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Sinner Wins ATP Fan Favorite Award But…
14 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Jannik Sinner, champion of four ATP titles this year, was announced the ATP Fan Favorite award winner for 2023.
The Italian ended the longtime ATP Fan Favorite reign of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Federer won the award nineteen consecutive times from 2003 to 2021, Nadal won last year.
The selection of Sinner is curious because he’s not exceptionally charismatic or colorful on or off court. And the award distribution has a feel of favoritism in that the tennis establishment is pushing for Sinner to be perceived and recognized by the public as more popular than he actually is.
There is no question who the runaway true fan favorite player in 2023 really is. It’s the all time great, 24 time Grand Slam kingpin and world no. 1 Novak Djokovic, who attracted enormous crowds all year to his tournaments and even practice sessions.
Sinner’s two coaches also received the ATP Top Coach award for 2023, though Sinner did not win a Grand Slam title – while Djokovic won three and lost in the finals in five sets in the Wimbledon final. Most tennis observers believe Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanisevic should have been awarded Coach of the Year honors.
The ATP’s award distribution and tendency to try to downplay Djokovic’s popularity and under-celebrate his dominance of the sport is a cause for concern for its overall image and integrity.
ATP · Head tennis · Jannik Sinner · Novak Djokovic
Bill McGill · December 14, 2023 at 6:50 pm
There’s no question Djokovic has high negatives, as they would say in politics. He probably is the active player with the most fans after Nadal (for a given definition of active), but don’t ignore the role of get out the vote campaigns on this award. Italy is a much bigger country than Serbia and the Italian press really did whip up the enthusiasm for Sinner at year end. For an English speaking audience, there isn’t much for an audience to either like or dislike in Sinner. I don’t think his English is good enough to really have a personality that comes through. That may not be the case in Italian. Not sure.
Scoop Malinowski · December 14, 2023 at 7:40 pm
Bill, or Sinner doesn’t have the personality and extrovert qualities to express charisma, which is no crime, Borg, Sampras, Evert were also super champions but far from dynamic personalities off court. It’s obvious the tennis establishment is pushing Sinner hard now, today they also gave him the Most Improved Player award, though he didn’t do any better in Grand Slams this year. The true most improved is Alex Michelsen who improved his ranking over 500 spots since the start of the year.
Bill McGill · December 15, 2023 at 6:40 am
The most improved player award is awarded by the other players, not the fans or a bunch of ATP executives. The other players probably base their vote on personal experience – how much tougher did someone play them this year versus last. Michelsen is still mostly unknown to non-American players on the tour. He only made a handful of ATP events. Sinner, on the other hand, had a really strong finish to the year. He started off 0-3 H2H versus Djokovic and then won 2 of the last 3. He started off 0-6 against Medvedev and then beat him the last 3 times they played. The fourth round loss to Zverev at the US Open was a disappointment, but it was a close and well played 5 set match. Sinner went from winning a single 250 title in 2022 to taking 4 titles including his first M1000, and was a finalist in another M1000 and the Tour Finals. It’s going to look like a big improvement to the top 100 players.
Scoop Malinowski · December 15, 2023 at 7:33 am
Bill, Sinner started the year off at 15 and went to 4. But he had previously been no. 9 in Nov. 2011. Rankingwise Sinner didn’t improve much at all. Michelsen started this year ranked 600 and was intending to go to college. But he improved so much by summer, he reached an ATP final in Newport. He improved so much he decided to change his career path and skip college and go pro. Since Newport his ranking continued to climb from 190 to the year end rank of 97. There is no way you can tell me Michelsen is not the most improved player in the ATP. Sinner got a political handout award because the establishment wants him to be the next marketable nike star franchise.
Sam · December 15, 2023 at 7:36 pm
And Alcaraz won the Edberg Sportsmanship Award, I see. I’m sure NO other player in the top 100 displayed better sportsmanship than him. 😜
Scoop Malinowski · December 16, 2023 at 8:08 am
Sam, the sportsmanship award exposed itself as a phony prop given to whoever the establishment wants to get some extra attention and image enhancement. Monfils, Gasquet, Agut, Nishikori, Lopez, Isner, Goffin, all deserve it more than Carlos.
Sam · December 19, 2023 at 9:04 pm
Exactly, Scoop. And don’t the players supposedly choose the winner? If so, it’s obvious that someone else entirely is tabulating the votes. 👹
Sam · December 19, 2023 at 9:32 pm
Oh, meant to say this too.
So . . even though his padre secretly records the practices of his biggest rival, Alcaraz himself still gets the sportsmanship award. Well, THAT sure adds up, now doesn’t it? 🔢 🙄
Scoop Malinowski · December 20, 2023 at 7:56 am
Forgot that! Tennis media covered it up quickly.
Scoop Malinowski · December 20, 2023 at 8:02 am
All the awards are rigged for political and agenda reasons. Gasquet and Nishikori should have won the sportsmanship award at least once over the last 15 years.
Sam · December 24, 2023 at 7:02 pm
All the awards are rigged for political and agenda reasons.
Exactly. And I don’t believe the players necessarily choose some of these awards. Maybe they vote, but then someone else massages the numbers. 😐
Scoop Malinowski · December 25, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Sam I agree, not much trust in these ATP awards.
Sam · December 29, 2023 at 8:46 pm
Scoop, the ATP is essentially just a banana republic. 🍌 😜
Scoop Malinowski · December 30, 2023 at 7:47 am
At times yes Sam, and Djokovic exposed it.