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Federer: “This Award This Year Means The Most To Me”

  • Posted: Nov 12, 2016

Federer: “This Award This Year Means The Most To Me”

Swiss voted as winner of Fans’ Favourite & Sportsmanship Awards

Roger Federer added to his record haul of ATP World Tour Awards presented by Moët & Chandon, adding two more trophies in 2016 to take his tally to 33 since 2003.

The 35-year-old was selected by fans as the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon for a 14th straight year and by fellow players as winner of the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for a 12th time.

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Federer shared a special video message during the Awards ceremony at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Official Launch Party presented by Moët & Chandon, held Thursday evening at the Cutty Sark in London.

“I just wanted to thank all the fans who have voted for me for ATP Fans’ Favourite,” he said. “This is probably the toughest year I’ve had on tour by far with the injuries and the only 7-10 tournaments I was able to play this year. This award this year means the most to me by virtue of the tough year that I’ve had, so thank you to everybody for coming out to vote for me.”

The 35-year-old Swiss received 56 per cent of all votes cast by fans. Andy Murray finished second, followed by Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori. For the player-voted Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award category, he beat out fellow nominees Murray, Nadal and Stan Wawrinka, extending his reign to six straight years. He also won the award six straight years from 2004-09.

You May Also Like: ATP World Tour Awards Honour Roll

“The Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award voted by the players is fantastic,” he said. “I really appreciate it. I try to be a good sport on the court and then of course that players think I’m a good role model or a good guy to play against, that’s really cool, but there’s a lot of other good guys out there who do exactly the same, if not better, so thank you to those guys as well.”

Federer has also won ATP World Tour No. 1 presented by Emirates five times (2004-07, 2009) and the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award twice (2006, 2013). This year’s ATP World Tour No. 1 has yet to be decided, with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic battling this coming week at The O2 for the year-end honours. The Swiss stated that he would be paying close attention to the season finale, where he is a six-time champion.

“I’ll be following the [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals on TV as close as possible because I think it’s one of the best tournaments we have on tour,” he said. “I think it’s going to be really, really exciting.”

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Del Potro Honoured As 2016 Comeback Player Of The Year

  • Posted: Nov 12, 2016

Del Potro Honoured As 2016 Comeback Player Of The Year

Argentine previously won this ATP World Tour Award in 2011

For the second time, players voted Juan Martin del Potro as the Comeback Player of the Year in the ATP World Tour Award presented by Moët & Chandon following a successful return from wrist injury. The 28-year-old Argentine is the third player after Sergi Bruguera and Tommy Haas to win this category twice.

He sent a video message from his native Tandil to accept his award during Thursday night’s ceremony at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Official Launch in London.

“Thank you very much for this award… I want to thank my fellow players for choosing me,” he said. “It was a very special year to me. I didn’t expect the result that I had, and I’m so happy to share this award with you.”

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Del Potro was previously voted by his peers as the Comeback Player of the Year in 2011. He finished back in the Top 10 in 2013, only to be sidelined again – this time by a left wrist injury requiring multiple surgeries. Outside the Top 1000 of the Emirates ATP Rankings early in 2016, del Potro made his return in February with a semi-final effort at the Delray Beach Open and rose to No. 38 by November with a 30-match win effort.

Among his season highlights, del Potro beat then-No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal en route to a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, made the quarter-finals of the US Open and won his first tour-level title since 2014 at the If Stockholm Open, securing his return to the Top 50. Julien Benneteau, Ivo Karlovic and Florian Mayer were also nominated in this category.

You May Also Like: Benneteau, Del Potro, Karlovic & Mayer Vie For 2016 Comeback Player Of The Year Award

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Bryans Named Fans' Favourite For 12th Time

  • Posted: Nov 12, 2016

Bryans Named Fans' Favourite For 12th Time

American twins extend record reign in doubles category

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan received their trophies as ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon during the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Official Launch on Thursday night in London.

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“It means a lot to be named the Fan Favourite,” said Mike Bryan. “One of the reasons why we love playing the game is to play in front of these fans around the world, and we really appreciate the support. We want to thank them for voting for us. It’s going to be fun to step out on the court at The O2 and finish the year strong in front of a hopefully packed house out there.”

The 38-year-old American twins, who will be going for their fifth season finale title this coming week at The O2 in London, received 25 per cent of votes cast to extend their record reign in this category to 12 straight years. Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares finished second in the voting, followed by Spaniards Feliciano Lopez & Marc Lopez, Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut and the Canadian-American duo of Vasek Pospisil & Jack Sock.

You May Also Like: Federer, Del Potro, Bryans Honoured In 2016 ATP World Tour Awards

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