Djokovic, Tiger win Laureus awards
Credit to Author: Tempo Online| Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2019 12:13:12 +0000
MONACO (AP) – Tiger Woods, Novak Djokovic, Lindsey Vonn and the France national soccer team were among the winners at the Laureus World Sports Awards, with Woods claiming the Comeback Award 19 years after he was first recognized.
Woods, who won the inaugural World Sportsman of the Year award in 2000, won the Tour Championship in September for his 80th PGA Tour title and his first since August 2013.
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic winner of the World Sportsman of the Year award holds his trophy during the 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
Djokovic matched Usain Bolt’s record by being named World Sportsman of the Year for the fourth time after winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. He also earned the honor in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
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 was honored for winning the World Cup in July.
Simone Biles was named World Sportswoman of the Year for winning four gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the gymnastics world championships.
Naomi Osaka won the Breakthrough Award for winning the U.S. Open and Chloe Kim was named the World Action Sportsperson of the Year.
The awards were given in recognition of outstanding sports performance in 2018.
The 31-year-old Djokovic beat the likes of France’s World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe and NBA superstar LeBron James.
Djokovic was delighted with his award – voted on by the 68 members of the Laureus Academy which includes sporting legends such as nine-time singles Grand Slam champion Monica Seles and Britain’s six-time Olympic track cycling gold medalist Chris Hoy.
“Last year was an incredible season for me, returning from injury to win Wimbledon and the US Open is something I’ll remember forever,” said Djokovic.
Seles, also born in Serbia although now a naturalised American citizen, presented the award to Djokovic, who admitted it had been a long hard road back mentally as well as physically.
Tennis had a golden night as women’s world number one Naomi Osaka — who like Djokovic added the Australian Open to her breakthrough Grand Slam success the US Open – became the first Japanese winner of a Laureus award, the 21-year-old taking the World Breakthrough of the Year gong.
Woods was rewarded for his return from years in the wilderness due to injury and personal problems to winning the Tour Championship and going close to adding to his 14 major titles in the British Open and the PGA Championship with the Comeback of the Year award.
Mbappe may have missed out on the main individual award but he along with his World Cup winning team-mates collected the team of the year prize. (With a report from AFP)