The Laureus World Sports Award was launched in 2000 and honors the most famous athletes in various categories. The first two editions of the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year went to Tiger Woods, followed by Michael Schumacher and Lance Armstrong.
Roger Federer took command from 2005, won four consecutive awards for making history, and made the most of his prime. Usain Bolt secured four awards along with Novak Djokovic, whose final crown came in 2019 after an outstanding 2018 season in which he returned to the ATP throne.
Rafael Nadal received the Laureus Award in 2011 after lifting three major crowns in 2010. Last year he had another chance to receive the award for his performance in 2019.
Nadal fought against Lewis Hamilton, Eliud Kipchoge, Marc Marquez, Lionel Messi and Tiger Woods. In the end, Lewis Hamilton and Lionel Messi shared the honor for the first time, finishing the race ahead of Rafa and preventing the third consecutive crown for tennis after going to Roger Federer in 2018 and Novak Djokovic in 2019.
The 2021 Sportsman of the Year winner will be announced in May, and Nadal is back in the competition after winning the 20th major crown at Roland Garros last October.
Rafael Nadal will aim for the second Laureus Award in May
The Spaniard faces tough opponents in Joshua Cheptegei, Armand Duplantis, Lewis Hamilton, LeBron James and Robert Lewandowski in the hope of garnering enough votes and receiving his first Laureus Prize in ten years.
The news came as a bit of a surprise as Rafa wasn’t the best player last season, ending up almost 2200 points behind Novak Djokovic. Both Novak and Rafa won a major title in 2020, although the Serb added two Masters 1000 trophies to his record and the ATP Cup and defeated Nadal in the title fight at the beginning of the season.
Nadal’s proudest moment was Roland Garros, where he won his 13th Paris Cup and 20th major overall, becoming the second player in history to achieve it after Roger Federer. That was enough to place Rafa as a Laureus candidate ahead of Novak in hopes of a better run than when he finished third a year ago.
Naomi Osaka, Dominic Thiem and Iga Swiatek, other great masters from 2020, are also among the nominees.
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