INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (UTR PTT/SMU) — SMU Men's Tennis junior Trevor Svajda has been named a 2026 Hurd Award Finalist, as announced by the Universal Tennis Foundation on Sunday.
 
The UTR Foundation Hurd Award is an annual grant awarded to top American college tennis players to support their transition to and participation in international, elite professional tournaments.
 
Michael Zheng of Columbia University and Reese Brantmeier of the University of North Carolina have been named the 2026 Hurd Award champions. Svajda and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer of UCLA were named the finalists.
 
The four student-athletes were honored at the 2026 BNP Paribas Open and highlighted in a special Tennis Channel segment featuring UTR Sports CEO and Chairman Mark Leschly, Hurd, and 2018 Hurd Award champion Christopher Eubanks.

Svajda won his Indian Wells Open qualifiers match against Luca Nardi (4-6, 7-6, 6-3), becoming the first Mustang to win an ATP-1000-level match since Richey Reneberg in 1999.
 
The California native has the third-highest UTR Rating among men's college tennis players (14.44), according to the UTR Sports College Player Rankings. He's ranked No. 396 in the ATP Rankings and recently fell in the first round of the ATP 500 event in Dallas to Ethan Quinn.
 
"I'm super stoked about it, and I was honestly just very emotional," Svajda said upon learning that he was named a finalist. "This will just give me a little bit of belief and just help me feel more comfortable out there."
 
In college, Svajda is currently the No. 2 ranked singles player in the nation. He had a historical NCAA Singles Championship run last fall, finishing as runner-up and being the first Mustang to play the championship match since Richey Reneberg in 1986.
 
Svajda and the Mustangs will visit No. 10 Baylor in a midweek matchup in Waco, Texas, on Tuesday.