A big omission to the ATP Awards once again was Novak Djokovic in at this point a yearly occurrence. As ever it drew the ire of fans who said he should've been nominated for the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award.
The only award that has involvement of the 24-time Grand Slam champion is Goran Ivanisevic for Coach of the Year. Twitter users have pointed towards Alcaraz being nominated despite losing his temper on a number of occasions on the court.
The Spaniard is up for the award alongside Carlos Alcaraz, Hubert Hurkacz, Grigor Dimitrov and Jannik Sinner.
"Novak didn’t get the Sportsmanship Award nomination once again? Feels like a targeted omission at this point," one fan wrote.
"Should change this to No-Novak Award! Dont give him an award - C’mon won’t nominate him? Such a BS. Now we know what motivates him - [Awards] which isn't subjective- gotta win!," another commented.
While another cited an article from TennisUpToDate hitting back at Rennae Stubbs saying last year that he doesn't get nominated for being too angry when in reality it should be also for charitable donations and being gracious in defeat.
"Stubbs said last year that Djokovic doesn't get nominated/ win the sportsmanship award because he's too angry on court and breaks rackets. Djokovic who off court made more charitable donations then ANY player and is always gracious in defeats, but it appears that doesn't count," they wrote.
Marion Bartoli who is well known for defending Djokovic summed it up calling him the disruptor recently out of the legendary tennis names.
“I think people just got used so much to two players facing each other. If you look at the history of tennis it was (Bjorn) Borg against (John) McEnroe, it was (Pete) Sampras against (Andre) Agassi and it was Roger (Federer) against (Rafa) Nadal. You are not used to having a third one.
“The third one feels like the disruptor. You want to cheer for one or the other. You say ‘I was to cheer for Roger’ or ‘I want to cheer for Rafa’. You don’t want the third one that comes in and wins everything.”
Stubbs said last year that Djokovic doesn't get nominated/ win the sportsmanship award because he's too angry on court and breaks rackets. Djokovic who off court made more charitable donations then ANY player and is always gracious in defeats, but it appears that doesn't count.
Rennae Stubbs defends Djokovic being left out of Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award: "Novak is not a great sport" #Tennis tennisuptodate.com/atp/rennae-stu…
Novak didn’t get the Sportsmanship Award nomination once again? 😭 feels like a targeted omission at this point
Djokovic not nominated 😂😂 Imagine my surprise
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 🤩 #ATPAwards
Interesting that Djokovic failed to make the short list for sportsmanship, he was on the long list…
Should change this to No-Novak Award! Dont give him an award - C’mon won’t nominate him? Such a BS 😂 now we know what motivates him - 🏆 which isn’t subjective- gotta WIN! 😏
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 🤩 #ATPAwards
