United States Sports Academy |
The champions of the U.S. Open tennis Grand Slam tournament Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu have been named the United States Sports Academy’s male and female Athletes of the Month for September.
Nadal, of Spain, won his fourth U.S. Open title with a five-set win over Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in New York on 8 September 2019. Nadal won 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 for his 19th career Grand Slam title.
Canada’s Andreescu stunned American Serena Williams to win her first major title at the U.S. Open in New York on 7 September 2019. Andreescu, 19, defeated the heavily favored Williams 6-3, 7-5.
The second place finisher on the men’s side was American sprinter Christian Coleman and third place went to American football player Patrick Mahomes.
Coleman captured the men’s 100-meter title with a blistering time of 9.76 seconds at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, on 28 September 2019. It was Coleman’s ninth world championship medal.
After four games played in September Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, led the NFL in passing yards (1,510), yards per game (377.5) and was tied with two others in touchdowns (10). Mahomes is the reigning NFL MVP.
The second place finisher on the women’s side was American wrestler Adeline Gray and third place went to Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Gray won her fifth overall world title after defeating Japan’s Hiroe Suzuki 4-2 in the women’s 76 kg class at the World Wrestling Championships in Kazakhstan on 19 September 2019. Gray became the most decorated American wrestler in world championship history.
Fraser-Pryce won the women’s 100-meter title at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Doha, Qatar, on 29 September 2019. She finished with a time of 10.71 seconds to capture the fourth world title of her career.
Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot. A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.
The Athlete of the Year Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport.
The awards honor exemplary achievement in coaching, all-around athletic performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness and media, among others. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Medallion Series, Distinguished Service Awards, Outstanding Athletes, and Alumni of the Year awards. This is the 34th year of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program.
The United States Sports Academy is an independent, non-profit, accredited, special mission sports university created to serve the nation and world with programs in instruction, research and service. The role of the Academy is to prepare men and women for careers in the profession of sports.
Founded in 1984, ASAMA is dedicated to the preservation of sports art, history, and literature. The ASAMA collection is composed of more than 1,800 works of sport art across a variety of media, including paintings, sculptures, assemblages, prints and photographs. The museum is open free to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. For more information, go to www.asama.org.
The Academy is based in Daphne, Ala. For more information, call (251) 626-3303 or visit www.ussa.edu.