In Pictures: Rafael Nadal at the AS Sports Awards as he collects record sixth trophy

Rafael Nadal received the AS Sports Award for the sixth time in his career yesterday. The honor was given in appreciation of his remarkable 2022 season, in which he captured two Grand Slam titles—the Australian Open and the French Open—and concluded the year ranked No. 2 in the world.

The award ceremony took place at the Palace Hotel in Madrid. Rafael Nadal graced the ceremony and collected his award along with the other winners.

The Spaniard thanked AS Sports for honoring him with such an accolade on his Instagram and congratulated the other winners as well as sharing pictures from the occasion.

“Thank you very much @diarioas for the Sportsman of the Year award. Congratulations to all the award-winning colleagues 👏🏻! #2022” wrote Rafael Nadal.

AS Sports' official Instagram account also posted a few pictures of Nadal at the event, one where the star poses for photos on the red carpet and one holding his trophy with fellow winners at the event.

The 36-year old will begin his 2023 campaign at the United Cup, which is slated to take place in the Australian cities of Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne. The tournament's group stage will begin on December 29 and last until January 3. The knockout stages will start on January 4 with the final slated for January 8.

Rafael Nadal adds former tennis player Gustavo Marcaccio to his coaching team

Rafael Nadal and Francisco Roig pictured during the 2020 ATP Cup

Rafael Nadal recently parted ways with long-time coach Francisco Roig and added former tennis player Gustavo Marcaccio to his coaching team. He shared the news through his social media.

"I wanted to inform you that Francis Roig is leaving the team. Francis has been an important person in my career and I am very grateful to him for all these years of work and friendship. When we started working together I was a child and together with my uncle Toni, we started on the circuit"

He added,

"Francis is a great coach who knows tennis very well and has helped me a lot to get better and better. I only have words of gratitude and I wish him all the luck in the world in his new project."

Marcaccio has been working at the Spaniard’s academy since April of last year and will now join Carlos Moya and Marc Lopez on his coaching team.

"Hello everyone. I want to inform you of the incorporation of Gustavo Marcaccio (🇦🇷) to the technical team. Gustavo has been working at the @rafanadalacademy since April 2021 and I understand that he is a good addition to the team. It will surely help us a lot to continue on the path. Welcome Gustavo!"

Marcaccio has previously worked with Guido Pella, Giovanni Lapentti, Maximo Gonzalez, Juan Monaco, and Paula Ormaechea. He is also listed as the current coach of inactive Russian player Svetlana Kuznetsova.