Picking the winner of American magazine's Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award can be a tough one for the magazine publication. With so many outstanding candidates to choose from every year, whoever Sports Illustrated picks would surely be met with some arguments from some people.
But of all the past Sportsperson of the Year winners, none of them has been more controversial than what happened 10 years ago. When Sports Illustrated snubbed Roger Federer. According to editorial director Chris Stone, there was "a lot of internal awkwardness" between staffers at Sports Illustrated.
Back in 2006, the list of candidates was narrowed down to two athletes - tennis superstar Roger Federer and basketball superstar Dwyane Wade.
At that time, Roger Federer was at the prime of his career. Roger Federer won 92 of his 97 matches and three of the four Grand Slams. The only Grand Slam he didn't win was the Paris Open against rival Rafael Nadal. That year was considered to be the finest year in tennis history. So it's only natural that a lot of people at Sports Illustrated felt that Roger Federer would be the Sportsperson of the Year. The decision to award the winner was made by group editor Terry McDonell. And he chose Dwyane Wade.
When asked to comment on his decision that time, Terry Mcdonell told SI.com this week, "It's not that I wasn't a tennis fan or was overwhelmingly in favor of basketball. I thought, you know, maybe Federer would get it the next year, although it's always dangerous to plan ahead."
The choice of Dwyane Wade, though not popular, can be argued as the right one to make. Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals and win the Miami Heat's first championship in franchise history. He averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals. ESPN.com's John Hollinger rated Wade's performance as number one in rating the finest individual performances in NBA finals history.
Still, the tennis community was not happy with Sports Illustrated's snub of Roger Federer. Nor are they convinced that the reason for choosing Dwyane Wade was because Roger Federer won't be available to receive the award personally or because basketball sold more magazines than tennis.
As Andy Roddick said in a radio interview at that time, "I'll tell you the answer nobody wants to hear: It's that he's not American. It's an American publication. I promise you, if I won three Grand Slams I'd be considered a lot more. I think it's based on selling magazines."
Roger Federer hasn't won the award ever since then. If Roger Federer was upset or objected the snub, he never said it.
"This has been a source of ribbing with Federer and his camp, but for Federer - being the mensch that he is - it's never been the basis for declining an interview or anything like that," SI tennis writer Jon Wertheim said. "Also, I should point this out: Not once did he denigrate Dwyane Wade or question his bona fides."
