Nadal Ends Federer's ESPY Reign

After six straight years of finishing runner-up to Roger Federer at the ESPY Awards, Rafael Nadal claimed Best Male Tennis Player for the first time, beating out both the Swiss and new World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the category. 

Writing on his official Facebook page, which has 7.6 million followers, Nadal said, "I want to thank to the ESPYS’ jury for having chosen me as the best male tennis player of the year. I’m very proud of receiving this award. It will help me to keep working hard not to disappoint those who have voted me :)"
Nadal had also been nominated for Best Male Athlete award, but was beaten out in online voting by Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki. The German became the first non-American to win this distinction in the 19-year history of the ESPY Awards. 

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut won the ESPY Award for Best Record-Breaking Performance for their marathon match at Wimbledon, beating out fellow nominees Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, Brett Favre and the Connecticut Women’s Basketball team. Isner accepted the award from gold medalists Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White on Wednesday evening at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, and immediately paid tribute to the Frenchman. 

“First off, I gotta say congrats to my opponent Nicolas,” said Isner, who won after 11 hours and five minutes on court. “He was an absolute warrior that day. You can’t fathom a match going 70-68 in the fifth, but somehow we did it. It was a pleasure to share the court with him that day.”

The 25-year-old American also thanked the fans, his team at Saddlebrook, and extended a special thanks to his trainer, Kyle Morgan. “Without him, I wouldn’t be able to last that long,” he said.

The first-round match stretched over three days, with the fifth set alone lasting eight hour and 11 minutes – 98 minutes more than the previous longest match on record. It concluded just in time to make the ESPY Awards cut, with nominations announced that same day. 

ESPY Award host Seth Meyers referred to the match in his opening monologue, joking, “By the time the match ended, the ball boys were ball men.”

Serena Williams, who was present at the ceremony hosted by Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers on Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, received the ESPY Award for Best Female Tennis Player.