Chronicle EditorLONDON. – Tennis star Roger Federer has won the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year for a record fourth time after a public vote. The 36-year-old Swiss topped the poll ahead of five other short-listed nominees. Federer became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extended his record to 19 Grand Slam titles in 2017. Boxer Muhammad Ali and athlete Usain Bolt are the only other people to have won the BBC award three times.
Federer said: “It makes me incredibly proud that the UK public have chosen me as the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. The support that the UK crowds give me whenever I’m here is amazing, and to be recognised on the short-list alongside some of the greatest sportspeople of all time is extremely humbling.”
He was shortlisted by an expert panel this year alongside Tom Brady (American football), Katie Ledecky (swimming), Tatyana McFadden (Para-athletics), Sally Pearson (athletics) and Michael van Gerwen (darts).
The vote was carried out on the BBC Sport website. At 35, victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic made Federer the oldest man in the Open era to claim the Wimbledon singles title.
Earlier in the year, he returned from six months off to recover from a knee injury and won the Australian Open with a five-sets victory in the Melbourne final over old rival Rafael Nadal. The overseas award will be part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony which takes place at the Echo Arena in Liverpool tomorrow. – BBC Sport
Online Reporter