One day after lifting the Masters 1,000 in Madrid, Carlos Alcaraz, attended the Laureus Awards ceremony, held in Paris this Monday, to receive the 2022 revelation athlete award. To achieve this, his conquest of the United States Open in September last year, and having been the youngest male world number one in history, was especially relevant.
The Murcian picked up the trophy that Luis Figo gave him and in his thank you speech he did not forget the team that accompanies him daily. “Without them it would not be possible to do what I have been doing with all the moments of sacrifice and pain that there has been,” said the tennis player.
MESSI, THE OTHER GREAT LEADING PLAYER
The Paris Saint-Germain player was chosen as the best male athlete of 2022, and collectively distinguished thanks to the Argentina team, which also triumphed in the category as the best team last year, after having won the World Cup in Qatar.
“It has been an award for work, camaraderie, humility and respect. Not only Argentina felt identified (with our team), but a large part of the world. Respect above all”, declared Messi, who received the collective award from the hands of Fabio Capello and Carles Puyol.
The Argentine player also recalled in his speech the Albiceleste and Barcelona, his former club, from which he left in 2021. “I had many joys with Barcelona, sadness with the national team. It was a lesson, with many stones along the way, to improve myself, along with my family and loved ones”, concluded the man from Rosario.
The rest of the winners
As the best female athlete of 2022, the Jamaican athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 36, surprised, who beat the Spanish soccer player Alexia Putellas, the American swimmer Katie Ledecky and the Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek, among others.
The award for the best comeback of the year went to footballer Christian Eriksen, who suffered a cardiac arrest in June 2021, in the middle of a Euro Cup match against Finland. The Danish international has recovered and currently plays for Manchester United.
The other categories fell on the Swiss Catherine Debrunner, as the best Paralympic athlete of the year; and the American skier Eileen Gu, as the best athlete in a discipline considered extreme. Gu beat, among others, the Brazilians Filipe Toledo (surfer) and Rayssa Leal (skate).
Lastly, Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski presented the TeamUp initiative with the award in the Sport for Good category.
This project developed by Save the Children, Unicef of the Netherlands and War Child, is present in 26 countries and was launched in 2022, in Poland, with Ukrainian refugee children because of the Russian invasion.