Biography
THIS YEAR: The reigning PacWest Player of the Year opened his season with an individual title in the ITA Fall West Regional Tournament, showing he is still the player to beat in the PacWest. Walter is seeking to lead Azusa Pacific to a fourth-consecutive PacWest Tennis Championships at the top of the lineup. Individually, he is also seeking a fourth All-PacWest selection, which would make him the third Cougar, alongside Jan Meyer and Leyton Bohren, to accomplish the achievement, and the fifth in conference history. He enters the year with 103 total wins in singles and doubles in team matches, recording an 81.0 winning percentage.
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2024: Named PacWest Player of the Year, helping Azusa Pacific win the coveted award for the eighth time in the 11 years that the PacWest has sponsored men’s tennis… Earned a spot on the Academic All-PacWest Team with a 3.89 GPA… Earned PacWest Player of the Week three times (Feb. 13, March 12, April 8)… Selected by the PacWest coaches to First-Team All-PacWest in both singles and doubles for his third-career All-PacWest honors in both… Recorded a 22-1 record in singles at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions… Went 16-4 in doubles alongside Miha Velicki… The duo has now played 56 matches together in their careers, which is the third-most matches in Cougar history played by the same doubles team, winning three quarters of those matches… Took over the No. 1 singles spot permanently on March 18, starting an eight-match winning streak… Earned three straight-set wins over Alejandro Jimenez, Mattis Le Montagner, and Robin Sanz at the No. 1 position at the PacWest Championships to lead Azusa Pacific to the title and earn recognition as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player… Defeated three nationally-ranked players including Biola’s Nico Ramiez, 7-5, 6-3… Went undefeated in singles going into the NCAA National Championships at 22-0… He is the first Cougar since Jakob Schnaitter in 2018 to tally 22 singles wins in a season, and his 22-1 record is tied for the sixth-best winning percentage in school history for a single season… He had a total record of 38-5 between singles and doubles which is the 10th-best winning percentage in Azusa Pacific history.
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2023: Named to the Academic All-PacWest Team… Selected to All-PacWest second team in singles and third team in doubles… Played primarily at No. 3 singles and had a 16-5 record on the season… Went 13-7 in doubles and spent most of the season with Miha Velicki at No. 2 doubles… Went on a nine-match winning streak in singles and a 10-match winning streak in doubles in the middle of the season… Earned a double-bagel victory at No. 3 singles in the NCAA West Regional win over Concordia.
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2022: Received a spot on the Academic All-PacWest Team, recording a 3.83 GPA in business management… Voted by the PacWest coaches to the Second Team All-PacWest in singles and third team in doubles… Turned in a 15-5 record in his freshman campaign, which ended on an eight-match winning streak… Played mostly at No. 3 and No. 4 for singles and No. 2 for doubles with Miha Velicki, recording a team-best 17-3 doubles record… Won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 singles against PacWest Freshman of the Year Jakub Beran to help Azusa Pacific win the PacWest Championships title over Hawai`i Pacific… Defeated Biola’s Tomas Gomez 6-4, 6-4 in singles at the NCAA West Regional, leading Azusa Pacific back into the NCAA Division II National Championships… He was the 25th player in program history to record 30+ wins between singles and doubles in his first year with the team.
HIGH SCHOOL: Attended Freie Waldorfschule Krefeld and graduated in 2019.
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PERSONAL: Born on March 9, 2000, in Duisburg, Germany, to Juergen and Micaela… Has one older sister, Christina… Plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand… Is pursuing an MBA… Desires to move back to Germany or Norway after graduating with his masters degree… Apart from tennis, enjoys soccer, darts, traveling, music, surfing, and editing videos.
