Sportspersons of the Week Ending 6/7/2026

This Blog has seen dueling winners for Sportsman of the Week, but never a Sportsman AND Sportswoman of the Week in the same week.  Until now.  Mirra Andreeva and Alexander Zverev both surged through fields to win their first Grand Slam tournament at Rolland Garros, the French Open.  In Andreeva's case, it may be the sign of the next superstar of ladies' tennis.  She's 19 and this was her first Grand Slam Final.  The Russian teen cruised to victory over qualifier Maja Chwalinska, who shocked the whole tournament just by getting this far.  In fact, Chwalinska earned more money at the 2026 French Open than she had in her pro career to date starting in 2019 before the COVID disruption.  Meanwhile the talented German Zverev hasn't been able to break through the best players in any tournament, being denied titles in Grand Slams in 2020, 2024, and 2025. But at the French Open, he surged past Flavio Cobolli in a five-set thriller for his title.  2026 was the year for this pair, winning their first Grand Slams and, especially in Andreeva's case, one of more to come.  Congrats to Mirra Andreeva and Alexander Zverev, the Longhorndave Sportspersons of the week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 2/1/2026

The NFL Playoffs take a pause and the Australian Open (of tennis) took center stage.  With two heavyweights facing off in the final.  In the blue corner, Serbian legend Novak Djokovic, entering the contest at 10-0 in Australian Open finals.  In the red corner, Spanish emerging superstar Carlos Alcaraz, having not won an Australian Open final yet (but having won two of the majors in 2025 and seven since 2022).  As happens, the emerging star won.  Alcaraz rebounded from a first set setback, to take Djokovic.  Alcaraz becomes the youngest to win the career Grand Slam at age 22.  He may win the season Grand Slam in 2026.  He is dominant and our Sportsman of the Week!

Note, Novak Djokovic has won the Sportsman of the Week twice

1/27/2013

7/15/2018

And Carlos Alcaraz has one once before

9/11/2022

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 1/26/2025

The Blog always likes an underdog winner of a big tournament and last week delivered.  American Madison Keys threw the world of women's tennis on its ear in an improbable at least, impossible at best run to win her first Grand Slam Tournament.  The 29-year-old took on the best, beating four of the Top 10 seeds on her run to the title, including defeating top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the finals and second seed Iga Swiatek in the semifinals.  The 19-seed didn't have it easy, going 3 sets in all but two of her seven matches. It was just her tenth tournament win of her career, although second in a row below the equator so bettors may have had a forecast.  However, at age 29, she became the second oldest to ever win the Aussie Open, further adding to the improbability.  What a win for Keys, forever a Grand Slam Champion and the Sportswoman of the Week!

Editors Note: Last week there was no Sportsperson of the Week due to personal travel.

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/8/2024

Are we finally to a changing of the guard for Men's Tennis elite after a decade plus of what might be considered the greatest three men's tennis player ever (and 6x Sportsmen of the Week among Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic).  Italian Jannik Sinner took the Big Apple by Storm, slicing through all contenders with ease.  By with ease, I mean dropping only one set and never trailing in sets.  He finished off the popular American finalist Taylor Fritz in straight sets only the last going to a tiebreak.  A machine. The 23-year-old is poised to be the next thing (along with Alcaraz) for years to come.  Meanwhile, Sinner is the United States Open Champion and the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 6/9/2024

So many amazing sports in late Spring style, but the French Open was center square (in advance of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris) and new faces are taking control.  On the Ladies side of the bracket, Iga Swiatek won her third straight French Open and the fourth in five years.  The World's Number One lady dominated at Rolland Garros through 15 sets in seven rounds, only losing one and having one tiebreak (against the formidable resurgent Naomi Osaka in the second round).  Outside of that Sviatek lost a total of 20 games in six matches.  That's 72-20 games never a lost set.  She's so good and may be cementing herself as an all-time great but is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

This is Ms. Swiatek  second Sportswoman of the Week, she previously won in the COVID year which was her first Grand Slam Major.

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 9/10/2023

A changing of the guard took place right before our eyes on Saturday and a previously dominant sports entity is back.  No, we are not talking about the Texas Longhorns upset of Alabama.  But rather, American Ladies Tennis with a new superstar poised to pick up where her foremothers went before.  Coco Gauff put on an absolute display of talent and grit over the two weeks of the US Open to bring home the first trophy for an American teenage lady since a Williams Sister.  And the 19-year-old did it the hard way.  In seven rounds she dropped the first set three times, including the opening set of the tournament.  But battle back she did, beating four Top 32 opponents and riding the momentum of the roaring American Crowd in Flushing defeating two seeded Aryna Sabalenka for the title.  This won't be the last time we hear her name; Coco is the future of American ladies' tennis.

