Rafael Nadal to receive his 6th AS Sports Award for brilliant 2022 season
Spanish tennis icon Rafael Nadal will receive the AS Sports Award for the sixth time in his career on Tuesday (December 20). The award ceremony will take place at a dinner at the Palace Hotel in Madrid, and starting at 7:30 PM, AS.com, YouTube, and the social media channels of the AS newspaper will stream the entire event, including the red carpet.
The Spaniard will receive the award in recognition of his outstanding 2022 season, in which he won two Grand Slam titles, the Australian Open and the French Open. Rafael Nadal has also finished the year as World No. 2 a record seven times in his career.
Nadal's most recent performance came during his Latin America exhibition tour with fellow tennis pro and World No. 3 Casper Ruud. The duo engaged in five matches, with Mexico being their final stop.
The Spaniard won the five-match series 4-1, with victories in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bogota (Colombia), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), and Mexico, whereas the Norwegian only won in Quito (Ecuador).
"I'm not at that point" - Rafael Nadal rubbishes his retirement talks ahead of the 2023 season
Rafael Nadal's arch-rival and close friend Roger Federer recently announced his retirement after competing in the 2022 Laver Cup.
Since then, speculations of the Spaniard's retirement have surfaced here and there, owing to his injury-plagued 2022 season, which saw him withdraw from his Wimbledon semifinal match against Nick Kyrgios due to a 7 mm abdominal tear.
However, the 36-year-old recently dismissed all the possibilities of retirement, claiming that he is not yet at "that point" and that he is working hard every day with the right energy to avoid reaching there.
"I'm still a pro-athlete and I wish it lasts. I put effort so that it lasts as much as possible. Retirement starts the day you start as there's one day less to reach it. But I'm not at that point, I work every day with the right energy to not be at that point yet. It will come though," the Spaniard said.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner is next set to play for Spain in the inaugural United Cup in Sydney in 2023, alongside Spanish WTA star Paula Badosa. He will then travel to Melbourne Park as the defending champion of the Australian Open, which he won last year by defeating Russian Daniil Medvedev in a five-set thriller.