Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner top the list of tennis nominees for the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards after contrasting but equally dominant 2025 campaigns. The ATP world No. 1 Alcaraz and world No. 2 Sinner are both in contention for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award following seasons that produced multiple major titles and season-defining achievements.

Alcaraz captured Roland Garros and the US Open and clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking. Sinner lifted trophies at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the ATP Finals in Turin. The winner will be announced April 20 at Madrid’s Cibeles Palace. The annual ceremony, which celebrates the world’s greatest athletes and recognizes “the inspirational power of sport and its ability to change lives,” takes place during the Mutua Madrid Open.

Other Sportsman of the Year nominees include Ousmane Dembele, Mondo Duplantis, Marc Marquez and Tadej Pogacar. Tennis has a storied history in the Laureus awards; the only previous tennis players to earn Sportsman of the Year honors are Roger Federer (2005–2008, 2018), Rafael Nadal (2011, 2021) and Novak Djokovic (2012–2015, 2016, 2019, 2024), a group often referred to as the sport’s “Big Three.” Men’s tennis players remain the most decorated in that category, with 12 total wins compared with Formula One and athletics, which have five apiece.

On the women’s side, WTA world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka leads the Sportswoman of the Year nominees after clinching her fourth Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2025 and finishing runner-up at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the WTA Finals in Riyadh. She is nominated alongside Aitana Bonmati, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Katie Ledecky and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Four former WTA world No. 1s have previously won the award: Jennifer Capriati (2002), Serena Williams (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), Justine Henin (2008) and Naomi Osaka (2021). Williams is tied with Simone Biles for the most wins at four.

Younger and returning players were also acknowledged. Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca received a Breakthrough of the Year nomination after main-draw wins at all four Grand Slams, a first Top 10 victory over Andrey Rublev and titles in Buenos Aires (ATP 250) and Basel (ATP 500). Amanda Anisimova earned a Comeback of the Year nomination after reaching back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, two years after announcing an indefinite mental health break from the sport.

Naomi Osaka used a recent Hypebeast digital cover to reflect on the arc of her career and the priorities that have shifted since becoming a parent. The four-time Grand Slam singles champion discussed fashion, off-court interests and the ways tennis has changed since she first arrived on tour, but much of the feature turned to how she hopes to be remembered.

Osaka, who acknowledged a “love-hate relationship” with the sport, said the birth of her daughter, Shai, in 2023 reframed what success means to her. “When I was young, success meant winning every match,” she says. “Now it’s just being healthy, being able to play matches, seeing my daughter smile.”

The former world No. 1 described a broader aspiration: to leave the game more welcoming for those who feel different. “I would hope my legacy is that I’m someone who made it easier for the generation after,” she adds. “And also someone that made it easy for the people that are different or unique.

“For me, with my background being Japanese and Haitian and American, I’ve just always been considered different. And growing up, playing with the Japanese flag, but not looking fully Japanese, it just made me aware of being a little different from everyone else. I was always kind of OK with it and I realized that for some people, it’s tough to accept that.

“I realized there are always a few black sheep in the bunch and just hope that they know that it’s cool to be different and unique. Those are things that make you, you and it’s something that should be embraced rather than something that should be shamed.”

Osaka also addressed present ambitions. She told the magazine that it “suck[ed]” she got injured during this year’s Australian Open, a major she has won twice, and made clear she hopes to capture at least one more Grand Slam before stepping away. “[T]hat would be a very big goal I’d love to set for myself, which I think is possible,” she says, while leaving open the possibility of future involvement in the sport under selective terms.

Hi, my name is Michael Zheng.

Michael Zheng is a Columbia University senior and an ATP Tour rookie ranked 149th. Two months into 2026 he has already travelled to New Caledonia, Melbourne, Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, Ann Arbor, Dallas and Princeton, and marked his 22nd birthday along the way. This spring his objectives are straightforward: earn his degree, help Columbia back into the NCAAs final eight, and launch his professional career full time.

Zheng’s family story is part of that trajectory. His parents, Joe and Mei, emigrated from Hubei, China, to the U.S. in the early 2000s. He was born in Chesapeake, Va., in 2004, spent three months back in China with his aunt, then moved to Montville, N.J., around age two. Both parents work in IT. His father, a self-taught player who picked up tennis in his mid-20s, named him for Michael Chang and Michael Jordan and pushed the tennis dream; Zheng remembers the milestone of finally beating his father at 13.

On court, Zheng combined a successful junior career, including a run to the Wimbledon boys’ final in 2022, with a decision to attend Columbia. He chose the Ivy League school in part because of coach Howie Endelman’s record of improving players. Columbia’s program delivered team success, winning the Ivies twice, while Zheng won two NCAA singles titles. Zheng also became the first man from an Ivy League school to win a singles title in 102 years. He is a psychology major living in a dorm in New York City, balancing classes, papers and team practice with professional ambitions.

The opening months of 2026 raised the stakes. Zheng won three matches to qualify for the Australian Open and then his first main-draw match against Sebastian Korda. He suffered an adductor injury in Australia, and Korda beat him in Dallas. “So I was like, you know, why not? Why can’t I have a run here?” he said, reflecting on the confidence those wins brought. He also acknowledged areas to improve: serve and return, and adapting to the solitary grind of life on tour compared with the built-in support of college team tennis. Winning, he says, makes the travel easier and provides the motivation to stay in draws as long as possible.