Carlos Alcaraz wins Laureus Breakthrough of the Year 2023; Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek miss out

Carlos Alcaraz added yet another honor to his ever-growing list of accolades at the Laureus World Sports Awards, a day after his 2023 Madrid Open heroics.

Alcaraz was nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award alongside reigning Wimbledon champion and Australian Open runner-up Elena Rybakina, Morocco men’s football team, figure skater Nathan Chen, golfer Scottie Scheffler and track & field athlete Tobi Amusan.

Carlos Alcaraz received the nomination owing to his historic 2022 season. The young Spaniard started the previous season sitting outside the World’s Top-30, but quickly rose up the ranking and established himself as the player to beat. He won two Masters titles in Miami and Madrid and a Grand Slam at the 2022 US Open, in addition to two 500 titles in Rio and Barcelona.

Subsequently, Alcaraz also became the youngest ATP World No. 1 in history and went on to clinch his first year-end World No. 1 trophy.

The 20-year-old, who added a 10th career title by successfully defending his Madrid Open title on Sunday, marked his presence at the Laureus event in Paris on Monday to accept the award.

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While Carlos Alcaraz scores big, Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek lose out in the Laureus awards

Carlos Alcaraz at the 2023 Laureus World Sport Awards in Paris

Carlos Alcaraz was the only tennis player to win a Laureus World Sports award in 2023, despite four other nominations.

Rafael Nadal, a four-time Laureus award winner and nine-time nominee, missed out on the 2023 Laureus Sportsman of the Year award, which he has won twice before in 2011 and 2021.

The Spaniard was nominated following his heroics last year, which saw him lift two Grand Slam trophies at the Australian Open and the French Open, in addition to two other titles in Melbourne and Acapulco. With the feat, he also became the first man in the history of tennis to lift 22 Grand Slam titles.

The veteran Spaniard, however, fell short against Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi, who secured the nomination for guiding his country to the 2022 FIFA World Cup title. Other athletes nominated in the category were French footballer Kylian Mbappe, F1 driver Max Verstappen, pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, and NBA star Steph Curry.

Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, was nominated for the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award alongside Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin, Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas, swimmer Katie Ledecky, track and field sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

The World No. 1 received the nomination for her magnificent campaign in 2022. Swiatek lifted eight titles last year, including two Grand Slams in Paris and New York, four WTA 1000 titles in Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome and two WTA 500s in Stuttgart and San Diego.

However, Swiatek missed out on the accolade to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who was rewarded for creating history as the oldest sprinter ever to become world champion at the age of 35 in 2022.

Dutch wheelchair tennis player Diede de Groot, who completed a Calendar-year Grand Slam in 2022, a year after her Golden Slam feat, was nominated in the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability category. The trophy, however, was awarded to wheelchair racer Catherine Debrunner.