The 2026 Laureus Awards honoured this year’s winners in Madrid on Monday, with tennis stars Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz taking the top individual prizes after outstanding 2025 seasons. Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal also added to his growing list of accolades by winning the Young Sportsperson of the Year award.
Sabalenka earned the Sportswoman of the Year title after finishing the season as world number one and successfully defending her US Open crown. Alcaraz secured Sportsman of the Year after reclaiming the year-end number one ranking and winning both the French Open and the US Open in 2025. Their victories highlighted tennis’s strong presence at this year’s ceremony in Madrid. Official Laureus coverage also confirmed that organisers presented the awards at the 2026 event in the Spanish capital.
Yamal won the Young Sportsperson of the Year award, one year after taking the Breakthrough award in 2025. That back-to-back recognition reflects how quickly the Barcelona and Spain star has risen on the global stage. His award also gave football a place among a winners’ list otherwise dominated at the top by tennis.
The broader list of winners also featured Gabriel Araujo, Chloe Kim, Toni Kroos, Nadia Comaneci, and Fútbol Más. Laureus has presented the awards annually since 2000, with a global media panel selecting the nominees and members of the Laureus World Sports Academy choosing the winners.
Novak Djokovic and Eileen Gu hosted the ceremony, marking the first time two athletes had shared hosting duties at the event. That detail added to a night that celebrated both established champions and rising stars. For Sabalenka and Alcaraz, the awards confirmed their status as leading figures in world tennis after dominant campaigns. For Yamal, the honour showed that the sporting world now recognises his rapid rise far beyond football.
