Emma Raducanu wins the Laureus World Breakthrough award

British tennis sensation Emma Raducanu has won the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award following her incredible US Open triumph in 2021.

Raducanu, 19, became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era when she defeated Leylah Fernandez in what became known as 'The Fairytale of New York' last September.

Some 9.2 million people in the United Kingdom watched live on Channel 4 as Raducanu became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade won at Wimbledon in 1977.

Raducanu collected the prestigious Laureus award in a virtual ceremony hosted from Seville in Spain.

She said: 'It's been a great year for me. Thank you to all the Laureus Academy members for voting for me. I really want to congratulate all the other nominees too.'

Raducanu wasn't the only British athlete to pick up a Laureus gong on Sunday night. 13-year-old Sky Brown, who won skateboarding bronze for Great Britain at last year's Tokyo Olympics, claimed the Laureus World Comeback of the Year award.

In May 2020, while training in California, she suffered several skull fractures and a broken wrist and hand following a fall from a halfpipe ramp. Her father said afterwards she was 'lucky to be alive'.

Despite this major setback, Brown recovered and finished on the podium in Tokyo 15 months later, becoming Great Britain's youngest-ever medal winner at the Olympics.

British BMX racer Bethany Shriever, who claimed gold in Tokyo, won the Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year award after a vote.

The 22-year-old teaching assistant from Leytonstone in east London had to crowdfund £50,000 to finance her own qualification campaign for Tokyo after UK Sport cut its support.

But Shriever won both Olympic and