Why Tennis Dominated the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards

Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz and Belarusian world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept the top individual honors at the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards, marking the fifth time tennis has claimed both the male and female Athlete of the Year awards in the ceremony’s history.

The awards gala took place on Monday evening local time at the Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, where Alcaraz was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and Sabalenka received the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award.

Alcaraz, a 21-year-old Spaniard who won the men’s singles silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, became the fourth male tennis player to win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award, joining Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. He is also among the youngest recipients in the award’s history.

Sabalenka, who held the WTA world No. 1 ranking at the time of the award, was recognized for her dominant performances over the past season, which included securing the women’s singles title at the 2026 Miami Open presented by Itaú.

The 2026 Miami Open, held in late March at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, awarded Sabalenka the women’s singles title, while Alcaraz did not compete in the men’s singles draw that year. The tournament, classified as an ATP 1000 Masters event for men and a WTA 1000 event for women, offered $9,415,725 in prize money for each category.

The ceremony was co-hosted by Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu and Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic, marking the first time in Laureus history that two athletes served as joint hosts. Djokovic, a five-time Laureus World Sportsman of the Year winner, opened the display with a lighthearted remark in Mandarin about his “Beijing accent,” drawing laughter from the audience.

Gu, an Olympic gold medalist and Laureus ambassador, delivered remarks in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, highlighting the global and intergenerational significance of the hosting duo.

The Laureus World Sports Awards, often referred to as the “Oscars of sports,” are voted on by the Laureus World Sports Academy, a 70-member panel of legendary athletes. The awards recognize extraordinary sporting achievement and the power of sport to drive social change.

In addition to the individual honors, the Paris Saint-Germain football club was named Laureus World Team of the Year for its 2024–2025 season performance.

Thirteen-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi was nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award but did not win, with the honor going to another athlete not specified in the verified sources.

Tennis has now won both the Laureus World Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year awards on five occasions, underscoring the sport’s sustained excellence and global impact over the award’s 26-year history.

The 2026 awards reaffirmed tennis’s prominence on the world stage, with Alcaraz and Sabalenka representing a new generation of champions shaping the sport’s future.

As the tennis season progresses, fans can follow Alcaraz and Sabalenka through the ATP and WTA tours, with the next major checkpoint being the French Open, scheduled to begin in late May 2026 at Roland Garros in Paris.

What do you think about tennis’s continued success at the Laureus Awards? Share your thoughts in the comments and spread the conversation on social media.