Tennis star Emma Raducanu honoured at Laureus World Sports Awards alongside Max Verstappen, Tom Brad
British tennis star Emma Raducanu has won the Breakthrough of the Year award at the 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards, alongside some of sports biggest names from Max Verstappen, Tom Brady and teenage skateboard sensation Sky Brown.
Raducanu, now 19, came through qualifying to win the US Open, becoming the first British woman to lift a grand slam title since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977.
The teenager, born in Canada to a Romanian father and Chinese mother, came through three rounds of qualifying and seven main draw matches without dropping a set. It was only her second grand slam event.
She received the award during an online ceremony hosted from Seville, along with a personal message from her idol, tennis star Li Na.
“Thank you so much Li Na,” Raducanu said. “You have been a great inspiration to me all my career. I feel like it’s been a really great year for me, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do. Thank you so much.”
Thank you to all the Laureus Academy Members for voting for me. I really want to congratulate all the other Nominees too.”
Laureus World Comeback of the Year Winner, skateboarding star Sky Brown, suffered a skull fracture when she landed headfirst from a half-pipe in training in June 2020. She was unresponsive when she arrived at hospital, but recovered fully and was able to compete in the Olympics. Aged 13 years and 28 days, she finished third in the park final to win a bronze medal, making her Britain’s youngest ever Olympic medallist.
Elsewhere, Formula One world champion Max Verstappen and Jamaican Olympic sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah, were named Laureus World Sportsman and Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year.
Tom Brady, seven-time winner of the Super Bowl, was honoured with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award, while Poland’s Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski received the Exceptional Achievement Award, having broken Gerd Muller’s long-standing Bundesliga scoring record.
Popular motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi was presented with the Laureus Sporting Icon Award, after retiring in November at the end of a 25-year career.
Verstappen, who secured his first World Championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, said his achievements were the result of years of hard work and preparation.
“I’m incredibly proud. Since I was a little kid I dreamt of being on the top step and winning the championship. I said to my dad [Former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen] ‘We did it, this is what we worked for all these years and now we are here, the two of us, all the memories, all the years of travelling all over Europe, going for that one goal and we achieved it’.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kwLG70a1mrZ2eo7a0e8Crq6KbnJp8dH2Wbmpyb1%2Bpsq%2B6yKxkrKyRp3qmucyaZKuZlKqworrUZp%2Bopp%2Bqv6awjKWYrqqVqsBuw86ro51lo6W8s8DSZpiwmaKZwA%3D%3D