MUMBAI: Tennis was the clear winner at the Laureus Sports Awards 2019 in Monaco as the World No.1 men’s and women’s singles players, Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and the World Breakthrough of the Year awards respectively on Monday.
Djokovic roared back from being World No.22 prior to the start of Wimbledon in June 2018, to being World No.1 at present, following his wins at the Championships in London, US Open and the Australian Open 2019 to break a 2-year Grand Slam drought.
On the other hand, Osaka has won the hearts of tennis fans not just in the USA and Japan, but all around the world with her title-winning performances at the US Open 2018 and the Australian Open 2019 at the age of 21. Coming from a simple, middle-class family, she became the first Asian women’s tennis player to win two Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and ranked World No.1.
After her record-breaking performance at the Gymnastics World Championships, in which she won four gold, one silver and one bronze medal, Simone Biles was crowned Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year. Biles, who also won the Sportswoman Award in 2017, made history last year by becoming the first woman to win four all-around world championships. At just 21, she now has a record 14 career world titles.
Golfing legend Tiger Woods won his third Laureus Award, after winning the Sportsman of the Year accolade at the 2000 and 2001 editions of the event. The American received the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award for winning the Tour Championship, his first win in 1,876 days, returning to the game after spinal fusion surgery.
FIFA World Cup winners France became the first national football team to win a second Laureus World Team of the Year Award, fighting off competition from the world-leading teams across a range of sports including Mercedes AMG Petronas F1, Golden State Warriors and Real Madrid. French coach Didier Deschamps was in Monaco to accept the award on behalf of the team.
The Laureus World Sports Academy recognised marathon world record breaker Eliud Kipchoge with the Laureus Academy Exceptional Achievement Award. Kipchoge, who ran the fastest time ever in a marathon in Berlin with a time of 2 hours 1 min 39 seconds, broke the previous record by a massive 1 min 18 seconds.
The event will be broadcast in over 200 countries, with Star Sports expected to showcase it on television today in India.