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 7/16/2023

Another week, another Major or Grand Slam Championship and another first time winner on the big stage.  Love to see it.  In a predictable Wimbledon Championship on the Gentlemen's side, the Ladies produced a complete surprise.  Czech surprise Marketa Vondrousova shocked the tennis establishment by winning the Ladies Championship over 6-seeded Ons Jabeur in straight sets 6-4 squared.  It wasn't so easy, both sets Vondrousova stormed comebacks that Jabeur could not answer.  Vonsrousova is the first unseeded champion on the Ladies side in All England history.  Jabeur had to settle for the runner's up trophy for the second straight year.  The 24-year-old Vondrousova stormed through four other seeds on the way only dropping two sets the entire fortnight.  She represents everything our Blog supports, and is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/11/2022

An amazing Fortnight in Queens ended with an epic semifinals and finals in the United States (Tennis) Open.  On the men's side, it was a rare victory outside of the (arguably) best three players ever (at least measured by Grand Slam wins).  But this time, it was a Spanish 19-year-old who has taken the tennis tour by storm.  And is now World ranked number one.  Carlos Alcaraz appears to be all of the next generation tennis player to battle for years, if not decades to come.  In Flushing, he finished off seven straight wins with epic battles.  The Finals victory over Norwegian Casper Ruud went 4 sets (one set on a tiebreak).  The epic Semifinals against upstart home favorite American Frances Tiafoe went a full 5 sets, two by tiebreak (both Alcaraz sets dropped).  It was Alcaraz 5th singles tournament win, first Grand Slam, and he's now 51-9 for the year.  First of potentially many Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 7/10/2022

The Wimbledon (tennis) Championships is always one of the most elite titles in sports and 2022 delivered the first normal tournament in 3 years.  It's not often that a lower seed runs through the brackets, but just that happened on the Ladies side.  Elena Rybakina entered the tournament at approximate 100:1 odds to shock the tennis world and win the Championships.  Rybakina did not exactly storm through the 128-lady field, needing either a tiebreak or third set to win five of her seven matches.  Including twice in the final three matches going down one set to love.  In the finals against favoured Ons Jabeur, the Kazakh established superiority with consecutive 6-2 sets to raise the trophy.  The Championships were her first tournament win since 2020 and only her third in her career.  Is the 23-year-old just coming into her own or just put it together for one week?  Time will tell, but she is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 1/30/2022

Gentlemen's Tennis will never likely see again the sustained success of the three greatest Grand Slam Titles winners playing at the same time over the last decade plus in the names of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic.  It was Rafael Nadal that inched ahead in Grand Slam victories this week with his unprecedented 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.  Nadal was no favorite.  Coming in as the six seed, he faced battles as four of his last five matches went at least 4 sets, and two, including the final, went 5 sets.  The final was spectacular as the Spaniard battled back against Russian Daniil Medvedev, ten years his younger.  After dropping the first two sets 2-6 and 6-7, Nadal won each of the next two sets by a single break in winning only his second Australian Open.  What a hero and he joins his other contemporaries in his second Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week honors!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 9/12/2021

An exciting and unpredictable finish punctuated the 2021 United States Open (of Tennis) and the biggest surprise was on the ladies side of the bracket.  Youth was served as teenagers Leylah Fernandez (Canada) faced off against Great Britain's Emma Raducanu in what turned out to be a straight set victory for the latter. Raducanu became the first qualifier to make the Finals of the Open and didn't drop a set throughout the two week tournament.  She never even needed a tiebreak.  Fernandez did some heavy lifting in ousting favorites such as Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber and actually beat 3 of the Top 5 seeds.  But Raducanu was just too amazingly hot to stop.  Raducanu may be on the precipice of a stalwart career and is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 7/11/2021

What a fortnight in England for the number one seed in a dominant effort to take home one of Tennis's most prestigious trophies.  Ashleigh Barty stormed through her seven matches and three seeds to win her second major, but first Championship of the All England Club also known as Wimbledon.  Barty stumbled out of the game needing a full three sets to win her opener, then didn't drop a set until the finals.  She jumped out to an early lead against 8 seed Karolina Pliskova then didn't look back, taking the first and third sets 6-3.  The Australian Ash notched her second Grand Slam tournament adding to her 2019 French Open victory.  I'm going on a limb to say it won't be her last, and she is a dominant Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week! 

