MONACO: World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic crowned a winning return to the courts after surgery with the Laureus sportsman of the year award on Monday, while American gymnast Simone Biles won the sportswoman of the year prize.
Tiger Woods, Lindsey Vonn, Naomi Osaka and the France national football team were also among the winners, with Woods claiming the Comeback Award 19 years after he was first recognised.
Serbian Djokovic, who 12 months ago had elbow surgery, won Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018, before lifting this year’s Australian Open crown, to add to his tally of Grand Slam singles titles and reclaim top spot in the rankings.
With his record seventh crown at Melbourne Park, Djokovic moved ahead of Pete Sampras into third on the men’s all-time list of Grand Slam title winners (15), just two behind Rafa Nadal. Roger Federer is still out in front with 20.
“I did think about leaving tennis,” Djokovic said on Monday. “I did not find myself in a good balance. It took me several months to find that purpose and meaning again. This award reflects and symbolises this journey. Reflecting on the journey it seems like a fairytale story.”
Djokovic matched Usain Bolt’s record by being named World Sportsman of the Year for the fourth time. He also earned the honor in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
Multiple Olympic champion Biles in November became the all-time leading world gymnastics championship gold medal winner with a record 14 golds.
With 20 overall medals at the worlds, Biles, who has also won four Olympic golds, tied Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina for the most by a female gymnast in world championships competition. Her all-around world title was her fourth, also a record.
Woods, who won the inaugural World Sportsman of the Year award in 2000, was handed the comeback of the year award after the US golfer silenced even his harshest critics when he earned what some consider to be one of the greatest victories of his career at last year’s Tour Championship season finale.
Woods, who collected the last of his 14 majors at the 2008 US Open, has had plenty of health-related setbacks, having to endure several knee and back surgeries, and his career seemed to be nearing its end in 2017.
Vonn, who retired during the recent Alpine skiing world championships, took home the Spirit of Sport Award, which is given to an athlete for relentless dedication to his or her career, and France were honored for winning the World Cup in July.
Japan’s world number one women’s tennis player Osaka, who lifted her first Grand Slam title at the US Open last year, and went on to claim the 2019 Australian Open, won the breakthrough of the year award and Chloe Kim was named the World Action Sportsperson of the Year.
Arsene Wenger, the studious 69-year-old Frenchman credited with revolutionising English football certainly in the early part of his over two decades in charge of Arsenal, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
China’s Xia Boyu’s extraordinary achievement in climbing Everest last May, four decades after losing both legs to frostbite in a previous attempt to conquer it, won the Sporting Moment of the Year which is voted on by the public.
Laureus is a global movement that aims to use the power of sport to tackle social challenges in the world.
Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019
