TUCSON, Ariz. – University of Arizona head men's tennis coach Clancy Shields has announced that his assistant coach for the last two seasons Maciek Sykut has been promoted to Associate Head Coach.
 
"Maciek is certainly one of the best young coaches in the country in our sport, and is undoubtedly one of the best tennis minds I've ever been around," Shields said. "The guys love him, he has been a consistent voice from day one, and his leadership has been evident in our team's performance on and off the court. Maciek is a fantastic teacher of the game of life and the game of tennis, and I cannot think of a better person to be working with our young men. I'm excited to have my coaching brother rewarded for his hard work, and happy to announce his promotion to Associate Head Coach."
 
Arizona finished the 2019 season ranked No. 30 in the country after posting a record of 17-8, which marked the most wins for the program since the 2009 campaign. Throughout the year, the Wildcats were consistently ranked in the top 40 and also won the Blue/Grey Championship, which included wins over Auburn, Texas Tech and Ole Miss in a matter of days. Arizona also secured its first win over a Pac-12 school since 2014 when the Wildcats swept Washington 4-0 on April 5.
 
"I want to thank Clancy Shields, our athletic administration and our student-athletes for this tremendous opportunity to work in an expanded role," Sykut said. "It has been a privilege to have Clancy as a mentor in my coaching career and I look forward to helping see his vision through as we continue to push the program to further heights."
 
With the help of Sykut, Jonas Ziverts was an All-Pac-12 selection and was named the ITA Southwest Rookie of the Year while becoming the first Wildcat to compete at the NCAA Singles Championships since 2006. Filip Malbasic, who set the record for most singles wins in program history in 2019, was also named Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 and both finished the season ranked in the ITA polls.
 
In 2018, Arizona finished the season with 16 wins, which at the time was the most since 2009 and also helped Igor Karpovets become the first Arizona freshman since 2006 to be named to the All-Pac-12 team.
 
As a team, the Wildcats won the 2019 ITA Southwest Community Service Award a year after being named an ITA All-Academic team in 2018.