Berlin: Tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams won the Laureus World Sports Awards at a gala in Berlin on Monday.
The 28-year-old Serb Djokovic won sportsman of the year for the second successive year coming ahead of football’s Lionel Messi and the sprinter Usain Bolt after winning three Grand Slams in 2015 at Australia, Wimbledon and the US Open and also picking up six Masters titles.
Serena won her third Laureus award for a similar feat having won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon before falling short in the semi-finals at the US Open.
The American came out ahead of Ethiopian title-holder, the middle distance runner Genzebe Dibaba and skier Anna Fenninger of Austria.
There was also joy for New Zealand’s Rugby Union World Cup winning side the All Blacks, who beat Australia 34-17 in the Twickenham final.
Speaking at the awards night, Boris Becker has criticised world No. 2 Andy Murray after the British tennis star voiced suspicions some of his opponents may have been taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Murray has been vocal in condemning the use of drugs in sport and enthusiastically backed the suspension imposed on leading female player Maria Sharapova following her failed test for the banned substance meldonium at this year’s Australian Open.
More controversially Murray, beaten by Rafael Nadal in Monte Carlo on Saturday, has also spoken about being suspicious of opponents who he thought were not tiring as they ought to in matches.
But six-times Grand Slam winner Becker, now the coach of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, said Murray was “out of order” in making his feelings known without proof.
“We have random drug-testing and unless it’s proven, they are 100 per cent innocent. So to assume something because somebody has won a Grand Slam or is fitter is totally out of order.
“Andy is one of the fittest players on the Tour — he often outlasts players and nobody is questioning his ethics,” the German added.
“I believe 100 per cent Andy is clean. Roger [Federer] is clean, Rafa is clean, all these guys are clean.
“Novak gets tested a lot. That can mean twice in a Grand Slam.”
Murray had told the Mail On Sunday, the Daily Mail’s sister paper: “I have played against players and thought, ‘They won’t go away’ or ‘They don’t seem to be getting tired’.
“Have I ever been suspicious of someone? Yeah. You hear things.
“It’s harder to tell in our sport as people can make big improvements to a stroke or start serving better because they have made technical changes.
“If it’s purely physical and you’re watching someone playing six-hour matches over and over and showing no signs of being tired, you’d look at that.”
