Woodruff nets spot in ITA College Tennis Hall of Fame : govolsxtra.com

When Chris Woodruff won the NCAA singles championship in 1993 for the University of Tennessee, it led him down two paths.

The first was to the pro tour.

The second was to the ITA College Tennis Hall of Fame.

Woodruff, a Knoxville native, was recently selected for induction. The ceremonies will be during the NCAA championships that begin Friday in Tulsa, Okla.

Woodruff joins four others with UT ties in the Hall of Fame: Tommy Bartlett, Mike DePalmer Sr., Mel Purcell and Paul Annacone.

"It was a nice surprise," said Woodruff, associate head coach of the UT men's tennis team. "To see all the people I'm going in with is quite an accomplishment.

"It is special for me and it's great for the University of Tennessee. What makes it more special is that I work here and still have an active hand in program. So it's a good feeling."

Woodruff, a highly ranked junior who played at Bearden High School, made a quick jump to the college ranks, playing No. 1 singles as a freshman. As a sophomore, he was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and defeated Georgia star Wade Maguire in the final by converting 72 percent of his first serves and making only nine unforced errors before a raucous crowd in Athens, Ga.

A couple of weeks earlier, Maguire had soundly beaten Woodruff in a team match.

Had Woodruff not won, he said there was a "90 percent chance" he would have returned for his junior season at UT.

Woodruff's resume includes two ATP Tour wins, reaching the finals in Philadelphia, winning the clinching point for the U.S. in a Davis Cup match and beating seven top-ranked players.

"I'm really proud of that," Woodruff said. "That's a pretty good thing - to beat seven Tiger Woods."

Woodruff said he ranks his NCAA title about fifth or sixth among his accomplishments.

"My greatest thrills and memories are in the pro game, not college," Woodruff said. "Those achievements were on some of the biggest stages the game has to offer."

Woodruff said he's always been a person who wanted to give back and that led him into coaching. It also helped that his former Vol teammate - Chris Mahony - was hired as UT's coach and hired Woodruff to be his assistant in 2002.

Woodruff said he gets just as uptight coaching as he did playing.

"It's funny, sometimes I go out on the court and take a little thing of Tums with me because my stomach gets in knots," Woodruff admitted. "There's a different kind of pressure when it's out of your hands, so to speak.

"I try not to show the guys what I'm feeling and not be so emotional and keep things on an even keel. If they look over at me and see that I'm calm, I think that gives them a good feeling about themselves."

Woodruff should feel good about himself. He's going into the College Tennis Hall of Fame.

And he won't need a bottle of Tums to celebrate the moment.