The 2014 ATP World Tour Awards winners were announced this week. Roger Federer was named the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Awardee for the 10th time and was voted by fans as the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite for the 12th straight year. The Swiss Maestro has won a record number of ATP World Tour Awards at 29 wins.
Federer could still win another award as the ATP World Tour number one year-end ranking is still up for grabs between him and current number one Novak Djokovic. The year-end number one ranking will be determined in London.
Here are the 2014 ATP World Tour Awards Winners:
ATP World Tour No. 1 presented by Emirates: (determined by Emirates ATP Rankings)
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will battle for the year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Both players are previous winners of ATP World Tour No. 1 presented by Emirates (Federer five times and Djokovic twice).
ATP World Tour No. 1 Doubles Team presented by Emirates
(determined by Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings)
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan: The Americans will finish as the No. 1 duo in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings for a sixth successive year and record 10th time overall (2003, ‘05-07, ‘09-14). The 36-year-old twins won nine titles in 2014 including the US Open and six ATP World Tour Masters 1000.
ATP Star of Tomorrow Award presented by Emirates
(determined by Emirates ATP Rankings)
Borna Coric: This category in its second year, replacing the player-voted Newcomer of the Year, is awarded to the youngest player in the Top 100 of Emirates ATP Rankings as of 3 November. Coric, who began the season ranked outside the Top 300, broke into the Top 100 on 27 October and reached a career-high No. 92 this week. The 17-year-old Croatian reached the Vegeta Croatia Open Umag quarter-finals (l. to Fognini) in July and made his Grand Slam championship debut as a qualifier at the US Open (l. to Estrella Burgos in 2R), prior to beating World No. 3 Rafael Nadal en route to the Swiss Indoors Basel semi-finals in October. He also won one ATP Challenger Tour title.
Most Improved Player of the Year
(voted by ATP players)
Roberto Bautista Agut: The Spaniard climbed from a year-end No. 59 Emirates ATP Ranking last season to a career-high No. 14 in 2014. He claimed his first ATP World Tour title on the grass courts of the Topshelf Open (‘s-Hertogenbosch) in June, triumphed on his transition to clay a few weeks later at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, and reached the indoor Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow hard-court final in Moscow in October. Bautista Agut also made a statement on some of the biggest stages: he reached the fourth round at the Australian Open after coming back to defeat World No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro in five sets in the second round, and advanced to the semi-finals at the Mutua Madrid Open, stopped only by Rafael Nadal. He finished the season with 45 match wins – 19 more than his previous career-high.
Comeback Player of the Year
(voted by ATP players)
David Goffin: After breaking his left wrist in September 2013, the Belgian returned to the courts at the beginning of the 2014 at No. 110 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. By the end of June, he had only recorded two main draw wins but after Wimbledon Goffin couldn’t stop winning. He compiled a 44-4 match record from July onwards (inclusive of matches on the ATP World Tour, ATP Challenger Tour and qualifying). His perfect month of July included three straight Challenger titles and his first ATP World Tour title at the Austrian Open (Kitzbühel), all in back-to-back weeks. He extended his unbeaten streak to 25 matches by qualifying and reaching the Winston-Salem Open quarter-finals. After a third-round run at the US Open (l. to Dimitrov), the 23 year old went on another winning streak of 16 matches – with titles at the Moselle Open and Mons Challenger – prior to a runner-up finish at the Swiss Indoors Basel (l. to Federer). He will finish the season at a career-high of No. 22 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship
(voted by ATP players)
Roger Federer: Fellow players voted the Swiss as the winner of the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the 10th time and fourth year in a row. He also won the award six straight years from 2004-09. Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori were also nominated in this category.
Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year
(awarded by ATP)
Andy Murray: One of Murray’s best friends, former player Ross Hutchins, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, though thankfully his cancer went into remission. Another of Murray’s friends from British tennis, Elena Baltacha, was diagnosed with cancer of the liver and the sport was in mourning this year when she passed away at the age of 30. Wanting to help, Murray took part in fundraising exhibitions for Hutchins and Baltacha at Queen’s Club the past two summers, and this autumn he appeared with comedian Richard Ayoade in ‘Andy Murray: The Movie’, a sketch that was part of Channel 4’s ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ programming. Murray has also raised awareness for the work of Unicef, United for Wildlife and Malaria No More.
ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon (Singles)
(voted by fans)
Roger Federer: The Swiss has been voted ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon for a record 12th straight year, receiving 65 per cent of all votes cast. Rafael Nadal finished second, followed by Grigor Dimitrov, Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori.
ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon (Doubles)
(voted by fans)
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan: The Bryan twins received 45 per cent of votes to be named the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon for a record 10th time. Wimbledon champions Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock came in as the second most popular duo, followed by Roland Garros champions Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Ron Bookman Media Excellence
(awarded by ATP)
Douglas Robson: San Francisco-based Robson has been the lead tennis writer since 2003 for USA Today, one of the largest American newspapers. He has been a journalist for two decades covering a variety of sports, business and general-interest topics.
