The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men's Tennis
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
A nine-year coaching veteran as an assistant at Vanderbilt and Auburn and a former three-time All-American as a player, Ryan Lipman was named Assistant Men's Tennis Coach at Texas in July 2023.
Lipman joined the Longhorns after completing his sixth season as a full-time assistant under head coach Ian Duvenhage at Vanderbilt, including his fifth as associate head coach. It was his second stint at his alma mater after previously serving as a volunteer assistant for two seasons from 2014-16. In between, he spent one year as an assistant at Auburn for the 2016-17 season. During his career, he has helped coach seven players to All-America honors and 12 to All-SEC recognition.
Lipman has also coached ATP Tour professional Tennys Sandgren, who has been ranked as high as No. 41 in the world in singles and No. 115 in doubles. He helped Sandgren reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2019, including wins over Fabio Fognini, who was No. 10 at the time, and Gilles Simon, who was No. 25, and earlier in his career had been as high as No. 6.
Last season, Lipman helped the doubles pair of Siim Troost and Jeremie Casabon qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship and close the season ranked No. 25 after rising as high as No. 13. Nathan Cox was also named to the SEC All-Freshman Team after moving to No. 1 in the singles lineup for the Commodores starting midway through the season. Meanwhile, Joubert Klopper was named the SEC Men's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
In 2022, Lipman helped guide fifth-year senior George Harwell to first-team All-SEC honors and an appearance NCAA Singles Championship. He also helped mentor five Commodores into the final ITA individual rankings. In 2019, Vanderbilt advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals, and individually, Lipman helped coach Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe to the NCAA Doubles Tournament and All-America status. In his first year back with the Commodores in a full-time capacity, Lipman helped the team post a 19-9 record, advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament and finish ranked No. 21 in the country.
Prior to that, Lipman spent one season at Auburn under fellow Vanderbilt alum Bobby Reynolds in his first full-time assistant role. He joined the Tigers after serving as a volunteer assistant at VU for two seasons following his playing career.
As a player, Lipman was the Commodores' first three-time All-American. He was also a three-time All-SEC First Team selection and was SEC co-Freshman of the Year in 2010. He compiled several records during his five seasons in Nashville, including two of which still stand – single-season doubles wins and career doubles wins. He rose as high as No. 1 in the nation in doubles and No. 4 in singles and sits second all-time in VU combined wins (174) and third in singles victories (96). He was named the team's captain and received the prestigious ITA Ohio Valley Arthur Ashe Award for both the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Alongside doubles partner, Gonzales Austin, the two became the first Commodore players to earn ITA All-America honors in doubles. Additionally, they became the first to earn both singles and doubles All-America honors in the same season. Together, Lipman and Austin finished the year at No. 3 in doubles.
A Nashville native, Lipman earned his bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt in management and entrepreneurship. He and his wife, Mary Glenn, have one daughter, Lyla June, and are expecting a second child soon.
