Emma Raducanu beats Ashleigh Barty, Iga Swiatek to 2022 ESPY award, Rafael Nadal also a winner

Reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu and 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal were the two tennis winners at the 2022 ESPYS Awards held in Los Angeles.

Raducanu won the Best Athlete, Women’s Tennis ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) Award as she beat off competition from Ashleigh Barty, Iga Swiatek and Leylah Fernandez.

The 19-year-old Brit won the gong on the back of her fairytale run at the US Open last year when she became the first qualifier – man or woman – to win a Grand Slam, beating Fernandez from Canada in the final at Flushing Meadows in New York.

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Raducanu also reached the fourth round at her Wimbledon main draw debut last year, but she has struggled to replicate that success this year.

Nadal, meanwhile, was nominated alongside Dylan Alcott, Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime for the Best Athlete, Men’s Tennis ESPY Award and he walked away with the crown on the back of a brilliant start to the 2022 season.

The Spaniard won the Australian Open at the start of the year and the French Open in June to become the first men’s player win 22 Grand Slams.

Nadal also won the award in 2014 and 2011, but he is well short of the Roger Federer’s record of nine ESPY awards while Novak Djokovic has won five. Serena Williams, meanwhile, has 10 ESPY awards to her name.