Winter Haven’s Ben Saltman wins state tennis title, teams with Simpson to win doubles too
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — Ben Saltman lost three previous meetings to Palmettos’ Stefan Correa, but that didn’t matter on Friday as the Winter Haven junior gave his school its third state champion of the school year and its first state champion in boys tennis.
Saltman started slow but defeated Correa, 6-4, 6-3, in the overall boys singles final at the 2025 FHSAA Boys Tennis Championships at Sanlando Park. His day, however, was far from finished.
After an hour break, Saltman teamed with Wiley Simpson to win a second state title in doubles.
In the singles competition, Saltman became the first state champion in boys tennis from Polk County since George Jenkins’ Patrick Gaughan won in 1998. Lakeland had two state runner-ups since then, Danny Mack in 2011 and Isaac Nortei in 2016.
“I knew my serve started like cranking up like toward the end of the first set, and then that was really working for me well once I got going, so it definitely feels great,” Saltman said. ”The number one reason to play high school tennis was I wanted to get a state championship for Polk County, so I was able to do that. I knew I was definitely a contender for it, but there were going to be some tough matches to have to play.”
This season was the opposite of last year when he had defeated his state semifinal opponent previously but lost at state. The last two times Saltman played Correa, the matches were close.
“I knew if I could clean up a few things I’d have a really good chance,” Saltman said.
Saltman started a bit slow, trailing 3-2. Correa did a good job early dictating points, attacking Saltman’s backhand to set up winners.
“I just started trusting my shots more,” Saltman said. “I was kind of decelerating, not moving my feet as well just because I was nervous in the beginning. Once I got that. Once I got that break to go 3 all, then I definitely freed up and played pretty good the rest of the match.”
Saltman is the first boys tennis state champion from Winter Haven and joined golfer Anthony Monteleone and the girls basketball team as state champions from Winter Haven in the ’24-’25 school year. Wiley Simpson then joined both groups.
After transferring from Geneva Classical after the school dropped boys tennis, Simpson, a multiple All-County selection, transferred to Winter Haven. He played No. 2 singles — he was No. 1 at Geneva — and joined Saltman at No. 1 doubles.
Saltman and Simpson won four of the last five games to defeat Palmetto’s Correa and Beau Gibson, 6-3, 6-4.
“I couldn’t ask for a better senior year,” Simpson said. “It’s pretty crazy. I didn’t even know at the beginning of this year if I was going to be playing (high school tennis) or not, so it’s a great opportunity.”
Despite winning in straight sets, it was a close and competitive match.
“It was a really good doubles match because there were only two breaks to serve, and that’s what we needed,” Simpson said. “But it was just we had to play solid doubles and that’s what we did so we could complete that match.”
After winning singles, Saltman was determined to win at doubles so Simpson could also be a state champion.
“I think we both played in the whole high school season, our best match in the finals,” Saltman said. “I think we both played really well. We never got broken.”
Prior to this year, the closest Winter Haven came to crowing a state champion in singles or doubles for either the boys or the girls came in 1999 when Priscila Figuerido and Ashley Campbell finished state runners-up.
Winter Haven qualified for state as a team but lost in the first round to Lake Nona, 4-2. Winter Haven’s wins at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles allowed Saltman and Simpson to continue on to eventually win the overall singles and doubles state titles.
The McKeel girls also qualified for state tournament as a team in Class 2A. However, Aermican Heritage-Broward defeated McKeel, 5-0.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Ben Saltman wins state title, teams with Simpson to win doubles too
