"Everything happens for a reason and I really started to believe that because Arizona is a special place, and I wouldn't be here if this didn't happen. That would have been a big mistake."

Jonas Ziverts
Sport: Men's Tennis
College: College of Letters, Arts & Science
Hometown: Solna, Sweden

Jonas Ziverts stormed onto the scene in 2019 after becoming the highest rated prospect Clancy Shields signed during his time at Arizona. During his freshman season, he played in 18 matches with a record of 12-6, including a 10-6 record at the No. 1 spot.
 
Playing at the No. 1 spot in the lineup consistently is difficult for any tennis player, but to do it as a freshman is unprecedented.
 
He helped lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010 and was named second team All-Pac-12 and ITA Southwest Rookie of the Year. Ziverts also became the first Wildcat since Roger Matalonga in 2006 to compete at the NCAA Singles Championships and finished the season ranked No. 71 in the nation by the ITA.
 
However, if you had told Jonas just one year prior that he'd be competing at the NCAA Championships, he would have thought you were crazy.
 
Ziverts had been experiencing discomfort in his knee during the back end of his high school career and had to miss months at a time, forcing him to make a decision.
 
"I started to panic a little because I had been gone from tennis a lot," Ziverts said. "So I decided to get a cortisone shot."

Immediately something felt off and his knee began to swell up again after the cortisone shot, so he went to the hospital and discovered that he had an infection in his patellar tendon. The doctors told him they needed to do surgery right away to avoid any blood clots and potential issues in the future.
 
After the two surgeries during his senior year, Ziverts had parts of his patellar tendon removed due to the infection, causing him distress.
 
"When I was at the hospital, I was worried I wasn't going to be able to play at the same level I had been playing at," Ziverts said.
 
After the two surgeries and countless hours of rehab, Ziverts showed incredible determination to make it back to the tennis court, which is one of the core values of the Wildcat Way stated in the Arizona Athletics Strategic Plan. He showed commitment to our tradition of being a champion in competition, the classroom and our community.
 
Now it was time for Ziverts to make another life changing decision, and that was to go to college in America or play professionally.
 
"I wasn't planning on going to college before all of that happened and I was going to go pro," Ziverts said. "I wasn't even thinking about college. After the injury, I didn't know what to do."
 
After going through the recruiting process, Ziverts believed it was in his best interest to go to college and decided to sign with Shields and Arizona. Now that he has spent nearly two years at Arizona, Ziverts believes his freak accident back in high school was a blessing in disguise.
 
"Everything happens for a reason," Ziverts said. "I really started to believe that because Arizona is a special place and I wouldn't be here if this didn't happen, and that would have been a big mistake. It was definitely a blessing in disguise.
 
"After everything happened, I started to be very positive with life in general. I started to appreciate the little things more and I think I matured more during that time."
 
Shields has been a person in his life that has kept him motivated and positive all the way from when he first started recruiting him up until this very day.
 
"He has motivated me and he believes in me," Shields said. "And that has helped me a lot when I was doubting myself. He has been a very important person in my life."

Ziverts was well on his way to having another successful season as a sophomore, winning eight of his nine matches this spring, including a 5-1 record at the top spot in the lineup. Before the rest of the season was canceled due to COVID-19, Ziverts was ranked No. 55 and Arizona was ranked No. 38 in the nation.
 
But just two years ago, he had doubts if he would even play tennis again.
 
"When you think about it, sometimes you take things for granted and don't pay attention to the little things, and it is a special feeling knowing that I am still able to have success on the court," Ziverts said. "I would never have thought that I'd be here two years ago. There's no chance."