TUCSON, Ariz. - Jay Dylan Hara Friend signed his NLI to join Arizona in the fall season of 2022. Hailing from Japan, Friend ranked in the ITF as high as No. 128 as a junior player and a high UTR of 12.75. Friend has recently been on a tear on the tennis court winning two big tournaments, one in Rotterdam and Barcelona, winning a total of three tournaments in singles and five tournaments in doubles during 2021.

A top 100 global recruit, Friend's father is from New Zealand and his mother is from Japan with their family living all over the world, including most recently in Singapore and now in Barcelona.

On why he chose Arizona, Friend said, "I was having a tough time making a decision on which school to go to but as soon as I stepped on the campus and met the team and coaches, I knew that the U of A was the place for me."

Head Coach Clancy Shields spoke on his excitement of his new recruit, "Jay is going to be a great addition to our program. He fit in perfectly on his visit, the guys on the team had an instant connection, and I know Jay is going to add a tremendous amount of skill to our roster. When you look at the past year of results, Jay has improved his world ITF junior ranking nearly 450 spots, and improved his UTR almost a full point." He continued to praise the potential and attitude of his newest Wildcat, "His upward trajectory has been explosive in the past few months with a 27-6 record on the junior circuit since June. My belief is that Jay is only going to continue to get better. He has a very high ceiling, is a good athlete with a live arm, and very strong tennis IQ. Skills aside, we love Jay's demeanor, he will fit in perfectly to our team dynamic and we can't wait for him to join us next August!"