Texas Men’s Tennis SEC Awards

[GoHorns1]

Austin – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis freshman Timo Legout was named Southeastern Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Year, and head coach Bruce Berque was named Coach of the Year, the conference announced on Thursday. Additionally, Legout was chosen Freshman of the Year and received First Team All-SEC and All-Freshman Team accolades, while junior Sebastian Gorzny and senior Pierre-Yves Baillywere selected First Team All-SEC.

It marks the third-straight year a Longhorn has received conference player of the year honors and the fourth time in the last five years one has been freshman of the year. Eliot Spizzirri was Big 12 Player of the Year in 2023 and 2024, while Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (2024), Pierre-Yves Bailly (2022) and Micah Braswell (2021) were all selected Big 12 Freshman of the Year.

Gorzny, who transferred TCU this season, had been a two-time Second Team All-Big 12 honoree in doubles and went on to be an ITA All-American in doubles last season. He was also Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2023. This is the third year Pierre-Yves Bailly has received all-conference honors after being first team in singles and second team in doubles in the Big 12 in 2023, along with second team in singles in 2022.

It is the second-straight and fourth overall coach of the year award for Berque in his time at Texas after taking home the honor in 2019, 2021 and 2024 in the Big 12.

This past week, Legout was the MVP of the SEC Championship after leading the Longhorns to the tournament title, and he ascended to No. 1 in singles in the latest ITA rankings released Wednesday. He is also currently No. 9 in doubles with a high ranking of No. 5 during the year. He is 34-3 in singles this year with a 21-2 dual match record and a perfect 12-0 conference record, playing No. 1 in every match. This year, he has 23 ranked singles wins, 14 of which are in the top 50, and he has defeated the No. 1 line singles player of every SEC team except Kentucky with that match going unfinished while Legout was up a set and leading in the second set.

Legout has also played No. 1 in 24 of his 26 dual matches in doubles and is 7-5 in the SEC with 11 ranked wins overall this year and six in the top-30 with none more significant than his victory with Lucas Brownover the No. 3 Lucas da Silva and Connor Thomson of South Carolina that clinched the doubles point in the SEC Championship final. He has earned four SEC weekly awards combined between Athlete of the Week and Freshman of the Week. He has led the team to a 25-4 overall record and both the SEC regular season and tournament championships.

Gorzny, who last week was named to the SEC Championship All-Tournament Team is currently ranked No. 25 in singles and has been as high as No. 2 this year, and No. 67 in doubles. Gorzny is 20-8 overall in singles this year, including 14-7 in dual matches where he has played predominantly at No. 2, along with being 6-3 in the SEC. He has 10 ranked singles wins and was leading No. 2 Pedro Vives of TCU in a match that went unfinished in March. In the fall, he opened his UT career with five-straight ranked victories to reach the singles final of the ITA All-American Championships before having to withdraw due to injury prior to the match. In doubles, he is 16-12 overall, 14-10 in dual matches and 6-6 in the SEC, mostly at No. 2 with junior Jonah Braswell.

Pierre-Yves Bailly is currently ranked No. 52 in singles and No. 83 in doubles, while during his career he has been ranked as high as No. 17 in singles and No. 41 in doubles. This spring, he has posted an 18-2 singles dual match record with a 7-2 mark in the SEC playing mostly at No. 3 and was either leading or tied in all three of his unfinished SEC matches. He was also the SEC Athlete of the Week on February 12 and was just named the SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Overall this year, he has a 21-6 singles record with five ranked wins and two in the top 15. He had a 10-match winning streak and a stretch of 15 wins in 16 decisions, and both of his dual match losses were to ranked opponents, including No. 25. In doubles, Bailly is 15-7 in dual matches and 8-4 in the SEC, mostly at No. 2, along with being 20-9 overall. He and partner Sebastian Eriksson have won seven of their last nine matches.

Berque guided the Longhorns to both the SEC regular season and tournament championships in the program's debut season in the conference. He also led the team to both the regular season and tournament championships in the Big 12 in 2024. The team has recorded a 25-4 overall record so far this season, including 13-1 in SEC play, and is currently ranked No. 3 after being as high as No. 1 earlier in the season. During Berque's six completed seasons at the helm, Texas is the only program in the nation to finish in the top four in five of those, and it is the only program nationally to make four NCAA Final Fours in that span.

After receiving the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns will await the NCAA selection show to determine their seeding and hosting, which would tentatively have the first and second rounds planned for May 3-4 at the Texas Tennis Center. The selection show will air on NCAA.com on Monday, April 28, at 4:30 p.m. CT.