Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer bagged a handful of awards at the joint ATP/WTA awards event that took place in Miami on Tuesday ahead of the Nasdaq-100 Open. Clijsters, who dominated the WTA tour last year capturing nine singles titles including the US Open, was handed four awards, Tuesday night, honoring her incredible 2005 season. The 22-year-old Belgian, who was sidelined with a wrist injury for the most of 2004, was named the 2005 Player of the Year as well as the Comeback Player of the Year. The world number two also won the Fan Favorite Singles Award along with the Sportsmanship Award, which she had won on four previous occasions between 2000 and 2003. World number one, Federer, who successfully defended his Wimbledon and US Open titles last season as well as claiming nine other singles titles, including four Masters Series shields, earned the ATP Player of the Year award for a second consecutive year.
Roger Federer The 24-year-old Swiss, who held on to the number one spot in the rankings for the entire year, also won the Sportsmanship and Fan Favorite awards. Spanish 19-year-old, Rafael Nadal, who won a teenage record of 11 titles last year including the French Open and four Masters Series titles, won the 2005 Most Improved Player award while Serbian teenager, Ana Ivanovic earned the same honor from the WTA. India's Sania Mirza and France's Gael Monfils were named Newcomers of the Year while America's James Blake was selected men's Comeback Player of the Year. American twins, Bob and Mike Bryan were given Doubles Team of the Year and Doubles Fan Favorite awards while Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur were chosen as the women's Doubles Team of the Year. Former world number one, Carlos Moya was given the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award giving tribute to his efforts in helping the tsunami victims of South Asia.
