In the center of the storm of public opinion, two very different voices are rising and falling impressively. One side is convinced that Djourou will win the trophy, as the focus of the Laureus Awards is always on the individual performances of the athletes, and that the Serbian ace has nothing to worry about this time around, and just needs to wait for the good news, while the other side is shrouded in sadness, as Djourou has withdrawn from the Madrid Masters, and Muguruza has announced her retirement from the tournament. Madrid's tournament this year is already sad enough, if De Jong loses another trophy, I'm afraid it will cause the anger of the whole city, and the GOAT of the tennis world will once again lose to the so-called "flow".
In the midst of this heated exchange of voices, this year's Laureus Sports Awards became the center of public opinion, with many people staying up late waiting for the live broadcast of the awards in order to get a glimpse of whether or not De Jong would win. Everyone is speculating whether there will be any more surprises at the awards, and whether Messi or De Jong will be the final winner.
Fortunately, the end result satisfied fans and netizens alike, as Djourou finally took home the little gold man as he had hoped, putting his supporters' hearts at ease and making many of them say, "This time, the Laureus Sports Awards didn't fall victim to traffic."
In the early part of the season, Djourou did not achieve any victories, but he hoped that by breaking the title drought in the Laureus tournament, he would bring more motivation and good luck to perform well on the court as the world number one. Seeing the happy smile on Deyo's face, many fans and netizens were infected and expressed their excitement and sent their best wishes to the Serbian ace.
Looking back at the Laureus Best Male Athlete award, which was highly scrutinized by millions of fans and netizens, we can clearly see that De Jong's win was well deserved. Laureus officials kept posting hints ahead of the reveal, and external odds also showed that many believed Lionel Messi was not the favorite for Best Male Athlete, and that De Jong was a much bigger threat. While the soccer emperor is only third on the odds list, De Jong is the most popular candidate, with odds ahead of the other nominees, and is seen as the most promising winner.
Djourou managed to win this year's Best Male Athlete award, bringing his tally of little golds to five, tying him with Swiss ace Federer as they became the athletes with the most number of wins of this award, with five trophies together. This makes tennis a strong performer in terms of the Laureus Best Male Athlete award, with a total of 12 trophies, of which De Jong and Federer have won five each and Nadal two.
In addition, Djourou has been nominated six times and won five Best Male nominations in addition to winning this year's Best Male Athlete award, which is considered to be the most awarded athlete. It has been pointed out that according to the data provided by AI, Nadal has been nominated for Best Male nine times and won twice, while Federer has been nominated seven times and won five Best Male awards. Obviously, Deyo has done the best in this regard!
While Deyo's win cheered the crowds, this year's Laureus Sports Awards were a disappointment to many fans and netizens.
The 2024 Laureus Sports Awards ceremony featured a nomination for Best Male for Novak Djokovic in addition to a nomination for Best Female, with Gough vying for Best Breakthrough and Vandrosova competing for Best Comeback. However, contrary to public expectations, it didn't end up making tennis the biggest winner of the awards once again, with only De Jong winning the Best Male Individual award.
In the Purple Flower Championship, Swatek lost to eventual winner Bon Mattei, who led the Spanish women's soccer team to the Women's World Cup title. Gough lost to Real Madrid's Bellingham. Vanjesova lost to gymnastics queen Biles, who won four gold medals at last year's World Gymnastics Championships.
However, this year's public service award was presented to the Nadal Foundation for "its belief in the transformative power of sport, which has helped more than 1,000 disadvantaged young people in Spain and India to reach their full potential". The fact that Djokovic and Nadal were both superstars on the podium together was an added consolation for fans and netizens who were disappointed that tennis wasn't the biggest winner at this year's Laureus Sports Awards.
After Djourou became the only tennis player to grace the opening screen of the Laureus Sports Awards this year, many expect that this good fortune will help the Serbian ace to show a whole new look on the court, and he is expected to be the favorite to compete for the Best Male Athlete award again next year.
