By Ricky Dimon
The 2019 ATP Awards winners were announced earlier this week, once again featuring a nice mix of veterans and youngsters. Among the recipients were Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Kevin Anderson, and the Bryan Brothers.
Although the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award will probably be renamed for Federer at some point in the future, it is Nadal who has won it twice in a row. The Spaniard now owns three such honors in his career. The other Sportsmanship Award nominees were Federer, Dominic Thiem, and Diego Schwartzman.
Murray, who famously “retired” at the 2019 Australian Open only to come back later in the season and capture both a singles and doubles title (Antwerp and Queen’s Club, respectively) was named Comeback Player of the Year. Also in the running were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andrey Rublev, and Stan Wawrinka.
Fan Favorites were Federer for singles and Bob and Mike Bryan for doubles. The Bryan Brothers have won this infinity times, while Federer has won it infinity plus one times. Okay, not exactly. The Bryans have now won it 14 times; Federer has won it 17 times in a row.
The Most Improved Player was Matteo Berrettini. Ranked 54th going into the year, the 23-year-old Italian made an improbable debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. His amazing season included two titles and a semifinal showing at the U.S. Open.
Perhaps nobody, however, was as surprising as Daniil Medvedev. The Russian soared to No. 5 in the rankings thanks mostly to a ridiculous stretch of six consecutive finals–including at the U.S. Open. He also secured Masters 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Shanghai. As a result, Gilles Cervara won Coach of the Year.
This year’s longest list of nominees were those players who have been around for the shortest amount of time. In the running for Newcomer of the Year were Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jannik Sinner, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Miomir Kecmanovic, Corentin Moutet, Alexei Popyrin, Casper Ruud, and Mikael Ymer. Sinner, the NextGen ATP Finals champion, emerged victorious.
The year-end No. 1 awards, of course, had already been determined. Nadal clinched that distinction during the Nitto ATP Finals, while Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah did the same in doubles.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.
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