Izak van der Merwe Bio

Izak van der Merwe is ODU’s first two-time ITA Collegiate Tennis All-American and the only Monarch to reach the national semifinals in the NCAA, All-American and & Indoor national championships. He advanced to the NCAA national semifinals in singles during the 2005 season as well as the 2005 ITA National Indoor Championships. Ranked as high as 24th nationally, van der Merwe, compiled a 27-12 singles record and finished his ODU career with a 100-39 mark, second best in school history. In 2004, he teamed with Zoltan Csanadi to advance to the NCAA doubles national championship semifinals, as well as the finals of the ITA National Indoor Championships and the semifinals of the ITA All-American Championships. He compiled a 92-45 career doubles record. Van der Merwe was named to the CAA’s Silver Anniversary squad for men’s tennis. In June 2008, van der Merwe qualified for the 2008 Wimbledon main draw, beating World No. 177 Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen, World No. 126 Kristian Pless, and World No. 246 Frederic Niemeyer . He would also qualify for the Australian (2012) and French Opens (2011). In 2011, van der Merwe ranked as high as 94th in the world. A native of South Africa, Izak now lives in Dallas, TX where he is working towards an MBA at the University of Texas in Dallas. He graduated from ODU with a degree in finance.