Chris Simpson Season 2023-24
Chris Simpson, who helped lead the LSU women’s tennis team back to the NCAA Tournament and add three All-American honors to the program in 2022-23, enters his second year as assistant coach for the LSU women’s tennis team ahead of the 2023-24 season.
In his first year alongside head coach Taylor Fogleman, Simpson helped coach the Tigers to a 13-11 record, an eight game improvement from the 2021-22 season prior. LSU also picked up its first win in the SEC Tournament since 2019 after outlasting host-team Arkansas in a four-hour match that finished 4-3. The Tigers then earned an at-large berth to the 2023 NCAA Tournament, its first since 2021. The Tigers were defeated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and finished ranked No. 41 in the ITA national team rankings and No. 2 in the ITA Southern Regional rankings.
Simpson’s coaching saw individuals on the team reach new heights. Redshirt freshman Anastasiya Komar had one of the best individual seasons in program history, posting a 33-8 singles record and a 32-10 doubles record. Komar earned individual glory in the form of claiming the ITA Southern Regional’s single and doubles (with partner Nikita Vishwase) in October and rolled her good form into the spring season, where she posted a 19-2 record in singles playing primarily at the No. 1 singles court and a 16-4 doubles record with three different partners. Komar qualified as a national seed for both the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship (with partner Kylie Collins), automatically earning her ITA Singles All-American honors as well as ITA Doubles All-American honors.
In addition to Collins’ success in doubles with Komar, the junior enjoyed a strong first-year as a Tiger. Collins was invited to compete at the 2022 ITA All-American Championships in October, college tennis’ most prestigious fall tournament featuring the top players across the nation. In the singles draw, Collins took down four strong opponents in straight sets to advance to the singles final, the furthest run for a Tiger at the prestigious tournament, where she finished as a runner-up. Collins spent the spring playing at the top singles and doubles spots for the Tigers and qualified as a national seed for the NCAA Doubles Championship and at-large for the NCAA Singles Championship. Collins was named an ITA Doubles All-American alongside Komar at the end of the season, the third All-American honor of her career dating back to her time as Texas.
Simpson, a native of Derby, England, returned to LSU after seven seasons of coaching at Tulane in New Orleans. He served as assistant coach for the women’s tennis team from 2015-17 before moving to the men’s tennis side in the same role in the fall of 2017. During his time with the men’s tennis program, the Green Waves reached the NCAA Tournament three times and captured their first American Athletic Conference title in 2018. Individually, Tulane saw duos qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2018, 2019, and 2021 under Simpson as well as qualifiers for the NCAA Singles Championship in those same years.
Before his coaching days, Simpson was a member of the LSU men’s tennis team from 2011-2015. In his four years of play, he was named All-SEC Second Team three times and qualified for the NCAA Singles Championship in 2013. Simpson finished his playing career as a Tiger with 86 career wins in singles action and 85 in doubles. Simpson’s assistant coach he played under at LSU, Danny Bryan, is currently serving as head coach for the LSU men’s tennis team.