Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal capped a historic sporting career in November when he announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 38. The 22-time Grand Slam champion, who made more than $130 million in on-court career earnings in his three-decade career, has also received many sporting honours, including two Sportsman of the Year honours at the Laureus World Sports Awards, considered the "Oscars of sports".
In fact, Nadal received his first Sportsman of the Year award in Abu Dhabi in 2011, to mark his ascendance to the top of the tennis world. It was the second year in a row the UAE capital was hosting the Laureus Awards at the Emirates Palace, an event which attracted the who's who of the sports world.
It was hosted by actor Kevin Spacey, who opened the show with a rendition of the Black Eyed Peas song, I Gotta Feeling. The audience included many sporting greats, from French footballer Zinedine Zidane – who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award – to Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, British athlete Lord Sebastian Coe and British footballer Sir Bobby Charlton.
Irish singer and Boyzone member Ronan Keating was the performer of the night.
The Sportswoman of the Year that year was American alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn, considered one of the greatest skiers ever, while American surfer Kelly Slater took home the Action Sportsperson of the Year award.
German golfer Martin Kaymer was named Breakthrough of the Year, an award Nadal won in 2006 – his first of five Laureus Awards to date.
Meanwhile, Italian Moto GP veteran Valentino Rossi took home the Comeback of the Year award, while Spain's football team, who won the 2010 World Cup, was named Team of the Year.
The European Ryder Cup team were presented with the Spirit of Sport award, while May El-Khalil, the founder of the Beirut Marathon, was honoured with the Sport for Good award. German Paralympic Verena Bentele was named Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability.
“To be number one in the world is not my goal,” Nadal said, after receiving his award. “My real goal is to continue to be competitive in every game."
He also saluted his fellow Spaniards who won Team of the Year.
"The sport in Spain, what we are achieving these past few years, is unbelievable and very hard to repeat, so we must appreciate this moment," he said. "In all sports – basketball, tennis, F1 – when you win often, you lose the importance of every victory. But not in Spain. We know this moment will not last so we are trying to do our best."
First held in 2000, the Laureus World Sports Awards were founded by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a global organisation that celebrates sporting excellence and uses sport to transform the lives of children and young people. Held annually, the awards recognise the world's greatest athletes and the power of sport in changing lives.
South African anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nelson Mandela was its first patron.
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does," Mandela said at the first Laureus World Sports Awards held in Monte Carlo. "Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers.”
