On a payroll, the recipient of the AS Awards, in which they appear since they started in 2007, among others, Fernando Alonso, Rafa Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marc Márquez, Carolina Marín, Sebastian Coe, Iker Casillas and Leo Messi, Novak Djokovic could not be absent. The Serbian, current number one in the world and considered by many the best tennis player in history, in conflict with Nadal and Federer, could not attend the Gala because he is in full preparation for next season, after a very demanding course in which he won three Grand Slams (Australia, Roland Garros and Wimbledon) to equal 20 titles with his mentioned rivals of the legendary Big Three.
Vicente Jiménez, director of “the most widely read sports platform in Spanish”, presented the statuette of Mariscal to Djokovic at the Madrid Arena, during the Davis Cup Finals. He did it excitedly, with “pride” and “pleasure”, in recognition of his “fantastic year.” AS thanked him for his work “as a tennis player and as a person.” With a smile, the Balkan appreciated the award in Spanish, in a video projected at the ceremony this Tuesday: “Well, thank you very much to AS for this very prestigious, very special award. I have seen that many champions of the sport, in history, received it for the success of a year. That is why I am very proud, very happy and very grateful. I hope I can continue to play tennis well on the court. Thanks again, it’s so nice to have it. “
Novak Djokovic, with his AS Sports Award.
CHEMA DIAZ (DIARIO AS)
Tennis sensational Djokovic is also a great guy off the court. He showed it to attend to our newspaper the day before Serbia lost to Croatia in the Davis Cup semi-finals. One of the few troubles that the Belgrade star had in a great 2021, in which he won his 37th Masters 1,000 in Paris-Bercy, an absolute record. He will start 2022 at the top of a throne that he has occupied for more weeks than anyone else (he is about 351), a reign that he holds for the seventh time at the end of a year. Ahead, the major challenge of trying to pass Nadal and Federer with a 21st major trophy. It is still unknown if he will try it in Australia. If you want to know, follow him on AS.