CONFOUNDED DOUBTERS

Hingis, who quit tennis in 2002 after chronic injuries and a decline hastened by the emergence of power-players like the Williams sisters, has confounded the doubters since her comeback from self-imposed exile in December and on Sunday swept to victory at the Italian Open.

"I'm very impressed. Here she is, (in the) top 15 after five months. She breaks all the records she sets herself. She doesn't just say, she does it too," Federer said before the awards were announced.

South African wheelchair racer Ernst van Dyk, with a fifth straight win at the Boston Marathon, won the disabled sportspersons award.

Angelo d'Arrigo, the Italian hang-glider known as the 'Human Condor' who was killed in an air crash in March, was posthumously given the alternative sportsperson's award.

In a city still suffering the hangover of Barcelona's Champions League win last Wednesday, former club player and coach Johan Cruyff was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award for his contribution to football.

Kostelic, who won the women's combined event at the Turin Olympics, beat rivals including Yelena Isinbayeva, the first woman to pole vault over five metres, U.S. Open tennis champion Kim Clijsters, and ex-winner, Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam.

Asked whether she would be competing at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, she remained non-committal: "I'm not thinking much about the future right now, I need a little rest and I'll decide what I can do after that."

The awards are decided by a jury of 40 of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time, from a shortlist put together by a panel of journalists from around the world.

The awards are twinned with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, a charitable venture seeking to assist the underprivileged and needy around the world.