Jannik Sinner has capped his career-best ATP Tour season in style after being voted the Fans’ Favourite singles player in the ATP Awards.

The 22-year-old Italian won four tour-level titles in 2023, including his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto. He also reached the Nitto ATP Finals title match, his first major semi-final at Wimbledon and led Italy to its first Davis Cup trophy since 1976.

Sinner, who held a 64-15 tour-level record in 2023, finished the season at a career-high No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, becoming the first Italian man to end a season in the Top 5.

The result will delight Sinner’s fan club, ‘The Carota Boys’, who have become famous in the tennis world for showing up at tournaments in carrot costumes. The act stems from a changeover in Vienna in 2019 when the Italian chowed down on a carrot.

Sinner, who won Newcomer of the Year in 2019, has been nominated for two player-voted ATP Awards this season: Most Improved Player of the Year and the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award. The Italian’s coaches, Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi, are up for Coach of the Year award. Winners will be revealed throughout Awards Week. 

Roger Federer won the Fans’ Favourite award a record 19 times. Spaniard Rafael Nadal won the award for the first time in his career last year.

The announcement of Sinner’s win comes a day after Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev were named the Fans’ Favourite doubles team.

Sportradar and Tennis Data Innovations (TDI), a specialist joint venture vehicle of ATP and ATP Media, have entered into a multi-year agreement providing the sports technology company with global data and streaming rights for betting, and media data rights, for all ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events. The partnership will focus on driving commercial growth for the sport and enhancing fan engagement opportunities for the downstream market through the development of new betting and media products.

Commencing in December 2023, Sportradar’s ATP Service+ purpose-built suite of solutions offers new and dynamic ways for fans and bettors to engage with tennis via next-generation, value-add products and services which utilize previously unavailable deep data. ATP Service+ features include augmented streaming, transforming live streams with immersive 3D animations, expanded in-play betting markets, short-form video highlights for registered users and an extensive range of personalized and targeted betting products, to drive sportsbook performance for Sportradar’s global network of operator clients.

Sportradar will also work with TDI to create products for media, showcasing more in-depth statistical analysis and insights to inform and entertain fans, as well as utilize Sportradar’s OTT solution to stream live match coverage of the ATP Challenger Tour, via ATP’s Challenger TV. Additionally, the creation of a joint Tennis Innovation Lab will address emerging opportunities to support ATP’s vision to establish tennis as the most technologically advanced sport in the world.

Sportradar will supply Integrity Services for all ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events to safeguard competitions against the threat of betting-related match fixing and corruption, including monitoring and addressing integrity threats and risks through due diligence and investigation support.

David Lampitt, TDI CEO, said: “This is a landmark opportunity to realise our growth ambitions and deliver on our commitment to take the fan experience to the next level. In partnership with Sportradar, we will develop and integrate advanced technologies to provide fans with a more immersive and entertaining experience.

“The partnership will be a catalyst for innovation to create unique growth opportunities across new global markets. Our aim is not only to deliver great enhancements for our existing fans but also attract a generation of new fans to the game.”

Carsten Koerl, Sportradar CEO, said: “As the leading sports technology company, we are ideally positioned to deliver against ATP’s ambitious growth plans. This truly collaborative partnership will result, through the application of technologies, such as computer vision and AI, in the creation of engaging products and services as part of our ATP Service+ offering. This will allow us to effectively monetize the relationship, while delivering new ways for bettors and fans to experience the sport of tennis.”

Rafael Nadal’s return to the ATP Tour is drawing ever nearer, and the road toward his comeback at the 2024 Brisbane International presented by Evie, which takes place from 31 December to 7 January, included a stop in Kuwait.

Nadal travelled to the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait, which opened in 2020 at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah International Tennis Complex. There, he shared a training session with Arthur Fils, the 19-year-old Frenchman who recently reached the title match at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM.

“It’s great to be here in Kuwait to train for a few days. Everyone has been so welcoming. Thank you for everything,” wrote the Spaniard on his official social media accounts.

The Mallorcan travelled to Kuwait in search of temperatures and conditions similar to those he will find in a few weeks in the Australian summer.

Nadal, surrounded by his team, shared an image on social media of one of his habitual group activities, a game of ludo with Carlos Moya, Marc Lopez and his physio Rafael Maymo.

The Spaniard, who recently posted a message of cautious excitement about his return, is preparing to compete for the first time since he took to the court on 18 January this year, in the second round of the Australian Open against Mackenzie McDonald.

“I still think what I said in the last press conference, that I do not deserve to end my sports career in a press room.” he said. “I would like to finish in a different way, and I have fought and kept the illusion for that to happen, with doubts, with bad moments, very bad or better moments.”

Jose Higueras, who worked with ATP Tour greats like Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Roger Federer and Michael Chang during his coaching career, has been named the recipient of the Tim Gullikson Career Coach Award in the 2023 ATP Awards. 

The Spaniard coached Chang to his 1989 Roland Garros title, when the American was 17, and also spent time with Americans Jennifer Capriati and Mary Joe Fernandez.

The 70-year-old Spaniard, who also worked with USTA Player Development, has been selected as the third winner of this award, following in the footsteps of Australians Tony Roche (2019) and Bob Brett (2020). The recipient exemplifies excellence, leadership, respect, and a true love for the sport of tennis and the art of coaching.

Named after the late Tim Gullikson, the award showcases someone who has inspired generations of young players and fellow coaches to grow the sport of tennis.

Higueras, who reached a high of No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as a player, won 16 ATP singles titles and reached the Roland Garros semi-finals in both 1982 and 1983. He also received the ATP Sportsmanship Award in 1983.

French media outlet L’Équipe has been recognised with the Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award in the 2023 ATP Awards.

“It is a great honour for us, the journalists of L’Équipe, to receive the Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award from the ATP,” L’Équipe said. “Winning the award for the third time, after 1999 and 2010, suggests that the baton is being passed from one generation of journalists to the next.”

Recognised for excellent coverage of tennis on all their platforms (newspaper, magazine, digital, TV), L’Équipe prides themselves in being present on the Tour all year round, boasting a list of writers whose sole focus is tennis reporting: Lucile Alard, Vincet Cognet, Bertrand Lagacherie, Romain Lefebvre, David Loriot, Quentin Moynet, Franck Ramella and Julien Reboullet. Journalists Anne-Sophie Bourdet and Bruno Garay also play a key role for the magazine.

“Our commitment is to covering tennis as well as possible and be consistent in an attempt to write about everything that makes this sport so complex, from the game itself such as technique, tactical evolution, and history to the human side of the game,” L’Equipe said. “We appreciate the fact that we are receiving this award collectively, because it is a real ‘Equipe’ [team] effort throughout each season.”

Long-time friends Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev have been voted as the Fans’ Favourite doubles team in the 2023 ATP Awards. The duo captured its maiden team title at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid and were semi-finalists in Beijing.

“I just want to say a big thanks to you guys for voting for me and Karen,” said Rublev. “For us it means a lot. Thank you so much one more time. See you soon, happy new year.”

 

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Khachanov and Rublev had lively fan support throughout the season, including in Madrid when they earned Match Tie-break wins in four of their five matches en route to the trophy. Known for the powerful baseline games, Khachanov and Rublev also won fans’ hearts over with constant energy and frequent smiles on the doubles court.

Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov share a laugh at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.” />
^{Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov share a laugh at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome. Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}
Khachanov and Rublev also met twice this season on the singles court. Rublev won their third-round match in Monte-Carlo en route to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title, but three weeks later Khachanov earned revenge in the Madrid fourth round. 

Winners for the 2023 ATP Awards will be announced throughout the coming week.