US Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray has been nominated in two categories of the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award (ESPY for short) to be presented at a special award in Los Angeles on July 17 with Mad Men star Jon Hamm the master of ceremonies.
The Scot is up for both the Best Tennis Player and Best Moment of 2012 Awards at the ceremony organized by the cable network ESPN to recognize individual and team athletic achievement, as well as other sporting related performance during the course of the year.
Murray said: “For a British tennis player to be recognized among all the American athletes and sports shows just what an impact the US Open win and the Olympics made, and I’m sure the home crowd at Wimbledon was part of that.”
Jim Courier was the first ever winner of the Best Tennis Player Award back in 1993 with Roger Federer winning six years in succession between 2005 and 2010. Pete Sampras was also a six times recipient. Last year’s winner was Novak Djokovic.
The Best Moment Award has been conferred every year since 2002. Last year’s winner was the Divisional Round game of the 2011-12 NFL Playoffs between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos. The only other time tennis figured in the award was back in 2003 when Sampras beat fellow American Andre Agassi in a classic US Open final to capture his 14th major title.
Meanwhile the All England Club are in talks with the British Olympic Association and International Olympic Committee over a permanent recognition of Andy Murray’s Olympic gold medal at Wimbledon last year.
The major sticking point has been the five-ring Olympic symbol is guarded so zealously by the IOC that a lot of red tape needs be cut through before Wimbledon can even put up a plaque to commemorate Murray’s triumph.
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: Andy Murray, British tennis news, Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award, US Open, Wimbledon Championships
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