The tennis world is no stranger to surprises, but the latest shocker has left fans scratching their heads and social media buzzing. The ATP Award nominations for 2024 were unveiled on Monday, November 25, sparking excitement and debate. Yet, one glaring omission has stolen the spotlight—Jannik Sinner‘s name was nowhere to be found! Yes, you heard that right. Despite an incredible season where Sinner delivered standout performances and established himself as a rising force, the Italian sensation didn’t make the cut. The tennis community is understandably stunned, and now, Serena Williams’ ex-coach Rennae Stubbs, and former German star Andrea Petkovic have weighed in.

The Italian tennis dynamo’s name remains absent in all four categories, the list of which has been making rounds on social media. However, the absence of Sinner’s name under the ‘Most Improved Player of the Year’ nominations and the ‘Sportsmanship Award’ nominations has particularly surprised the community. While the Most Improved Player category includes the names of Jack Draper, Tomas Machac, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, and Alejandro Tabilo, the battle for the sportsmanship award will be contested between Carlos Alcaraz, Grigor Dimitrov, Casper Ruud and Dominic Thiem. What’s more interesting is the fact that Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill also failed to find his name under the Coach of the Year category, which further surprised Petkovic.

Engaging in interaction with Petkovic for her November 26th episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis podcast, Stubbs made her surprise clear. “So they didn’t put sinner on that? Sinner is like the nicest guy in the world on the tennis court. So here’s, have you ever seen him get the shits on the tennis court before you get because of the drug scene.” She was quickly joined by Petkovic who also believed that the exclusion was due to the doping controversy

“I think they are basically protecting themselves from a situation that he has the sportsmanship award Darren has the coach of the year award and then he gets banned for a couple of months,” she said. Continuing further, she added, “I think its just self-protection. They just want to protect themselves,” the former German player said. Remember, Sinner’s struggles started after he tested positive twice for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol during Indian Wells. 

Although the ruling of the ITIA went in Sinner’s favor, it was not accepted by many. It was found that the substance was passed on Sinner’s body by his former physio Giacomo Naldi who used a spray containing the substance to treat a cut on his own finger. And since he treated Sinner without gloves, the substance eventually passed on to Sinner’s body. However, this claim did not sit well for many leading to widespread furor and demands for a ban against the star player.

Eventually, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) took cognizance of the issue and filed an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and a final decision is still pending on the matter. With the possibility of the ruling of CAS likely to go in any favor, Petkovic is assuming that it became the reason for his exclusion from the latest list. Petkovic’s surprising reaction, meanwhile, is justified given the sensational season that Sinner had. 

The 23-year-old clinched 8 titles this season including two Grand Slams at the Australian Open and the US Open. Besides, he improved his win-loss ratio with 73 victories against only 6 defeats this season taking his win percentage to 92.4. 

Coming back to his doping controversy, Sinner has continued to remain stoic despite facing immense struggles due to the criticism he faced and the challenges he encountered. 

When Jannik Sinner made true admission about doping saga

Jannik Sinner is not just known for his skills on the courts but also for his resilience and calm demeanor. It is probably for this reason, that the star player has continued to maintain a positive outlook despite the allegations he is facing. His calmness was also witnessed at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he did not just win the title, but also gave stoic responses when quizzed about his doping saga. 

In an interview with the press ahead of the tournament, Sinner shared, “Wada? We don’t know anything yet, I’ve already been in this position three times this year. It’s all been going very well so far.” However, he was quick to share that despite keeping a positive outlook, “playing with this situation is not optimal… We are living a wonderful moment and I have achieved excellent results this year,” he added further.

For now, it would be interesting to see if more people join Andrea Petkovic to share surprising reactions over the entire ATP Awards list raising questions on the decision-making process.