Laureus Awards: Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka win, Angelique Kerber goes away empty-handed
Novak Djokovic won the Laureus Award for Sportsman of the Year for the fourth time. The Serb, who had already received the award in 2012, 2015 and 2016, caught up with sprint star Usain Bolt (Jamaica), who also triumphed four times. Only Roger Federer (Tennis / Switzerland) is even more successful with five awards.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Feb 18, 2019, 09:51 pm
Djokovic, number one in the tennis world and last year winner in Wimbledon and at the US Open, prevailed against five other sports stars in the election.
The two footballers Luka Modric (Croatia) and Kylian Mbappe (France) as well as Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain), marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) and basketball star LeBron James (USA) had to let Djokovic go first.
"I was thinking of stopping tennis," recalled an emotional Djokovic in honor of the time after his injury and elbow surgery, and thank in particular his wife Jelena for the support. "You were right, I let myself down at the time."
Djokovic continued that he had learned a lot about himself in the past three years. "If you have resistance, you have to look inside yourself, there is the answer. I hadn't fully understood that before."
Breakthrough Award for Osaka
Angelique Kerber, on the other hand, experienced a déjà vu: As in 2017, Germany's best tennis player had to give way to the US gymnast Simone Biles in the Sportswoman of the Year category at the Laureus Awards in Monaco. Biles received the coveted award on Monday evening for her outstanding performance at the 2018 World Cup in Doha, when she won four gold and one silver and one bronze. With only 14 World Cup titles, the only 21 year old Biles is the most successful gymnast in history.
Kerber was one of six nominated athletes. The 31-year-old from Kiel had triumphed in Wimbledon last year and won her third Grand Slam title. Also nominated were tennis star Simona Halep (Romania), US skique Mikaela Shiffrin, Super G Olympic champion Ester Ledecka (Czech Republic) and successful triathlete Daniela Ryf (Switzerland).
With Naomi Osaka, however, a tennis player won a prize: the winner of the US Open and Australian Open won the "Breakthough of the Year" award.
Overview of the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards 2019
Athlete: Novak Djokovic (Serbia / Tennis / 4th award in this category)
Sportswoman: Simone Biles (USA / gymnastics / 2nd)
Disabled athlete: Henrieta Farkasova (Slovakia / visually impaired ski racer / 1st)
Team: French national football team (2nd)
Breakthrough: Naomi Osaka (Japan / Tennis / 1st)
Comeback: Tiger Woods (USA / Golf / 1st)
Action: Chloe Kim (USA / Olympic snowboard champion in the half pipe)
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