hosting the high school State tennis tournament and getting to play in front of his entire school, friends and family ... Graduated in spring of 2025 with a 3.569 and a degree in finance.
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