Olympic champion
Kiss from Sophia Thomalla for her Zverev at “Sportsman of the Year” award
Alexander Zverev (l) kisses girlfriend Sophia Thomalla after honoring the “Athlete of the Year 2021”
© Tom Weller / DPA
Alexander Zverev also has tennis in his head on the holidays. For his Olympic victory he was named “Sportsman of the Year”. There was a kiss from Sophia Thomalla for it.
With a kiss from his girlfriend Sophia Thomalla, Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev enjoyed being voted “Sportsman of the Year”. The 24-year-old was honored on Sunday evening in Baden-Baden – as was the long jumper and series winner Malaika Mihambo and the women’s track cycling team, which had also won gold in Tokyo.
Emotions: It was a special moment for Zverev when his brother Mischa gave the laudation and talked about childhood. With the father’s video cassettes, they used to set up a network in the hallway and continue playing in the garden until it got dark and the mother called for dinner, says Mischa Zverev. At first, the 34-year-old had to pause for a moment: “You said it: I’m an emotional wimp,” he said. The paraplegic Olympic track cycling champion Kristina Vogel and Paralympic swimming champion Elena Semechin, who is fighting a brain tumor, gave further laudatory speeches.
No break for Alexander Zverev over Christmas
Weak point: Zverev doesn’t like to lose at all – not even when it comes to “Don’t get angry”. This was also remembered during the award. That’s why he got a special variant of the game as a surprise, in which his rivals Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer play a role. “Unfortunately, that will probably not stay intact for long,” said Zverev with a smile before he learned that the rules of the game have been changed so that he always has to win. Long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo, who was named “Sportswoman of the Year” for the third time in a row, received a ukulele. The athlete “preferred not” to give a taste of her skills.
Last year the hall in the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden was as good as empty, this time around 250 guests came and thus around a third of the usual number of visitors. The tables were more distant than normal, and all had to be vaccinated or recovered and additionally tested. Table tennis player Timo Boll could not come due to his corona quarantine and was connected from home.
Long jump Olympic champion Mihambo is now looking forward to quiet Christmas days. “For me it was also a very tough, very exhausting year. So I’m glad that I can now end the year with the family,” she said. But not all sports stars can enjoy the holidays. “I train – eight hours. I’m flying to Australia on December 26th, unfortunately that’s the reality in athletic life,” announced Zverev. For him, the first sporting highlight of the new tennis season begins in mid-January: the Australian Open.
It is still unclear whether Sophia Thomalla will accompany her boyfriend to the tournament Down Under. The couple made the relationship public in early October. The 32-year-old was most recently at several tournaments on the sidelines and supported Zverev in his appearances. Thomalla also shared pictures on Instagram from vacationing together in the Maldives.