Mountain West Conference player of the year Raul Dobai has transferred from New Mexico and will be joining the Auburn men's tennis program for the fall semester.
Dobai earned Mountain West player of the year and newcomer of the year honors for 2020-21, leading the Lobos to the conference title with a 6-0 mark at No. 1 singles.
"From my first conversation with Raul, I knew he was the right player to be joining our team this year because his values, beliefs and player/coach development style were very much aligned," Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said.
"Having a serve and forehand as major weapons in his tennis arsenal, coupled with the ability to move well on court, sets Raul up to be very successful in the next three years. Raul has a tremendous amount of upside with his tennis game, and I'm excited to be the coach to help him reach his highest goals."
Dobai, who was born in Romania and emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, when he was 14 years old, played for Tennis Canada on the junior circuit, highlighted by a fourth-place finish in singles at the 2018 Canadian Nationals. He was also a 2018 semifinalist at the Canadian Nationals in doubles. He won a pair of ITF G5 titles, taking the singles title at the Panorama Junior ITF in Canada and the doubles title at the Victoria ITF. He also was the British Columbia Provincial Champion.
In college tennis, Dobai went 21-17 in singles and 20-15 in doubles during a season and a half with the Lobos. He currently holds a UTR of 12.84.
The Tigers begin the fall campaign September 10 in the Battle of the Beaches at Miramar, Fla. Auburn returns eight players from last season, including NCAA doubles finalists Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett and first team all-SEC performer Tyler Stice, an NCAA singles qualifier.