Federer and Sharapova bag top awards
MIAMI: World No. 1 Roger Federer and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova each received three honours on Tuesday night at the inaugural joint ATP-WTA Tour awards ceremony.
The event, featuring the top names in the game on the eve of the start of the Nasdaq-100 Open, featured 19 awards won by 14 different men's and women's players.
Stars for Stars – A Celebration of Tennis Excellence, was among the first of what officials hope will be numerous joint initiatives between the two tours. Just over a week ago, players put on an exhibition for tsunami relief at the Pacific Life Open.
Sharapova won the Player of the Year honours and lifted Fans' Favourite from a vote by WTAtour.com users. She also earned Most Improved Player of 2004.
Last season, the 17-year-old Russian claimed four titles, including her first career Grand Slam at Wimbledon and the season-ending championships.
Federer dominated the ATP awards as he did the 2004 season when he won 11 titles, including three Grand Slams, the Tennis Masters Cup and three ATP Masters Series titles.
The Swiss was named the 2004 Player of the Year and also won the Fans' Favourite Award.
Federer also was voted by his fellow players as the Stefan Edberg Sportsman of the Year, an award he received on Tuesday from Todd Martin, a two-time winner of the award.
In a special presentation by South African author Mark Mathabane, Andy Roddick claimed the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award. The WTA Tour's Diamond Aces Award went to Anastasia Myskina.
Comeback Player of the Year honours went to Serena Williams and Tommy Haas, while the ATP Most Improved honor went to big-serving Swede Joachim Johansson. – dpa
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