A sensational decision done by ATP: the Association of Professional Tennis has incredibly excluded Jannik Sinner from the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, the main prize of the ATP Awards 2024. The federation has in fact communicated which will be the Nominations for the ATP Awards at the end of the year, taking the controversial decision to exclude the ATP No.1 from the list.
It is reasonable to think that this exclusion is due to the ruling regarding the Clostebol doping issue involving the Italia, which would be at high risk of disqualification, after WADA appealed to the CAS, asking for a ban of 1-2 years. And it is probably because of this possible ruling that the Italian was excluded from the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, a prize that sees Carlos Alcaraz, Grigor Dimitrov, Casper Ruud and Dominic Thiem in the running.
Jannik Sinner, Davis Cup Finals 2024© Stream screenshot
Sinner was not even included among the most improved tennis players of the season: a correct decision, given that the nominees are all young rising stars. The decision that seems rather strange, however, is not even to include Sinner’s coaches, Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, candidates for the Coach of the Year award. Matteo Berrettini, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishokori are in the running for the comeback of the season.
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award
Carlos Alcaraz
Grigor Dimitrov
Casper Ruud
Dominic Thiem
Comeback Player of the Year
Matteo Berrettini
Kei Nishikori
Marin Cilic
Most Improved Player of the Year
Jack Draper
Tomas Machac
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
Alejandro Tabilo
Newcomer of the Year
Jakub Mensik
Juncheng Shang
Sinner closed the season with 8 titles plus the Davis Cup victory. He won – among others – the Australian Open, the US Open and the ATP Finals, becoming number 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. The Italian closed the year with 73 victories and only 6 defeats (three of which against Alcaraz, in three matches played against the Spaniard). The ATP’s decision to exclude the Italian from the list seems clear, probably due to the Clostebol doping issue, but is it possible that the men’s tennis board has already foreseen a disqualification for Jannik? Otherwise, why take this decision?