"That's really incredible, DK": Indian tennis player Dhakshineswar Suresh gets high praise from US Prez Trump

Washington DC [US], April 23 : Madurai-born tennis star Dhakshineswar Suresh got high praise from US President Donald Trump during a recent National Champions Day at the White House.

The 26-year-old Suresh was among the 2025 NCAA Collegiate National Championship teams that had gathered at the White House for the event on Wednesday.

"DK Suresh delivered the clinching point to UCLA 4-2 victory over TCU in the final. And I want to congratulate you," Trump said. "I said, 'Who is the best player in the team?' and they all pointed to him. Congratulations and that's really incredible, DK, what you have done. You had a great year. You all had a great year. Thank you very much," the US President said.

At the White House ceremony, Trump honoured the 2025 NCAA championship teams. Student-athletes in attendance included those from Oklahoma State men's golf, Texas A&M women's volleyball, Wake Forest men's tennis, University of Georgia women's tennis, Youngstown State's women's bowling, Florida State's women's soccer, and West Virginia University's coed rifle team of men and women.

The player from Tamil Nadu, Suresh, who moved to the US, is part of the Wake Forest University tennis team. He moved to the US to play collegiate tennis on the advice of former Indian player Somdev Devvarman. He utilized a scholarship to join the US college system, starting at an NAIA school in Georgia before transferring to Wake Forest University for NCAA Division 1 tennis. He is set to graduate in May 2026.

In his praise for the 26-year-old, Trump said, "In the winner's circle, we have the 2025 NCAA Men's Tennis Champions, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons....But they battled through the fierce postseason to claim their second national title. DK Suresh delivered the clinching point to seal a 4-2 victory over TCU in the final. And I want to congratulate you." The Wake Forest University team won the NCAA men's tennis championships by beating the TCU Horned Frogs 4-2 in the final.

Suresh has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 462 achieved in April 2026 and a doubles ranking of No. 352 achieved on August 18, 2025. He got noticed after helping India beat World Number 6 Netherlands 3-2 in Round 1 of the Davis Cup Qualifiers tie in Bengaluru this February. The player who hails from Tamil Nadu made his ATP main draw debut at the Winston-Salem Open in 2024.

During the ceremony at the White House, the US president also spoke about how his administration was working to "save college sports" and mentioned his executive order that "banned" men from competing in women's sports.

"So college sports are among America's most cherished institutions, a tradition where lessons learned on the playing field shape the character of winners. And you are winners, you wouldn't be here if you weren't. The athletes here today represent the very best of that grit and determination and teamwork. That's why under my administration, we're fighting hard to save college sports. What's happening is crazy. It's crazy. And what we want to do is help athletes like all of you in this room. And as soon as I took office, I ended a terrible injustice and banned men from competing in women's sports," Trump said

In his speech, Trump said that his administration is "fighting hard to save college sports."

"So college sports are among America's most cherished institutions, a tradition where lessons learned on the playing field shape the character of winners. And you are winners, you wouldn't be here if you weren't. The athletes here today represent the very best of that grit and determination and teamwork. That's why under my administration, we're fighting hard to save college sports. What's happening is crazy. It's crazy. And what we want to do is help athletes like all of you in this room. And as soon as I took office, I ended a terrible injustice and banned men from competing in women's sports.

Furhter, he said, "Don't know if anybody agrees. Does anybody agree with that? That men should be able to play in women's sports? ...Don't feeldon'tso far I have not ever found anybody. But they say it's an 80-20 issue, but I've never been able to find anybody. So I think it's a 99 to 1, maybe it's a little bit more than that, coach. Maybe it's a hundred to nothing. I campaigned on that one all the time. I say there will be no men in women's sports and people would go crazy. Butbut I mean it, but you're politically correct, so..."

He detailed that earlier this month, he signed an executive order to implement "a number of key reforms protecting programs like yours", which he said ", don't always get the top headlines but are crucial to strengthening years and years of education and sports and the ability to compete and to win, which we need very much."

"We now have, thanks to a wonderful decision in the Supreme Court, we're a country that's again based on merit. In other words, if you're the best shooter, you're the best shooter. If you're the best golfer, you're the best golfer. And all of these things are very important to stop the pay-for-play schemes that only benefit the largest programs. We will only allow one no-penalty transfer through the transfer portal. I think most of the people here know what that means, where you had some people going to three, four differentit's like they became like Monopoly players.

"And to ensure room for the new talent, we're also instituting a five-year eligibility cap for college players because students right out of high school should not have to compete against players that are 28 or 29 years old who decide they can make more money staying in college than they can by going into the professional leagues, which is pretty ridiculous. It's a veryvery precarious position that the courts have left us in because we had great college sports and the persona judgedecided, who was not a person that knew much about sports, actually I think knew nothing about sports, decided that the whole thing was unconstitutional. For over a hundred years, they developed these programs, a lot of scholarships, a lot of great things happening. And now it's a total and complete mess. But we're going to get it fixed up. And we've got some fantastic people doing it," Trump said.

"So we need now Congress to act to clear up the confusion created by the courts and institute permanent reforms to protect college sports at every level. And especially some sports. ...A lot of the emphasis is put on football, but football is now destroying the colleges economically because they're being paid so much that the colleges are losing so much money. It's not sustainable. So in recent weeks, the White House has convened many of the most respected sports figures and commissioners in the nation. We had all of them here, just about all of the top people, 64 of them, including Nick Saban, one of the greatest coaches ever; Randy Levine, the head of the New York Yankees; Bryson DeChambeau, a rather good golfer, Tim Tebow, a wonderful guy; Charlie Ward; Adam Silver. This incredible group developed a strong set of recommendations and my administration is committed to working with Congress to get them through. I signed an executive order instituting those recommendations, and it's going to clean it up a long way, it's going to take it a long way," Trump said.

The US President also warned that the US "won't have an Olympic team anymore," if not for regulations on the NCAA to address dwindling resources for certain non-revenue college sports in the US.

"75 percent of Olympians competing for Team USA played as college athletes. If we don'tif we don't straighten out this, we're not going to have much of an Olympic team anymore because you have so many of these sports, especially certain sports, where it's like the minor leaguesyou could call it the major leagues, you could call it whatever you wantbut we train unbelievable athletes to go in and win the gold medal. And without college sports, without your ability to go into college sports and compete and learn really how to play and get better, we're not going to have much of an Olympic team anymore."

"Many of America's greatest CEOs and entrepreneurs learned discipline, courage, and drive through playing sports in college. And II loved sports. I mean, I was so helped in my life by sports. Saving this tradition is not only a matter of fairness and sportsmanship, it's a matter of national pride and national greatness indeed. All of you have battled your way to the absolute top in sports, and now you have an administration that's fighting just as hard for you as you fight for our country. And you have fought for our country. So I want to congratulate you," he said.

You know, you're a group of real champions. I know what it is to win in sports and win in life. But to win in sports isI always say it's a microcosm of life. The beautiful thing: you know in two hours, or you know in a season, how you are in life. Sometimes you have to go a lot of years before you can figure it out. But I have to say, you are unbelievable champions. I admire and respect all of you, and it's an honor to have you in the White House. And you'll come back. And who knows, someday you mightone of you, or two of you, or three of you...Might come back as me? You don't want that. I don't think you want that. I don't think youdon'tit's not worth it," the US President said.

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