Author: Barkha Roy
Newly crowned Madrid Open champion Carlos Alcaraz received the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year 2023 award on Monday at a ceremony in Paris. He thus became the fourth male tennis player, after Marat Safin in 2021, Rafael Nadal in 2006 and Andy Murray in 2013, to win this prestigious award.
This is the second season that a sports player has won this award, after Emma Raducanu did the same in 2022. The other nominees for this award were women’s tennis sensation Elena Rybakina, figure skater Nathan Chen, athletics star Tobi Amusan, and the Moroccan men’s soccer team.
Alcaraz had a great year in 2022, as he won two ATP Masters 1000 titles in Miami and Madrid, won his first Grand Slam at the US Open, and also became the youngest world number one since 1973 in the history of the ATP rankings.
Other tennis stars were also in the spotlight for awards. Rafael Nadal was nominated for World Sportsman of the Year, Iga Swiatek for World Sportswoman of the Year and Diede de Groot for World Sportsperson of the Year.
However, at the ceremony, Lionel Messi was named sportsman of the year. Argentina’s soccer team won the World Team of the Year award after the World Cup in Qatar last year. Messi thus became the first person to receive both Laureus awards in the same year.
Meanwhile, Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was named Sportswoman of the Year for becoming the first person to win five golds in the individual track event at the World Athletics Championships after defending gold in Oregon in July.
Alcaraz has been ranked second for the upcoming Italian Open, which starts on May 9. The Spaniard, who has already won in Barcelona and Madrid, will be looking to record three wins in clay tournaments. by winning in Rome.
However, it could be difficult for the 20-year-old to make it three wins in a row, following the return of Novak Djokovic, who was seeded first in this competition.