2011 ATP World Tour Awards

As the 2011 season comes to a close with the season ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, it’s time for the ATP World Tour awards for the year. There are many familiar winners and some new names as well. The familiar names are way too easy to guess. Let’s get rolling with the winners list:

Novak Djokovic sealed this award long time back. But, he will be crowned this week only. We are talking about the year end ATP World Tour No. 1 ranking. He enters the year end finals with a 69-4 record. His season has been extensively documented but, it’s worth repeating once again. 10 ATP titles inclusive of 5 Masters and 3 Grand Slams with a season opening record of 41-0. Phew!!!

Roger Federer pocketed 2 of his most frequent awards - Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award (voted by ATP players) and the Fans’ Favorite Award. Federer becomes the fan favorite for the 9th successive year. Djokovic was 2nd followed by Rafa. Even considering all the other variables like form, fitness etc., Federer continues to remain the unanimous people’s champion. The Sportsmanship award was his 7th. He won this award 6 successive years from 2004-09 before Rafa won it last year. Now, Roger reclaims another coveted award which has been voted by his fellow players.

Well deserved recognition

Rafael Nadal finds his name on the winners list for his contribution to humanity through his Rafa Nadal foundation. The Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year sits so aptly on Rafa’s shoulders. The Spaniard joined Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, former South African president Nelson Mandela and Arthur Ashe as winners of the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.

The Bryan twins dominated the doubles awards as expected. They were the fans’ favorite for the 7th straight time as well as the year end World no.1 pair for a record 7th time in 9 years. They claimed eight tour-level titles, including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and two ATP World Tour Masters 1000s (Monte-Carlo and Madrid), to take their team total to an Open Era record 75. They have now won at least five titles in 10 straight seasons. The Incredibles indeed.

Now, coming to the surprise packages for the year - Comeback Player of the Year (voted by ATP players), Most Improved Player of the Year (voted by ATP players) and the Newcomer of the Year.

Back to winning ways

Juan Martin Del Potro won the Comeback Player of the Year award. He fell to a low of No. 485 after a wrist injury and surgery limited him to six matches in 2010, but climbed to No. 11 by November this year. The 23-year-old Argentine compiled a 48-16 match record inclusive of two ATP World Tour titles (Estoril, Delray Beach).

Milos Raonic was the Newcomer of the year. The 20 yr old Canadian jumped from No. 156 at the start of the season to No. 31 on 14 November 2011. After compiling a 4-6 match record in 2010, he went 31-19 in his first full season on the ATP World Tour. He became the first Canadian to claim a tour-level title in 16 years, winning San Jose without dropping a set (d. Verdasco), and the following week reached the final in Memphis (l. to Roddick).

Alex Bogomolov Jr. was the Most Improved Player of the Year. The 28-year-old American rose from No. 166 at the end of 2010 to a career-high No. 33 in November. He finished 2011 with a 27-21 match record, beating the total number of matches he had won on the ATP World Tour prior to this season (21-40 record from 2002-’10). He also scalped the biggest name in his playing career by defeating current World no.3 Andy Murray in Miami.