Tennis sensation Emma Raducanu has been nominated for a Laureus World Sports Award in recognition of her stunning ‘Fairytale of New York’ triumph at the US Open last year.
Raducanu, 19, became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade in 1977 when she shocked the world by coming through the qualifying rounds to triumph at the Arthur Ashe Stadium last September.
Her straight sets victory over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez meant she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam in the open era.
Raducanu’s achievement has seen her nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.
She leads an exciting new generation of talented UK sports stars to be recognised by Laureus following a ballot by the world’s sports media.
Three Brits are in the running to win the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
Tom Daley, the 27-year-old who finally realised his dream of becoming an Olympic champion just eight weeks after undergoing knee surgery in Tokyo last year, has been nominated after winning gold with diving partner Matty Lee in the men’s synchronised 10m platform diving event.
Sky Brown, the teenage skateboarder who became Britain’s youngest ever Olympic medalist when she took bronze in Japan at the age of 13, is another athlete with an amazing story.
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Her father said she was lucky to be alive after a training accident left her with multiple skull fractures, a fractured wrist and broken bones in her hand in 2020.
Yet a year later she was standing on the medal podium in Tokyo.
Cyclist Mark Cavendish is nominated in the same category after returning to the Tour de France at the age of 36 to become the greatest sprinter in the event’s storied history.
Cavendish won four stage victories to equal a record of 34 set by legendary Belgian champion Eddy Merckx.
Sarah Storey, 44, who became Britain’s most decorated paralympian when she won three golds in track and road cycling Tokyo to take her medal haul to 17, has been nominated in the Sportsperson with a Disability category.
The winners will be announced at a virtual ceremony in April.
- A full list of the Laureus World Sports Award nominees can be found at: Celebrating the power of sport to change the world | Laureus
