Dusan Medan finished his Marquette playing career as the men’s tennis program’s career leader in singles wins (88). He contributed to the team not just as a player, but by returning to help coach the next flock of Golden Eagles from 2016-23.
This year, he will be inducted into the ‘M Club’ Hall of Fame, becoming the second player to receive the honor in Marquette men’s tennis history.
“It’s a great honor to be inducted,” Medan said. “Just being in a conversation and on the same list of so many amazing coaches and athletes.”
Growing up in Serbia, he came to the United States for his first collegiate season at Troy, posting 10-plus singles wins in his lone year with the Trojans. Moving to Marquette, he said, boiled down to striking a balance between the individual and team nature of college tennis.
“When I came to Marquette, I was really hungry, I want to say that the recipe for my success was my competitiveness,” Medan said. “I like to win and really wanted to play for something that’s bigger than myself.”
But what drove Medan’s success was the mission of putting Marquette tennis in the spotlight, en route to two All-Big East selections during his tenure with the program. He ascended to as high as No. 64 overall in the NCAA individual rankings.
Despite all the individual achievements during his career, he said they were a stepping stone towards building up the team, in each of Medan’s three seasons playing for Marquette, MU had 15-plus regular season victories as a team.
“We did everything to put Marquette on a tennis map, and to make sure people know who we are from a tennis perspective,” Medan said. “Basketball was always the common denominator in every conversation that revolves around Marquette; we wanted to make sure that when a coach goes out to recruit, the tennis community has something positive to say about our team. So, my wins and our wins as a team helped.”
Medan returned to Serbia after graduating from Marquette in 2010, but the desire to coach college tennis ignited him and his girlfriend (now-wife), Sofija, to move back across the pond, due to tennis’ unique blend of individual and team components.
He started in South Carolina as a junior tennis director at the Topspin Racquet and Swim Club, eventually finding his way back to Milwaukee to teach at the Western Racquet Club. When longtime Marquette women’s tennis head coach Jody Bronson reached out to Medan to rejoin the blue & gold as an assistant coach in 2016, he said it was a no-brainer.
“Marquette was the place where I wanted to be and leave my mark,” Medan said. “Not just as a player, but as a coach.”
He helped lead Marquette women’s tennis to four 10-plus win-seasons, three of them as an assistant and one as the program’s associate head coach, in 2021-22.
He left Marquette after the 2022-23 season due to family reasons, namely raising two young children, where the demands and travel of college coaching are a tough balancing act. But he still coaches in the community as the Milwaukee Tennis Education Foundation tennis director.
Medan said that the collective team effort that goes into college tennis cannot be understated in helping achieve his induction.
“There’s people that I want to say made more impact than I did on Marquette’s tennis program, with all my wins, because they were the ones setting the team up for success,” Medan said. “Without being surrounded by teammates and coaches like that, there’s no way I would be successful– it’s an individual sport, but definitely not an individual effort.”
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.
