Rafael Nadal and Emma Raducanu have been announced as the two tennis winners at the 2022 ESPYS Awards. Nadal, 36, has won two Grand Slams this season despite battling chronic foot pain. On the other side, Raducanu wrote tennis history when she became the first qualifier ever to win a Grand Slam at last year’s US Open.
Nadal, who was was nominated alongside Dylan Alcott, Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime for the Best Athlete, Men’s Tennis ESPY Award, claimed the award. Now, Nadal has three ESPY awards to his name. On the other side, Raducanu beat out Iga Swiatek, Ashleigh Barty and Leylah Fernandez for the Best Athlete, Women’s Tennis ESPY.
Nadal, Raducanu preparing for the North American hard court swing
Nadal, who was forced to give Nick Kyrgios a walkover in their Wimbledon semifinal, has seemingly recovered from an abdominal injury and he is set to compete at the Montreal Masters in early August.
“Nadal really wants to come to Montreal and his hotel rooms are already booked,” Montreal tournament director Eugene Lapierre revealed last week. “He was sent a crate of balls to use during the tournament to prepare.
He should return to training on Monday.” Meanwhile, Raducanu is scheduled to kick off her summer hard court swing at the Citi Open in Washington. After a second round exit at Wimbledon, Raducanu received more criticism for her game and results.
John McEnroe, a former seven-time Grand Slam champion, came to the defence of Raducanu. Raducanu has faced lots of criticism for her result post-US Open results but McEnroe believes some of it is unfair. “Don’t ask if Raducanu is going to be a good player because she is already is a great player,” McEnroe told Tennis365.
“No one wins a major if they are not a great player and hopefully she has belief, but a lot has changed for her since then.”