Sweeting suspended, charged with DUI, drug possession:: Independent Florida Alligator

Sweeting suspended, charged with DUI, drug possession:: Independent Florida Alligator ~~~

Little did I know that when I posted the Gainesville Sun's Ryan Sweeting profile, only two days later a much more dismaying article would surface.

The charges are serious and even those of us who know Sweeting only from brief encounters at tennis tournaments are disappointed. Advocates for college tennis, and I include myself in that description, were hopeful that a player of his stature could convince others that college is a viable path for those with professional ambitions. Now he will face issues of much greater significance than that.

Maybe I'm naive, but incidents like these seem rare in college tennis, making a story like this even bigger news than it would be if a football or basketball player were involved. It's no use playing ostrich here though. I'll just say I hope this is the last story of its kind I link to.