Rafael Nadal has joined greats such as Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and Vitali Klitschko among others by being named and receiving the Laureus World Comeback of the Year award at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
Adding another achievement to his remarkable resume, the award is Nadal’s third Laureus statuette overall, including Breakthough Of The Year (2006) and Sportsman Of The Year (2011).
After a harrowing 7 month absence in 2013 due to his much publicized knee injury, Nadal destroyed the tour by winning 10 titles in a career-high 14 final appearances, taking home more than $12,000,000 in prize money, and finishing the year as world number one in the ATP rankings for a third time.
Nadal’s profound achievements also saw him gain a nomination to win the Sportsman of the Year award, but was narrowly beaten out by Red Bull Formula One race driver Sebastian Vettel.
Currently in Miami for the Sony Open Tennis, Rafael Nadal became the third player to win 20 matches in 2014 along with Roger Federer and Marin Cilic, after beating Italian Fabio Fognini in the fourth round. The win held the ATP’s “Big Four” together, with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray all still in contention for the title.
The Comeback King will be continuing his battle for a first Sony Open Tennis title against Milos Raonic of Canada in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
