Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu nominated for prestigious global sporting awards
Novak Djokovic and Emma Raducanu have both been nominated to win Laureus World Sports Awards, as have Daniil Medvedev and Ashleigh Barty.
Tennis has a total of six representatives at this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards. 20-time Grand Slam icon Djokovic and newly-crowned Australian Open victor Barty have been nominated for the respective Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards.
Whilst 19-year-old US Open champion Raducanu and reigning US Open champion Daniil Medvedev have both been nominated for the Breakthrough of the Year Award.
There are also two nominees for the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, with quad players Dutchman Diede de Groot and Japanese Shingo Kunieda receiving nominations.
The Laureus World Sports Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours individuals and teams across all sports who have achieved significant sporting achievements throughout the year and have been running since 1999.
The awards are often dubbed as ‘the Oscars of the sporting world.’
Last year, Djokovic came agonisingly close to completing both a Golden Slam and a Calendar Slam, but these hopes were crushed after defeats against Medvedev in the US Open final and World number three Alexander Zverev at the Tokyo Olympics.
Nonetheless, Djokovic still won an incredible three out of a possible four Slams and ended the year as the Year-end World number one for a record seventh time.
Young British sensation Raducanu enjoyed two impressive Grand Slam runs last year at both the US Open and Wimbledon. She reached the fourth round of Wimbledon but most notably became the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam when she won the US Open.
She achieved such a feat without dropping a single set against some of the world’s best in World number eight Maria Sakkari and Swiss Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic.
Raducanu overcame 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens but lost against Danka Kovinic after battling through blistering in her second round exit from the first Slam of the season.
As such she has now risen to a new career-high ranking of 13th in the world.
Meanwhile, World number one Ash Barty claimed a third Grand Slam and a maiden Australian Open, whilst World number two Medvedev lost after being two sets up in the final to now 21-time Grand Slam legend Rafael Nadal.
Previously, 23-time Slam winner Serena Williams has won the World Sportswoman of the Year award four times, whilst seven-time Slam ace Justine Henin and three-time Slam titlist Naomi Osaka have both won the award once.
Amongst the male winners of the awards, Swiss maestro Roger Federer has won the award four times, nominee Djokovic has won three times, and Nadal has won once.
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