Winter Park’s Carroll is Sentinel Varsity boys tennis Player of the Year; internationally ranked
Winter Park’s Jerald Carroll was absent for a handful of early-season matches in the 2025 high school tennis season. But he wasn’t sitting idle while his team played in February.
He was busy scoring international victories.
Carroll, whose family hails from The Bahamas, won three consecutive International Tennis Federation singles tournaments in February and March, the first in El Salvador followed by two in Mexico. In two of those events he also won doubles titles.
The 16-year-old senior returned to Florida to play and win in five high school regular season matches and once again excelled in the postseason. Carroll was unbeaten in area singles play, including a tight win against Malhar Patel, the top player for state champ Lake Nona.
Carroll is the 2025 Sentinel Varsity boys tennis Player of the Year.
“He was a great role model for our other players to see someone his level who just loves being part of the team,” Winter Park coach Teri Bentley said.
Carroll, who was the Class 4A singles runner-up as a junior, suffered his only loss of 2025 to Spruce Creek’s Zane Ensminger in an individual bracket state semifinal. They split sets before Ensminger won the 10-point tiebreaker 10-6.
Carroll and his sophomore teammate, Tristan Bradu, also lost a state tourney doubles match on a tiebreaker.
Carroll is communicating with college programs but may or may not go that route for the 2025-26 school year. He may instead focus on the ITF circuit since he is age eligible for another year in the 18U age division.
The left-hander went 15-0 in singles and 11-1 in doubles during his ITF win streak and rocketed up the juniors rankings. He moved from the 800s to a best of No. 313 in the world and may delay making a college choice to continue international play.
“Since I’m still 16 and have another year (in age-group play), I may take a gap year to get more good exposure. The goal would be to get into the 100s and hopefully qualify to play in the Junior U.S. Open (Aug. 31 to Sept. 6).”
Sentinel Standouts
Tristan Bradu, Winter Park, Soph.
Buzz: Unbeaten at No. 2 singles and partnered with Carroll as state doubles semifinalists.
Benjamin Demetriades, Trinity Prep, Jr.
Buzz: Met top-notch players in almost every match. Avenged a loss with 6-4, 6-4 win vs Rafael Stahl in region play.
Shay Gupta, Lake Nona, Sr.
Buzz: Clutch No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles wins helped Lions (25-0) beat Doral Academy 4-3 for 4A state title.
Malhar Patel, Lake Nona, Sr.
Buzz: Dartmouth-bound lefthander lost only to Carroll 6-4, 6-4 and state champ Benjamin Saltman 6-3, 6-3.
Juan Orta, Lake Nona, Jr.
Buzz: 11-0 in No. 3 singles, including 7-6, 7-5 win that clinched state title. Went 11-1 in doubles.
Honorable mention
Luis Henriquez, Celebration, Sr.
Zhuoyang Lin, Windermere Prep, Sr.
Lucas Magro, Bishop Moore, So.
Devak Mandla, Lake Nona, Jr.
Juanjose Moran, Apopka, Jr.
Wil Nguyen, Lake Buena Vista, Jr.
Mikail Pavlovic, Windermere, Jr.
Kipton Roskaft, Lake Highland Prep, Fr.
Rafael Stahl, Geneva, Jr.
Krutik Vijay, Lake Nona, Jr.
Players of the year and Sentinel standouts are selected by the Sentinel staff with input from area coaches. Athletes represent schools eligible for the FHSAA state series from Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake and southwest Volusia counties.
Lake Nona wins dramatic FHSAA tennis state final against Doral Academy
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