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 6/13/2021

Winner.  Best way to describer our Sportswoman of the Week.  Win the singles.  Win the doubles.  At a Grand Slam.  Of course we're talking about Barbora Krejcikova.  An improbable unseeded single, and highly seeded double did things that haven't been done in decades.  Krejcikova began the weekend by downing another improbable finalist in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the French Open finals at Roland Garros 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.  To cap off her weekend, she then won the doubles on Sunday with fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova beating Iga Swiatek and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2.  Entered Paris and never lost a match.  None of this was expected.  Krejcikova looked all the part of a Top 10 singles talent while not being ranked in the Top 30.  The Czech will be soon.  And our Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 2/21/2021

There's a changing of the guard on women's tennis, no doubt about it.  And it played out in the first Grand Slam tournament in 2021.  Japan's Naomi Osaka knocked off American legend Serena Williams in the Australian Open semifinals which had all the making of a passing of the torch.  Serena had little to defend against the younger, more athletic Osaka.  Neither did fellow American Jennifer Brady who put together a great tournament to even get to the finals, but could muster no more than the 7 games Serena did over 2 sets.  Only Garbine Muguruza could win a set against Osaka and along with the two Americans, the only ones to win 4 games in a set.  The 23 year old Osaka looks all the part of a humble tennis superstar, and this is her second Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 10/11/2020

The recovery of the sports world continues, this time with the French Open...in October.  And while the Gentlemen's side of the bracket went predictably, the Ladies' side most certainly did not.  Roaring through some of the biggest names in the sport, Poland's phenom star Iga Swiatek could not be slowed down.  Like not even a dropped set.  Not even a tiebreak.  Only once after the second round did an opponent get as many as four games against her in a set.  And that was in the finals against upshot fourth seeded American Sofia Kenin.  At 19 years old, the unseeded Swiatek (ranked 54th in the World) became the youngest to win at Roland Garros since legend Monica Seles in 1992.  Easy to guess she might not be done winning big championships.  A legend to watch and the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 9/8/2019

Grand Slam majors are hard to win, especially when legends like Serena Williams is in her home country going for her seventh United States Open title.  But Bianca Andreescu didn't flinch.  The Canadian teenager announcer her presence on the scene with a decisive 6-3, 7-5 straight set victory over Williams.  It was her second finals victory over Serena after beating her in the Rogers Cup Final (in her home country) upping her match victory winning streak to 13.  It took 3 sets to win in the prior 3 rounds (4th, quarter, semi), but with this victory she's up to number 5 in the world.  Is she the next big thing?  Maybe, but she is certainly the U.S. Open Champion and the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 9/9/2018

Doing something in your sport that nobody else in your country has ever done.  Winning your first major / grand slam title.  And beating one of the, if not the greatest player to ever play your sports.  Check, check, check for our Sportswoman of the Week.  Naomi Osaka of Japan (actually from Osaka, Japan) defeated Serena Williams in straight sets to win the United States Open.  The 20 year old future star only gave up six games total (6-2, 6-4) to the American legend in the final, and throughout the two week tournament, only dropped a set.  It was amazingly only Osaka's second tour win as she rose to number 7 in the world.  Fans are already excited for a potential rematch in future major tournaments, but for now Osaka can enjoy being the Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/15/2018

To win one of the greatest championships in your sport is quite an accomplishment.  To do it after an injury from which few thought you would ever get back to the top?  Career defining.  Novak Djokovic is already a legend of modern tennis, with 13 majors titles, but it seemed as if father time was catching up to the Djoker.  After 5 major titles in 6 tournaments in 2015 and first half of 2016, he seemed to have lost it.  The second half of 2017 he sat out recovering from injury.  He started Wimbledon as the #12 seed, but ended up number one.  His toughest match was the semifinals against #2 seed Rafael Nadal for which he won a tiebreak, then the fifth set 10-8.  Other than that, he only dropped 3 sets, none in the final to Kevin Anderson.  As Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are toward the end of their careers (against which, he has a winning record against both), it looks like Djokovic isn't going anywhere.  And for the second time, he is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week.

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 6/10/2018

An action packed week of sports saw two of the major four North American team sports settle their titles, along with a Triple Crown winner.  But we turn to tennis for this week.  Simona Halep captured the 2018 French open and became the first Romanian to win a tennis Grand Slam final since 1978 (and is our first Romanian Sportswoman of the Week).  Halep is the World's Number 1 player and after three prior Grand Slam finals defeats, finally broke through against American Sloane Stephens after going down a set.  The only other set she lost in the tournament was to former Sportswoman of the week Angelique Kerber while dominating other prominent and ranked ladies players like Garbine Muguruza and Elise Mertens.  Halep is the next big star in ladies tennis, and is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 1/28/2018

Late January is when tour sports really heat up, and first time major / Grand Slam winners always catch this Blog's attention.  Especially when it's one of the greats of the game, and she has been waiting a while to ascend to the pinnacle.  Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark finally broke through to win the 2018 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament title of her career.  And she did it by beating the top seed Simona Halep in three grueling sets that almost took three hours.  But three hours was worth it for Woz, a former World Number 1 with 27 tournament wins and hadn't won a title in her first two finals appearances.  The monkey is on her back no more, as she will forever be known as a major champion.  And I wouldn't be so fast to consider her a strong contender to win all four Slam tournaments this year.  But first things first, Wozniacki is the Australian Open Champion and the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!