Rafael Nadal nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award in 2011
The 24-year-old Rafael Nadal joins a host of world class sportsmen challenging for the 2011 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award.
Currently ranked number one in the South African Airways ATP list, the Spaniard has been nominated for the prestigious award after recording his career best season on the tour in 2010. The left hander started his 2010 campaign with a runner up effort at
the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha where he was toppled by Nikolay Davydenko in two sets in the title battle. The final match score was 6–0, 6–7(8), 4–6. Nikolay also got the better of Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer on his way into the finals.
At the year’s opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open in Melbourne, the Manacor born overpowered Peter Luczak, Lukas Lacko, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Ivo Karlovic before pulling out of his quarterfinal match against Andy Murray as a result of knee injury.
The Spaniard superstar after making a comeback on the tour played at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells where he made his way into the semi finals before falling at the hands of ultimate winner Ivan Ljubicic in three sets. Nadal, however, along with his
compatriot fellow Lopez captured the doubles crown, beating Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor.
The left hander further improved his game afterwards and went on to end the season by adding a total of seven more crowns to his record. He won titles in Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, French Open, Wimbledon, Rakuten Japan
Open, United States Open and the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.
Rafa who made his debut on the ATP World tour back in 2001, also reached the semi-final round in the BNP Paribas Open, Sony Ericsson Open, Rogers Cup, PTT Thailand Open and quarter-final in Australian Open, Cincinnati Masters and AEGON Championships in 2010.
The reigning United States Open winner, who also won the Laureus World Newcomer of the Year Award four years ago, faces tough competition this year from the likes of Indian legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar, Formula 1 World Winner Sebastian Vettel and footballers
Andres Iniesta, Diego Forlan, Lionel Messi and among others.
"This promises to be a fascinating year. I cannot wait to see who the Media Selection Panel will vote for, but I would be amazed if Rafael Nadal and Sebastian Vettel were not at the top the list,” declared Boris Becker, who is a member of the Laureus World
Sports Academy.
"It was another big year for tennis. The prime example is Rafael Nadal. He has had his best year ever winning three Grand Slams. That is an achievement in my sport that is very rare, so obviously he is a front-runner in my opinion for Sportsman of the Year,
but obviously the voting has not been done yet. Who knows what the future will hold for him? He is certainly the number one player for this year, he has won now overall nine Grand Slams,” he further added.
The names of the top six contenders for the 2011 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award will be announced during the start of next month. They are voted upon by the Laureus Media Selection Panel. The receiver, selected by the Laureus World Sports Academy,
will then be disclosed during a televised Awards Ceremony which is going to be held in Abu Dhabi on 7th February, 2010.
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