Five of tennis' best players, three of them reigning US Open champions, have been shortlisted for 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards, the organization announced on Monday. Diede de Groot, Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Marketa Vondrousova are on the ballot for five of the top honors.
First held in 2000, the Laureus World Sports Awards honor sporting achievements in a variety of annual and discretionary categories. Nominees are selected by a panel of 1,400 international sports journalists, and winners are voted members of the Laureus World Sports Academy. The winners will be announced at a banquet to be held in Madrid in April.
De Groot, Djokovic and Gauff were all US Open champions in 2023, while 2022 Open winner Swiatek took home her fourth Grand Slam title at Roland Garros. Djokovic and Swiatek can earn tennis a sweep of the World Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year categories, while Gauff earned her first Laureus nomination for Breakthrough of the Year and de Groot her fifth for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. Vondrousova earned inclusion on the Comeback of the Year ballot, having bounced back from 2022 wrist surgery to win Wimbledon last summer—making her the first unseeded woman to win the title at the All England Club in the Open Era.
The trio set US Open records, and broader tennis milestones, with their victories in New York in 2023. With a three-set victory over Daniil Medvedev in the men's final, Djokovic captured his 24th Grand Slam singles title, tying him with Australia's Margaret Court for the most major singles titles in tennis history. De Groot won her sixth straight Open crown last summer, and her 12th straight major—a streak that has since extended to 13 with her victory at January's Australian Open.
Gauff, meanwhile, with her first major triumph, became the youngest American woman to win in New York since Serena Williams in 1999.
Tennis has historically had a history of success in winning Laureus honors over the last two decades. Roger Federer holds the record for the most overall awards won with six, five for Sportsman of the Year and one for Comeback of the Year. Serena Williams holds the record for most women's awards won with five, four for Sportswoman of the Year and one for Comeback of the Year.
At least one tennis player has won an award in all but two years dating back to 2010, and last year, Carlos Alcaraz won the Breakthrough of the Year award for his efforts in 2022.
Djokovic is in pursuit of his fifth honor, which will tie him with Federer's all-time record in the category; he won the Sportsman of the Year award previously in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019, and was also a nominee in 2022. De Groot and Swiatek are in pursuit of their first award.
