Zeke Clark
Assistant Director
Clark is entering his second season with the Illini going into the 2024-25 campaign. Illinois men’s tennis head coach Brad Dancer added Clark to the coaching staff as a full-time assistant coach on on September 26, 2023. In his first season on staff, Clark helped lead Illinois to four ranked wins. The Illini defeated No. 8 Duke, No. 14 Baylor, and North Carolina twice, once when the Tar Heels were ranked No. 16 and again when they were ranked No. 17. Before stepping into a coaching role, Clark competed on the pro circuit from 2021-2023, reaching a doubles ranking as high as No. 209 and a singles ranking as high as No. 469. During his five-year playing career for the Fighting Illini, the Tulsa, Okla., native totaled 104 singles wins, a mark that ranks 14th in program history.
In his first year at Illinois, Clark had a 17-12 singles record and helped the Illini to wins over a pair of ranked opponents – No. 16 Northwestern and No. 14 Michigan. He also helped the Illini to a season-high No. 17 in the ITA National Rankings.
In his sophomore year, Clark had a 21-7 overall singles record, ending the season with a 13-match winning streak. He qualified for the ITA Midwest Regional Singles tournament and earned Academic All-Big Ten and ITA Scholar-Athlete honors.
The following season, Clark had the second-most wins on the team with a 28-13 record in singles. Clark clinched four matches for the Illini and had a ranked win over No. 28 Jackie Tang of Columbia, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. He also was awarded 2019 First-Team All-Big Ten honors.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, Clark notched a 17-10 record in singles play and 5-3 in doubles.
Clark made the most of his fifth year, ranking as high as No. 28 in the singles rankings and No. 14 in doubles with his partner, Alex Brown. Clark started the season on a 15-match win streak and went 10-0 at No. 3 singles during the season.
He clinched multiple big victories for the Illini, including upsets over No. 1 USC and No. 7 Virginia during the ITA Indoor Championships and against No. 17 Ohio State in the 2021 Big Ten Championship. He was also named Big Ten Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week and All-Big Ten and advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA Singles Tournament.
Clark became the 16th Illini to win 100 career singles matches after defeating Nebraska’s Albert Sprlak-Puk, 6-2, 6-0, on April 11, 2021.
Clark also was a three-time winner of the team’s Fighting Illini Spirit Award (2017, ’18, ’19) and the winner of the team’s Strength and Conditioning Award and Most Improved Player in 2018. He was voted recipient of Illinois Athletics’ Fighting Illini Spirit Award in 2021.