Most players in the top 300 spend their twenties trying to climb higher on the ATP tour, but former Junior’s world No. 1 Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez has chosen an unusual path. The 21-year-old Mexican has signed with the University of Texas, the school announced on Tuesday. Head coach Bruce Berque said that he has signed an Athletic Scholarship Agreement and will be with the Longhorns in the spring of 2027. 

He is currently the highest-ranked Mexican on the tour, No. 263, and reached a career high of No. 196 in September 2025. The head coach described him as a great addition to the team who fits the team culture. 

The résumé is a long one for a player heading to college. In 2023, while being the Junior world No. 1, Pacheco Mendez even won the Roland Garros junior doubles title that year with Yaroslav Demin. At 19, he defeated Aleksandar Vukic in the 2025 Mexican Open in Acapulco and became the first Mexican quarterfinalist on the tour since 1998. 

He has won seven professional titles, three in singles and four in doubles, and has played Davis Cup for Mexico in 2025 and 2026. A month ago, he reached the first Challenger singles final of his career in Phan Thiet, Vietnam, where he lost 7-6(4), 4-6, 3-6 to Ilia Simakin.

Pacheco Mendez has a 32-21 record in 2026. Yet the narrative must be tweaked, as he is not stepping aside from the pro game just yet.

Pacheco Mendez plans to keep playing pro events

Several Mexican outlets suggested that Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez will keep his calendar on the ATP tour while preparing for Texas. His father said he is not abandoning professional tennis and that he plans to study Sport Management. The father also rejected claims that he had lost sponsors. 

The 21-year-old is playing the Cali Challenger this week, and he is scheduled to follow it with a Challenger in Guayaquil and an ITF M25 event in Guadalajara. There will be limits to a college player’s professional prize money, so the balance between the two worlds will be important. 

His arrival comes at a busy moment for Texas. The Longhorns signed Matej Dodig, a 20-year-old Croatian who reached a career-high No. 199, over the summer, along with Tomasz Berkieta and Gabriel Debru. They were NCAA finalists last season, and the roster also includes Oliver Ojakaar. 

Debru, however, appears to be heading in the opposite direction. The French former junior No. 1 and 2022 Roland Garros junior champion posted a message on Instagram saying he has decided to turn pro. He wrote that his time in Texas was short but that he will always be grateful for the opportunity. He thanked the school, his coaches and his teammates, and said he is excited to play on the circuit in the coming weeks.

His message did not give a more specific date for his return to professional events. Debru joined Texas in August as a transfer from Illinois, where he was an ITA All-American in singles.

The Frenchman left the pro circuit in 2025 after being hampered by a wrist injury, and now he’s leaving college to return. Pacheco Mendez is moving the other way, but with a pro schedule that remains in place until January. Both players are former junior world No. 1s navigating the line between college and the pro tour. 

The 21-year-old Mexican will not play for Texan until the spring, which means the college season will come after his pro events this autumn. The first test of his plan comes this fall on the Challenger circuit. If he keeps up the level he showed in Vietnam, the move may help him more than hurt him. 

Taking Debru’s path as an example, it shows that the college route can work as a place to rebuild for players returning from injury. The next couple of months will tell the tale of whether this strange route works for Pacheco Mendez, who hopes to make a strong return on the tour.