2023 SEC Men's Tennis Awards Announced

Birmingham, Ala. - The Southeastern Conference announced the 2023 men's tennis postseason awards Friday.

Georgia's Manuel Diaz was named SEC Coach of the Year for the seventh time. Diaz is in his 35th season as the head coach of the Bulldogs. He is the SEC's all-time winningest coach with 764 career victories. Georgia is currently 20-6 overall and ended the conference season 12-0. The team won the SEC title and was runner-up at the SEC Tournament.

Currently ranked as the No. 5 singles player in the country, Tennessee's Johannus Monday was named SEC Player of the Year. Monday, a two-time ITA Singles All-American, was a combined 34-5 in dual singles and doubles matches this spring entering the postseason. At 17-2 in singles and 17-3 on the doubles courts, 28 of those 34 total victories are at the No. 1 lineup spot (14-2 at No. 1 singles and 14-3 at No. 1 doubles). Each of Monday's SEC matches have been played at the No. 1 singles and doubles lineup positions, logging a 9-1 SEC mark at No. 1 singles and a 7-2 SEC record atop the doubles lineup. Monday was 14-3 at No. 1 doubles during the regular season, with each of those appearances at No. 1 coming with Pat Harper.

SEC Freshman of the Year was awarded to Georgia's Ethan Quinn. He finished the year 23-10, 10-1 against SEC competition in singles with a team-best 15 ranked wins. Ten of his 13 dual match wins came in straight sets. He began the season as the No. 1 player in the country and never left the top-5 throughout season. He currently is ranked No. 3. He played all dual matches on court one, earning 13 wins, the most of any freshman in SEC. He ended the regular season with a six-match win streak. In doubles, Quinn peaked in the rankings at No. 5 with Trent Bryde. Quinn and Bryde led Georgia in dual match wins with 12, including eight against ranked opponents, all from court one.

First-team and second-team All-SEC honorees, All-Freshman team, along with Player, Coach and Freshman of the Year were chosen by the league's 13 coaches. Coaches cannot vote for their own players and ties are not broken.

A complete list of the awards follows.

First Team All-SEC

RECIPIENT
Tyler Stice, Auburn
Axel Nefve, Florida
Trent Bryde, Georgia
Philip Henning, Georgia
Ethan Quinn, Georgia
Alafia Ayeni, Kentucky
Liam Draxl, Kentucky
Joshua Lapadat, Kentucky
Toby Samuel, South Carolina
Connor Thomson, South Carolina
Emile Hudd, Tennessee
Johannus Monday, Tennessee
Noah Schachter, Texas A&M
Raphael Perot, Texas A&M

Second Team All-SEC

RECIPIENT
Filip Planinsek, Alabama
Jonah Braswell, Florida
Will Grant, Florida
Blake Croyder, Georgia
Taha Baadi, Kentucky
Ronald Hohmann, LSU
John Hallquist Lithén, Ole Miss
Nikola Slavic, Ole Miss
Carles Hernandez, Mississippi State
Ewen Lumsden, Mississippi State
Nemanja Malesevic, Mississippi State
James Story, South Carolina
Shunsuke Mitsui, Tennessee

All-Freshmen

RECIPIENT
Matias Ponce De Leon, Alabama
Billy Blaydes, Auburn
Alejandro Moreno, Auburn
Jonah Braswell, Florida
Ethan Quinn, Georgia
Jaden Weekes, Kentucky
Petar Jovanovic, Mississippi State
Nathan Cox, Vanderbilt

Player of the Year

RECIPIENT
Johannus Monday, Tennessee

Freshman of the Year

RECIPIENT
Ethan Quinn, Georgia

Coach of the Year

RECIPIENT
Manuel Diaz, Georgia