ATHENS – On Tuesday, June 6, the U.S. Open announced that NCAA men’s champion Ethan Quinn clinched a spot in the 2023 Grand Slam as a wildcard.

“I am honored to receive the US Open main draw wild card,” Quinn said. “I am excited to be in the Big Apple this coming August and I cannot wait to see you all there.”

Quinn finished his redshirt freshman year on a 17-match win streak and finished as the second-ranked tennis player in the NCAA to pair with his championship.

Quinn’s freshman campaign — where he finished with a 34-10 singles record for the year — saw several successes. He won the ITA All-America Championships in September and was named All-SEC First Team and ITA All-American— in addition to the SEC Freshman of the Year.

“For me to go back and get to play in the main draw is something I’m really looking forward to,” Quinn said, “I have a few friends in New York, so it’s nice for me to go back and have them watch me compete at such a high level. They’ve been wanting to watch me in person for so long, so it’s pretty incredible that they’ll be able to see me play at the highest level of the sport. I am looking forward to playing there again.”

Quinn went on to say that he is just looking at winning the first round match. A goal for the tournament is hard to pin as a wildcard, especially when paired with the fact that Grand Slams have a best-of-five set match as opposed to the NCAA’s format of best-of-three.

Quinn, as a wildcard, will get to bypass the qualifying round, which he had to endure in last years’ iteration of the US Open.

In Grand Slams on the ATP tour, qualifying to the main draw can occur in one of three ways. First, a player can be ranked in the top-104. Second, 16 of the remaining 24 spots go to qualifiers, which is 128 players split into 16 groups of eight. A player must win three matches to get the bid. Finally, a player can be one of eight wildcards. Wildcards are earned differently for each tournament, but it generally involves someone who has won a major tournament with local interest, like the United States and Quinn.

Last year, Quinn earned a spot in the Singles Qualifying Draw by way of being a finalist at the USTA Boys’ 18 National Championship in singles. Quinn defeated Ernesto Escobedo in the first round of qualifying, but was eventually defeated by 30th-seeded qualifier Federico Delbonis in the second round, 5-7, 6-2. 6-1.

No one is as surprised as Quinn about all his accomplishments in just one year at Georgia.

“If you told me I would have achieved everything I have so far when I got to Athens, I wouldn’t have believed it,” Quinn said. “For me to even get that chance to play number one after only being here for such a short time is pretty surreal, and to do this all as a freshman is even crazier. Everything is hard to believe.”

Quinn made mention of the mark he’s making at Georgia, where he has continued to become the player that head coach Manny Diaz and associate head coach Jamie Hunt recruited him to be.

“I am super excited about this opportunity for Ethan,” Diaz said. “We have seen all his hard work continue to pay off, and for him to have this opportunity means a lot to all of us.”

While Quinn’s opponent is to be determined, the US Open starts Aug. 28 in New York City.