Andy Devaney
A single strip of shadow has stolen the show at the World Sports Photography Awards, with a frame so clean it feels like the sport itself briefly held its breath. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, caught at the precise millisecond his racket meets the ball, is the subject of EDGAR SU’S overall-winning photograph: “CARLOS’ SHADOW HITS A BALL” — a picture that turns a tennis point into something closer to geometry.
The image was taken during Alcaraz’s fourth-round match against Britain’s Jack Draper at the 2025 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia. And while tennis has never been short of noise — the squeak of shoes, the snap of strings, the collective gasp of a crowd that thinks it knows what’s coming — this shot wins by showing less. Just racket, ball, and the kind of shadow that makes you wonder if sunlight has been taking coaching lessons.
Why the winning image works: simplicity under pressure
There’s a reason the best sports photographs don’t merely document action; they translate it. In “CARLOS’ SHADOW HITS A BALL”, the shadow does half the storytelling, stripping the scene down to pure timing. You can feel the contact point — that sweet, unforgiving junction where physics and nerve decide whether a point lives or dies.
It’s also why the World Sports Photography Awards lands as more than a trophy list. The competition positions itself as the only global sports awards dedicated exclusively to sports imagery, drawing submissions from the best professional sport photographers — the people who can make a fraction of a second look inevitable.
Record-breaking year for the World Sports Photography Awards
This year’s edition was the most successful in the competition’s history. A record-breaking 23,130 images were submitted by 4,120 photographers representing 123 countries, underlining the scale — and the global appetite — for sport captured at its sharpest edge.
The overall winner now leads a set of 24 category-topping photographs spanning more than 50 sports, including American Football, Athletics, Baseball, Equestrian, Golf, Racquet Sports, Winter Sports and Football. In other words: if your sport involves speed, strength, balance, impact, grace, grit or the occasional wobble, there’s likely a winning frame that understands it better than your last three highlight reels.
Craft still beats the gadget (even when the gadget is very good)
The awards’ theme this year is clear enough: technology may be sprinting, but craft is still doing the winning. The exceptional quality and diversity of the submissions point to a simple truth — the photographer’s eye still matters most, because seeing the moment is harder than recording it.
Richard Shepherd, Product Marketing Senior Manager, Imaging at Canon Europe, adds: “The images recognised this year showcase photographers at their creative best, pushing boundaries, seeing differently and capturing sport in ways we’ve not experienced before. Canon’s role is to support that creativity through equipment photographers can trust under pressure, enabling them to create different in the most demanding moments.”
It’s the “under pressure” part that matters. A tennis rally doesn’t pause for autofocus. A finish-line lunge doesn’t wait for a second take. The photographer has to predict the moment before the moment exists — and then deliver when it does.
From tennis shadows to golf swings: the wider appeal
Even if you’re not a tennis obsessive, the Alcaraz image has a universal sports logic. The shadow could be a golfer’s hands at impact, a sprinter’s spike mid-stride, a keeper’s glove just brushing the corner. That’s why the World Sports Photography Awards collection tends to travel well across audiences: it’s not about the sport you follow, but the moment you recognise.
Where to see the winning photos
All the winning images are showcased in the World Sports Photography Awards website.
