The Laureus World Sports Awards is considered among the biggest night of prize-giving ceremonies in the sporting world, and the list of nominees for this year was recently released.
What makes the Laureus Awards special is it celebrates athletes not just for their list of achievements in their craft but also for how they used their influence and star power to make a positive contribution to society through charitable and humanitarian initiatives.
This year, three tennis players have made it to the final list of nominees, which was meticulously voted on by 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy, and the announcement was made public at the Casa de Correos in Madrid. The winners will be revealed on April 22nd in the same city.
Among the seven categories in which athletes can win an award, Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek, and Coco Gauff have each put themselves in contention to win in three categories. Each award category contains at least six nominees from a wide range of sports.
ATP World No. 1 Djokovic was nominated for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award, in which he will compete with the likes of Manchester City footballer Erling Haaland, eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi and Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen.
The Serb is a four-time winner of this award and was nominated on the back of a stellar 2023 season that saw him clinch three of the four Grand Slams and become the oldest year-end No. 1 in ATP history.
"This year, as ever, I’m overwhelmed by the quality of the athletes I am nominated alongside. This is what makes the Laureus Awards so special for us, and why we want to win as much as we do when we are competing."
WTA World No. 1 Swiatek has been nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year category for the second year in a row. The Polish star captured her fourth Grand Slam at last year's French Open and won the WTA Finals in Cancun by dropping the fewest games in the tournament's history.
Gauff, meanwhile, has been nominated for the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year award alongside female footballers Linda Caicedo of Colombia and Salma Paralluelo of Spain. The 19-year-old was a Grand Slam champion in 2023 when she won a historic US Open in September.
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