Novak Djokovic named European Sportsman of the Year

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, the world number one has been voted European sportsman of the year 2021 by European press agencies.

The European sportsman awards are being handed out by European press agencies and this year's edition was organized by the Polish news agency PPA. They organized the 64th European Sportsman of the Year award, letting the leading 26 European news agencies be the jury. Novak Djokovic, 34, scored 172 points, 39 points ahead of last year’s winner Robert Lewandowski. Dutch Formula One world champion, Max Verstappen, came in third place.

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Winner of five tournaments this year, this is the 4th time the Serbian tennis star is honored with the award, previously winning it in 2011, 2015, and 2018. Djokovic just narrowly missed out on the Grand Slam in 2021, winning the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon, and advanced all the way to the final at the US Open but lost to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.

The wins saw him become only the second person in tennis history to achieve the so-called Surface Slam, winning majors on the three different surfaces of clay, grass and hard court in the same calendar year.